The minister of Lydia Cantrell's dreams had another calling. As his secretary, she knew the church members adored him. But she was shocked to discover Pastor Malone's past as a Christian secret agent. Her shock turned to disbelief when he revealed he'd made some enemies– and that he and Lydia were in danger. As the kind, gentle pastor started leading her around corners and through dark alleys, Lydia wondered how she'd get through this. Sure, the stakes were high– and then there was the fact that she was head over heels in love with her secret agent minister.

Border Patrol agent Eli Carmichael knew the deaf child he'd found outside a Mexican orphanage was harboring a dark secret–she was carrying a bloodstained knife and was clearly traumatized. To keep her safe, he turned to trusted neighbor Isabel Valenzuela. A sense of duty had kept Eli close to his fellow agent's widow and her young son over the past year, and now Eli was spending more time with Isabel and the kids, trying to determine exactly what the girl had seen. Under Isabel's gentle care, the child began to open up. But the killers were close by, and determined to silence the girl forever….

A STOLEN STATUE, A CURIOUS COIN…AND A MURDER When Samantha Henderson ran into trouble recovering a lost statue in the Peruvian jungle, Daniel McCullough believed he'd made the right decision in not promoting her at Finders, Inc. But when forced to work together to track down the figurine–and the mysterious man who had it–Daniel and Sam came face-to-face with a network of dangerous suspects. Each day brought them closer to finding their silent enemy, even as their feelings for each other intensified.

MUSINGS FROM MIRANDA BLANCHARD This has been a year of family turmoil–and it's only June! Life hasn't been the same since I learned my long-presumed-dead mother is actually alive, and then my father was arrested for murder. I'm so thankful that Reverend Gregory Brown is here. My caring confidant is haunted by something from his own past, but Greg has put that aside to help me find my mother. I just pray we find her before it's too late!

HOMETOWN HERO RETURNS by Colleen Montgomery (staff reporter) U.S. Air Force captain Kenneth Vance is back in Colorado Springs on medical leave, and currently working for his old friend Quinn Montgomery's vandalism-plagued construction company. Sources say both families are being targeted for their roles in taking down that South American drug cartel a year ago. Ken has been seen around town with Julianna Red Feather, who has been busy training canine search-and-rescue teams. [Note: Mention Julianna's high school crush on Ken?] Each is at a turning point in their careers–and lives–and spending all this time together might lead to good news for the Vance family for the first time in months!

All eyes were on Dee Owens–including a killer's. The publicist's job was to assure the Magnolia College community that the campus was safe…despite two murders. But someone was watching Dee too closely, following her, making anonymous phone calls in a voice that sounded eerily familiar. And every time she turned around, there was her boss, handsome Brazilian Edgar Ortiz. He insisted on protecting her. And now it wasn't just fear sending those chills racing up her spine….

Someone had broken into Tess Graver's home and trashed the place. But this was no random robbery. The intruder was looking for something specific–but what? With her own secrets to keep hidden, Tess reluctantly turned to neighbor Ethan Rogers for help. The been-there, seen-that former DEA agent wanted nothing to do with the big-city crime from his old life. But Ethan wasn't about to let the dangerous thugs take over his small town. Or scare strong, sweet Tess into running away–not when he'd just found her.

Army lieutenant Max Forrester is home on leave, and looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with his sister, Melissa. Then he finds her fighting for her life in the hospital. All he wants is to protect his sibling…until another damsel in distress crosses his path. Someone's stalking Tara Carmichael, Melissa's social worker, and the danger she's in is very real. Max knows she needs his help–if only he could find a way to protect both women at once! And Tara and Melissa aren't the only ones in danger when the stalker's true target is revealed.

Granted, he hadn't known her long, but returning war hero Jude Walker expected to eventually marry the woman he'd met during his last leave. Not find her missing. Or learn that her last known address was a homeless shelter in a dangerous part of the city. The shelter's temporary director, Sarah Montgomery, didn't know Jude's friend. But she knew the streets, knew the dangers–from drugs and prostitution to the most cold-blooded of criminals–right outside her door. Knew that the handsome, brave captain was in for heartache. And that falling in love with him was her riskiest move yet.

"If I die, it won't be an accident." At the time, Lilly Burkstrom brushed aside her ex-husband's words. Then he dies–"accidentally"–in a convenience store robbery, and she starts to wonder. Turning to the police doesn't help. They don't see the danger closing in on her, not even when someone breaks into her house and her ex-husband's apartment. Only Detective Jonathan Littledeer understands her fears, having lost his own family. He's determined to keep the single mom safe. He's not going to let another "accident" claim Lilly or her daughter before he can bring the killer's guarded secrets to light.

