Battered Hearts — Joyce Palmer

Kelly Thompson is trying to be both mother and father to her eight-year-old son while working full-time as a paralegal, protect them both against her ex-husbands proclivity toward violence, and guard her heart from a dead-end attraction for the grieving detective who sets her body on fire.

Widowed detective, Raylan Hunter, is raising a defiant teenaged daughter who fights him at every turn, while battling a lonely heart and his overwhelming attraction for his sensuous co-worker.

As these two battle-scarred souls come together, fighting crime and never ending personal struggles, they discover their heavy burdens are made lighter when shared.