Deal Me in — Cheri Allan

Is the game of love worth the price? Grace McIntyre never planned to lose her virginity in a seedy motel to the hottie with the eagle tattoo, but she knew he was The One--until a heart-wrenching goodbye proved he wasn't. Despite three tours of duty and one heroic mountain-top rescue, Army veteran Jeff Dayton no longer dreams of a career in search-and-rescue. Two years ago, his politically-ambitious sister needed help spiffing up the family image to win a seat in the state senate, so Jeff returned home to Sugar Falls, New Hampshire, to walk the straight-and-narrow and take a job as a small-town cop. Now his tattoos are covered, his rock-n-roll father is under wraps, and Jeff should be bored out of his mind... but he never figured on reconnecting with his free-spirited high school sweetheart, Grace McIntyre. Grace and Jeff have managed to dance around their rocky past since he's come back to Sugar Falls, but when they're both assigned to the town's Harvest Festival planning committee, their attraction sparks to life, igniting both old passions and burning regrets. New revelations help them see each other in a new light, but it takes a small-town festival calamity-complete with a llama petting zoo, a female empowerment "demonstration," and Jeff's rocker dad on the main stage-to force these two to let go of the past and find the strength to forgive. Because half the fun of the game of love is winning... and the other half is deciding to play.