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CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER

1

“I

’m not leaving, Isaac.” Shannon faced off against her brother. “I’m fine.”

She took offence at the skeptical look on her brother’s face.

Granted, the fourth tequila shot might have been a bad idea in combination with the champagne currently in her hand. But hey, it was New Year’s Eve, and she was celebrating her freedom.

“You and Jenna go home. I’ll be fine on my own.”

Isaac snorted. “Not likely. You’re totally wasted, and it’s not even ten o’clock.”

Still the bossy, overprotective older brother. She was twenty-six years old, for crying out loud. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m all grown up now. I don’t need your permission to stay out late.” Being ten years older didn’t automatically make him wiser. “Besides, Jenna looks ready to drop.”

Jenna nodded. “Ugh! I hate these crutches. All I did was watch you and Isaac move your stuff into the apartment, but I swear that was enough to make me tired.”

Isaac put a protective arm around Jenna. “The doctor said only one more week to go. You’ll be up and down those stairs soon enough.” Shannon felt a stab of envy at the kiss they exchanged.

She was really glad Isaac and Jenna had found each other. He seemed happier than he had been in the five years since he and Lauren split up. Heck, he seemed happier than when he and Lauren were still together.

But there was no way Shannon was leaving this bar before she proved to herself and the world that she was ready to move on to bigger and better things this year.

Jackson Tidwell the Third was a jerk, and she was

so

over him. Oh, he might have seemed like a real prince at first—good job, nice car, treated her well—but he’d shown his true froggy colours this holiday season.

If she were being honest with herself, there were glimpses of what he was really like before that. She just chose not to see them.

“Don’t be such a worrywart, Isaac. The apartment is only three blocks from here.” She gestured vaguely. “It’s right over there.”

Isaac moved her arm in the opposite direction. “I think you mean that way. And yes, clearly you’re fine.” It was obvious he didn’t want to leave her, but he didn’t have much choice in the matter. Their niece Lindsay had only agreed to babysit Sara until eleven.

Isaac wrapped her up in a hug. “All right, we’ll go. But please get home safely, Shan.”

Shannon nodded and waved, distracted by the scratch of the ring against her chest. She didn’t know exactly how much it was worth, but she didn’t want to lose it before she could return it to Jackson. Moving out of the apartment they shared had been a no-brainer. She didn’t want to marry someone with no interest in being part of her family. And once she found out he was cheating? She didn’t even want to

see

him again. Moving back to Rivers End, where she could spend more time with her family, made perfect sense.

She’d already found a job—well, the sub list counted—and was renting one of the second-floor apartments in The Landing from Jenna. Isaac had given her one of the lodge beds he’d had in storage, and one of these days she’d make the two-hour drive to Victoria to pick up the rest of her stuff from Jackson’s place and return the damn ring.

Now all she needed to start the new year off right was someone to kiss at midnight. Preferably someone who was nothing like her fiancé—

ex

-fiancé.

A quick look at the clock behind the bar confirmed she had at least two more hours to find the right candidate.

Shannon scanned the crowded bar, taking in the options. For once her hair had cooperated, and some of these guys were actually good looking. Out-of-towners to boot.

This was going to be a piece of cake.

It was too

bad she hated him.

Lucas sat in a booth near the front door of Just One More with a couple of guys he’d gone to high school with and their wives. He’d noticed Shannon the second she had walked into the bar. Probably every man in the place had—single or otherwise.

It was the jeans. Designed to show off her assets, they highlighted every curve. Just the thought of her body was enough to have him shifting uncomfortably in his chair.

Her top looked perfectly respectable at first glance. Red, satiny, it made his fingers itch to touch. Then she turned around, and he almost swallowed his tongue. The back was made of crisscross straps and showed just enough skin to torment him with the possibility that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

He kept catching glimpses from across the bar as the crowd shifted. He loved it when she wore her hair down. It was darker than he remembered, more golden toffee than wheat. He wanted to bury his hands in it and see if it still smelled the way he remembered, like vanilla and honey.

Lucas deliberately focused on the beer in front of him, raising the glass for a nice deep swig.

She’s not for you, man. Change the channel.

“When did Tracy start carrying microbrews?”

“About six months ago. We’ve got some great new ones on the island, and the tourists love it. The locals are learning to like them.” Carson glanced at the empty bottles on the table in front of Erik and stuck his elbow in his friend’s gut. “Some of us, anyway.”

Erik didn’t even flinch. “Says you.”

“Now you’ve done it,” Erik’s wife Cassie said, pushing her chair away from the table. She turned to Lucas and rolled her eyes. “They’ll be at this for ages. Come on Jennifer, let’s get out there on the dance floor. Those two can argue about beer forever. And have. Repeatedly.”

