Today, I’m adding a short, sexy contemporary romance called Faith in Love. This book tells of an unexpected Christmas romance between Faith Chisolm and Ian McCary.
Unfortunately, not every book works. My last book, The Betrayal, just wasn’t working, so I put it on the back burner for more editing.
The first two chapters of Faith in Love are below if you’d like to give it a little preview. Or click here to download the free book.
PROLOGUE
It couldn’t be possible. That couldn’t be her face staring back at her in the mirror she held. She was Dr. Faith Black, a psychiatrist, for heaven’s sake. She should have known better. The only resemblance the woman in the mirror bore to that woman with the medical degree in psychiatry was the long auburn hair.
Faith sighed and brought the mirror closer to her face so she could study the unfamiliar image. It had two black eyes, one of them swollen shut. A bandage on her right cheek concealed five stitches and part of an ugly purple bruise. Her jaw was swollen, wired shut because of the break. Her lip was swollen, bruised and cut. Her nose, which had been virtually destroyed then reconstructed, was held in place by a plastic guard.
As she laid the mirror on the stand beside her hospital bed, the deep bruises that Roger’s fingers had left on her arm attracted her attention. She slumped back against the pillow, releasing a groan of agony. Not only did she look like she’d just gone ten rounds with Rocky, she felt like it, too. There wasn’t a muscle in her body that didn’t hurt whenever she moved.
Seven minutes. That’s all it had taken for her life to be destroyed. From the time Roger had come home from work until he’d hit her the first time and she’d locked herself in the bedroom had been three minutes. It had taken less than one minute for her to call 911 and give them her address before Roger had kicked in the door and grabbed the landline phone on the bedside table, hitting her in the head with it.
Everything after that was foggy, but the time the police said they’d arrived was about four minutes after she’d picked up the phone. They’d booked Roger for drunk and disorderly conduct last night, because she’d been too incoherent to know what was happening. But that morning they’d come to the hospital with the appropriate paperwork in case she wanted to file aggravated assault charges.
For the first time in all her years of counseling, she’d followed her own advice. She’d filed not only aggravated assault charges against her husband, but also charges of assault with a deadly weapon since he’d hit her twice with the telephone. She reached up and ran her fingertips across the bandage hidden under her bangs.
The doctor had told her that he’d needed fourteen stitches to close the cut made by the edge of the phone. That was going to leave one heck of a scar.
Faith rolled her eyes heavenward and moaned. Even that movement hurt.
“Dear God,” she said through pain-wracked lips. “Why didn’t I listen to my own advice?”
The door opening quietly brought her attention from the ceiling, and she looked over to see a small, blonde peek into the room.
“I’m awake, Ginger,” Faith said. “Come on in.”
“Are you sure?” Ginger asked hesitantly. “After what happened?”
“Come in,” Faith insisted. “You aren’t responsible for your brother’s actions.”
Ginger wandered to the bedside and sank onto a nearby chair. “God! I can’t believe he did this to you.”
“I should have seen it coming, Ginger. His temper’s been getting progressively worse for months. I have nobody to blame but myself—for not getting out of the marriage.” Faith sighed. “I thought I was so careful when I looked for a husband, but …”
Ginger cut in. “Maybe that was your whole problem. You’re too involved in your psychology stuff. Fall in love, Faith. Don’t go looking for it logically, because love has nothing to do with logic. It just happens. And it’s better that way.” After a brief pause, Ginger continued along a different line. “Now about my no-good brother. Roger wanted me to bail him out, but I refused. I don’t care if he is my little brother. He has no business treating people like he did you, and he has to learn that before he hurts somebody else.”
“I appreciate knowing that he can’t get to me yet.”
“It’ll be awhile before he can post bail, too. I camped out at the jail and dissuaded everybody Roger’s lawyer called. That was before I got my hands on his lawyer and told him not to send anybody else because I planned to stay camped out until Roger had gone through all of his friends. I want to keep Roger behind bars until you’re out of the house.”
“Make that out of town,” Faith returned with forced levity, “and you’ve got a deal.”
“Is that what you’re planning to do? Leave town?”
“Yes. Tomorrow morning my lawyer’s coming over here, and I’m filing for divorce. I already have a restraining order against him, but I’m not counting on it. A piece of paper won’t hold back a person who’s intent on doing somebody harm.”
“Where will you go? No. Don’t tell me. I’ve always been a softy for Roger’s sweet-talking. Just get the hell out of town as soon as you can. Roger’s going to have to plead guilty when he’s arraigned, because he was caught in the act hitting with the phone again, so he’ll get some sort of prison term. But I sure as hell wouldn’t count on it being for a long time. He has a way of manipulating people to get what he wants.”
