A brother par excellence, comforter, protector, mentor, guide, working overseas to support her and his mother, everything a brother should be and rarely is-or a lover beyond her dreams? Drawn into a web of intrigue by others, Heather's quandary intensifies as Richard returns to Malaysia when a long-time friend of his father's suffers a heart attack. The strands of the web begin to tighten when she is sent to join him by the plotters, with the intention of compromising her in a drug deal. Richard hustles her out of the country and goes to ground to untangle the matter. Forced to rely on piecemeal and contradictory information, Heather can only guess what is happening to the man she grew up with as a brother, but is now the core of her existence
Whiskey Creek Press released this book on May 1st, 2011.
Here's an excerpt:

The conversation had edged closer to their purpose during the main meal. All four men on the other side of the table were now exploring Richard's experiences in Malaysia, both social and business, and leaving Charles Stuart to entertain Heather. She was content just to listen to Richard so Charles fell silent and did the same. Richard noticed and included her in his replies. He was now the focus of the table and Heather was reminded of the DaVinci painting of the Last Supper where the Face of the Christ is the centre of the perspective lines. Richard held them in the same thrall. He remembered everything that was said, looping back to previous questions in his replies, demonstrating an acute appreciation not only of the question, but also of the questioner. Like the night at the Crown Casino, it was a revelation of a man she hardly knew, entirely admirable and more than a little daunting.
Even Julian, the perfect attendant, seemed fascinated, leaning forward slightly to bring his face into the light as he listened, his eyes switching from speaker to speaker. The movement caught Heather's attention in a moment when John Prentice was speaking and nagged at her peripheral vision until she gave up at looked directly at Julian. He noticed immediately and swayed back out of the light, a slight movement of his hand drawing attention to the ornate menus he held.
She decided to help him. "I think it's time to choose our desserts."
"True," John Prentice laughed softly. "I'm a poor host, neglecting my duties like this." He turned to Julian and beckoned him forward.
There were four items on the list and Heather, with her mind on what might follow, chose a selection of fruits in season cut into bite-sized portions. The sorbet had done its job and she didn�t want to spoil the effect. Richard was more traditional, opting for fresh strawberries and clotted cream.
There was a moment before Julian left when he acknowledged her help with a slight nod of his head, the gesture leaving Heather thoughtful. Like the plain clothed detective in the bar earlier, it was a little too overt...odd.
Lost in these thoughts, the gentle brush of Richard's fingers on the back of her hand was electric and wiped her mind of everything but him.
"Another conquest?" He'd seen Julian's nod.
"He was waiting for a chance to interrupt and I helped out."
"He appreciated it." Richard was smiling. "I can understand his feelings."
"Can you?"
"I can."
A mundane exchange, hardly worth recording, yet Heather reveled in the sound of his voice and the intimacy of his smile, building imaginary castles in which they lived happily ever after. It was crazy, juvenile, stuff, but she couldn't help it. The back of her hand still tingled where he'd touched it. She no longer cared what Charles Stuart and John Prentice were planning. It was enough they'd created an opportunity for her to be alone with Richard later tonight. She wished they'd reveal their offer, let her see the proposed contract so she could insist on private discussion in the suite on the forty-eighth floor of the Sofitel. Nothing else mattered. She stirred restlessly on her chair, suddenly incapable of sitting still.
"A great idea, Heather. I've sat too long too. We'll get up and stretch our legs while we wait for dessert." John Prentice rose from his chair, prompting the others to do likewise.
Richard was as quick, rising to stand behind her chair and move it away as she stood, his lips conveniently close as he whispered, "Good girl."
"Heather, a word please." Charles Stuart took her arm and led the way to the corner of the room, away from the others. "We're coming to the business end of the evening. Make sure you insist on nothing more than an agreement in principle until you've had the chance to study the details."
On the surface, he was a thoughtful senior partner offer advice to a junior associate, but Heather noted John Prentice had drawn Richard aside and was speaking privately to him at the other end of the room, the other three standing clear.
"Thank you, Charles." She assayed his Christian name, something she would never have dared in the office. His reaction would show how much he was involved.
"Very clever." He approved. "I have a financial stake in this too." Charles Stuart was the master of nuances.
He sensed her use of peripheral vision to track Richard and moved slightly, forcing her to either turn with him or take a step to keep their alignment. Concealment was impossible, so she didn't try. "I'm keeping an eye on my client," she said, taking two steps towards the wall and forcing Charles to turn to her.
"Very wise," he agreed with a charming smile.
The return of Julian with the desserts brought them all back to the table, Charles beating Richard in doing the honors in seating Heather. The attention seemed to amuse Richard, causing a three-way exchange of glances between John Prentice, Charles Stuart and Richard, Heather was at a loss to interpret, her head swiveling as she tried to catch the nuances from one man to the other. John Prentice's nod at the end of it did little to clarify her confusion. She felt like a child eavesdropping on the half understood conversation of adults.
Richard knew her temper better than the others. He leant close to make his words private. "Don't worry. I'll explain later."
Heather flashed him a smile for the others, hiding the import of her words. "You'd better. I'm beginning to feel like the idiot child at a grown-up's party."
"They think you're extremely sexy and are worried I might too." He leant back, ending the private conversation while Heather was still unraveling its meaning.
Julian served the desserts and started setting up a low round table at the far end of the room. Surrounded by six club chairs, it was the next stage of this strange business dinner. So far, there'd been no hint of the proposed deal beyond their interest in Malaysia, making Heather wonder if anyone outside John Prentice and Charles Stuart knew anything. At a gathering like this, she'd have expected a few slips by now, as the wine loosened tongues. There'd been none. Yet, these men wielded power in their own right. Whatever made them passive partners had to be big.
Julian provided a finger bowl with her fruits in season allowing Heather to ignore the fork and transfer the cut pieces to her mouth with her fingers, rinsing them between morsels and drying them on her napkin. It allowed her to sit back from the table and observe the others. Strawberries and clotted cream was the common choice, only Charles Stuart opting for a swirling confection of white and dark mousse served in an ornate parfait glass with a gold leaf patterned edge and topped with strawberries sliced into decorative fans.
"I can't help thinking you made the best choice." John Prentice had finished and was sitting back too. "Have you been to Malaysia?"
Heather shook her head.
"I've visited often," John Prentice said. "Went to the Commonwealth Games there, but I've learnt more tonight than I did in all my time there. Richard is a shrewd observer. He's made sense of things that puzzled me at the time, but I never followed up."
"He makes a habit of success. I doubt it's accidental." Richard didn't need her praise, but it could do no harm and would demonstrate her loyalty.
"You're only related by marriage, Charles tells me."
The change of subject wrong-footed Heather and she paused before she responded, exploring its significance. "Yes. My father married his mother when I was young. I gained a big brother and he was saddled with a small nuisance. He went out of his way to make me welcome and I followed him around like a shadow."
"He's still very protective."
Heather couldn't decide whether this was polite conversation or had some hidden significance. She'd been involved in no incident to justify it. Had something happened outside her knowledge?
"The perfect big brother." She decided to take it at face value.
"Perhaps you're right." John Prentice smiled politely and turned away to respond to Julian who'd approached during the exchange. "Yes?"
Heather didn't hear what Julian said, a movement to her left alerted her Richard had finished and was sitting back, his face turned towards her. She turned to him and drowned in his eyes. It was an incredible sensation. He was just sitting there, his lips curved in the slightest of smiles and his eyes slightly hooded as if lost in contemplation, but their blueness expanded to take her in and she was lost in their depths, deaf and blind to everything else.