The Mommy Makeover. Bonnie K. Winn

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      Prologue

      The incomparable Houston skyline dazzled beneath the mammoth windows of the sixtieth-floor office. Resembling glitzy, gift-wrapped packages, the tall glass skyscrapers mingled with older, more stately stone buildings. Like the city itself, it was a courtship of old and new. But Katelyn Amhurst had little time to dwell on the dynamic view, even less to consider courtships.

      She glanced skeptically at her longtime assistant, Daniel. They had gone beyond “boss” and “employee” years earlier. Daniel saw himself as a cross between mother confessor and drill sergeant. While Katelyn viewed him with tolerant affection, she often wished he would ease up on his compulsive need for control. “I want to stop smoking,” she told him, “but—”

      “I thought you wanted to beat this thing,” Daniel interrupted persuasively, flipping back his precision-cut blond hair. It was his one vanity. Katelyn knew Daniel was currently pursuing a cute brunette in accounting. No doubt the extra grooming was for her benefit.

      Katelyn concealed a grin. She wished someone would keep his attention so he would quit harping about her love live. Or rather lack of it. “I don’t know, Daniel. Subliminal tapes? Isn’t that a little simplistic?”

      Offended indignation gripped his thin features. “When have you ever known me to be simple?”

      “Point taken. Not that I haven’t hoped…”

      He took a deep breath as a long-suffering expression descended on his face. “The tape will do wonders for you. In fact, I’d say it’ll turn your life around.”

      “It’s a subliminal tape, not a brain transplant,” she replied, still not reaching for the cassette.

      Daniel anticipated her next request and handed her the day planner, which had been buried beneath a foot-high stack of folders. “Or a personality transplant,” he muttered beneath his breath.

      “What? Oh, thanks. I was looking for that.”

      He sighed quietly. “I know.”

      She flipped open to the mind-boggling schedule of meetings, appointments and other commitments. “I have the Franklin dinner tonight. Did you hire a new limo service?”

      “Yesterday,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “Now, are you going to let a pack of cigarettes control you, or do you want the tape?”

      Katelyn frowned. She’d mapped out her life with the precision of a Rand McNally atlas. From her Ivy League education and brilliant advertising career to her equally well-thought-out decision to skip both marriage and children. Despite Daniel’s efforts to convince her otherwise, she knew that latter decision was wise. She had everything in her life under total control. Except the one habit she couldn’t quite kick—smoking. If Daniel’s tape might work…why not? Casually, she took the tape and tossed it on top of her desk.

      Head bent, she missed the smirk on Daniel’s face. When she glanced up, she met guileless blue eyes. “You won’t regret this, Katelyn.” He slipped the tape into a Walkman. “Just be sure to listen to it.”

      “I’m not in the habit of forgetting things,” she reminded him, putting the tape player in her purse. Her razor-sharp mind was legend—terrifying her underlings and impressing her superiors. But she and Daniel had worked together too long for him to be intimidated.

      “No, but you are in the habit of resisting doing what you don’t want to do,” he retorted.

      She squared her shoulders. “You make me sound like a willful child.”

      “I’d rather think of you as an intelligent adult.”

      “Ahem.” She studied his expression, searching for sarcasm. “Well, thanks. I think.”

      “And, Katelyn?”

      “Yes?”

      “The tape only works if you really want it to.”

      “I really, really want to quit smoking. Okay? Now, I’d better run. I’m meeting with Grayco in…” She glanced at her wristwatch and let out an uncharacteristic oath. “Fifteen minutes. I’ll take a cab, but tell the new driver to pick me up there after the meeting.”

      “Your wish is my command,” Daniel replied as she gathered everything in an efficient flurry and headed to the door.

      She glanced back. “I don’t know about that. Sometimes I’m not sure just who’s in charge.”

      DANIEL MERELY smiled in reply, watching the whirlwind of contained energy she created as she issued orders, signed documents thrust at her and kept a constant path to the elevator.

      His gaze focused on her purse, knowing it contained the tape. Not the one on smoking, as she supposed. No, the tape resting innocently in her purse was actually entitled, Embrace Your Femininity. Its subliminal message implanted suggestions designed to turn even the most ruthless barracuda into an old-fashioned, loving wife and mother. It also emphasized the rapidity of the biological countdown Katelyn claimed didn’t affect her. Everything about the tape was designed to push a woman straight into marriage and motherhood.

      Something Daniel truly believed Katelyn needed.

      She lived, breathed, and consumed her work.

      Her work and nothing else.

      Daniel knew that Katelyn limited her dating to only “safe” men—ones who were neither threatening nor potential mates. Katelyn had convinced herself she would be happy living alone. She reminded Daniel of his older sister, Cindy. She had believed a career would keep her warm at night as well. Now, Cindy was sad, bitter and inescapably alone.

      Having come to regard Katelyn almost as a sister, Daniel didn’t want her to have the same fate.