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Sighing, she unballed and smoothed the rejection letter This one was the worst of the lot and got pretty darned personal, detailing numerous reasons why her as incoht idiotic "But I do hear celestial music when he kisses me," Jane protested "At least init across the rooht she’d danced with him, her perfect lover

They’d waltzed in a woodland clearing, caressed by a fragrant forest breeze, beneath a black velvet canopy of glittering stars She’d worn a gown of shi lemon-colored silk He’d worn a plaid of criaze had been so tender, so passionate, his hands so strong and ry and--

Jane opened her eyes, sighing gustily Hoas she supposed to have a nor about the ? As a child, she’d thought hi woman, he’d become so much more

In her dreams, they’d skipped the dance of the swords between twin fires at Beltane atop ahoneyed h-school pro accompanied by plastic cups of Hawaiian Punch compare to that?

In her dreaentleness reht-football-watching, beer-drinking, insurance adjuster/frustrated wannabe-pro-golfer?

In her dreaain, his heated touch shattering her innocence and awakening her to everyhours, she’d endeavored to lead a normal life, to fall for a flesh-and-blood man, quite simply, no mere man could live up to her dreams

"You’re hopeless Get over him, already," Jane muttered to herself If she had a dollar for every time she’d told herself that, she’d own Truhts above it

Glancing at the clock, she pushed herself up fro Cobra Café in twenty ood on her threat to fire her Jane had a tendency to forget the ti or research or just plain daydrea

You’re a throwback to some other era, Jane, Laura had said a dozen times

And indeed, Jane had always felt she’d been born in the wrong century She didn’t own a car and didn’t want one She hated loud noises, condos, and skyscrapers and loved the unspoiled countryside and cozy cottages She suffered living in an apartment because she couldn’t afford a house Yet

She wanted her own vegetable garden and fruit orchard Maybe acow to ed to have babies--three boys and three girls would do nicely

Yes, in this day and age, she was definitely a throwback To cave irlfriends had graduated frorees and briefcases to work in steel-and-glass high-rises, detere, Jane had taken her BA in English and gone to work in a coffee shop, harboring simpler aspirations All she wanted was a low-pressure job that wouldn’t interfere with her writing a divorce rate had a whole lot to do with people trying to tackle tooa wife, lover, best friend, and mother seemed like a pretty full plate to her And if--no, she a romance would be a perfect at-hoht, and so off an all-too-familiar flash of depression, she wheeled her bike out of the tiny hallway between the kitchen and bedroorabbed a jacket and her backpack As she opened the door she glanced back over her shoulder to be sure she’d turned off her coe that had been left on her doorstep

That hadn’t been there half an hour ago when she’d plucked her mail from the sweaty, untrustworthy hands of the poste It must be her recent Internet order from the online used bookstore, she decided It was earlier than she’d anticipated, but she wasn’t coer-than-life heroes, steamy ro at her watch again, she sighed, propped her bike against the doorjaed the box into her apartment, wheeled her bike back out into the hall, then shut and locked the door She knew better than to open the box now She’d quickly progress fro a book, to getting completely lost in a fantasy world And then Laura would fire her for sure