Once a Good Girl…
Wendy S. Marcus
Table of Contents
Praise for Wendy S. Marcus
“Readers are bound to feel empathy
for both the hero and heroine. Each has a uniquely disastrous past and these complications help to make the moment when Jared and Allison are able to give their hearts to the other all the more touching.” —RT Book Reviews on When One Night Isn’t Enough 4 Stars
About the Author
WENDY S. MARCUS is not a lifelong reader. As a child, she never burrowed under her covers with a flashlight and a good book. In senior English, she skimmed the classics, reading the bare minimum required to pass the class. Wendy found her love of reading later in life, in a box of old paperbacks at a school fundraiser where she was introduced to the romance genre in the form of a Harlequin Superromance. Since that first book, she’s been a voracious reader of romance often times staying up way too late to reach the happy ending before letting herself go to sleep.
Wendy lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley region of New York with her husband, two of their three children, and their beloved dog, Buddy. A nurse by trade, Wendy has a master’s degree in health care administration. After years of working in the medical profession, she’s taken a radical turn to writing hot contemporary romances with strong heroes, feisty heroines, and lots of laughs. Wendy loves hearing from readers. Please visit her blog at www.WendySMarcus.com
Dear Reader
People often ask me how I come up with my characters. Are they based on any one person? Should they fear winding up in one of my books? I laugh and answer, ‘You never know.’ But the truth is my characters are a conglomeration of traits and habits from lots of different people.
As for Victoria, the heroine in the book you are about to read, I’d say she has a bit of me in her. I am a perfectionist, a hard worker, and I am determined to achieve whatever goals I set for myself. While I didn’t have to overcome the obstacles Victoria did, I attended night school to earn my Masters in Health Care Administration while working full time. At the age of twenty-eight I took over as Director of Patient Services for a large licensed home healthcare services agency—a job I absolutely loved.
But with the birth of my second child the measurement of my success changed from a red BMW and a pay-cheque with six figures to being the kind of mom I’d always hoped to be—one who attended school parties and arrived home in time to get her children off the bus. So I left my then dream job and created new opportunities for myself.
I wonder if Victoria would choose the same path. Probably not.
If you’re new to my books, I introduced Victoria in my debut Medical™ Romance, WHEN ONE NIGHT ISN’T ENOUGH—the first book in my Madrin Memorial Hospital series. Roxie’s story is up next. I hope you’ll take the time to read them all.
I love to hear from readers. Please visit me at: www.WendySMarcus.com
Wishing you all good things
Wendy S. Marcus
This book is dedicated to Harold Glassberg. A knowledgeable advisor. A staunch supporter. A dear friend. (And the only man gutsy enough to join my mailing list!) For giving me a reason to write and the chance to find out how much I enjoy it.
With special thanks to:
My editor, Flo Nicoll, for your wonderful suggestions and fast turnaround times.
My agent, Michelle Grajkowski, for your fierce negotiating skills and answering my many questions.
My friend, Nas Dean, for helping me with promotion and all things requiring computer savvy,
Some special writing friends, Christine Glover, Joanne Coles, and Lacey Devlin, for your supportive e-mails and blog comments.
And, as always, to my family, for putting up with all the time I spend on the computer and accepting, without complaint, that I didn’t cook dinner. Again.
CHAPTER ONE
WITH a few adept keystrokes, 5E Head Nurse Victoria Forley shot next week’s schedule off to the nursing office and closed down her computer. Today she would leave on time. She straightened her already neat desk then scanned her tiny utilitarian office to make sure everything was in its place. The memory of her son’s tear-filled eyes made her heart ache. “Why am I always the last kid picked up from afterschool program?” Jake had asked last night at dinner. “My teacher gets so mad when you’re late.”
Mad enough to put Victoria on parental probation. Three more late pick-ups and Jake would be kicked out of the program. Then what would she do?
Victoria hated that the promotion she’d fought so hard for, a bullet-point in her ten-year plan to provide her son a future filled with opportunities rather than financial constraints, significantly impacted the wide-awake hours they spent together. Although, to be honest, it wasn’t actually the job that was the problem; it was her obsessive compulsive need to achieve perfection at it. To show everyone at Madrin Memorial Hospital who thought a twenty-five-year-old wasn’t experienced enough to be the hospital’s newest head nurse that she was up to the task.
She grabbed her lab coat from