As a divorced Christian, Mallory struggles with feelings of guilt.
Is Mallory Harrington jinxed because her name means luckless? Things have gone wrong for Mallory since she was a small child. All she ever wanted was to have a complete family and live happily ever after. It appears she has it all when she marries Toby Harrington and they have a son. Unfortunately, their marriage ends when Toby has an affair with his law partner. Divorced Mallory doesn’t want to date, so she isn’t happy when her girlfriends try to fix her up with a minister friend.
Mallory decides to do something for herself, and get the nose surgery that she's always wanted. What she doesn't expect is her instant attraction to her surgeon.
Sometimes faith is about accepting what can't be changed and grabbing what God offers her. Life must go on.
Excerpt
He realized he’d made a mistake having coffee with Mallory. He liked her too much which wasn’t appropriate for a patient–doctor relationship. Add to that, he thought she was beautiful. Her dark brown hair shone in the bright sunshine that streamed in through the window by their table. Her brilliant green eyes mesmerized him. Incredible eyes with such a sparkle to them that he loved staring at them. Her warm smiles got to him too. He’d noticed in the office Mallory had a tiny scar that looked like a dimple when she smiled. He’d wondered then what had caused the scar but hadn’t wanted to ask her.
Maybe he should tell her that she could skip the nose surgery. Mallory’s face had so much character with her strong cheekbones, overwhelming smile, beautiful eyes and personality that an imperfect nose was of small importance.
“Thanks. This is nice to relax after a rough day with seventh graders.” She took a sip of coffee. “And I love the smell of coffee. When I was growing up, I always woke up to the aroma of coffee brewing. My mom had to have coffee first thing in the morning. She wasn’t a morning person and needed her jolt of caffeine.”
“How about you? Do you get up at the crack of dawn?” He bet she looked cute even in the early daylight hours.
“I usually don’t have any trouble getting up.”
Should he talk to her about not having the surgery? Sure, he should. It was his obligation. “Mallory, I know Sharon put your name on the calendar for your surgery, but I’m not so sure you need to have anything done. Look at Sarah Jessica Parker. She has a strong nose.”
“But my nose is bigger than hers.”
“You might think your nose is imperfect because of the size, but I do think it gives your face character.”
“Well, I can do with a little less character on my face.”
“Your nose is large but it’s aristocratic… like Princess Diana.”
“And look what happened to her. Prince Charles loved Camilla.” She snapped her fingers. “Guess what? Camilla has a small nose.”
“But Princess Diana was considered beautiful.” Like you, he wanted to say but didn’t.
She sighed. “I bet you’re afraid I won’t be happy with my appearance because I still won’t have the perfect small nose. I understand that you can only do so much, but it’ll definitely be a big improvement over what I have to live with now.”
“I’m happy to do your surgery but if you should change your mind, I’ll understand.”
She gave him a warm smile. “You’re stuck with me. I’m not changing my mind on this. I loved seeing the imaging of what I’ll look like after surgery.”
Mallory was definitely serious about having rhinoplasty. Part of him was glad because he’d be seeing her again several times, for sure. But he wasn’t certain he liked that it’d be as his patient. “Then I’ll see you in June for your surgery.”
She cleared her throat. “What made you decide to become a plastic surgeon?”
The abrupt question caught him off guard. He thought about that for a moment. “I was impressed how plastic surgery made a difference in my sister’s appearance. When we were still young, a stray dog came in our backyard and attacked her. Amy had to endure many surgeries.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I’m still not sure why the dog went after her instead of me. We were both playing outside.”
Her cell phone rang. While she pulled it out of purse, his eyes shifted to her mouth. Mallory had full perfect lips. Ideal for kissing. Big oversight spending time with Mallory outside the office. Now he was noticing her lips.
In the predawn hours during a solitary ride on her ranch, Montana Freeborn collides with Seth Phoenix, centaur-turned-man and the embodiment of her psychic visions.
A young widow joins her aunt’s house-restoration project in the wilderness, determined to take a stand for independence, but two men have different plans for her—and so does God.
