It is also the prequel to Mary’s bestselling family saga, A Family Affair: The Promise, Truth in Lies, Book Seven. She'll risk anything to save her child...even the truth. It's taken nine years and a cross-country move, but Audra Valentine Wheyton has kept her secrets safe. She's created the perfect life: a husband who loves her, a daughter she adores, and a position as head writer for an award-winning daytime soap. When her husband dies suddenly, Audra returns to her hometown for the funeral and faces a community that has not forgotten her meager beginnings and the man who has never forgiven her for marrying his brother. Jack Wheyton is a successful pediatric neurosurgeon who is about to become engaged when Audra walks back into his life with her daughter. He forgave his brother long ago for taking something that had been his, something he hadn't even realized he wanted until it was gone. But forgiving Audra is another story...and forgetting her? Near impossible. When a shattering illness strikes Audra's daughter, she turns to Jack to save her child and risks exposing a secret that will change their lives forever. BONUS MATERIAL: Included in this book is 2 Chapters from The Way They Were: That Second Chance, Book 2

    He’s also opening a bar with his buddies right below my apartment. Goodbye, peace and quiet, hello sleepless nights fantasizing about my hot new landlord… But when my stuffy workplace makes it clear I need a plus-one for our events, I have the perfect way to even the score. Emerson is A+ arm-candy… as long as I can resist taking a bite. Our arrangement is supposed to be just for show, but Emerson is like that fifth shot of tequila: tempting, intoxicating, and liable to leave me flat on my back with my panties around my ankles, begging for more. Maybe I should stay for just one more round…

     There I was, in the most beautiful city on Earth, surrounded by gorgeous buildings and the history of centuries of the Roman Empire, and I hadn't left my apartment in months. I was in a rut, one that seemed impossible to break out of. Even worse, my lecherous professor threatened to end my education in Rome if I didn't sleep with him. That's when my knight in shining armor appeared. The only American I had seen in weeks, he swept me off my feet. In a night of tumultuous passion, I was broken from my rut. I never thought I'd see him again, but he showed up again at just the right moment. When I poured my heart out about my situation as I bathed, he jumped in with me, expensive pants and all, eager to listen. I never even recognized that he was Liam Montgomery, billionaire CEO and playboy. But there was something different about him. Something that his wealth couldn't hide. An honesty that shone through. And when he told me time and time again that he thought I was different, I began to believe him. I began to believe in myself. I began to believe I could find happiness here in Rome...

    A boss she didn't know she had. Matt Jones now had the job she had been waiting to apply for (and win) for the past year, and to add insult to injury, he's the kind of guy her parents would adore.Damn it.The only kid of six to choose to run off to Boston and leave behind her idyllic family in Maine, Lydia's determined to prove herself in the big city, but she has to keep Matt at arm's length. After a steamy elevator encounter that leaves her missing her panties – and most of her resolve – she decides that maybe it's time to let him get inside her. In more ways than one. But when Matt suddenly closes off she's upset and confused. When he also acts like he owns the place, she decides that malicious obedience – following his every command to the letter – will prove how much the department needs her creativity after he insists he knows best.What Lydia doesn't know is that “Matt” is really Michael Bournham, the CEO of the company, part of an undercover reality television stunt. Keeping his hands off Lydia's luscious curves was becoming an exercise in restraint, but what was harder? Keeping his heart from her. For Michael, Lydia's malicious obedience ignited a night of unbridled passion in the office that made him forget everything – including the rolling cameras – until it was too late. When unscrupulous producers make their lovemaking viral, Michael pulls out all the stops and calls in every favor as Lydia...maliciously obeys.

    So he writes an Indie novel. And it becomes a bestseller. Well, sort of. His fame brings him the lifestyle of a rockstar, and he has the fan mail (i.e. female undergarments, probably clean) to prove it. But seeing his fame, his wife suddenly believes in marriage counseling. Their homework: to create something beautiful for each other. So he writes Our Story, his literary secret-weapon that will win his wife back. But in the process he discovers that true love is more than just ticking the right boxes on a checklist..

    Applying for a summer internship at an upscale auction house just because she has a mad crush on one of the bosses, may be Career Fail 101 for Hannah Cohen.Certainly, she is heading that way when she spends her first week focusing more on the way Bruce Nelson’s mouth shapes his words than their actual meaning.Novelette