The Grant family's exclusive Sonoma spa is a place for rest and relaxation--not murder! When Naomi Grant finds her client Jessica Ortiz bleeding to death in her massage room, everything falls apart. The salon's reputation is at stake...and so is Naomi's freedom when she discovers that she is one of the main suspects! Her only solace is found with the other suspect--Dr. Devon Knightley, the victim's ex-husband. But Devon is hiding secrets of his own. When they come to light, where can Naomi turn...and whom can she trust?

Discover over 100 practical recipes to help you master the art of IT service management for your organization About This Book Unleash the capabilities of Microsoft System Center 2016 Service Manager Master the skills of configuring, deploying, managing, and troubleshooting your Service Manager 2016 This book contains practical recipes that leverage the key and newly added features and functionalities of Microsoft System Center 2016 Service Manager Who This Book Is For This book will be useful to IT professionals including SCSM administrators who want to configure and administer System Center Service Manager 2016 and understand how to solve specific problems and scenarios that arise. It will also be useful to users of Service Manager 2012 who want to learn about the new features and capabilities of the Service Manager 2016 release. It will be ideal if you have Service Manager experience as well as experience with other System Center products. What You Will Learn See a practical implementation of the ITSM framework and processes based on ITIL Deploy and configure the new Service Manager HTML5 Self-Service Portal along with Service Catalog design and configuration Get to know about Incident, Problem, and Change Management processes and configuration Get to grips with performing advanced personalization in Service Manager Discover how to set up and use automation with and within Service Manager 2016 Work with Service Manager Data Warehouse Find out what Security Roles are and how to implement them Learn how to upgrade from SCSM 2012 R2 to SCSM 2016 In Detail System Center Service Manager (SCSM) is an integrated platform that offers a simplified data center management experience by implementing best practices such as Incident Management, Service Request, and Change Control to achieve efficient service delivery across your organization. This book provides you with real-world recipes that can be used immediately and will show you how to configure and administer SCSM 2016. You’ll also find out how to solve particular problems and scenarios to take this tool further. You’ll start with recipes on implementing ITSM frameworks and processes and configuring Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Then, you'll work through deploying and configuring the HTML5 Self-Service Portal, configuring Incident and Problem Management, and designing and configuring Change and Release Management. You'll also learn about security roles and overall Microsoft SCSM 2016 administration. Toward the end of the book, we’ll look at advanced topics, such as presenting the wealth of information stored within the Service Manager Data Warehouse, standardizing SCSM deployments, and implementing automation. Style and approach This book will enlighten you on Microsoft System Center 2016 Service Manager through recipes that can be implemented directly in any enterprise. You can read the book from start to end if you’re a beginner, or just open up any chapter and start following the recipes as a reference for advanced users. This book consists of a pool of step-by-step recipes on how to perform activities in Service Manager.

Build data-intensive applications locally and deploy at scale using the combined powers of Python and Spark 2.0 About This Book Learn why and how you can efficiently use Python to process data and build machine learning models in Apache Spark 2.0 Develop and deploy efficient, scalable real-time Spark solutions Take your understanding of using Spark with Python to the next level with this jump start guide Who This Book Is For If you are a Python developer who wants to learn about the Apache Spark 2.0 ecosystem, this book is for you. A firm understanding of Python is expected to get the best out of the book. Familiarity with Spark would be useful, but is not mandatory. What You Will Learn Learn about Apache Spark and the Spark 2.0 architecture Build and interact with Spark DataFrames using Spark SQL Learn how to solve graph and deep learning problems using GraphFrames and TensorFrames respectively Read, transform, and understand data and use it to train machine learning models Build machine learning models with MLlib and ML Learn how to submit your applications programmatically using spark-submit Deploy locally built applications to a cluster In Detail Apache Spark is an open source framework for efficient cluster computing with a strong interface for data parallelism and fault tolerance. This book will show you how to leverage the power of Python and put it to use in the Spark ecosystem. You will start by getting a firm understanding of the Spark 2.0 architecture and how to set up a Python environment for Spark. You will get familiar with the modules available in PySpark. You will learn how to abstract data with RDDs and DataFrames and understand the streaming capabilities of PySpark. Also, you will get a thorough overview of machine learning capabilities of PySpark using ML and MLlib, graph processing using GraphFrames, and polyglot persistence using Blaze. Finally, you will learn how to deploy your applications to the cloud using the spark-submit command. By the end of this book, you will have established a firm understanding of the Spark Python API and how it can be used to build data-intensive applications. Style and approach This book takes a very comprehensive, step-by-step approach so you understand how the Spark ecosystem can be used with Python to develop efficient, scalable solutions. Every chapter is standalone and written in a very easy-to-understand manner, with a focus on both the hows and the whys of each concept.

