Opening her eyes, Maura was immediately assaulted by the blinding sun. “Damn! I meant to close those blinds before I went to sleep.” Her first Saturday off in weeks, and after dropping Bill off at the airport last night, she was looking forward to sleeping in.

Wait…something was off. Her bedroom did not face directly East. The sun should not be that strong. How late had she slept? Looking at her watch, she saw it was 5:30…am or pm, it shouldn’t be this bright. Not in New Jersey in December.

Getting her bearings, Maura stepped out of bed onto a hardwood floor. Except…her bedroom was carpeted.

Okay. Something was wrong. Now that she had her eyes open, she could see she was not in her own room. The elaborate furnishings and exquisite bedding gave away the fact that wherever she was, it was upscale. Seeing a lush robe thrown over the one chair in the room, she put it on and walked to the window.

When she looked outside, she had to blink. Was she seeing things? The view was gorgeous. The view from her bedroom was decidedly NOT gorgeous.

Okay. She looked around. It didn’t appear that there was anyone else in the room, and she couldn’t find a camera. Was someone playing with her?

She turned back to the window and looked at the strange but beautiful surroundings. Colorful flowers she’d never seen before sent waves of delicious fragrance through the air, and the bright gold and red of some of the buildings were simply stunning.

She was not home. She was not in New Jersey. Hell, she’d bet she wasn’t even in the United States!

Where the heck was she, and how did she get here???