Bloodstone — Lynn Benedict

Returning as she had left -- in a torrential hurricane -- Vanessa Mallory frightened the small whaling village of Skull Point. She was supposed to be dead. It was this time of year, almost to the day, that she was lost in the turbulent sea with her lover. But here she stubbornly stood, real, not phantom.

At first, everything was as if she never left. But soon Vanessa realized she could have to fit together the pieces of her own puzzle. Why did her parents act so strangely, speaking of her obligation to “The Mallory Legend”? And most terrible of all, sadly did their destinies depend on her love for the mysterious stranger who wore a bloodstone ring…?