When Venus Fell — Deborah Smith

HOME IS WHEREVER THE HEART LEADS....

The ties that bind us--to our families, to our pasts--are at the heart of this deeply engrossing story. Venus Arinelli saw her future as a concert pianist shattered when her father's life ended in disgrace. Now Venus plays in cocktail lounges, sporting her survival skills like a suit of armor. When a stranger emerges from her parents' long-ago past with an offer too good to refuse, Venus' suspicions flare up.

But Gib Cameron has a special mission. He represents the Camerons of Tennessee--a family as rooted in American history and Southern soil as Venus' is notorious and fly-by-night. Yet the Camerons, survivors of tragedy, need Venus for reasons that have to do with honor and loyalty and an almost mystical bond to their shared past. And Gib, as hard-eyed a skeptic as Venus herself, has to persuade her to come to their mountain home.