I'm Ba-a-a-a-a-ck!

Hey!

Long time, no see. It's me, Spence. I'm back.

And about time, too, I'd say. Seems like forever since Anne turned me loose on her blog -- or left me to my own devices and went off to Alabama and made merry at her son's wedding in Montana and generally didn't do what authors are supposed to do -- which is WRITE!

But as you'll recall, she finally finished the damn book -- nearly a year ago. It's called The Boss's Wife For A Week, in case you don't know it. And I'm the hero of it, in case you don't know that either.

And last year, while Anne was working on it, sometimes she got so busy or so frustrated, she threatened dire things and couldn't be trusted near a computer, so I got to blog in her place. She actually didn't think I would do it, but I showed her. I blogged for three months! Not every day, of course. Some of us have lives, McAllister.

Anyway, once my book was out of her hair, she banned me from the office. She said it was off limits. She let bloody Theo in, though, I notice. And I reminded her of that. And she said I could come back when my book was out.

And now, AT LAST, it's making its way to the shelves. In fact she tells me that the Mills & Boon site (whatever that is) already has copies for sale. And she says Kate Hardy already has hers. And I know Abby Green has hers because she thinks I'm wonderful.

"Better than Eamon?" I asked. "What do you think?" Abby said.

Well, of course I'm better than Eamon. We all know that. McAllister knows it, too, but she won't admit it to me. She says she can't play favorites, that it's like playing favorites with your children. I wouldn't know about that.

But Sadie would say I'm better than Eamon. Definitely. No question.

And Sadie . . . well, Sadie is -- Sadie.

And what a wringer she put me through while we were getting this book down on paper. I thought I knew her! My best buddy Danny's kid sister. Smart as a whip. Most organized person I ever met. When she was six she alphabetized her stuffed animals. I know. I've known her since she was a little kid, for heaven's sake.

You'd think there wouldn't be many surprises. You'd be wrong.

Sadie is full of surprises. And she'll be here tomorrow to tell you just how wrong I was. She takes a lot of pleasure in that. Too much, I'd say.

She just laughs when I say that.

She says she's the one who's going to be organizing the contest. She thinks I don't do detail well, that I'd screw it up. I do detail fine -- well, except one. A guy can make one mistake, can't he?

Can't he????

Besides, it's not that it mattered in the end. In fact, we might not have got to the end quite as satisfactorily without me doing what I did. (Sadie says if I can get you to believe that, she's got an ice machine in Antarctica she'd like to sell you).

Sometimes Sadie can get a little cranky.

But I'm keeping her. And not just for the week, either. Forever.

That's what they should have called our book. None of this The Boss's Wife For A Week nonsense. Sadie is going to be The Boss's Wife Forever.

And so what if, like McAllister says, it sounds like there's no conflict in it?

There's conflict. PLENTY of conflict. Not to mention a pretty damn gorgeous island. And Sadie. And a bed. And Sadie. And a shower. And Sadie.

But, as Sadie says, it's the end that matters. Truth to tell, though, getting there wasn't bad either.

Though frankly I think that much conflict is highly over-rated.