“How well I know, Ginger,” Faith admitted. “How well I know.”
ONE
Faith pulled her white RAV4 Hybrid into the first parking place she found and turned off the motor. Opening the door, she stepped out into the cold Ohio air. Quite a difference from the comfortable mid-November temperature in Florida.
Bending into the car, she pushed the button to open the liftback, then straightened up and rubbed her upper arms vigorously as she shut the door with her hip. Now she remembered why she’d moved south after graduating from the University of Illinois, Chicago. It was cold up here.
She opened the back of the vehicle then a suitcase inside to pull out a heavy sweater. She needed to invest in a winter coat or parka now that she was moving to Eagleton.
After zipping shut her suitcase, Faith slammed down the trunk lid. She slid into her sweater and pulled it snugly around her. That was better, but not much. Tomorrow she would go shopping and see what kind of coat she could find. Right now she just wanted to stretch her legs and get the kinks out before she went to her relatives’ house.
Eagleton, Ohio, was a tree-lined town with quaint old-style shops, not large department stores. The local merchants swept their sidewalks daily and washed their doors and windows until they sparkled, giving the town a squeaky-clean appearance. When she was a child, her favorite shops had been Mrs. Kohler’s Candy Shoppe and Duff’s Drug Store, where they’d had an old-fashioned soda fountain. Mrs. Kohler’s Candy Shoppe was gone now, but Duff’s was still in business.
Suddenly craving a chocolate soda, Faith strolled to the corner, crossed the street in the crosswalk, then backtracked to the drug store. As she entered, she saw an elderly man behind a cash register transacting a sale with a young woman about seven months pregnant. The medium-height, white-haired man glanced up, then stopped counting money from the register and gazed over at Faith with sparkling blue eyes.
“Faith!” he exclaimed. “John told me you were coming to town. How are you?”
“Just fine now.” Faith smiled and strode up to the pair at the register. She’d always adored Peter Duff and was so glad to see him again that she could have jumped over the counter to hug him. “I’m surprised that you recognized me, Mr. Duff. It’s been eleven years since I’ve been in Eagleton.”
Peter Duff laughed. “How could I not recognize those big green eyes? A pair of the biggest emeralds I’ve ever seen. And those pretty auburn waves always shone like fire in the sun.” Mr. Duff handed the woman her change and a small paper bag. “Take care of that baby, Kate.”
“I will,” Kate returned as she hurried from the building.
“Can’t figure how that girl got hitched,” he said, winking at Faith. “I’ve never met anybody so shy, especially not a talkative little redhead I remember coming in here as a kid.”
Faith giggled, glad that time hadn’t changed at least one person from her past. Mr. Duff would probably always make her feel better. “This is one little redhead who finally learned to keep her mouth shut once in a while and listen for a change. I hope you still have your famous soda fountain. I’m dying for a chocolate soda made your special way.”
Mr. Duff chuckled. “Would I be dumb enough to close down the second most prosperous part of my business? Next to prescriptions, that’s what keeps me going.” Mr. Duff waved at someone across the room as he came out from behind the register. “Keep a look-out, will you, Hank? I have a gorgeous, green-eyed redhead to serve at the soda fountain.”
“Will do,” Hank called to his boss. “I heard you were coming back to town, Faith. Good to see you again.”
“Good to see you, too, Hank,” Faith returned as she waved at him before following Mr. Duff toward the back of the store.
Old home week, she thought. Things hardly ever changed in Smalltown, USA. Everybody still knew everybody else’s business. Unfortunately, everybody had also known about her first steamy summertime romance—with Hank—the year she’d graduated from high school. Four years had scarcely diminished the talk when she’d visited after college and Hank was serving his time in the Green Berets. Had an extra eleven years helped the town to forget? she wondered as she climbed onto a red, vinyl-covered stool in front of the counter.
“If Hank hadn’t married five years ago,” Mr. Duff observed, “he’d probably be knocking at your door again. Don’t think the young man’s ever gotten over his big love.”
Faith’s face heated in embarrassment. “I was hoping people would have forgotten about that by now. And we’re hardly young anymore.”
Mr. Duff chuckled as he dropped a scoop of chocolate ice cream into a tall glass. “Everybody who ain’t my age is young, missy.” He added some chocolate syrup to the ice cream then squirted in some soda water. After stirring it with a long spoon, he set it in front of Faith and handed her a paper-covered straw.
Ripping off a tip of the paper, she wrapped her lips around the end of the plastic straw and blew into it. The paper made a rustling noise but didn’t fly off like it would have when she was a child. She pulled the paper off with two fingers. “Don’t make straw packages like they used to, do they, Mr. Duff.”
