M.A. Nichols

They were meant to remain friends. Their hearts had other plans.

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Phillip Russell has grand plans for his future, but first he must establish himself. Taking a position as a private tutor is a good beginning. Falling for his employer’s daughter is not. She is everything he could want in a wife, but a man with little more than dreams and empty pockets has no business wanting her.

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Fortunately, she is completely oblivious to his feelings.

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Unfortunately, friendship has a way of slipping into love.

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Especially when the gentleman is so kind and understanding. And impossibly perfect.

Dottie Ashbrook knows wanting more is foolish. Phillip depends upon her family for his livelihood, and courting her could cost him the very future he is struggling to build. The sensible thing would be to keep their distance. 

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But when it comes to matters of the heart, neither of them is particularly sensible.

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And just when they dare to hope for more, a stranger arrives with secrets from Dottie’s past that threaten the future they’ve only begun to imagine.

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NOTE: This title was originally published as a short novella in 2023 but has since been substantially rewritten and expanded into a full-length novel more than three times the original length, with additional subplots and new material.

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COMING JANUARY 5, 2027