All standard disclaimers apply.

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"Expectation is the root of all heartache." – William Shakespeare

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Chapter 1

August in New Jersey was never all that pleasant. Sweltering heat hovered over every surface of the city leaving its occupants dripping with sweat. Sitting in a sauna would have felt better than walking the streets of Trenton. Even the haze of smog could not block out the glare of the high summer sun. Stephanie Plum slide into her car, cursing when her legs met the scorching heat of the seat. Oh yes, she was so done for the day.

Sweat trickled down her back, pooled between her breasts and glistened on her face. This summer heat had been unrelenting for weeks now and, of course, the air conditioning in her car had broken long ago leaving her in a foul mood.

After a miserable day of work, all she had wanted was a few quiet hours to herself. Her battered car was pointed in the direction of home when her cell phone started buzzing. Glancing at the caller ID, Stephanie groaned. A chat with her mother was seriously not what she needed right now, but she dutifully answered, putting the call on speaker.

After hearing only a few words, Stephanie wished she had turned off her phone completely when she had had the chance. Gossip from the burg was the last thing she wanted to hear anytime, but especially not right now. She groaned, shaking her head. Whether or not she wanted it, she was now getting a full dose from her mother.

Several times Stephanie tried to interrupt, but it did no good, Helen Plum was on a roll and there was no stopping her. If this call didn't end soon, Stephanie knew she was going to have to resort to doing something drastic. She really did try to wait as long as she could, but after a few more minutes Stephanie just couldn't stomach it any longer and with the worst burg manners ever, she hit the end button, disconnecting the call.

A flash of guilt heated her face. That was truly rude and she knew that she would be hearing about it soon. As if on cue, the phone buzzed again. Stephanie glanced at the ID on the screen. "Mom," she groaned. She hadn't expected it this quick and she was tempted to decline the call. Instead, she decided to end the whole discussion once and for all.

Stephanie tightened her grip on the phone, her thumb touched the button to answer the call. She did not put the phone up to her ear, she did not put it on speaker, and she did not listen as her mother started reprimanding her. That was not going to happen, not this time.

Holding the phone directly in front of her mouth now, Stephanie tried once more to stop her mother's tirade. "No," she shouted. "I never said that." Her mother was still talking, not acknowledging Stephanie's words at all. "Unbelievable!" Stephanie muttered in frustration.

"Stephanie!" her mother's annoyed voice projected even without being on speaker. "You need to be thinking seriously about what you should do." Suddenly Stephanie was aware of the traffic around her and she winced. No AC meant that through the open windows, everyone now stopped at the red light with her could hear most of the argument that she was having with her mother.

She could not help but be a bit embarrassed by that and she tried to offer an apologetic smile at the faces turned her way. "Yeah," Stephanie thought, when it was her mother involved, things could always get worse. Closing her eyes she tried to calm everything down with deep, cleansing breath.

Her brief zen moment aside, Stephanie knew that none of this was going away anytime soon, she had already seen it on the nearby faces. The Chambersburg grapevine was probably on fire with the latest gossip and with what had just been overheard. No doubt more tidbits were about to be added to the growing tales.

As soon as the light turned, Stephanie sped away -well, as fast as her car would take her- in a futile effort to try to get to away from all of the prying eyes and ears. Unfortunately, hanging up on her mother again would only cause more problems. Stephanie knew that as far as her mother was concerned, this conversation was not over, not in the least, so she continued to lecture her.

Stephanie pulled over to the side of the road, with how upset she was getting now she didn't trust herself to drive safely in this state of mind. Her eyes were clenched shut and Stephanie waited until Helen had to take a breath and then she quickly spoke up.

"Mom, she said, her voice much quieter now as she stared at the phone in her hand. "I don't care what Mrs. Murchitski heard, it wasn't me."

While Stephanie rolled her eyes, Helen Plum informed her daughter that it was not only Mrs. Murchitski that had shared this information with her, countless other friends and members of the burg had called to tell her the same thing. Everyone knew it, so it must be true. Right!

Stephanie could barely contain the anger burning deep in her chest. Morelli again, it was always Joe making her life a living hell. He was up to his old tricks again, and it was pissing Stephanie off. How dare he spread rumors that she had come crawling back to him, again, begging him to marry her.

As if! Could the man not get it through his head that she was done with him? What Stephanie could never understand was why he kept it up month after month. What good would it really do him to make up these lies?

She sat there in the heat, sweating, her head pounding. Wild ideas raced through her mind. If she thought it would help, she would borrow big blue and run him over again, hopefully breaking both if his legs this time. But no, Joe was not just an asshole like he had been before, now he had an important job and Stephanie was not interested in the mess she would get herself into for assaulting a police officer.

"I am not marrying Joe!" Stephanie shouted, no more calm, quiet words. She needed her mom to hear that, and she did not care how many other people within earshot heard it too. "There is no way that I would ever marry him, you know that."

