LITMIR.BIZ

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      LINDA TURNER

      began reading romances in high school and began writing them one night when she had nothing else to read. She’s been writing ever since. Single, and living in Texas, she travels every chance she gets, scouting locales for her books.

      Contents

      Prologue

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Prologue

      Across the high-school cafeteria, the band launched into one of the biggest hits of the eighties, and the alumni from the Liberty Hill High School Class of ’88 greeted the familiar song with a cheer of enthusiasm. Seated with her back to the dance floor, Abby Saunders didn’t have to turn around to know that Dennis Coffman, her date for the evening, had decided she’d spent enough time reminiscing with her old high school friends. She, like everyone else within thirty yards of him, could hear every word he said as he strode toward her.

      “Where’s the beautiful woman I came with? I spent a fortune for the tickets to this shindig and I haven’t got to dance with her once! Abby? Do you hear me, sugar? Enough gabbing. C’mon, let’s dance. I want to hold that gorgeous body of yours.”

      Her cheeks stinging, Abby would have liked nothing more than to crawl in a hole somewhere and just disappear. She shouldn’t have come…especially with Dennis. He was too loud, too obnoxious. He tried too hard to fit in, and in the process, couldn’t have branded himself more of an outsider. She hadn’t wanted to go alone, however, so she’d invited him to come with her. She should have known better. His compliments were too over the top to be sincere, and when he talked about money, which he did frequently, everyone within earshot seemed to cringe with embarrassment for him.

      Seated with Lily, Natalie and Rachel at a table near the back of the cafeteria, Abby could imagine what her friends were thinking. What was she doing with him?

      She’d asked herself the same question dozens of times over the last few months, and the answer was always the same. She didn’t want to go through life alone. Unfortunately, she’d never had much confidence in herself as a woman. She was too thin, her breasts were too small and she’d never thought she was very interesting to a man…except Dennis. When they’d started dating, she’d tried to convince herself that everyone had faults, and at least Dennis didn’t drink or play around on her or lose his temper and hit her. If he was a braggart and brash and liked to hear himself talk—well, she’d told herself she could live with that. Now she wasn’t so sure.

      She was embarrassed to be seen with him, and that made her feel horrible about herself. She’d known what he was like when she’d invited him to come with her. This was her fault. Suddenly needing to get out of there, she rose abruptly to her feet as Dennis reached their table. “I really don’t feel like dancing,” she told him quietly. “In fact, I don’t feel well at all. Would you mind if we left?”

      “Sugar, you don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that,” he retorted. “Not that I want you to be sick, but I’ve had about all the fun I can stand in this dump.”

      Abby winced. “Dennis—”

      “Hey, the truth hurts. Hang on while I get the car. Then I’ll take you somewhere where we can get some real food. That’s probably why you’re sick. I don’t know who did the catering, but my dog wouldn’t eat it.”

      With that loud announcement, he strolled out, not noticing the hostile looks that followed him. Abby saw them, however, and couldn’t blame her former classmates for being irritated. He didn’t have to be so rude.

      “I’m sorry,” she told her friends. “This was a mistake.”

      “Don’t apologize,” Lily told her. “You’re not responsible for what someone else says.”

      “But I brought him here. I shouldn’t have.”

      “You had a right to bring a date, Abby,” Natalie said with a frown. “I just wish he appreciated you.”

      She grimaced. “He’s not as bad as he sounds. Really,” she insisted when her friends looked skeptical. “He’s just got a lot of insecurities. I think that’s why he boasts so much…to make himself feel better.”

      “You don’t do that,” Rachel pointed out quietly. “And you probably have just as many insecurities.”

      “True,” she said ruefully. “I am one big walking insecurity, but at least I don’t go around bragging about myself. I just make bad choices when it comes to men.”

      “I think we can all plead guilty to that,” Lily said with a chuckle. “I’ve spent my entire life dealing with one controlling man after another. I just can’t seem to get away from them.”

      “Hey, my story’s better than that,” Rachel retorted. “At least you didn’t spend years trying to get pregnant by a man who’d had a vasectomy and didn’t tell you. Do you know how dumb I felt when I found out?”

      “If we’re going for the stupid award,” Natalie said, “then I take the prize. I’m the only one who worked like a dog to put a husband through college and law school because he told me I’d get to go to school as soon as he could support us. Then what did he do? Used that same law degree to divorce me so he could marry his paralegal and run off to a tropical island. He doesn’t even pay child support. Talk about dumb! And I never saw it coming.”

      “So we’ve all made mistakes,” Lily said. “We don’t have to keep beating ourselves up over it.”

      “We control our own destiny,” Natalie added. “We just have to believe in ourselves and go after what we want.”

      Abby sighed in defeat. “I thought that’s what I was doing when I started dating Dennis.”

      Rachel lifted a brow. “Whenever you think of meeting a great guy and falling in love, is Dennis the kind of man you dream of?”

      Abby didn’t even have to think about the answer to that one. “No, of course not.”

      “Then what are you doing with him when he is so obviously Mr. Wrong?” Natalie asked with a frown.

      At that moment, Dennis pulled his car to a stop in front of the cafeteria doors and blared the horn. Abby swallowed

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