Lucas watched the women fight their way through the crowd to the dance floor and felt a twinge of envy. They’d all graduated the same year. Despite being goofballs in high school, both Erik and Carson had managed to get married, and both had families. What did he have to show for his twenty-eight years? A serious caffeine addiction and not much else. Hopefully this coming year would change all that. At the very least, he’d add

business owner

to his list of accomplishments.

Spending the holidays with the MacAllisters had reminded him of everything he’d lost by running away when things went sideways with his sister. He’d missed out on the last five years of his niece’s life. He’d missed Isaac and all the time they used to spend together. He hadn’t been fishing in years. And he’d missed seeing Shannon around town and at family functions. The best—and worst—thing about a town as small as Rivers End was that you ran into people on a regular basis. Whether you wanted to or not.

When another deep swig of beer emptied his drink, Lucas decided he’d hit the bar instead of waiting for the server to come back.

He met Isaac and Jenna about halfway across the room. It was nice to see Isaac looking so happy. Jenna was good for him. She’d only been in Rivers End a few weeks, but she was certainly making an impression on the town and its residents. “How’s my favourite landlord?”

Jenna laughed. “Still in shock. It’s been a whirlwind the last few days. So many papers to sign, and I’d be happy not to talk to another lawyer, realtor or insurance agent for a very long time. But The Landing is really mine now. It’s hard to believe, but I’m getting used to the idea. Did you get moved into the apartment okay?”

“Yes, I moved in a few things yesterday. I don’t have a ton of stuff, but I’m sure that’ll change as I get settled in. My first priority is to get the business space set up, and then I’ll deal with my apartment. Have you heard from any more prospective tenants?”

Isaac laughed. “Her phone has been ringing off the hook. She doesn’t sit still for more than a few minutes at a time.” He gave Jenna a look and pointed at her knee. “Not exactly following the doctor’s orders.”

“I know. I know.” She rolled her eyes. “I promise to put it up and ice it as soon as we get home. My New Year’s resolution is to do everything the Doc says and get back in action.” Jenna shifted uncomfortably on her crutches. “I can’t wait until I can manage the stairs. I’m still staying at the lodge with Isaac and Sara for now. I’ll be able to move into my apartment and get out of their hair once I’m fully healed.”

Lucas laughed at the look on Isaac’s face. If it was left up to Isaac, that move would never take place. His bet? She’d be staying at the lodge for good.

“I might know someone who needs a place, if you’re looking to rent those last two suites.”

“Sure, just give them my number. Although there’s only one left to rent right now. Shannon’s going to be in town for a while, and we just moved her stuff in today.”

Well, well, well.

He and Shannon were going to be neighbours. That should be interesting. He wondered if she knew he was living next door. Jenna and Isaac knew the two of them didn’t get along, but they didn’t know the whole reason why.

Jenna pulled Lucas’s attention back to the present. “Let’s get together in the next few days to talk about your website. If I’m going to be stuck sitting on my butt for the next few weeks, I might as well make myself useful.”

“That sounds good.” He’d been dreaming about this for years, and had a notebook full of sketches. But he was good with people and coffee, not graphic design. “I’ve got a few ideas I’d love to run past you.”

Jenna laughed. “Why does that not surprise me? I’ll drop by in the next few days and see how things are going. But right now, I hear an ice pack calling my name.” She started carefully making her way through the crowd on her crutches.

Isaac hung back for a minute. “Look, I know you and Shannon don’t exactly get along these days.”

Lucas snorted. That was an understatement. Their feelings for each other had always been pretty extreme.

“I think she’ll come around once she sees that you and I are really okay again, but I’m a bit worried about her at the moment. She’s had a rough week. Could you do me a favour and just keep an eye on her?”

Ha.

His current plan was to do everything in his power to keep his eyes

off

her. But he wanted to be part of their lives again. To earn his way back into his real family. Unlike the Heyes clan, the MacAllisters looked out for each other.

“Of course. I’ll make sure she gets home safely.”

And now, if anyone noticed him paying a little too much attention to her, he had an excuse.

The last thing

Lucas expected to see when he emerged from the men’s room was Shannon in the bathroom hallway making out with some random guy he’d never seen before. Whatever. She was a big girl. Not like it had anything to do with him. He had promised Isaac he would look out for her, but it didn’t look like she was in trouble. Just making bad choices. All he had to do was ignore the little stab of jealousy shooting through him at the sight of her lips on someone else’s and walk away. End of story.

“I said

no

.” Shannon was shoving at the guy’s chest, but he was as solid as a rock. Judging by the slurring of her words, she was in no shape to fight him off. Not that she should have to. No means no. No matter how many drinks are involved.