That was the honest truth. No matter what Joe wanted to think, no matter what he may have said to his mother or his grandmother, or anyone else, they had not been together for nearly eight months now, and there was no way in hell that she would be in a relationship with him ever again.

In frustration, Stephanie rested her forehead on the steering wheel. Her mother would not stop. Unbelievably, she was trying to make her daughter understand that she may have made the biggest mistake of her life by leaving behind the attention of such a 'nice, respectable young man from the burg.' Funny how her parents had played a much different tune about Joe Morelli when she was younger.

"Stephanie," Helen Plum said with force. "Joseph Morelli is still considering marrying you." This statement was supposed to have been enough to get the message across, but she did not leave it at that since obviously her headstrong daughter was just not getting it. "Why on earth would you turn that down, this is the kind of thing that the other girls can only dream about."

That was enough. This was not the first time Stephanie had heard all of this from her mother, probably it would not be the last. No one, especially not her mother, wanted to understand that she had left Joe because he was not what she could live with for the rest of her life. How could she live with herself if she settled for someone who she would never be enough for and who could never make her happy?

Point of fact was that Stephanie had come to understand that there had really only been one man who she had wanted to be with. Ranger. Now, he was a man who could make her very happy. Another sigh escaped her lips. She missed him so much. He had been out in the wind again, since practically the moment that she had dumped Morelli.

All she had wanted to do for months now was to see Ranger. Just this morning, Stephanie had heard that he was back. That Connie had seemed to know more about it than she did had actually hurt a lot. A sting in her heart that she had been trying to deal with all day now.

Rationally, Stephanie had to admit that it was her own fault. It had been her own decision that had kept her out of the loop for so long. She no longer worked in the RangeMan building, quitting her job because it had not felt right to be working at his company when Ranger was not there.

With every day that had passed, Stephanie had agonized over that decision. If she had stayed she may have been getting pretty regular updates on Ranger's whereabouts. Only she knew that could be every bit as bad as not knowing anything at all.

Stephanie had hoped that she would hear from Ranger himself when he got back home. A call from him would have done wonders for her worried mind and anxious heart. Nothing was working out the way she wanted lately, and now she had to deal with all of this garbage with Joe. Well, there was one thing that she could control, maybe the only thing.

Stephanie sat up, her back stiff and straight. The grip she had on her phone had turned her knuckles white. Her voice was now icy cold as she spoke slowly and deliberately so there would be no chance that she would be misunderstood.

"Stop it right now, mother!" Stephanie said. "I don't want to hear any more about Joe Morelli and what he may or may not have said. It does not matter. It is done, over, finito! You have heard that from me many times, so you need to believe me and move on."

Without another word, Stephanie ended the call and tossed her phone on the passenger seat. Whew! She knew that she was risking another angry call, but she would deal with it. She always did, after all, if it wasn't one thing it was another with her mom.

There was not much she could do about the rumors, she knew that too. You would think that the people in the burg would be so tired of gossiping about her. If only that could be true. For some unknown reason, everyone seemed to be overly interested in her love life and any of the job mishaps that happened all too often.

Pulling back into traffic, Stephanie tried to tamp down the turmoil of emotions attacking her gut. To think that until the call from her mother, Stephanie had been headed home to sit in front of the fan in her window, sipping iced tea and reading the novel that Connie had given her last week. A few minutes of downtime had sounded heavenly. She still needed to relax, even more than before. Now Stephanie hoped that she could calm down enough to salvage some of the relaxing she had hoped for.

Still trying to control her anger, Stephanie found a place to park and headed into her building. On automatic pilot, she stepped into the elevator, pushed the button. Leaning her head back against the wall, Stephanie closed her eyes. She was tired and sweaty and thirsty and so unsettled. Huge questions loomed in front of her, the weight of them pressing in on her.

Her relationship with Joe had not ended in the best way, she was willing to admit that now. One morning she had just had enough and had told him as much. And then she had walked away. It had come down to this; if she had to choose, she wanted whatever non-relationship that she could have with Ranger more than the stifling life that Joe had to offer.

It had been as simple as that for Stephanie, but not so much for Joe. There was no way that she could ever explain it to him, so she had not even tried. It would only have made him angry if she had mentioned Ranger anyway.

Being the dumpee instead of the dumpor of the relationship had not set well with Joe. Stephanie had no doubt that this, in and of itself, was enough of a reason to make him act the way he was, but really hadn't he had enough of this yet? Eyes still closed, a heavy sigh escaped her lips. Why couldn't it all just go away already?

Her stomach felt the last lift and fall of the elevator stopping. Opening her eyes as the doors noisily slid apart, Stephanie went through the motions of walking to her door and unlocking it with her key. Closing it behind her, she locked the door and turned, staring unseeing into the living room.

Slowly she moved in and, as if she could not stand the feeling for one second more, started to peel off her damp clothes. She kicked off her shoes as she walked, her shirt and pants were left in a pile next to the couch where she sank down wearily.

