Words of praise for Mills & Boon>® from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling authors
âWhen I started writing for Mills & Boon, I was delighted by the length of the books, which allowed the freedom to create, and develop more within each character and their romance. I have always been a fan of Mills & Boon! I hope to write for it for many years to come. Long live Mills & Boon!â
âDiana Palmer
âMy career began in Mills & Boon. I remember my excitement when they were introduced, because the stories were so rich and different, and every month when the books came out I beat a path to the bookstore to get every one of them. Hereâs to you, Mills & Boon; live long, and prosper!â
âLinda Howard
âI owe a great deal to Mills & Boon for allowing me to grow as a writer. Mills & Boon did that, not only for me but for countless other authors. It continues to offer compelling stories, with heroes and heroines readers loveâand authors theyâve come to trust.â
âDebbie Macomber
âMills & Boon books always touch my heart. They are wonderful stories with the perfect happy ending.â
âSusan Mallery
Fay Coggen was sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Eating healthier would help. More tofu-laced salads, less Chinese takeout. Her thirty-five-year-old body would thank her later. The heavy lifting required at her florist shop toned her arms and shoulders, but her backside would be better served if she did more at night than read or work on crossword puzzles, two favorite pastimes that kept her butt planted firmly on the couch.
Getting a decent nightâs sleep would probably work wonders, too. After eighteen months, she still wasnât used to sleeping alone. Even though sheâd been on her own for longer than that, in more ways than she could count.
Still, more rest would help her kick this nagging cold sheâd had for the last two months. With the busy Fourth of July holiday and the one-year anniversary of Scottâs death just a few weeks away, she needed all the energy she could get.
All reasons why she was sitting in her doctorâs office on this sunny June afternoon.
As far as medical facilities went, this one was pretty nice. Pale-yellow-and-white gingham wallpaper covered three walls. The fourth boasted a large bay window that looked out onto a lush lawn, stately rows of green hedges and a wooden bench surrounded by a carpet of red and purple impatiens beneath a shady tree.
And despite the fact she and Liz were friends, Fay could honestly say sheâd hated every moment sheâd spent here.
âSo sorry to have kept you waiting.â Lizâs lilting voice filled the air as she hustled into the room and closed the door behind her. âI wanted to double-check the test results myself.â
Her friend sat in the matching chair across from Fay, instead of taking her seat behind her desk. Fay smiled. âOver a simple case of the flu? Things must be pretty slow around here. So what are the doctorâs orders? Lots of rest and orange juice?â
Liz crossed one ankle over the other with a natural grace. âWe havenât had a chance to visit in a while. How are you feeling, Fay?â
âOther than wishing for a week where I could do nothing but sleep, Iâm fine. Like I told your nurse, the dizziness comes and goes, and itâd be nice to eat something more substantial than soup and crackers. The news predicted a terrible flu season that would carry on into spring. They werenât kidding.â
âIâm talking about how youâre doing emotionally.â The older woman glanced pointedly at Fayâs lap. âI notice you havenât gone back to wearing your wedding rings.â
Fay clenched her battle-scarred florist hands, her thumb and forefinger automatically rubbing at the indentation on her left hand that was almost gone. âI told you that I decided to take them off back around Christmas.â
âUnderstandable. Scott had been gone for six months by then.â
Understandable after sheâd discovered the lies and secrets her late husband had left in the wake of his death last summer. After fifteen years of marriage, sheâd thought neither of them had the ability to surprise each other anymore.
Sheâd been wrong and trying to recover ever since.