Read Online All the Possibilities by Nora Roberts - Free Book Online Page A

put into slaving.
    Shelby heard the knock on the door, and shifting under the sheets, considered ignoring it. Still half-asleep, she tumbled out of bed. It simply wasn't in her makeup to let a ringing phone or a knock go unanswered. Because she tripped over the robe she'd thrown on the floor the night before, Shelby remembered to tug it on as she walked from the room. With her eyes narrowed protectively against the sunlight, she opened the door.
    '"Morning, Miss Campbell. Another delivery."
    The boy who had brought her both the strawberries and the pig stood in the doorway and grinned.
    "Thanks." Too disoriented to remember her vow, Shelby reached out. He handed her the bound-together strings of two-dozen pink and yellow balloons. He was gone and Shelby was back inside before she woke up enough to realize what had happened. "Oh, no." Looking up, she watched the balloons dance at the tops of their strings. Hanging by a ribbon at the end was a little white card.
    She wouldn't even open it, she told herself. She knew who they were from anyway. Who else? No, she wasn't going to open it. In fact, she was going to find a pin and pop every last balloon. What were they but a bunch of hot air? It was ridiculous. To prove a point, Shelby let the strings go so the balloons drifted up to the ceiling. If he thought he was going to win her over with silly presents and clever little notes

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    right, dammit.
    Shelby jumped up, swearing when she missed the strings by inches. Hauling over a chair, she climbed into it and grabbed the card.
    The yellow's for sunshine, the pink's for spring. Share them with me. Alan
    "You drive me crazy," she muttered, standing in the chair with the balloons in one hand and the card in the other. How did he know, how could he know just the sort of thing that would get to her? Strawberries and pigs and balloons
    it was hopeless. Shelby
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    stared up at them, wishing she didn't need to smile.
    It was time to be firm
    very, very firm, she told herself as she stepped down. If she
    —
    ignored it, he'd just send her something else. So, she'd call him and tell him no, she'd
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    demand that he stop. She'd say he was annoying
    no, boring her. Boring was
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    unforgivably insulting. Shelby twisted the balloon strings around her wrist as she reached for the phone. He'd given her his home number, which she'd refused to write down. Of course, she remembered every digit. As she pushed buttons Shelby worked herself into her haughtiest mood.
    "Hello."
    Her mood deflated as if she'd been pricked with a pin. "Alan."
    "Shelby."
    She struggled not to be moved by the quiet, serious tone that should never have moved her. She liked men with a laugh in their voice. "Alan, this has to stop."
    "Does is? It hasn't even started."
    "Alan
    " She tried to remember her decision to be firm. "I mean it. You have to stop
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    sending me things; you're only wasting your time."
    "I have a bit to spare," he said mildly. "How was your week?"
    "Busy. Listen, I
    "
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    "I missed you."
    The simple statement threw the rest of her lecture into oblivion. "Alan, don't
    "
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    "Every day," he continued. "Every night. Have you been to Boston, Shelby?"
    "Uh
    es," she managed, busy fighting off the weakness creeping into her. Helplessly y

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    she stared up at the balloons. How could she fight something so insubstantial it floated?
    "I'd like to take you there in the fall, when it smells of damp leaves and smoke." Shelby told herself her heart was not fluttering. "Alan, I didn't call to talk about Boston. Now, to put it in very simple terms, I want you to stop calling me, I want you to stop dropping by, and
    " Her voice began to rise in frustration as she pictured him listening
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    with that patient, serious smile and calm eyes. "I want you to stop sending me balloons and pigs and everything! Is that clear?"
    "Perfectly. Spend the day with me."
    Did the man never stop being patient? She couldn't