by Helen Lacey
Kieran O’Sullivan never let anything—or anyone—stand in his way.
Even the girl he claimed to love.
But fifteen years later, the successful doctor’s back in Cedar River. So is Nicola Radici, still as beautiful as the day he left her behind. The last thing Nicola wants is to forgive and forget. But when Kieran connects with her nephews, their guardian has to let him into their life. And maybe even her heart.
“I’m the horse?”
“Well, of course you’re not really a—”
“A horse that you might want to get back on...correct?”
“I didn’t mean it like—”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” she said hotly, glancing around to ensure Josie, Marco or her father weren’t in earshot. Thankfully they were all still in the kitchen. “Thank you for stopping by to check on Marco, but I’d like you to leave.”
“You’re angry.”
“Damned straight!”
He took a step closer. “So I’m guessing you’ve never learned how to conquer that famous temper of yours.”
The blood surged in her veins. “Since my temper only comes out around you, I haven’t had to worry about it.”
“Look, all I’m saying is that my mother seems to have developed this crazy idea that we’re...that you and I are somehow... I don’t know.” He said the words on an exasperated breath and ran a hand through his floppy, gorgeous hair. “Reconnected.”
“But we’re not,” she shot back quickly. “You would be the very last man on the planet that I would want to connect with. Next time I see your mother, I’ll make sure I tell her that.”
He laughed. He laughed so hard it made Nicola madder than hell.
“You sure about that?”
* * *
THE CEDAR RIVER COWBOYS: Riding into town with romance on their minds!
Dear Reader
Welcome back to Cedar River, South Dakota! And to my latest book from Harlequin Special Edition, A Kiss, a Dance & a Diamond.
I love reunion stories! I love watching as two people who might think their chance of love and a happily-ever-after has passed them by discover that the real love of their life is closer than they think. Enter former high school sweethearts Kieran O’Sullivan and Nicola Radici. After breaking up in spectacular fashion on graduation day, these two have somehow managed to avoid running into each other for nearly fifteen years. Until they both return to Cedar River—Kieran to start his life over after a messy divorce, and Nicola to care for her two orphaned nephews.
Complicated? For sure. But the rocky road to love is rarely smooth. Although they get some help in the form of one meddling mother, several well-meaning relatives and friends and two little boys who clearly know that Kieran and Nicola belong together.
I hope you enjoy A Kiss, a Dance & a Diamond, and I’d like to invite you back to Cedar River very soon for my next book.
I adore hearing from readers and can be reached by email at [email protected], on Twitter, @helen_lacey_, and on Facebook, or sign up for my newsletter via my website at helenlacey.com. Please visit anytime as I love talking about my pets, my horses and, of course, cowboys, and also sharing news about upcoming books in my latest series for Harlequin Special Edition, The Cedar River Cowboys!
Warmest wishes,
Helen Lacey
A Kiss, a Dance & a Diamond
Helen Lacey
Helen Lacey grew up reading Black Beauty and Little House on the Prairie. These childhood classics inspired her to write her first book when she was seven, a story about a girl and her horse. She loves writing for Harlequin Special Edition, where she can create strong heroes with soft hearts and heroines with gumption who get their happily-ever-afters. For more about Helen, visit her website, helenlacey.com.
Books by Helen Lacey
Harlequin Special Edition
The Cedar River Cowboys
The Rancher’s Unexpected Family
Married to the Mom-to-Be
The Cowgirl’s Forever Family
Lucy & the Lieutenant
Three Reasons to Wed
The Prestons of Crystal Point
The CEO’s Baby Surprise
Claiming His Brother’s Baby
Once Upon a Bride
Date with Destiny
His-and-Hers Family
Marriage Under the Mistletoe
Made for Marriage
Harlequin Serialization
Secrets of the A-List, Part 5
Visit the Author Profile page at www.Harlequin.com for more titles.
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For Gareth and Stephen.
Because big brothers are the best.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Excerpt from Soldier, Handyman, Family Man by Lynne Marshall
Chapter One
Kieran O’Sullivan was home.
For good.
He rubbed the back of his neck, stretched out his spine and figured he should down another cup of coffee since he had three hours to go before the end of his double shift. It had been a busier-than-usual afternoon in the ER at the Cedar River Community Hospital, but nothing like he’d been used to when he’d lived and worked in Sioux Falls. Still, he’d treated two minor burns, a dislocated shoulder, a baby with a bad case of croup and a teenager who’d fractured her arm after falling off a horse.
He was five days into his new job at the hospital.
Five days of unpacking boxes and settling into the apartment he’d rented.
Five days pretending life was sweet.
And five days that he’d managed to avoid running into Nicola Radici.
