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Praise for the work of USA TODAY bestselling author Jennifer Greene
“A book by Jennifer Greene hums with an unbeatable combination of sexual chemistry and heartwarming emotion.”
—New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips
“Jennifer Greene’s writing possesses a modern sensibility and frankness that is vivid, fresh, and often funny.”
—Publishers Weekly on The Woman Most Likely To
“Combining expertly crafted characters with lovely prose flavored with sassy wit, Greene constructs a superb tale of love lost and found, dreams discarded and rediscovered, and the importance of family and friendship.”
—Booklist on Where is He Now?
“A spellbinding storyteller of uncommon brilliance, the fabulous Jennifer Greene is one of the romance genre’s greatest gifts to the world of popular fiction.”
—Romantic Times BOOKclub
“Ms. Greene lavishes her talents on every book she writes.”
—Rendezvous
Jennifer Greene
Jennifer Greene sold her fist novel when she had two babies in diapers. Since then, she’s become the award-winning, bestselling author of more than seventy novels. She’s known for warm, natural characters and humor that comes from the heart. Reviewers call her love stories “unforgettable.”
You can write Jennifer through her Web site at www. jennifergreene.com.
Sparkle
Jennifer Greene
MILLS & BOON
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From the Author
Dear Reader,
When we’re kids, we dream of being all kinds of things when we grow up—from president of the United States to the scientist who cures cancer, from being an Oscar-winning actress to being a major trendsetter.
Then we grow up. We don’t stop dreaming, but we learn some realism, and give up the dreams that we know are just too impossible.
I’m a believer that good people should get what’s coming to them. Maybe the meek and gentle don’t always inherit the earth, but darn it, there should be some payback for all the people who wake up every morning just trying to be good people, good lovers, good parents, good friends.
It ticks me off mightily when this doesn’t happen.
So I created this story…about two women who’d put on their realistic grown-up lives and never gave their old dreams another thought. About two women who keep getting put down for having extraordinarily good hearts. About two women who deserve a lot more than jewels and gems.
But after I gave them the jewels, I tried to give them something else. Something that mattered a lot more.
I hope you like this story!
All my best,
Jennifer Greene
To Jennifer—
I keep trying, but no heroine I’ve ever created comes close to you. I want to be you when I grow up.
Love, Mom
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
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
Just as Maude Rose glanced at the kitchen clock, she felt a sudden fierce tightening in her chest. She ignored it. She wasn’t a woman to cater to pain, never had been. More to the point, it was finally past eleven. The bars wouldn’t serve liquor until noon, but by the time she got her old butt in gear, the time’d be close enough.
She was already wearing her favorite caftan—the purple with the gold and green threads. The slippers were an elegant satin green, not exactly perfect for walking in a September drizzle, but hell, she couldn’t fit any other shoes over her hammertoes anymore anyway.
She made up her face, patting a pretty circle of rouge on each cheek, then slathering on a bright, cheerful lavender lipstick. She just couldn’t seem to manage coloring her hair anymore—these last couple months, her arthritis had been a blinger—so her hair seemed to be two-tone these days. Half orange, half white. Truth to tell, she kind of liked it. She swept it up in an elegant style, give or take.
For a finishing touch, of course, she added jewelry. A good pound of gold and silver around her neck and then sparkles of all kinds on her wrists and fingers.
The only place to hide a secret, Maude thought, was in plain sight. Everybody knew that. The kicker in Righteous, Virginia, was that nobody realized that Maude Rose knew that, too.
On