Sitting there, motionless in nothing more than her underwear, Stephanie wanted to do nothing, think nothing for a long while. But her mind wouldn't stop running through the events of the day. Losing another skip, melting in the oppressive heat, arguing with her mother. It was like a recording that never stopped. Until finally, with jarring clarity, her brain caught up and replayed the moment when she had just walked from the elevator into her apartment.

The fog in her head cleared and in her mind's eye she saw the box that had been sitting next to her door. Jumping up, Stephanie ran to the door, putting her eye up to the peephole, hoping that she could see what was out there without opening the door. Of course, she could not see the floor through the tiny round hole, as she had known she wouldn't, but that did not stop her from lifting up on her tiptoes to try.

No use, Stephanie leaned her forehead against the door, closing her eyes as she tried to calm the nerves flying wild in her stomach. Fear. Or Dread. She could not say which one was the worst feeling at the moment. Confusion played a big role too. Could she have been so wrapped up in her personal misery that she did not notice a mysterious package sitting there right next to her door when she had stepped off of the elevator?

Oh, this was not good. Stephanie took a deep breath as she stepped back. Slowly her hand grasped the doorknob and turned it. She hesitated now. Either she was crazy or she could be in serious trouble. Neither option had ever particularly appealed to her. Unaware that she was now holding her breath, Stephanie slowly opened the door.

Peering through the narrow opening that she had allowed, Stephanie could see the box. It really was there. Great, at least she knew that she was not going crazy. Her breath came out in a rush, "No, I am not completely crazy," she told herself with relief. Brown paper covered the box that was big enough to fit a basketball. How had she missed that?

Still only allowing the door to be opened just a sliver, she bent down to get a closer look and to take this chance to further study whatever she could about the package. Stephanie looked at the colorful stamps scattered in one corner, but she could not tell if they were from here or another country. The label in the center had her name on it, but there was no return address. No other information on it at all, save for the word FRAGILE stamped boldly in red ink.

After one more moment staring at the box, Stephanie straightened and quickly slammed the door closed, as if she could make it go away by not seeing it anymore. Those nerves in her stomach were now moving up her chest into her throat. Backing away from the door, she was finding it hard to breathe. She wished with all her heart that it had all been in her imagination.

Suddenly, being crazy enough to imagine things felt safer. Certainly, it was much better than the real-life scenario that she now faced. Surprises on her doorstep had never turned out to be good news for her in the past, and she had no idea what to expect now.

When her legs hit the couch behind her Stephanie froze. Realization hit hard. She was trapped in her apartment. It might have been a stroke of luck that nothing had happened the first time she had passed by the box. Stephanie was sure that she wouldn't take a chance by trying it again.

One clear thought had emerged in her mind. She did not have to wonder what she wanted to do. Call Ranger! Without hesitation, Stephanie grabbed her phone and dialed the number of the one person that she had always trusted to know what to do. Her mind was racing as fast as her heart. Was he back in town like Connie had said? If he was, would he want to answer her call?

Her whole world stopped as she waited to see what was going to happen. Those split seconds felt like an eternity, her mind playing through every possible scenario. Stephanie imagined all of the negative outcomes in excruciating detail. "Breathe, Steph," she whispered.

"Babe?" Much to her surprise, and her relief, Ranger answered the call immediately. It was so good to hear him, and it wasn't until that second that Stephanie realized that she would have died if he had not taken her call. It had been months since they had talked, too long since she had heard his voice. Oh my, what he could do to her with just the sound of that sexy voice. Every cell in her body responded to it. To him. Tingles zipped up her spine, settling in at the back of her neck. It had been so long, she sighed. Too long!

She had been waiting all this time to tell Ranger how she felt about him. All the while worried that so much time had passed that it was possible he no longer had any interest in her. Stephanie was being distracted by these swirling thoughts, for the smallest of moments, and then the purpose of the call came back into focus and fear took over again, hitting hard. A sheen of sweat, that had nothing to do with the weather, broke out all over her body.

"Ranger," Stephanie was barely able to force herself to say the single word. "Uh," she stammered, upset with herself for sounding so stupid. "Welcome home," Stephanie finally said, feeling like a stupid school girl talking to her crush. She pulled in a gulp of air before trying to say anything more.

"It... there is... uh," she tried again to speak, swallowing down the fear that had nearly overtaken her moments before. "Um, a box is by my door," she said haltingly. "I don't know what it is..."

Ranger could hear the terror in her voice that he knew she wanted so badly to hide from him. Out of her halting words, Ranger put together a picture of what was happening. This was Stephanie, after all, and unexpected bad things seemed to find her. Nothing good had ever come from anonymous packages showing up at her apartment and he felt the urgency that she actually seemed reluctant to share.

With every fiber of his body, he was glad that Stephanie had come to him for help. Suddenly he realized how relieved he was to know that she still thought of him, trusted him. Well, he was not going to let her down. His protective instincts kicked in immediately.

"Get as far from the door as you can," Ranger told her. "I'm on my way."