“Yes.” Sighing, she imagined an island with palm trees and fat orange flowers. “Oh, yes.”

“I’ve got some time coming.”

“How soon do you want me packed?”

He laughed, but continued to jiggle the keys nervously in his hand. “I was thinking we could go down to Florida for a while. I want you to meet my mother.”

Slowly, not wanting to take a leap when a step was indicated, she lifted her head from his shoulder to look at him. Then he smiled, and his smile told her everything she needed to know.

“I’d love to meet your mother.”

Nora Roberts was the first writer to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. The New York Times bestselling author of such novels as Montana Sky, Born in Ice, True Betrayals, and Divine Evil, she has become one of today’s most successful and best-loved writers. Nora Roberts lives in Maryland.