Once Upon a Midnight by Nora Roberts & Jan Greenberg & Ruth Ryan Langan & Marianne Willman

Author:Nora Roberts & Jan Greenberg & Ruth Ryan Langan & Marianne Willman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US

DREAM LOVER

Ruth Ryan Langan

1

“MEN.” ALLISON KERR stormed around the living room of her cramped Manhattan apartment, wishing she could kick something. She’d been running on pure nerves for hours, as hurt and anger warred within her.

She looked up at the gray-and-white tabby watching with wise old eyes from his perch on top of the television. He belonged to her next-door neighbor Iris, a flight attendant, who left him with Ally whenever she was away overnight. Ally was fond of saying that because of her transient lifestyle, Mactavish was the closest thing she had to a pet.

“They’re all jerks, Mactavish. You can’t trust any of them.”

At her outburst the cat jumped down from the TV and began weaving in and out between her ankles as though to console her. “Oh, I didn’t mean you, you sweet old thing.” She lifted him into her arms, burying her face in the soft fur, and fought the temptation to weep. “Tedious Ted isn’t worth my tears. No man is.” Her voice lowered with temper. “I should have known he was a phony right from the start. He was too good to be true. Sending me dozens of roses at work so my boss would be impressed. Picking me up in a limo for that black-tie dinner dance and dazzling all my neighbors. None of it meant a thing. It was all just so much theater, and he was the leading man.”

From the TV set came a familiar voice, heard around the world every New Year’s Eve. “Will you look at this crowd in Times Square, waiting to usher in the New Year!”

Ally glanced over in time to see the camera panning the happy celebrants. Slowly it zoomed in on a young couple locked in a passionate kiss, oblivious to the pushing and shoving going on around them by strangers watching the giant globe suspended high above.

Ally set the cat on the floor. “Look at that, Mactavish.”

The cat obediently turned toward the television.

“Honey, you’d better wake up and smell the coffee,” she shouted to the young woman on the screen. She planted her hands on her hips. “The minute you admit you love him, the thrill of the chase will be over. Then honesty will set in. He’ll move on to greener pastures. He’ll hurt you and humiliate you, and even”—she absorbed a sudden rush of pain—“take your best friend to bed.”

“Just a little while to go until the beginning of another year,” the voice on the TV intoned, “and the celebration will begin.”

“That does it. This pity party is over.” Ally stomped into her tiny kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She filled a bowl with milk before tucking a bottle of bubbly under her arm and snagging a champagne flute.

With the cat at her heels, she stalked back to the living room and set the bowl on the coffee table, next to the documents spilling out of her attaché case. She intended to spend her holiday lost in work. It would be the perfect

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