Autumn Fire — Tricia McGill

Recently widowed Tess Barrett is relishing her new state of independence, not dreaming her world is about to be rocked on its axis by Jack Donovan, the man she spent many hours fantasizing about when he worked for her bully of a husband. Trapped in a marriage with a tyrant who eroded her confidence and humiliated her Tess sees herself as plain and dowdy; what would a now rich, successful, handsome, younger man see in her?

But her reserved nature bewitches Jack as much now as it did when he was a raw young man. Determined, now she is free, to go after her he uses his desire to buy her dead husband's construction company as an excuse. Sure his marriage to a selfish woman collapsed in part because of his infatuation for Tess Jack yearns for a woman who can give him unconditional love. Unsure of his motives Tess can't understand what Jack sees in a woman nearing middle age with grey in her hair. Jack finds their age difference immaterial and sets out to overcome her self- set barriers.