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Chapter 1
She could see her tombstone now: Here lies Nicole Elizabeth DeLancey—Procrastination was her downfall.
She knew there were things she needed to do; important things. But no matter how much time she had to plan or organize, she always waited until the last minute to get things done, landing her in a worse predicament than when she began.
Here she stood in the middle of JFK International, lost, with the announcement that her flight to Heathrow was boarding blasting over the intercom. Where the hell was gate 36-B? She shook her head in despair, turning in a circle.
This is what you get, she thought. Once again, your ‘I’ll do it later’ attitude is causing you trouble. If you don’t make this flight, you can kiss your writing career goodbye. Dad’s not going to give you any more chances to follow your dreams. Not on his dime.
Nicole didn’t want to do anything with her life but write romance novels. She wanted to write love stories so intense and beautiful they would rank up there with the best of them. A knock-down, drag-out war on the senses, capturing the reader’s attention so deeply, her fans would think of her characters long after the book was finished, living in their minds the way Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, Jamie and Claire, and Scarlett and Rhett all did. Yes, this was her dream. It was quickly becoming a nightmare.
The second announcement rang over the intercom, causing a swarm of butterflies to flutter their wings in her stomach. Butterflies, hell, it was more like a herd of stampeding buffalo. Her pulse started pounding hard as sweat was breaking out across her forehead. Was she ever going to find the damn gate?
The powers that be were listening, parting the crowd and allowing her to spy the sign that would lead her to her destination. Hmmm, she thought, not too far to go.
Hefting her laptop case to her shoulder, she sprinted down the hall, relieved to see other passengers still filing through at check-in. She wasn’t late at all, and from the sounds of the ruckus behind her, she knew she wouldn’t be the last passenger in line.
“Hold the plane,” someone yelled, as if the airline attendant could hear him over the noise level, which had suddenly increased one thousand percent. It sounded like a swarm of killer bees were heading straight for her.
Do not look, Nicole, she warned herself. You’re on a mission here. What’s happening behind you is not your concern.
Click, click, click. The constant buzz of camera lenses shuttering and refocusing was getting closer, not to mention the hard pounding of someone’s feet running down the corridor. They were coming up on her fast with bright lights flashing, bouncing off the walls in her peripheral vision.
“What the hell?” She stopped dead in her tracks, beginning to turn, but she didn’t make it half a rotation.
“Oi, watch out!” the man swore, barreling into her.
Nicole and her assailant collided, stumbling over each other as the speed of his flight carried them a good five feet before her ankle twisted. They went down, her face slamming into the floor and the laptop case banging her in the back of the head.
“Bloody hell! Are you all right?” the man asked, his accent thick with British crispness.
She lay on the floor, practically French kissing the tile while trying to catch her breath.
It serves you right, her subconscious nagged. You should have gotten here sooner to avoid things like this.
“Oh, shut up,” she mumbled
under her breath.
“I beg your pardon?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” she replied, her voice muffled and low as she spoke from under her arms. “Just give me a moment.” Her nose felt like it was a scrunched-up accordion.
“I’m in a bit of a hurry. At least let me assist you to your feet.” He shoved his hand in her face.
She ignored the offering, shaking her head. “I can do it.” Just give me about five million years.
“If you’re certain . . .” he asked in a ‘I really need to go, but I’ll look like an ass if I don’t help you’ kind of way.
“I’m positive.” She waved him off, her face still hidden beneath her arm. “Go. There’s no point in both of us missing the flight.”
“All right then,” he replied, still sounding hesitant to leave her behind.
She was sprawled across the tiles, listening to the sound of his footfalls fading away.
Giving up was looking pretty good to her now. She’d just stay here to allow the stampeding herd to crush her bones to ash.
Boo-hoo, Nicole, she snapped at herself. Get up! Catch the damn plane if you still can.
She raised her head, and intense pain sliced across her eyeballs, centering in the middle of her forehead. She glimpsed a tall man handing his boarding pass to the attendant. A worried frown was on his face as he glanced back in her direction. Was that her assailant?
Shifting the laptop case around to her shoulder, and with her head still swimming, she rose to her knees. Bending her left leg, she pushed upward until both feet were planted firmly beneath her.
“Take a deep breath, open your eyes, put one foot in front of the other. Put one foot in front of the other. One foot . . .”On and on she chanted as she hobbled the last few feet to the gate.
Please don’t close the door, she thought. You still have a passenger to board.
She didn’t concern herself with the camera phones capturing her image or the fascinated crowd watching her hobble her way to the gate. She focused on making that flight.
