New York Times best-selling author Barbara Michaels returns with her special magical blend of romance and danger - a potion guaranteed to delight fans and garner new devotees.

When young Erin Hartsock joins the staff committed to electing Congresswoman Rose­mary White Marshall senator from Virginia, she foresees nothing more than boring secretarial work for a slightly-more-interesting-than-usual boss. But as the campaign heats up, Erin finds herself fascinated by the charismatic candidate and her surrounding rogues' gallery of advisers and volunteers: bold and blustery campaign manager Joe Esler, fiercely overprotective per­sonal secretary Kay Goodrick, smoothly analyti­cal legal expert Jeff Ross, handsome and hotheaded media manager Nick McDermott, and the mysteriously reclusive researcher Will Gates.

Soon, however, the campaign flares up in more startling and sinister ways: a series of increasingly dangerous fires, an unmistakably violent attack, a seemingly accidental death .... Among Erin's newfound friends, colleagues, and lover, a secret waits. A secret so dark, so terrify­ing, its bearer will stop at nothing.

Here is a no-holds-barred look at the high­ stakes game played by the powers behind the power, where murder is the ultimate trump card-a game of smoke and mirrors from Amer­ica's mistress of romantic suspense.

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