Lucas realized his fists were clenched and angled himself so he was facing them.

“You heard the lady. Let her go.” He hoped the guy wasn’t in a fighting mood. He hadn’t been in a fight since high school. But they were evenly matched physically—if the guy took a swing at him, Lucas was fully prepared to swing back.

“Take a hike. This is none of your business.” The guy let go of Shannon and turned to face Lucas.

He had to be a visitor. In Rivers End, everything was everybody’s business. “Actually, it is. She’s engaged.”

Where the heck did that come from?

Lucas, you’re an idiot.

It sounded like he was claiming her for himself. But at least his statement had the desired effect. The guy backed away from Shannon when she took Lucas’s outstretched hand.

“Better learn to control your woman a little better, man. She wasn’t acting very off-limits a few minutes ago.” He stalked off down the hallway, leaving Lucas and Shannon facing each other in silence.

A quick glance at Shannon’s face had Lucas reaching forward with his other hand too. “Steady now.”

She was pale, and swaying on her feet. “You’re such a liar.”

Lucas tensed. The woman was like a broken record. But it was an old tune, and he wasn’t going to defend himself to her while she was drunk.

“I’m not engaged.” She was wiggling her left hand in front of his face. “See that? Naked. Nada. Ringless.”

Wait a minute.

“You and Jackson split up?”

“He’s a frog.”

That was one thing they could agree on. Lucas had always thought the guy was a jerk. He’d met Jackson at Thanksgiving dinner a couple of months before. Leaving the room to answer his phone every few minutes hadn’t exactly endeared the family to him. And he hadn’t even pretended to pay attention when Shannon was talking about her students. Jackson had been noticeably absent from all the family Christmas activities too, and Shannon had seemed preoccupied.

What was up with that?

Not the time, Lucas. You’ve got more pressing issues to deal with.

He didn’t remember Shannon being a big drinker. Between the shock and the booze, he figured they didn’t have long before she crashed hard. He wrapped one arm around her waist, ignoring the zing of attraction as his hand met naked flesh where her shirt didn’t quite meet her jeans.

“I think you need a breath of fresh air.” And a safe place to sleep it off until morning. “Let’s get your coat, and we’ll go for a little walk.” He could use a nice, bracing stroll in the cold air himself before he tried to sleep. Having her next door, only a few steps away in her own bed, maybe even naked, was going to be torture.

He took one look at the crush of people at the bar—refreshing their drinks before the countdown started—and decided to get her out of there as quickly as possible instead of searching for her jacket.

Lucas guided her through the crowd towards the front door. He grabbed his own coat from the back of his chair and ignored the curious looks coming from his friends. Shannon’s dislike of him wasn’t much of a secret—but she was Isaac’s sister. There was no way he was going to leave her alone in this condition. Even the idea of her going home with someone else had him unconsciously placing a possessive hand on her back and moving them more quickly towards the door.

“I’ll see you later, guys. I promised Isaac I’d get Shannon home safely.”

Why did

it have to be

him

coming to her rescue? She’d been mean to him for years. Hadn’t he got the hint yet? “Go away. I don’t need a babysitter. I’m fine.”

Her bold statement might have been more convincing if her teeth hadn’t been chattering. Dang, it was cold out. She rubbed her arms and looked up in surprise when Lucas held out his jacket for her to slip into.

“You’re lucky you have a brother who cares about you enough to worry.” He looked so sad when he said it. It hit home that when he’d walked away five years ago, he’d walked away alone. He’d come back alone too. “We’re headed the same way, Shannon. I promised Isaac. Please let me follow through on that promise and walk you home.”

She hesitated for a moment, lulled by the comforting warmth from his jacket. From

him.

“Fine. But I’m not talking to you.”

Real mature, Shannon. What, are we five?

She hated that both Lucas and her brother thought she couldn’t look after herself, but it was dark out, and she

was

still shaken up a bit from her run-in with Aggressive Guy at the pub.

There were a few streetlights, but the sky was an inky black with a smattering of stars. In the city, it never got this dark. It was amazing how many stars you could see in Rivers End on a clear winter night.

They made their way along the sidewalk, the only sound the crunch of the salt beneath their shoes. There were still remnants of the big snowfall they’d had over Christmas, the piles of snow off to the edges hard now that they had refrozen. The ice that melted during the day tended to freeze up again at night, making the sidewalks slick.

Her shoes might have been the perfect choice for her outfit. But she hadn’t really processed that in Rivers End, there weren’t taxis lined up to take you home at the end of the night. If you lived three blocks away from the bar, you hoofed it home.