“Nope.” He chuckled again. “There was a time when you could send the paper clear over to the next aisle. Lost track of the number of times I found your clutter on the floor over there.”
Giggling, Faith dropped the straw into her soda and leaned over it. She took a long, slow sip, savoring the childhood memories that the taste of a double dose of chocolate brought back to her. Whatever had possessed her not to make her home in Eagleton long before this? It still held her happiest moments.
“Oh, Mr. Duff,” she sighed. “This is heaven. If you weren’t married, I’d shack up with you just so you would make these for me all the time.”
“Speaking of married,” he said, “I can’t remember your last name now.”
“It’s Chisolm again. I took my maiden name back when I got divorced.”
“Excuse me, sir,” a man nearby said.
Mr. Duff and Faith glanced in his direction. She stopped with her lips caressing the straw and stared at him in amazement. At first all she noticed was a pair of brilliant blue eyes—even bluer than Mr. Duff’s. Then she saw what was attached to those eyes gazing at her with such piercing sadness—and almost choked on her drink, he was so handsome.
His medium-brown, rather shaggy hair made his eyes seem even bluer. His long, straight nose had a hint of a bump near the bridge, and his mouth. Oh, his mouth! It was full and damp from whatever he’d been drinking, and made her want to leap into his lap to smother it with her own lips.
The thought startled her. She’d never had such an instantaneous reaction to a man before. Why now?
With a silent nod and a quick smile, she acknowledged him then let her gaze leave his face. His suit coat fit him so snugly in the arms, his elbows bent on the counter, that she could see how well developed his biceps and triceps were. And his thighs were tight against his trouser legs.
To still her imagination, she poured her concentration into her soda. The last thing she needed was the complications of a romance. She needed to keep her mind on finding a suitable job so she could support herself and not be dependent upon John and Betty Hanlon.
“You ready for your check?” Mr. Duff asked the man as he approached him.
“Please,” the man replied. “I have to get back to Dayton before it’s time to leave work.”
Just the sound of that gorgeous man’s voice made her knees weak and her body melt. It was such a rich baritone, so clear, so husky. So totally sexy! And she couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to hear it whisper sweet nothings into her ear.
“You big city folks are on a fast track, young man,” Mr. Duff said as he added up the man’s lunch. “Dayton’s less than an hour away. All interstate. You should slow down and enjoy life, son, or someday you’ll find out that it passed you by.”
Faith grinned. More of Mr. Duff’s noted, unsolicited sage advice.
“Here’s your check,” Mr. Duff continued. “I’ll meet you at the register.”
“No need,” the man said. Using the mirror over the work area across from her, Faith watched the man withdraw his wallet and take out a bill. “Keep the change.” She glanced out of the corner of her eye to watch him return his wallet to his back pants pocket. Nice backside, too! The man started toward her, saying, “Have a good afternoon, sir.” When he stopped beside her, she let her startled gaze rise to his face. He was smiling the most mind-boggling smile! “Ma’am,” he said. And he strode out of the building while she watched in shock.
Across from her, Mr. Duff laughed again, but when she glared at him, he stopped and said, “Sorry, Faith, but it was hard not to see that you noticed him.”
Faith returned her gaze to the door. “Who was he, anyway?”
“Never saw him before. Said he was in town on business and decided to eat lunch before he went back to work. His associate suggested that he try here, so he did. That’s all I know.” Mr. Duff paused while Faith took another sip of her soda. “Except that a certain redhead showed him—and everybody else with eyes—exactly what she thought of him.”
Faith choked on her drink, and Mr. Duff rounded the counter to pat her back. She unceremoniously pushed him away and coughed a couple more times before she could catch her breath.
“You all right?” Mr. Duff asked.
“I’m fine.” After emitting another small gag, she took a deep breath and released it slowly as she smiled up at him. “You shouldn’t say things like that when a person’s drinking something.”
“You were practically drooling on the man,” he replied with a stifled laugh.
“It’s not my fault that he could make a nun give up her vows just by looking at him.” She glanced back at the door then returned her gaze to Mr. Duff. “And he didn’t say who this business associate is?”
“Nope. Just told me that much then ordered his lunch.” He looked at her sheepishly. “Want to know what it was?”
“Jeez! Am I really that transparent?”
“Always have been, missy. That’s one of the nice things about you. Nobody has to guess what you’re thinking. It’s right there on your face. If Hank and I hadn’t been here, you probably would have … What’s the phrase kids use nowadays? Ah, yes. You would have jumped his bones.”
“Mr. Duff!”
