Nora Roberts - The Perfect Hope

Homeport

The Reef

Rivers End

Carolina Moon

The Villa

Midnight Bayou

Three Fates

Birthright

Northern Lights

Blue Smoke

Montana Sky

Angels Fall

High Noon

Divine Evil

Tribute

Sanctuary

Black Hills

The Search

Chasing Fire

The Witness

By Nora Roberts

Trilogies and Quartets

The Born In Trilogy:

Born in Fire

Born in Ice

Born in Shame

The Bride Quartet:

Vision in White

Bed of Roses

Savour the Moment

Happy Ever After

The Key Trilogy:

Key of Light

Key of Knowledge

Key of Valour

The Irish Trilogy:

Jewels of the Sun

Tears of the Moon

Heart of the Sea

Three Sisters Island Trilogy:

Dance upon the Air

Heaven and Earth

Face the Fire

The Sign of Seven Trilogy:

Blood Brothers

The Hollow

The Pagan Stone

Chesapeake Bay Quartet:

Sea Swept

Rising Tides

Inner Harbour

Chesapeake Blue

In the Garden Trilogy:

Blue Dahlia

Black Rose

Red Lily

The Circle Trilogy:

Morrigans Cross

Dance of the Gods

Valley of Silence

The Dream Trilogy:

Daring to Dream

Holding the Dream

Finding the Dream

The Inn at BoonsBoro Trilogy

The Next Always

The Last Boyfriend

The Perfect Hope

Nora Roberts also writes the In Death series using the pseudonym J. D. Robb

Naked in Death

Glory in Death

Immortal in Death

Rapture in Death

Ceremony in Death

Vengeance in Death

Holiday in Death

Conspiracy in Death

Loyalty in Death

Witness in Death

Judgement in Death

Betrayal in Death

Seduction in Death

Reunion in Death

Purity in Death

Portrait in Death

Imitation in Death

Divided in Death

Visions in Death

Survivor in Death

Origin in Death

Memory in Death

Born in Death

Innocent in Death

Creation in Death

Strangers in Death

Salvation in Death

Promises in Death

Kindred in Death

Fantasy in Death

Indulgence in Death

Treachery in Death

New York to Dallas

Celebrity in Death

Delusion in Death

Published by Hachette Digital

ISBN: 978-0-7481-2584-5

All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright 2012 by Nora Roberts
Excerpt from The Next Always copyright 2011 by Nora Roberts

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

Hachette Digital
Little, Brown Book Group
100 Victoria Embankment
London, EC4Y 0DY

www.hachette.co.uk

For Suzanne,

the perfect innkeeper

To improve is to change;

To be perfect is to change often.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

W ITH A FEW GROANS AND SIGHS, THE OLD BUILDING settled down for the night. Under the star-washed sky its stone walls glowed, rising up over Boonsboros Square as they had for more than two centuries. Even the crossroads held quiet now, stretching out in pools of shadows and light. All the windows and storefronts along Main Street seemed to sleep, content to doze away in the balm of the summer night.

She should do the same, Hope thought. Settle down, stretch out. Sleep.

That would be the sensible thing to do, and she considered herself a sensible woman. But the long day had left her restless, andshe reminded herselfCarolee would arrive bright and early to start breakfast.

The innkeeper could sleep in.

In any case, it was barely midnight. When shed lived and worked in Georgetown, shed rarely managed to settle in for the night this early. Of course, then shed been managing the Wickham, and if she hadnt been dealing with some small crisis or handling a guest request, shed been enjoying the nightlife.

The town of Boonsboro, tucked into the foothills of Marylands Blue Ridge Mountains, might have a rich and storied history, it certainly had its charmsamong which she counted the revitalized inn she now managedbut it wasnt famed for its nightlife.

That would change a bit when her friend Avery opened her restaurant and tap house. And wouldnt it be fun to see what the energetic Avery MacTavish did with her new enterprise right next doorand just across The Square from Averys pizzeria.

Before summer ended, Avery would juggle the running of two restaurants, Hope thought.

And people called her an overachiever.

She looked around the kitchenclean, shiny, warm, and welcoming. Shed already sliced fruit, checked the supplies, restocked the refrigerator. So everything sat ready for Carolee to prepare breakfast for the guests currently tucked in their rooms.

Shed finished her paperwork, checked all the doors, and made her rounds checking for dishesor anything else out of place. Duties done, she told herself, and still she wasnt ready to tuck her own self in her third-floor apartment.

Instead, she poured an indulgent glass of wine and did a last circle through The Lobby, switching off the chandelier over the central table with its showy summer flowers.

She moved through the arch, gave the front door one last check before she turned toward the stairs. Her fingers trailed lightly over the iron banister.

Shed already checked The Library, but she checked again. It wasnt anal, she told herself. A guest might have slipped in for a glass of Irish or a book. But the room was quiet, settled like the rest.

She glanced back. She had guests on this floor. Mr. and Mrs. VargasDonna and Maxmarried twenty-seven years. The night at the inn, in Nick and Nora, had been a birthday gift for Donna from their daughter. And wasnt that sweet?

Her other guests, a floor up in Westley and Buttercup, chose the inn for their wedding night. She liked to think the newlyweds, April and Troy, would take lovely, lasting memories with them.

She checked the door to the second-level porch, then on impulse unlocked it and stepped out into the night.

With her wine, she crossed the wide wood deck, leaned on the rail. Across The Square, the apartment above Vesta sat darkand empty now that Avery had moved in with Owen Montgomery. She could admitto herself anywayshe missed looking over and knowing her friend was right there, just across Main.

But Avery was exactly where she belonged, Hope decided, with Owenher first and, as it turned out, her last boyfriend.

Talk about sweet.

And shed help plan a weddingMay bride, May flowersright there in The Courtyard, just as Clares had been this past spring.

Thinking of it, Hope looked down Main toward the bookstore. Clares Turn The Page had been a risk for a young widow with two children and another on the way. But shed made it work. Clare had a knack for making things work. Now she was Clare Montgomery, Becketts wife. And when winter came again, theyd welcome a new baby to the mix.