NO MORE LIES
Contemporary Romance
by
MONA RISK
A lie that brings a smile... or the truth that draws tears?
Dr. Olivia Crane lives a quiet life. No one questions why she doesn’t socialize or where she spends her weekends. When the visiting physician from France strolls into her office, with open arms and a confident smile, her perfect control is about to crumble. He’s Dr. Luc George, the man she loved ten years ago. Should she return his scorching kisses, or should she lock her door before he digs into her many secrets?
Secret daughter, secret friend, secret enemy. Had Luc really known his sweet Olivia back then?
He wants her back, but he wants the truth too. Now, Olivia has to face her past before she can grab her second chance.
Chapter One
“Olivia, why didn’t you tell me you knew Dr. Toulon-Chatel?” Bypassing morning greetings, the Chairman of Psychiatry, Dr. Herb McMillan, never wasted precious minutes on the phone.
“I don’t.” Tapping the faded, old desk in her windowless office, Dr. Olivia Crane scoured her mind to put a face to the name. “Never met him. But I read his articles, the ones you passed on to me. He seems like a brilliant psychiatrist. I’m sure he’ll be an excellent addition to our department.” Maybe she’d be able to sleep a little more than four hours with the French doctor on board for six months.
Doc cleared his throat then paused as if to choose his words. “When I sent him your enthusiastic report last Thursday, he e-mailed back on Friday that he’ll be here on Sunday. And voilà, as he said.”
“Voilà, what?”
“He arrived last night.”
“Already? He wasn’t supposed to be here for two more weeks.” With her busy schedule, Olivia hadn’t had time to check the visiting physician’s website yet.
A soft chuckle sounded on the other line. “The first thing he told me was he couldn’t wait to see you.”
“To see...me?” Why? Olivia blinked, annoyed by a situation she didn’t understand.
Doc kept mumbling in her ear as she pulled one of their visitor’s articles from the pile on her desk and punched his website into her computer.
The name Toulon-Chatel flashed on the screen, along with a photo that stopped her heart. A perfect, amazing picture of Luc.
Her Luc.
The picture didn’t make sense. How had Luc ended up with such an incredibly long and aristocratic name?
Olivia zoomed in on the photo by two hundred percent. With the cursor, she traced blue eyes framed by dark lashes, chiseled nose and smiling lips.
“Dr. Lucien...de...Toulon-Chatel.” Squinting at the screen, she studied Luc’s handsome features. He was here? In Cincinnati? “Oh no.”
“Yes,” Doc replied, his voice excited. She heard a faint, “I’ll bring him over.”
The phone slipped from her sweaty palm and banged on the desk.
Olivia had welcomed the opportunity to co-author an article with a brilliant psychiatrist to further her career. But she was expecting an older, distinguished physician, Dr. L. de Toulon-Chatel, probably graying or bald.