Twins are double the trouble. And between his work at Weddings by Woodwards and his boys, widower Reese Woodward is convinced he doesn't have time for love. Then he meets Olivia Hastings–his sister's bridesmaid, and a woman with troubles of her own. The betrayals from Olivia's past make her wary of closeness. Yet who could resist the twins–or their father? Though neither is looking for love, Olivia and Reese's attraction continues to blossom. And soon, they just might find a second chance at love, and a doubly blessed happily-ever-after.

Her entire career was hanging on the yes or no of a total stranger? Well, Casey Hardy would just have to show highfalutin British lawyer Barrett Westbrook what she was made of. And that was 100 percent serious Texan businesswoman. She'd worked so hard to prove to her father that she could run their family company. But one no from Barrett, with his ledgers and checklists, and Casey could forget her dreams–which now included a Lone Star courtship by him!

A single mother with a traumatic past, Lisa Morgan only wants to raise her son with love and values. But lately the boy is struggling. When his basketball coach becomes a reluctant role model, Lisa is relieved. Until she learns that David Russell is also a cop. She's not ready to share her past–or her heart. And neither is the world-weary detective. Yet as Christmas comes closer, the true meaning of the holiday brings them together in ways they never dared dream.

If you like Debra's books, check out HER TEXAS HOLLOW COWBOY & RAFE book 1&2 of her new series New Horizon Ranch When her ancient RV caught fire, candy maker Dottie Hart was stranded in Mule Hollow. So much for her promise to help her brother with his women's shelter. She would never make it to California now! Help arrived in the nick of time, in the shape of handsome sheriff Brady Cannon. And though Dottie made it clear she was just passing through, the local matchmakers had another agenda. No single woman had yet encountered them without leaving happily married a sticky situation for the lovely confectioner. Perhaps Brady could convince her that love was its own sweet reward .

Suddenly single and unemployed, corporate attorney Lauren Romey needed a rest, a job and a new squeeze. Her friends took charge of the "rest" part. They booked her a trip to a Bliss Village bed-and-breakfast. And they thought they were going to take care of the "new squeeze" part as well, by setting her up with the innkeepers' son. But when Lauren wound up at the wrong bed-and-breakfast, she found herself the fifth contestant in "Win Daddy's Heart," the unlikely brainchild of widowed owner Garrett Cantrell's teenage daughters. Throw in her ex-fiance, four quirky contestants and some very untimely TV coverage - and it's open season for chaos or love, where she least expected it.

It was an offer I couldn't refuse: take some time off from teaching and help out at the opening of my friend's brother Mitch's fabulous Bliss Village ski resort. After all, thanks to my mother, I'd already dated most of the so-called eligible men in Tumbleweed, Arizona. What was left to hold me here? Um, cowardice? I haven't taken many risks outside of my familiar environment. Okay, try none. Still, if risk comes in the shape of tall, blond and handsome Mitch Windsor, how can I say no?

Faith and warm memories have helped widow Kitty Wainwright endure the loss of her husband. That's all she's ever neededuntil she hires contractor Jace Carter to repair her motel. Kitty has no idea the silent, scarred Jace has admired her since they set eyes on each other. Although Kitty's wary of letting anyone into her heart, Jace can't ignore his feelings for her. But with old secrets threatening to ruin his future happiness, Jace has to put his past to rest before he can convince Kitty that she belongs by his side.

Spending Christmas Eve with her handsome boss in a cabin while a stalker threatens is not the way Holly Vance had planned to celebrate this year - she'd been counting on dinner with her extended family. But being trapped with Jake Montgomery, the FBI's local computer expert, isn't a hardship - she's secretly loved him from the day they met. Still, Jake's overwhelming quest to uncover the connection between tycoon Alistair Barclay, the Diablo crime syndicate and drug cartel La Mano Oscura is overshadowing the joy of the season. Can the most miraculous time of the year turn the cynical crime fighter into a caring Christian man?