Missing Melissa — Pamela M. Kelley

Melissa Winchester moved across the country, from Boston, MA to Riston, ID to be far away and safe. She's following two dreams, one is owning and running a book store in the Old West town on the ranch. The other is writing her own mystery novels. She has been at the ranch for over six months now, and just when she's starting to fully relax, something happens that has her feeling as though her past may be catching up to her.

Bernie's brother, Jack Jennings is a likeable ladies man, who falls in and out of love so fast, it makes Bernie's head spin. So, she doesn't take him seriously when he tells her after one meeting, that Melissa is the one. They met in Bernie's story, when Jack, who is a local police officer, rode out to Melissa's house to respond to a house alarm. A basement window was broken. Could have been an animal, or kids, or something else. Jack feels protective in a way he never has before.

Which is why he proposes what seems like the ideal solution to keep Melissa safe--a marriage of convenience! Melissa is reluctant at first, but Jack is persuasive and since it's not a 'real' marriage, she agrees, knowing that she will feel safer with Jack in the house. But as they spend time together, she worries that her heart won't be safe when this arrangement ends. Plus, ver since her window broke, even with Jack living there, her sense of unease only grows stronger as she worries that her ex-boyfriend has been tracking her.