“Just calling it like I see it. Nothing new there. And if you want to know who he is as bad as it looked like, you’d better start checking around town to find out who his business associate is before somebody forgets he was even here.”
“I don’t see how anybody could forget him,” she crooned.
“I’m telling you, missy. Don’t let this chance pass you by. Life’s too short for that.”
“Advice from Eagleton’s town sage?” she asked jokingly.
“More like a word of warning. Take your time with that soda, Faith. And it’s on me. Just walk out the door when you’re done. I really need to get back to work. Flu season, you know, and it’s hitting Eagleton like a ton of bricks.”
***
Faith drove up the circular driveway to the old Victorian house that was set back in the woods just outside Eagleton. She remembered the house well, because she’d spent many summers playing in its third-floor playroom with her cousins. Years ago it had been pale green, but now it was a sunny yellow with white trim. The covered white porch ran along two sides of the first floor, and the porch swing swayed in the gusty wind.
She parked her RAV4 and strode confidently up the front steps to the white door. Before knocking, she did a slow turn, taking in the surroundings. The big weeping willow tree was gone now, and so was the tree house in the oak tree nearest the far end of the driveway. Just viewing the vista brought back memories—not so much of events but of the unconditional love she’d found within these walls.
That was far from what she’d experienced in her mother’s small apartment. She’d always felt like she had to be perfect for Madge Chisolm. Like if she didn’t get the best grades in school or if she wasn’t the best cheerleader, she wouldn’t be acceptable in her mother’s eyes. For the month she spent each summer at the home of her deceased father’s sister, she felt like the only thing that mattered was that she existed.
With a sigh of contentment, Faith knocked on the door. In only seconds, it flew open, and her excited Aunt Betty dragged her into the house by the wrist. Faith embraced the small woman tightly. Nothing had changed. Betty still accepted her as one of her own.
Reluctantly pushing away, she held Betty Hanlon’s hands apart to examine her and said the same thing Betty had said to her every summer. “Look at you! How you’ve grown.”
Betty giggled. “The wrong way, I’m afraid. You look more like Gregory every time I see you. Oh, how I wish you could have known your daddy. He was such a loving man.”
“We all know that being loving runs in the Chisolm family,” Faith replied. “Your hair’s grayer now, but you don’t look a day over fifty.”
“Make that fifty-five, and I’ll agree with you. Let’s go into the living room and sit down.”
“I have a better idea,” Faith suggested. “Let’s go into the kitchen. I love your kitchen.”
Faith led Betty toward the back of the house where the kitchen was located, but she stopped short in the doorway. This wasn’t the kitchen that she loved. This was something new. White cabinets white replaced the pine cabinets of her childhood. The walls had pale blue wallpaper instead of the off-white paint that had made the kitchen look so cheery. And there was absolutely no hardware on the cabinets, when years ago there had been shiny brass pulls and knobs adorning the drawers and cabinet doors.
This kitchen had an extra large, French door refrigerator/freezer with two drawers, a cook-stove on the center island, and two built-in ovens. And there was a dishwasher, of all things! How was she supposed to pour her heart out to Betty while they were doing dishes if there was a dishwasher? The quaint, homey kitchen that she’d so adored spending time in was gone.
“What happened to your kitchen, Aunt Betty?” she asked in shock. “Why did you change it so drastically?”
“You can blame your cousins for that,” Betty explained as she led Faith to the round white table near the bay window. “When we had a gas fire a few years ago, they put their collective feet down—all twelve of them—and made us get modern appliances. Your uncle John and I felt we were out numbered six to two, so we let Patti design our new one. Don’t you like it?”
Faith collapsed onto a white fabric chair at the table and picked up a chocolate chip cookie from the plate in the middle. At least one thing was familiar—the smell of chocolate chip cookies, homemade, fresh from the oven. She took a bite and looked around again.
“It’s not that I don’t like it, Aunt Betty,” she said. “It’s just that I’m not used to it. I was expecting familiarity—not new surroundings.”
“Everything changes with time, dear,” Betty replied as she sat down opposite her niece.
Faith smiled. “You’ve been hanging out with Mr. Duff too long. You’re starting to sound like a sage, too.”
“How are you feeling after …” Betty’s words trailed off.
“Roger attacked me? I still get headaches once in a while, but otherwise I’m fit as a fiddle.” Faith flashed a bright smile. “Besides, not everything that came out of it was bad. Do you like my new nose? Not as big as the other one, is it?”
“Yes, I like your nose. But what about those dreams, those nightmares, you mentioned? Do you still have them?”
