Lilac Lane

Lilac Lane
Sherryl Woods

From #1 New York Times bestseller, Sherryl Woods.Chesapeake Shores is now a major TV series starring Meghan Ory and Jesse Metcalfe.Can a broken heart find love?When single mother Kiera Malone moves from a small town off the coast of Ireland to be with her family in Chesapeake Shores, finding love is the last thing on her mind. Overwhelmed with grief after losing her fiancé, she’s alone and in desperate need of a fresh start.The community of Chesapeake Shores welcome her with open arms, and Kiera moves into a charming cottage on Lilac Lane. But when she begins working at the local Irish pub alongside Bryan Laramie, the argumentative chef, little does she know that this fresh start may be about to get a lot more complicated…

Chesapeake Shores has always represented home and family for the O’Briens, but in Lilac Lane, the community extends its healing powers to a woman recovering from overwhelming grief

Single mom Kiera Malone struggled for years to raise her three children in a small town on the coast of Ireland. Just when she’s let down her guard and allowed herself to love again, her fiancé suffers a fatal heart attack and leaves her alone yet again. Overwhelmed by her loss, she’s persuaded to visit her father, Dillon O’Malley, and her daughter, Moira O’Brien, in Chesapeake Shores. With the promise of family ties and a job at O’Brien’s, her son-in-law’s Irish pub, she takes what seems like the biggest risk of her life.

As it turns out, though, crossing the ocean is nothing compared to moving into a charming cottage on Lilac Lane, right next door to Bryan Laramie, the moody chef at O’Brien’s, who doesn’t do anything the way Kiera believes it should be done. Their kitchen wars quickly become the stuff of legends in Chesapeake Shores, and the town’s matchmakers conclude where there’s heat, there’s sure to be passion.

As these two deal with their wounded pasts and discover common interests, they might just find the perfect recipe for love.

Lilac Lane

Sherryl Woods

ONE PLACE. MANY STORIES

This one is for all the readers who’ve embraced my characters and

stories through the years. You’ve been such a blessing in my life

and I treasure the friendship you’ve offered.

Contents

Cover (#u55a600b4-b8e1-561f-a169-a5713b46b5df)

Back Cover Text (#u7d5ef880-d054-59b5-9715-d4f84b9c45bd)

Title Page (#u8607e4cb-4882-5404-9c5e-8c0a2a667a43)

Dedication (#u869adb6d-72e2-50ef-a682-da7072017e8a)

Prologue (#ud8c14f5d-ef17-5543-805d-36c58dda77f0)

Chapter 1 (#u3071f1ab-456d-5120-aea9-f9d5b99ae5e7)

Chapter 2 (#ua0f80ad4-3f9d-5c04-8fea-37577db78f0c)

Chapter 3 (#uf246de07-de47-5393-8649-bd65cf7ecdc1)

Chapter 4 (#u233ab7c4-5735-515d-9be6-bdd9891494f1)

Chapter 5 (#u2c8bc9ca-ac6e-5a84-ae04-6c5e8d295443)

Chapter 6 (#ucffaa9a8-b226-583c-9bbd-10eeaf315278)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)

Afterword (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

Prologue (#u759c93d3-b3bd-5062-b4f9-8f1055888241)

The death of Peter McDonough would have been a blow at any time, but coming as it had on the very day Kiera Malone had finally accepted his proposal of marriage left her reeling. After her first husband, Sean Malone, had abandoned her with three young children, she had vowed never to let another man into her life, much less into her heart. She’d clung to her independence with a fierce protectiveness. She’d made a practice of scaring men away with her tart tongue and bitter demeanor, even knowing as she did so that she was dooming herself to loneliness. Better that than dooming herself and her children to another loss, another mistake.

After the death of his wife, Peter, bless his sweet soul, had waited patiently on the sidelines for Kiera, running his pub in Dublin, supporting her daughter, Moira, in her efforts to make a career of the photography that Kiera herself had thought of as nothing more than a hobby, and making the occasional overture to Kiera.

To Kiera’s confusion, not even her best efforts to push him aside and make clear her lack of interest, efforts that had chased off every other man who’d approached her, seemed to dissuade Peter. He took her rebuffs in stride. If anything, his not-so-secret crush had deepened.

More troubling, aside from his thick, curly hair and firm jaw, he had a combination of traits that drew her to him—strength balanced by gentleness, bold determination tempered by patience and a booming laugh that could fill her heart with unexpected lightness. He was, in all respects, a man who knew exactly what he wanted, and he wanted Kiera. She had no idea why.

Moreover, he’d had the support not only of her father, Dillon O’Malley, but of her daughter. Up until then, Moira, like Dillon, had approved of very few of Kiera’s choices in life. Yet for once Moira and Kiera’s father had conspired to push Kiera and Peter together at every opportunity. Since their approval had been granted so sparingly over the years, she’d been persuaded to be less resistant than usual. What was the harm, after all, when she knew it would come to nothing? Relationships tended to deteriorate over time, even those begun with passion and hope. They ended. At least that was her experience.