THE AIR WAS DECIDEDLY DAMP rather than chilly as Kate Mackenzie stepped off the back end of the big red double-decker bus. Which was nothing unusual for an average winter’s day here in London. If it snowed in the heart of the city you knew the rest of the country was in dire straights, or, at the very least, up to its proverbial ankles in it. She smiled wryly to herself and pulled her coat collar up round her neck. For someone who’d just spent the last five years in the province of Quebec, in the heart of snow country—where the Winter’s lasted a good six months and snow piled up by the foot rather than the centimetre—she was thankful it never snowed in the Big Smoke.
Kate hated London, it was the last place on earth she wanted to be right now, but here she was, back in the rat race. Working in the acquisitions department of HarperCollins, back at the science fiction desk where it had all began, even though she had now moved up more than a few levels since the first time round. However, that was only because of an impressive resume. She had racked up the miles never mind the years.
