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Married...Again
Stephanie Doyle
The only thing she wasn't prepared for was life itself…Eleanor desperately loved her husband, Max Harper, but when he chose his research work over their marriage one more time, she had no choice but to file for divorce. She couldn’t know that his ship would go down in a storm in the North Atlantic. Two years later, she’s buried him in the past, launched a thriving business and even dating again. She's getting her life together and she's doing just great, she tells anybody who asks her. But she's absolutely not prepared for what—or who—is about to step into her mom's study next…
The only thing she wasn’t prepared for was life itself...
Eleanor desperately loved her husband, Max Harper, but when he chose his research work over their marriage one more time, she had no choice but to file for divorce. She couldn’t know that his ship would go down in a storm in the North Atlantic. Two years later, she’s buried him in the past, launched a thriving business and even started dating again. She’s getting her life together and she’s doing just great, she tells anybody who asks her. But she’s absolutely not prepared for what—or who—is about to step into her mom’s study next...
STEPHANIE DOYLE, a dedicated romance reader, began to pen her own romantic adventures at age sixteen. She began submitting to Harlequin at age eighteen and by twenty-six her first book was published. Fifteen years later, she still loves what she does, as each book is a new adventure. She lives in South Jersey with her cat, Hermione, the designated princess of the house. When Stephanie’s not reading or writing, in the summer she is most likely watching a baseball game and eating a hot dog.
Also By Stephanie Doyle (#u661cda67-d377-529b-b1bb-6732da84ea90)
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The Comeback of Roy Walker
Scout’s Honor
Betting on the Rookie
The Way Back
One Final Step
An Act of Persuasion
For the First Time
Remembering That Night
Suspect Lover
The Doctor’s Deadly Affair
Calculated Risk
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Possessed
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Married…Again
Stephanie Doyle
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08104-7
MARRIED…AGAIN
© 2018 Stephanie Doyle
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
“Max! You’re not listening to me.”
“Eleanor, I’m hearing you loud and clear. Now you’re not listening to me. I don’t do threats. I don’t do ultimatums. I have a real opportunity to collect meaningful data that might help people really see what’s happening to our planet. I’m sorry but that’s more important than four months of our marriage.”
“No, Max,” she said sadly. “What you mean is that it’s more important than me.”
“Nor...”
She took a step away. “Stay safe.”
“I’ll see you in four months.”
She shook her head. “No. You won’t.”
He wrapped a hand around her neck and forced her to hold still for his kiss. Not that he ever had to force her to kiss him. Kissing Max Harper was her own particular addiction.
And this might be their last kiss.
Knowing that, she clung to him. Wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him everything that she was. Everything that she ever would be.
Until finally she couldn’t take it anymore and she pulled away.
When she did, she was crying. “I love you, Max Harper.”
“I know. Which is how I know I’ll see you in four months.”
Dear Reader (#u661cda67-d377-529b-b1bb-6732da84ea90),
Does anyone remember the TV show General Hospital? I used to love soap operas growing up as a kid. There was always that favorite character who “died”...which really meant he or she tried to get a job in a movie or a nighttime TV show. If that didn’t happen, he or she could always miraculously return in dramatic fashion as undead.
That germ was the basis for Max and Eleanor. A couple who truly loved each other, but it wasn’t enough to keep them together. However, when something life changing happens, it’s easy to see how priorities can shift.
I hope you root for this couple as much as I did while writing them.
I love to hear from readers, so you can find me at stephaniedoyle.net (http://stephaniedoyle.net).
Stephanie
Contents
Cover (#u82bb2882-7786-5b95-870c-2f5eca6a74cd)
Back Cover Text (#ub8766136-9f76-5b22-82d9-99dfff1e9da5)
About the Author (#u2a07bcf1-5c9f-57c2-be23-0bffcbabb98c)
Booklist (#u66498549-db6b-5a72-9dec-4a03dd373cb7)
Title Page (#u85599abb-6e00-5043-b247-2e17c6bb6025)
Copyright (#u2992e112-777b-593a-9b8e-5c3028a3f0ac)
Introduction (#u5c6d425b-c0d6-55f3-841d-2956435d2a34)
Dear Reader (#u960448eb-e6ce-5d7a-b3dc-0b3b3ee0b2cc)
Chapter One (#ua56ca7d9-4bad-5a8f-969e-43d4d0ca29b8)
Chapter Two (#u2bc534ab-b317-57c0-af0e-38566354f6f0)
Chapter Three (#uda63f299-6d86-5b73-996c-8cdc4e24b5ed)
Chapter Four (#u406dfb03-9ea1-56e5-a31f-2e152d8351a0)
Chapter Five (#uad7c47d2-78b9-58fa-ae31-27e8d8879f2b)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u661cda67-d377-529b-b1bb-6732da84ea90)
Trondheim Research Facility, Norway
“I CAN’T BELIEVE you right now,” Eleanor Harper shouted at her husband even as he walked down the stairs away from her.
“Nor, I’m not going to have this fight,” he said over his shoulder.
“No! No! You are going to have this fight. We are going to have this fight. Max, stop!”
He stopped at the door, his packed duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He turned to her, and she could see it in his expression. Before he even opened his mouth, she knew that he wasn’t going to back down.
That all the yelling and pleading and begging in the world wasn’t going to change this.
He huffed. “Nor! This is who I am. This is what I do. Do you get that? I’m an oceanographer who studies the impact of climate change on the ocean. This planet is dying one damn inch at a time. I have to do this work now. We’ve talked about this before. I thought I had your support.”
That wasn’t fair. This wasn’t about her not supporting his work. “You do have my support. You have all the support a wife should give to her husband, but where is my support? You dragged me to this research facility, and I said fine. I’ll go where you go. No questions asked. Then as soon as we get here you’re turning around and leaving me. For months at a time. I have no friends here, no family.”
Max rolled his eyes. “Oh, please, Nor, don’t sit there and tell me you’re pining away for your mother.”
“That’s not the point. Like it or not, she’s my mother. I miss my family. My sister. I miss my life back home. And none of that would matter if I had you. But now you tell me you’re leaving me again. Not for three months this time, but four months. That’s almost half of a year. I’m supposed to just sit around here and wait for you?”
Eleanor watched as he dropped the duffel on the floor beside him. Maybe she was getting through to him.
“It’s not fair, Max. It’s not, and you can’t tell me otherwise.”
He walked toward her and put his hands on her shoulders, pressed his forehead to hers.
So close she could smell him. She loved the scent of him. No matter how long he’d been on shore, to her he always smelled like the ocean.
