White Picket Fences

White Picket Fences
Tara Taylor Quinn

Come home to Shelter Valley where love lasts and families matter….Miranda Parsons is content with her life. She has a great job, a wonderful family, a lovely house. She has good friends. And she lives in a town where people know her, care about her. So what's missing?Passion–as she finds out when she meets Zack Foster.Zack's a veterinarian who's recently moved to Shelter Valley after the failure of a marriage he'd considered perfect. He still likes being with women, but now prefers his romances "short and sweet."Randi and Zack learn what it is to feel truly passionate about someone else–and they begin to want the passion they've discovered. But to get something, you have to give something up. Can they exchange contentment for happiness–even if greater happiness means greater risk?

“I’ve got a date tonight.”

“You do?” Becca couldn’t quite keep the excitement out of her voice, but Randi gave her full marks for effort. “Who with?”

“Zack Foster. He’s the new partner at the veterinary clinic.”

“Oh?”

Randi almost smiled at the eagerness her sister-in-law was trying so hard to conceal. Except that she felt so miserable, smiling wasn’t currently an option. “I can’t go,” she muttered.

“Why not?” There was curiosity and concern in Becca’s voice.

“I don’t know,” Randi admitted. “I’ve only met the man once, and he…he scares me.”

“Zack? I’ve only seen him a couple of times and he’s big, I’ll grant you. But a teddy bear.”

“It’s not that Zack scares me, exactly,” she said, staring down at the logo on her shoe. “When I was sitting in his office yesterday, it was almost like I’d been hypnotized. I was practically ready to agree to anything he said. It was the oddest sensation….”

Dear Reader,

I’m really glad you’ve decided to join me here in Shelter Valley. I’ve been visiting this town on and off for a while now, and I find it harder and harder to leave each time I have to return to my “other” world. There’s so much going on here—so many great people, so many stories to tell….

Like the story of Randi Parsons and Zack Foster. Now, here are two interesting people. They’re both attractive, successful, honest and hardworking—and they’re both living at home at a time when they should be starting families. Because underneath all the smiles they have scars no one else can see. They touched me, I think, because they’re like a lot of us who put on our smiles to face the world when deep inside there’s pain most people never know about. Pain that sometimes attacks us in the middle of our busy days with no warning at all. Pain brought on by seemingly inconsequential things—a song on the radio, a phrase someone uses, a person who looks like someone we once knew.

I admire Randi in particular because she won’t compromise who she is, even when that person won’t fit the stereotypes people expect her to fit. She’d rather be alone—forcing herself to be happy—than lose the person who lives inside her. She makes no apologies for her differences, while accepting extreme differences in those around her. She’s a fighter. And a dreamer. A difficult combination. But a great one, too.

And Zack…well, I’m pretty certain he’ll make your heart beat faster if nothing else. He’s my idea of a hero. He’s sexy, athletic, logical, capable and he has a huge heart. Many parts of my own true-life hero slipped in here when I wasn’t looking.

So…enjoy. And don’t worry. I’ve so enjoyed my time in Shelter Valley that I’m coming back soon! I hope you will, too.

Tara Taylor Quinn

I love to hear from readers. You can reach me at: P.O. Box 15065, Scottsdale, Arizona 85267-5065 or online at http://www.inficad.com/~ttquinn

White Picket Fences

Tara Taylor Quinn

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Thanks to the faculty and staff in the men’s and women’s athletic departments at Scottsdale Community College, Scottsdale, Arizona. Any accurate portrayals of life in the academic sports world must be attributed to them.

Any mistakes are my own.

Dedication:

For my mother, Penny Gumser,

who gave me life.

And for my editor, Paula Eykelhof,

who brings my dreams to life.

I couldn’t have done this without either one of you.

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

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

EPILOGUE