Faith cringed at the thought and knew she was destined to have this conversation despite her desire to avoid it. “Not for three weeks. I’m a psychologist, Aunt Betty. I went to a colleague and went through therapy myself to get past the rough spots. Let’s leave it at that, okay?”
“For now, anyway.” Betty rose and wandered to the cabinet beside the refrigerator. “Would you like some milk with that cookie you seem intent on holding all day?”
“All right!” she exclaimed, glad that her aunt had at least temporarily agreed to drop the subject.
Pouring her a glass of milk, Betty said, “Your uncle John decided to come home early today—to spend more of your …”
“… first day back with you,” a man said from the doorway. “I thought I’d find my little duchess in here, nibbling up her queen aunt’s cookies.”
In her rush to greet her uncle, Faith knocked over her chair. She flew into his arms and hugged him tightly, then she dragged him to the table to join them, picking up her chair again before she sat down. For several seconds, she examined the couple. What total opposites! Betty was short and slightly obese, with gray hair and green eyes. John was tall, slim, and bald with brown eyes. So totally different, yet so very happy together for nearly fifty years.
“I’ve missed you both so much I can’t tell you,” she announced. “I should have come back long ago.”
“You certainly should have,” John scolded cheerfully. “What did you do with your furniture?”
“It’s in storage until I can find a place to stay and a job to support myself.”
“Actually, Betty and I already discussed that, and we have a suggestion. Why don’t you live in one of our guest houses?”
“Your guest houses?” she asked in amazement. “I don’t remember any guest houses.”
“That’s because we didn’t have fourteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren when you were last here. The house gets a little crowded during the holidays, so we built a couple of guest houses on the property so the bigger families would have some privacy—and so would your old aunt and I.”
“That’d be great, but aren’t they already furnished?”
Betty flicked her hand like she was shooing away a fly. “Patti’s husband Bernie and Frank will come over and move everything into the basement. And before you say anything, they’ve already agreed if you want the guest house. All you have to do is decide which one you prefer.”
“Great!” Faith said. “And as soon as I find a job, I’ll pay you rent.”
“Only token rent,” John insisted, “and only because I know how important it is to you to be independent. Now about the job part. I’ve been wanting to do something at the station for a long time now, and you would be perfect.”
“What could I possibly do at a television station?” she asked in amazement.
“Host a talk show, like Oprah Winfrey. You’d be perfect with your gift of gab and your degree in psychology.”
Faith waved her hands franticlly in front of her. “Oh, no! I couldn’t. I’ve never been on TV before. I wouldn’t know what to do. I wouldn’t know how to act. I’d probably forget everything I’ve ever learned the second the light went on the camera.”
“You’d do fine,” John assured her.
“You don’t understand. I haven’t done any therapy in seven months. I don’t trust myself to do it. Not right now, anyway. Why would I go on TV and make myself look like a fool by trying to have psychologists and authors on a show where I have to intelligently interview them?”
Faith rose and wandered to the window seat at the bay window. Not only would she be nervous about being on television, she would be nervous about the possibility of Roger finding her, just like he’d vowed when the police took him to jail after his sentencing. But how could she explain that to her aunt and uncle without telling them that Roger hadn’t received a very stiff sentence? How could she tell them that Roger would spend a maximum of three years behind bars?
Probably not even that, given the fact that he’d already served part of his sentence before that ridiculous trial she’d had to endure. Why hadn’t he just pleaded guilty and left her alone? Why had he had to claim self-defense and put her through the agony of facing him in a courtroom? Why had she been holding that stupid psychology textbook when he walked in the door? More importantly, why had she thrown it at him when he’d verbally threatened her?
With a heavy sigh, she returned to the table. None of that mattered anymore. All she cared about was staying out of the limelight for the next few years—just to assure that she was safe no matter when Roger got out of prison.
“I’m sorry, Uncle John,” she said. “But I can’t accept your offer. Maybe another time, when I’m more confident in my abilities as a psychiatrist, when I’ve had time to adjust to the idea of being a TV personality.”
“All right,” he agreed with a casual shrug. “I have another job open if you’re interested, but you might not find it as exciting.”
“What is it?”
“There’s an opening in my research department. You wouldn’t have any problem researching things, would you?”
She smiled at him. “Actually, I think I could research things very well, and I appreciate your nepotism.” Rising again, she gazed from her aunt to her uncle then back again. “Should we head out to the guest houses so I can decide on one? I may as well set up residence as soon as I can.”
John draped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. “That’s my duchess. You always did bounce back nicely. You’ll do nicely this time, too. It just might take longer given all the circumstances.” He glanced down at Betty as she rose as well. “Come along, my queen. Let’s go check out those guest houses.”