He ignored the twinge in his gut and the way the word coward mashed its way into his thoughts. Because it wasn’t as though he hadn’t seen Nicola or spoken to her in the past twelve months. He had. Several times. But this was different. He was now back in Cedar River for good. Back in the town where he’d been born and raised—a town of a few thousand that sat in the shadow of the Black Hills, South Dakota.
Yeah, back home for good with no way of avoiding her.
High school sweethearts.
The damned phrase still made him cringe.
It had been fifteen years since they’d spectacularly broken up after graduation. Since then he’d married and divorced, and he knew Nicola had a broken engagement in her past...so there was no logical reason he should have any feelings about her one way or another.
But he did.
He had guilt.
By the bucket load.
For over a decade and a half, he’d regularly returned to Cedar River to visit his family. But he’d usually managed to avoid running into her. She’d moved to San Francisco, gone to college, gotten a life that didn’t include him...just as he’d told her to do. While he’d gone to college and med school, ending up at the largest hospital in Sioux Falls. That was where he met Tori, who soon became his wife and the mother of his son. Everything had worked out as he’d imagined it would.
Until it blew up in his face.
Kieran shook the memory off, hating that after nearly two years he still had the same aching loss seeping into his bones. Nothing eased it. And he suspected nothing ever would. But he had to pretend he was over the whole awful mess. He had a job, parents, siblings, friends...too many things and people eclipsing his grief to behave as broken inside as he felt. It was better to simply make out he was okay.
And he was, most of the time. But since he’d made the decision to move back to Cedar River a few months back and secured a permanent position at the hospital, a peculiar uneasiness had simmered in his gut. And he suspected it had nothing to do with returning home for good, nothing to do with the fact that his parents were divorcing or that months earlier he’d discovered he had a secret half brother who lived in Portland, a product of his father’s thirty-year-old infidelity.
No, it wasn’t anything to do with that. It had everything to do with Nicola Radici.
Because Nicola, with her long brown hair and dark eyes, was as sensational now as she’d been in high school.
And because she still clearly hated the sight of him.
Every time they’d spoken in the past twelve months, like at his brother Liam’s wedding a few months back, she’d tilted her chin, pushed back her shoulders and offered a cursory response when he’d said hello and asked how she was. Even when he’d offered his condolences to her and her family over the loss of her brother, Gino, who’d been tragically killed in a boating accident eighteen months ago. He knew how she felt, since he’d lost his sister Liz three years earlier.
Kieran recognized the lingering resentment in her expression.
She hadn’t forgiven him for humiliating her so many years ago.
Not that he blamed her. He had broken up with her on graduation day, just outside her locker, right in front of the whole school. He hadn’t meant to do it that way, but it had happened regardless.
Kieran shook off the memory and headed for the doctor’s lounge to grab a much-needed cup of coffee. Just as he was taking a sip, one of the nurses poked her head around the door.
“Dr. O’Sullivan,” she said and waved an admission folder. “There’s a patient in triage, bed three. A young boy with a fish hook in his hand.”
Kieran spilled the rest of the coffee down the sink and rinsed out the mug. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”
The nurse hovered by the doorway and gave a kind of uneasy shrug. “Um...it’s one of the Radici boys.”
His stomach plummeted. Particularly when he saw the nurse’s expression. His old relationship with Nicola wasn’t exactly a secret, and many of the nurses, including the fiftysomething woman in front of him, had lived in Cedar River all their lives. And since his family was the wealthiest and most high profile in town, gossip came with the territory. But damn, the last thing he wanted was to see Nicola, especially when he’d just been thinking about her.
“He’s a patient, so it’s not a problem,” he said anyway, heading toward triage.
He spotted Nicola immediately, standing beside one of the beds, the privacy curtain half-pulled around. Dressed in jeans, a bright red shirt, ankle boots and with a blue sweater wrapped around her waist, she was effortlessly attractive. Her hair was loose—her wild, curly dark brown hair that hung down her back and had always driven him crazy—and he was suddenly overcome by the memory of the two of them in the back of his Wrangler, going all the way when they were sixteen and losing their virginity together.
Then, he quickly pushed the memory away and kept walking.
There was a dark-haired boy standing at her side, his arms crossed, and another, younger child sitting on the edge of the bed. Her nephews. It was common knowledge that she’d inherited custody of her brother’s two kids upon his death. Kieran took a breath, put on his best physician’s face and walked towards them.
“Nicola,” he said quietly. “Hello.”
She turned her head and met his gaze. The resentment was still there, burning bright in her lush brown eyes. He saw the pulse in her throat beating wildly as she spoke. “Dr. O’Sullivan.”
Nothing else. There was no welcome in her voice. Nothing other than cool resentment. And the way she called him doctor made that resentment abundantly clear.
He plastered a smile on his face. “It’s good to see you, Nic.”
Big mistake. She clearly didn’t want to be reminded of the way he used to call her Nic because she glared at him, pressing her lips together. Kieran watched as she swallowed hard, with her arms crossed so tightly they might snap.
