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When life hands you lemons…
You make lemonade. That’s what Lynn Duncan believes. A single mother and nurse practitioner, she works at The Lemonade Stand, a unique women’s shelter supported by various businesses. These include a physiotherapy service, where Grant Bishop, a landscape designer, takes his disabled brother.
When Grant and Lynn first meet they’re intensely attracted to each other—but they don’t see a future for themselves. They’re too committed to the people they need to protect. For Lynn that’s three-year-old Kara and the residents at TLS. And Grant will sacrifice anything for his brother. That might have to include a relationship with Lynn….
“Mr. Bishop?”
Turning, Grant recognized the woman approaching him at once. Her long hair was pulled back from her face, but the warm glow in her eyes was just as he’d remembered.
He’d told himself he’d imagined the woman’s effect on him the last time they’d met—four years before. She’d had a wedding ring on back then. She didn’t now.
“Lynn,” he said. She held out her hand. He took it. And didn’t want to let go.
“You don’t remember me,” he said, quickly shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he faced her in the empty, fluorescent-lit hallway. He’d heard that The Lemonade Stand was beautiful, a haven, resortlike. The commercial beige tile and white walls didn’t give him that impression.
“I do, actually,” she said. “Now that I see you. I recognized your name when you called, but I wasn’t sure why. You’re the one with the brother. Darin, right?”
“I’m impressed.” Grant smiled. “You were his nurse for one day. You’ve got a good memory.”
“Darin was memorable. So what can I do for you?” Lynn asked, that not-quite-smile he’d remembered curving her lips, and hitting him where a guy only liked to be hit when he could do something about it.
He’d hoped she’d remember him, too, and she had. More important, she’d remembered his brother. With enough affection to pull strings and get Darin into their physiotherapy program?
The Lemonade Stand was the only option he had. This had to work.
Dear Reader,
Welcome to The Lemonade Stand. Life hands all of us challenges; happiness comes through the choices we make in the face of those challenges. And sometimes the choice that brings happiness is the decision to reach out for help.
I know that sometimes life feels as though there are no options left. No hope for true joy.
And then there’s a place like The Lemonade Stand, a very special shelter for women. More than a shelter. It’s a place that shows women that they have the right to be happy. Wife by Design is the first of a series called Where Secrets Are Safe—and that refers to both the secrets that some women hide before they come to the Stand and the secrets, the hidden selves, they’re able to reveal and explore once they’re there. I am deeply committed to these books. And to the hope that the decent men and women at The Lemonade Stand have to offer. There is true joy and deeply peaceful happiness available to every one of us.
Because, after all, when life hands you lemons, you can choose to make lemonade!
Please let me know what you think of this book. And join me in the fight against domestic violence, which afflicts a shocking number of women in this country and worldwide. You can reach me at www.tarataylorquinn.com.
Tara Taylor Quinn
Wife by Design
Tara Taylor Quinn
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With sixty-five original novels, published in more than twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA TODAY bestselling author. She is a winner of the 2008 National Readers’ Choice Award, four-time finalist for the RWA RITA® Award, a finalist for the Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Booksellers’ Best Award and the Holt Medallion, and she appears regularly on Amazon bestseller lists. Tara Taylor Quinn is a past president of the Romance Writers of America and served for eight years on its board of directors. She is in demand as a public speaker and has appeared on television and radio shows across the country, including CBS Sunday Morning. Tara is a spokesperson for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and she and her husband, Tim, sponsor an annual in-line skating race in Phoenix to benefit the fight against domestic violence.
When she’s not at home in Arizona with Tim and their canine owners, Jerry Lee and Taylor Marie, or fulfilling speaking engagements, Tara spends her time traveling and in-line skating.
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To the women whose pictures line the wall of my private office at The Lemonade Stand:
Penny Gumser, Phyllis Pawloski, Leeanne Williams, Patricia Potter, Lynn Kerstan, Kim Barney and Paula Eykelhof.
Each of you plays a vital role in my Lemonade recipe.
Contents