The first couple of blocks weren’t too bad. The walkways outside the shops had been shovelled, salted, and well-travelled during the day with everyone stocking up for New Year’s Eve parties and running their post-holiday errands. Shannon was concentrating on staying on her feet. Besides, her mother had always said,

if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

Hmm. Did that mean he had nothing nice to say either?

She snuck a glance at Lucas. Dammit. Why did he have to look so good? His dark hair was a little longer than it had been, and she was momentarily distracted by an urge to run her fingers through it. At the thought, Shannon slipped on a patch of ice and wobbled.

Lucas’s arm instantly went around her waist, giving her the chance to recover. “You okay?”

Eyes on the sidewalk, Shannon.

The last thing she needed was to hurt herself. “I’m fine.” She wanted to shrug him off, but it felt so good to have his arm around her. Just for a minute. It made her feel safe and a bit twitchy at the same time.

There had always been something about him that made her uncomfortable. And she was just drunk enough to admit to herself what that thing was.

Attraction.

His jacket was tucked snugly around her shoulders, and she could feel his arm around her waist. She shivered, but it wasn’t from the cold anymore. Between the sheepy lining of his jacket and the champagne, she was feeling no pain.

He’d had his arms around her once before. And it felt just as good now as it had then. They’d had one almost-kiss under the mistletoe that year, but at the last minute, he’d jumped away from her like she was contagious. It was probably a good thing. The next day Lauren was gone, her family had blown up, and Lucas the liar had left town.

Jackson had lied to her, too. Saying he had to work Christmas Day and refusing to come to their family Christmas, when all he’d wanted was more time with the woman he was banging from his office.

Why did she always trust the wrong people?

Lucas couldn’t stop replaying

the scene from all those years ago and wondering what would have happened if he’d made a different choice that night. What if he had said something?

His sister Lauren had still been married to Isaac, and he’d spent the Christmas holidays with the MacAllister family at the lodge. It was the best Christmas he’d ever had. He’d loved it all. The smells of baking gingerbread and shortbread, the real tree with lights that twinkled, stockings in front of a fireplace. It was like something from a movie.

At twenty-three, he hadn’t had much experience with kids, but he’d had a blast watching his niece experience her first family Christmas. He’d played silly games with Lindsay and Shannon, all of them trying to make Sara laugh.

And he was pretty sure that Shannon had been flirting with him. He’d had a secret crush on her since they’d met at Isaac and Lauren’s wedding. But this was the first time that he’d caught her looking back at him when he snuck glances at her every chance he got.

He liked that Isaac trusted him to help out and felt proud to be a good uncle. Everything was going great—right up until Sara dumped her sippy cup of juice all over him and he went upstairs to find a change of clothes for himself and Sara. His sister was on the phone, probably with

that guy

, and what he heard made him sick to his stomach. She was going to leave her family, first thing in the morning. Her plan was to be gone by the time everyone else got up. Keeping the affair secret had been one thing. But letting her just walk away from Isaac and, my God, from Sara without a word—he just couldn’t do it.

So he told Isaac. Which cost him his relationship with his sister. And when he let it slip that he’d known about the affair for months, it cost him Isaac’s trust and Shannon’s friendship.

Staying in Rivers End after that was just too painful. So, like a total hypocrite—like a Heyes—he snuck out into the night and didn’t come back. Not for five whole years.

Lucas seemed lost in thought.

In the distance, she could hear the crowd from the pub counting down. So much for her grand plan to get kissed at midnight.

If they were in a movie, the ring would be on her hand instead of on a chain around her neck, and Lucas would be her fiancé. They would stop under a streetlamp, caught up in the moment, and he would wrap her up in his arms.

But this was real life. And real life kind of sucked sometimes.

She didn’t realize she had slowed to a stop under the streetlight until Lucas turned to her, concern written all over his face. “Shannon? What’s wrong?”

Everything. Nothing. How could she possibly explain what was wrong when she wasn’t even sure herself? Nothing about her life was how it was supposed to be. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

She was supposed to be getting married this year. Starting the family she’d always wanted. Not walking through the cold dark night with a man who had shut her down the last time she’d thrown herself at him.

“I just really wanted to start this year off with a kiss.”

She turned and buried her face in Lucas’s chest, her tears seeping through his thin dress shirt. He should have been freezing, but the warmth of his body permeated the thin fabric.

It felt way too good.

He raised her face up until her eyes met his—she’d forgotten how long his eyelashes were—and gently wiped away her tears with his thumbs. “Please don’t cry, Shannon. It’s supposed to be a

happy

new year.”

He was looking at her the same way he’d looked at her that night five years ago, right before everything had blown up: equal parts sweet and hot, like he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.

Dammit. How was she supposed to resist that?

Shannon did the only thing that made any sense in that moment. She pulled him in and kissed him with everything she had.

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