From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes a new chapter in her celebrated Chesapeake Diaries series, featuring her signature ârich characterization, charming setting, and a romance youâll never forgetâ (Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author).
Architect Cassidy Logan has sworn off good-looking adventurers. Newly divorced, sheâs focused on building ecologically friendly, historically accurate homes on the Chesapeake Bay for her fatherâs construction company. Traveling to Cannonball Islandâwhere there has been no new construction in nearly one hundred yearsâCass is sensitive to the heritage of the island, and has come up with plans so perfect sheâs determined to buy a home for herself. Even the fact that Owen Parkerâa local who she dismisses as a lightweight and a playerâseems to be everywhere isnât enough to deter her from building her dream house.
Owen Parker is and always has been sinfully handsome and wickedly clever, a magnet for mischief as well as girls. Heâs a rolling stone, going and doing whatever appeals to him, from flying a mail plane in Alaska, to working on a cattle ranch in Australia, a shrimp boat in Louisiana, and surfing and diving in Costa Rica. When an old friend offers him a job salvaging a sunken ship on the Chesapeake Bay, Owen gladly accepts. Something has been telling him it was time to head home to Cannonball Island, and a job is as good an excuse as any. And heâs totally smitten by the pretty architect on the scene, but it seems heâs finally met a woman whoâs immune to his charms. Sooner or later, Owen will have to face the reason why he always runs, because this time, leaving just might be harder than staying.