Table of Contents
Nora Roberts
HOT ICE
SACRED SINS
BRAZEN VIRTUE
SWEET REVENGE
PUBLIC SECRETS
GENUINE LIES
CARNAL INNOCENCE
DIVINE EVIL
HONEST ILLUSIONS
PRIVATE SCANDALS
HIDDEN RICHES
TRUE BETRAYALS
MONTANA SKY
SANCTUARY
HOMEPORT
THE REEF
RIVERS END
CAROLINA MOON
THE VILLA
MIDNIGHT BAYOU
THREE FATES
BIRTHRIGHT
NORTHERN LIGHTS
BLUE SMOKE
ANGELS FALL
HIGH NOON
TRIBUTE
BLACK HILLS
Series
Born in Trilogy
BORN IN FIRE
BORN IN ICE
BORN IN SHAME
Dream Trilogy
DARING TO DREAM
HOLDING THE DREAM
FINDING THE DREAM
Chesapeake Bay Saga
SEA SWEPT
RISING TIDES
INNER HARBOR
CHESAPEAKE BLUE
Gallaghers of Ardmore 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
Key Trilogy
KEY OF LIGHT
KEY OF KNOWLEDGE
KEY OF VALOR
In the Garden Trilogy
BLUE DAHLIA
BLACK ROSE
RED LILY
Circle Trilogy
MORRIGANS CROSS
DANCE OF THE GODS
VALLEY OF SILENCE
Sign of Seven Trilogy
BLOOD BROTHERS
THE HOLLOW
THE PAGAN STONE
Bride Quartet
VISION IN WHITE
BED OF ROSES
Nora Roberts & J. D. Robb
REMEMBER WHEN
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
JUDGMENT 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
Anthologies
FROM THE HEART
A LITTLE MAGIC
A LITTLE FATE
MOON SHADOWS
(with Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Marianne Willman)
The Once Upon Series
(with Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Marianne Willman)
ONCE UPON A CASTLE
ONCE UPON A STAR
ONCE UPON A DREAM
ONCE UPON A ROSE
ONCE UPON A KISS
ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT
SILENT NIGHT
(with Susan Plunkett, Dee Holmes, and Claire Cross)
OUT OF THIS WORLD
(with Laurell K. Hamilton, Susan Krinard, and Maggie Shayne)
BUMP IN THE NIGHT
(with Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)
DEAD OF NIGHT
(with Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)
THREE IN DEATH
SUITE 606
(with Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas)
Also available...
THE OFFICIAL NORA ROBERTS COMPANION
(edited by Denise Little and Laura Hayden)
For girlfriends
And tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
WORDSWORTH
Love is like a friendship caught on fire.
BRUCE LEE
PROLOGUE
ROMANCE, IN EMMALINES OPINION, MADE BEING A WOMAN special. Romance made every woman beautiful, and every man a prince. A woman with romance in her life lived as grandly as a queen, because her heart was treasured.
Flowers, candlelight, long walks in the moonlight in a secluded garden... just the idea brought on a sigh. Dancing in the moonlight in a secluded garden, now that reached the height of romantic on her scale.
She could imagine it, the scent of summer roses, the music drifting out of the open windows of a ballroom, the way the light turned the edges of everything silver, like in the movies. The way her heart would beat (the way it beat now as she imagined it).
She longed to dance in the moonlight in a secluded garden.
She was eleven.
Because she could see so clearly how it should bewould beshe described the scene, every detail, to her best friends.
When they had sleepovers, they talked and talked for hours about everything, and listened to music or watched movies. They could stay up as long as they wanted, even all night. Though none of them had managed to. Yet.
When they had a sleepover at Parkers, they were allowed to sit or play on the terrace outside her bedroom until midnight if the weather was okay for it. In the spring, her favorite time there, she loved to stand on the bedroom terrace, smell the gardens of the Brown Estate and the green from the grass if the gardener had cut it that day.
Mrs. Grady, the housekeeper, would bring the cookies and milk. Or sometimes cupcakes. And Mrs. Brown would come in now and then to see what they were up to.
But mostly, it was just the four of them.
When Im a successful businesswoman living in New York, I wont have time for romance. Laurel, her own sunny blond hair streaked with green from a lime Kool Aid treatment, worked her fashion sense on Mackensies bright red.
But you have to have romance, Emma insisted.
Uh-uh. With her tongue caught in her teeth, Laurel tirelessly twined another section of Macs hair into a long, thin braid. Im going to be like my aunt Jennifer. She tells my mother how she doesnt have time for marriage, and she doesnt need a man to be complete and stuff. She lives on the Upper East Side and goes to parties with Madonna. My dad says shes a ballbuster. So Im going to be a ballbuster and go to parties with Madonna.
As if. Mac snorted. The quick tug on the braid only made Mac giggle. Dancings fun, and I guess romance is okay as long as it doesnt make you stupid. Romance is all my mother thinks about. Except money. I guess its both. Its like, how can she get romance and money at the same time.
Thats not really romance. But Emma rubbed her hand on Macs leg as she said it. I think romance is when you just do things for each other because youre in love. I wish we were old enough to be in love. Emma sighed, hugely. I think it must feel really good.
We should kiss a boy and see what its like.
Everyone stopped to stare at Parker. She lay belly-down on her bed, watching her friends play Hair Salon. We should pick a boy and get him to kiss us. Were almost twelve. We need to try it and see if we like it.
Laurel narrowed her eyes. Like an experiment?
But who would we kiss? Emma wondered.
Well make a list. Parker rolled across the bed to grab her newest notebook from her nightstand. This one featured a pair of pink toe shoes on the cover. Well write down all the boys we know, then which ones we think might be okay to kiss. And why or why not.
That doesnt really sound romantic.
Parker gave Emma a small smile. We have to start somewhere, and lists always help. Now, I dont think we can use relatives. I mean like Del, she said, speaking of her brother, or either of Emmas brothers. Besides, Emmas brothers are way too old.