Dear Reader,

Welcome to New York in February! While I’ve never lived in New York, I have friends and work associates who do, and I love it here. I also love the Coltons. The family, the bravery...they grip me every time. And this time, I’m visiting something else with which I have personal ties—the world of prosecution. My only child was a federal prosecutor and I held her hand through most of her law school days. Public lawyers are a special breed. The hours they have to put in, the blood that goes into each of their cases, all for less money than most lawyers make.

Prosecutor Emily Hernandez brings me to yet another particular love of mine: unexpected pregnancies. It happens to a lot of women—it even happened to me. And I love being able to take the frightening and unplanned, and turn it into a well of never-ending love, as the birth of my daughter did for me. Added to that, Emily’s in her forties, and the father of her child...well, he’s a Colton. You can see why she stepped out of her ordered, controlled world to fall into bed with him. And why, when she thought it was only a fling, she didn’t worry about him being ten years younger than her. But...making a family with him? Not in the plan at all.

Tara Taylor Quinn