Tara Taylor Quinn - The Promise He Made Her

A man of his word

Dr. Bloom Freelander thought it was safe to breathe again when Detective Sam Larson put her abusive ex away for good. She’s been moving on, running a private practice and providing psychiatry services to The Lemonade Stand women’s shelter. But now that her ex is a free man, she’s in danger once again.

Forced into protective custody, Bloom can’t help but fall for her protector. But she has every reason to doubt the handsome detective’s word. Sam broke his promise to her once. Who says he won’t break it again—along with her heart this time?

He was there for a reason...

“Sam—” she used his first name, though he’d never told her to “—what’s going on? Can I help?”

When he shook his head, her heart sank. Please, God, don’t let this man have done something bad enough to put him in jail. A world without him in it. Santa Raquel without him keeping it safe.

The idea left her bereft.

His expression cleared. “Yes, you can help.” He seemed to have fought some internal battle and...won?

“Okay.” She smiled. Couldn’t seem to stop smiling at him. Wanted to put her hand on his knee where it rested close to hers. Or on the hand he had resting on it. “What can I do?”

“I need you to do me a favor.”

“Sure. Fine. What?” This was Sam Larson. He’d saved her life. She owed him far more than she’d ever be able to repay.

“I need you to pack up whatever keepsakes and possessions you most value, along with clothes and personal items, and be ready for me to pick you up late tomorrow afternoon.”

Dear Reader,

I’m a bit envious of you. You have this story ahead of you. I’ve already finished it. For me it’s one of those books that leaves you feeling bereft at the end because it’s over. I can’t really even tell you why. I love Sam. He’s not perfect. Far from it. But he’s completely honest. With himself. And with others. He stands by what he says. Does what he says he’s going to do.

And then...he finds out that he’s not in control of the whole world...that sometimes he can’t do as he says because it’s out of his control. He does not take this news well.

And Bloom, she’s an incarnation of so many things. She’s a genius, like the one I raised. But beyond what I was personally bringing to the story, Bloom...bloomed...into so much more than these little details that I knew about her. She found an inner strength that I didn’t know existed, but that I’ve taken upon myself. Mostly I love her because she found a way to walk through the fire with an open heart.

I hope you enjoy your time in Santa Raquel, and that you come back to visit often. We’re giving you many “vacation” opportunities. But rest assured, each “package” takes you, in some way, through The Lemonade Stand, Where Secrets are Safe. Welcome!

I love to hear from readers! You can find me on Facebook at Facebook.com/tarataylorquinnand on Twitter, @tarataylorquinn. Or join my open Friendship board on Pinterest! Pinterest.com/tarataylorquinn/friendship.

All the best,

Tara

www.TaraTaylorQuinn.com

www.millsandboon.co.uk

An author of more than seventy novels, TARA TAYLOR QUINN is a USA TODAY bestselling author with more than seven million copies sold. She is known for delivering emotional and psychologically astute novels of suspense and romance. Tara is a past president of Romance Writers of America. She has won a Readers’ Choice Award and is a five-time finalist for an RWA RITA® Award, a finalist for a Reviewer’s Choice Award and a Booksellers’ Best Award. She has also appeared on TV across the country, including CBS Sunday Morning. She supports the National Domestic Violence Hotline. If you or someone you know might be a victim of domestic violence in the United States, please contact 1-800-799-7233.

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For Rachel: You chose a difficult path to help many and keep us safe. May you also always be able to walk through the fire with your heart open. All my love, forever. Ma

Contents

COVER

BACK COVER TEXT

INTRODUCTION

Dear Reader

TITLE PAGE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DEDICATION

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

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

EXTRACT

COPYRIGHT

CHAPTER ONE

PHYSICAL BRUISES HEAL. It’s the mental ones that can kill you. Bloom shook her head and hit the delete key. Looked for a more genteel way to get her point across. She didn’t want to lose her audience during the first minute of the two-hour-long psychology symposium. They’d given her a room with seating for three hundred, which could feel cavernous if she failed to entertain.

Back in her old life, her teaching life, she’d have filled the screen with visual aids, provided a handout—and probably pens, too. She’d have sent around a bowl filled with individually wrapped peppermints. All actions designed to increase memory retention in lecture situations, and she’d have been content to get 5 percent retention after seven days.

But those were the old days. Her associate college professor days. Funny how so much could change in just three years.

Physical bruises heal. It’s the mental ones that can kill you. Her second try ended up exactly the same as the first.

And if she started her keynote address at the psychiatric conference that way, people might not physically exit in droves, but she might lose her credibility.

One in four of the audience members—the current statistic for the number of the victims of domestic violence in the United States—might even take offense. Get angry.

How could she belittle the bruises that took so many lives? How could she say that “bruises heal,” dismissing the fact that intimate partners lifted fists to those who loved them?

She had two hours to impress upon her peers the very real disease that ate away at more of the population than any other disease. Domestic violence.

Medical personnel had been made more aware of intimate partner violence in recent years. After all, some professional sports leagues had been forced to shine light on the problem as a way of warding off the negative press that resulted from some of their stars being abusers.

But the fact that every minute twenty-four people were victims of intimate partner abuse in the United States was not just a problem for police and hospitals, doctors and nurses. Her profession—psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors—needed to step up to the plate.

Because bruises, broken bones, even cracked skulls healed over time. But without awareness, without help, without a “movement” to tend to the mental bruises left by domestic violence, not enough of the victims of that violence were going to heal...