One of her steeply arched eyebrows rose a fraction. “I thought Dr. Wright was on duty tonight?”
Of course. She wouldn’t have come to the ER if she suspected Kieran would be there. And she obviously knew he’d started working at the hospital. News traveled fast in Cedar River. Kieran half shrugged. “She’ll be here later,” he explained and moved around the bed. “I’m on a double shift because we’re down a doctor this week. I finish up in three hours.” He felt her scrutiny down to his bones. “So...let’s see what’s going on with your nephew’s hand,” he said, getting the conversation back on track.
“I hooked myself,” the child on the bed muttered, holding up his clumsily bandaged hand, his eyes downcast. “See?”
“He was messing around,” the older boy said and looked toward his aunt. “I told him to stop.”
“I was not!” his brother said hotly and waved his hand and then yelped in pain. “You said I couldn’t cast my line and you kept laughing.”
“You were casting like a girl,” the older Radici brother said. “And into a bucket in the backyard. That’s not even real casting. You can’t do anything.”
“I can so!”
“You’re such a baby,” the older boy said.
Kieran looked at Nicola and saw that she was frowning.
“Johnny,” she scolded. “Please don’t make things worse.”
The older boy had a scowl so deep it creased his forehead. He shrugged. “I’m gonna sit over there.”
Kieran smiled to himself. It would be exactly the same conversation he might once have had with his own brothers when they were kids. He watched as Johnny shuffled sulkily across the triage zone and plunked into a chair, then took a gaming console out of his small backpack, shoved plugs into his ears and ignored all of them.
Kieran looked at the younger child. “You know, when we were kids, my brother Liam always said I couldn’t fish as well as he could. I was younger, and my arms weren’t as long as his. But you know what? I grew up taller than him.”
The boy looked at him for the first time and his eyes widened. “You did?”
“Yep,” Kieran replied and grinned. “And now I’m a way better fisherman than he is.”
“Really?” he asked, looking pensive.
“Really,” Kieran assured him.
The boy shrugged. “It’s not really fishing. It’s just a bucket and some plastic toys.”
“Well,” Kieran said as he moved around the bed and dropped the clipboard onto it. “Maybe you’ll get so good you can do it for real sometime.”
Kieran saw a kind of wary panic cross the child’s face, and he looked quickly toward Nicola. She glanced sideways, and he saw her shake her head slightly. He sensed something was wrong but didn’t comment further. Instead, he washed his hands in the sink, pulled on a pair of gloves and then gently placed the boy’s wrapped hand on a small rolling table. “Okay, let’s see what you’ve done. First, though, you better tell me your name.”
“Marco,” he muttered, his lip wobbling.
“Okay, Marco,” Kieran said and began to unwrap the makeshift bandage. “Let’s do this.”
The boy whimpered a little, calming when Nicola moved forward and grasped his other hand. Kieran tried not to think about how it was the closest he’d been to her in fifteen years. Or about how h
e could pick up the scent of her vanilla shampoo over the antiseptic that usually lingered in the air. The scent was suddenly so familiar it made him glance sideways.
She wasn’t looking at him, though. Her attention was focused solely on her nephew.
He could see how she was slightly biting her bottom lip and remembered how she used to do that when she was deep in thought, like when they’d been studying together back in high school. Of course, studying usually turned into making out, which often led to more. Back then he’d been crazy for her, mad for her beautiful hair, sexy curves and warm brown eyes. A typical horny teenage boy who couldn’t get enough of his first real girlfriend. Back then, in the three years they’d dated, Kieran was sure he and Nicola would go the distance, that they’d go to college, travel the world, get married one day, have a family. But that was a kid’s dream. Because the moment Nicola had suggested they get engaged before they headed off to college, he’d freaked out. He’d felt trapped and afraid that settling down so young would derail his career. And he’d never quite forgiven himself for hurting her the way he had.
And, clearly, she hadn’t, either.
There were tears in Marco’s eyes, and Kieran focused his attention on the child. He was a quiet sort of kid, clearly in pain, but trying to be brave. “You know, if you want to say ouchywowah, you can.”
The child’s eyes widened. “Ouchy, what?”
“Ouchywowah,” Kieran said and finished unwrapping the bandage. “Saying it three times helps make the pain go away. But you have to say it quietly,” he explained, not daring to look at Nicola. “Like, in a whisper...or it doesn’t work.”
“Really?”
“Really,” Kieran assured him and smiled to himself as the boy began chanting the word over and over. Silly as it was, it seemed to help Marco concentrate on something other than his injury and, ten minutes later, Kieran had removed the fishing hook impaled between Marco’s fingers, cleaned and stitched the injury and ordered some pain medication. He left the nurse to dress the young boy’s hand, while he did something he didn’t want to do: speak to Nicola—alone.
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