LITMIR.BIZ

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      For my very own romance hero, Rick—always.

      And a special thanks to Brenda Chin

      for believing in my story, and me ;-)

      Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Epilogue

      1

      SEX HAD CURED THEM?

      The question played over and over again in Maggie James’s mind as she left her office. She nodded at a passing colleague, plastered a smile on her face even though she knew the blush scorching her cheeks spoiled the effect.

      Sex had really cured them?

      Blushing was not a normal state of affairs for Maggie. First off, it was prickly, uncomfortable business. Second, she was a relationship counselor. As such, she spent her days listening to the most intimate details of her patients’ lives and had long ago learned to school her reactions to unexpected revelations. This, coupled with her own rather…expansive relationship history, meant Maggie didn’t blush easily.

      But she was blushing now. No, not because she was embarrassed. She wasn’t. Astonished, maybe. Perplexed, definitely. She’d thought the Weatherbys’ relationship suffered from the result of too much stress, but apparently they’d been suffering from a lull in their sex life, instead.

      How could she have misdiagnosed such an obvious problem?

      Maggie didn’t have a handy answer. She’d spent her three years in practice establishing herself as a competent therapist; in fact, her more experienced colleagues often consulted her about family counseling—dealing with blended families, divorce, children and the like.

      Fanning her face with the brochure she clutched tightly in her fist, Maggie swept down the empty hallway, chanting, “Maintain, maintain, maintain.”

      Just because the Weatherbys had spent their abbreviated therapy session answering her questions while groping each other like two unsupervised teens was no reason to come unglued.

      Maybe not, but Maggie sure felt the aftereffects of witnessing their passion at such close range.

      The switchboard droned behind her, and the buzz of voices from the reception area suggested a busy night. With so many people working long hours nowadays, she and the other counselors who made up Baltimore Healthcare adjusted their schedules accordingly.

      Thankfully, she wasn’t pulling a late night. She honestly didn’t know if she could regroup sufficiently to see patients right now.

      A sharp rap on the door marked Lyn Milhausser, Ph.D., earned her a quick invitation inside, and Maggie found her friend and mentor seated behind the desk, poring over the contents of several manila file folders.

      Lyn was intimately acquainted with the details of all Maggie’s cases, not only because she’d been Baltimore Healthcare’s program coordinator for well over a decade, but also because she’d supervised Maggie’s college internship.

      They’d grown close, becoming self-proclaimed sisters by love, if not by blood. Lyn had hired Maggie before the ink had dried on her diploma, and if anyone could help her sort through this mess, it was Lyn, whose years of counseling experience had always steered Maggie in the right direction.

      “Sex cured them,” Maggie said, and the explanation sounded absurd, even in the unbiased quiet of Lyn’s office.

      “Excuse me?” Lyn glanced up, but her welcoming smile quickly faded. “You look ruffled. Is everything all right?”

      Maggie considered the question, then sank into the winged armchair before the desk. “No. Everything’s not all right. I just finished my last session with the Weatherbys.”

      “They’ve resolved their issues, then. How wonderful.”

      “Not exactly.”

      “Not exactly?”

      Meeting Lyn’s confused stare, Maggie elaborated. “What was supposed to have been a normal session turned into a ten-minute explanation of why they no longer needed relationship counseling. Judging by how neither of them could keep their hands off each other for even that short time, I didn’t bother trying to convince them otherwise.”

      “They claim sex is responsible for their recovery?”

      “Not just

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