www.millsandboon.co.uk

      KATHERINE GARBERA

      lives in Central Florida with her husband and their two children. She wrote her first book to prove to herself that she could do it and to have something to read at work! She believes firmly in fiction that reflects the reality of her life and the lives of those close to her. She is a past recipient of the Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award. She loves to hear from readers, and you can write her at P.O. Box 1806, Davenport, FL 33836 or e-mail her at [email protected].

      To secretaries everywhere who do an impossible job

       with very little thanks, but especially to those I work

       with at Disney Event Productions:

      Gina McTigue, Joyce Campos, Adele Swearingen,

       Eva Artimovich, Mary Leppich, Mary Baker,

       Becky Latourelle, Karen Satre and Kelly Darden.

      Also a special thanks to those women who mentored me

       when I was young and green! Vita Charles,

       Cindy Michener, Shirley Colebank and Jackie Mathews.

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      Chapter Twelve

      One

      Late again, Lila Maxwell thought as she hurriedly closed the door to her third-floor apartment. She loved her home. It wasn’t much, a four-room apartment in an older but nicely kept building. She’d spent the last two years carefully decorating each part until her flat of rooms had become her dream home.

      She ran down the stairs at a rapid pace because she liked the exercise. As an administrative assistant at Colette, Inc., the world famous jewelry company, Lila spent most of her time sitting. The early morning was dark and Lila longed just for a minute for the warmth of her native Florida. Youngsville, Indiana, had a great community, but the weather was sometimes too cold for this Florida girl.

      “Lila, can you stop for a cup of coffee?” her landlady, Rose Carson, asked, stopping Lila in her tracks.

      “Rose, I wish I could, but Nick’s due back today and I’d like to be in the office before he gets there.” Nick Camden was her boss. And the man of her dreams.

      Not the girlish fantasies she’d entertained of a white knight who rescued her from the small government-subsidized duplex she and her mother had shared, but womanly fantasies of dark passion with a man who saw her for more than a nice collection of body parts. She flushed a little and hoped Rose didn’t notice.

      “I have something for you. Wait here for a minute,” Rose said.

      Lila loved her landlady. She was kind and caring and had made her feel at home when everything around her was very foreign. Rose’s apartment took most of the bottom floor. Warm and inviting, it made whoever entered feel that a caring, successful woman lived there. Lila hoped to create that for herself some day.

      “Here it is, Lila.”

      Rose handed her a beautiful piece of jewelry. A brooch made of amber and precious metal. It was almost heart-shaped and, though the term seemed inappropriate in the presence of something so precious, it was pretty. As Lila fingered it gently, she knew she shouldn’t wear it. “I can’t take this.”

      She handed it back to Rose, but the woman refused to take it.

      “Just borrow it for luck.”

      “Thank you, Rose, but no. This is too valuable.”

      “I want you to wear it. It needs to be on a pretty young lady.”

      Rose brushed aside Lila’s coat and fastened the brooch to her suit jacket. Lila loved the brooch but she knew better than to take something this valuable. She tried to remove it, but Rose’s hand covered hers.

      “Lila, it would mean a lot to me. It brought Mitch and me together. I like to think it brings love to the lives of those it touches.”

      Rose got that misty look she often had when she spoke of her deceased husband, Mitch. Though her black hair had a few shades of gray, Rose was still attractive. Her figure was slim but slightly rounded, giving way to a more matronly style of dress. Unwilling to upset her neighbor, Lila decided to keep it for today and return the brooch tonight.

      “Thanks, Rose. It is lovely. I have to go,” Lila said with a glance at her watch.

      Rose nodded, and Lila hurried out into the cold. The sun was breaking over the horizon. It was nippy but not too cold for a walk to work. She lifted her face to the sun and pretended the high for today wasn’t only fifty degrees.

      She loved the parks and trees full of fall colors. Yellows, browns, oranges and reds filled every space. Halloween, her favorite holiday, was right