Cara Lockwood - Island Of Second Chances

Trapped between loss and love...

Laura Kelly wanted to leave everything back in San Francisco. Her broken heart. The loss of her unborn child. Instead, her grief followed her here...to an island paradise in the Caribbean. Along with a neighbour who, despite his handsomeness, insists on being a complete pain in her city-girl backside.

That is, until Laura learns that Mark Tanner’s grumpy demeanor is hiding a terrible grief of his own. Instead of declaring war, Laura and Mark work together to restore an old boat, igniting an unlikely friendship—and an attraction neither of them expected. But sometimes all a broken heart needs is a little hope...and the possibility of new love.

CARA LOCKWOOD is the USA TODAY bestselling author of more than seventeen books, including I Do (But I Don’t), which was made into a Lifetime Original movie. She’s written the Bard Academy series for young adults and has had her work translated into several languages around the world. Born and raised in Dallas, Cara now lives near Chicago with her two wonderful daughters. Find out more about her at caralockwood.com, friend her on Facebook, Facebook.com/authorcaralockwood, or follow her on Twitter, @caralockwood.

Also By Cara Lockwood

Shelter in the Tropics

The Big Break

Her Hawaiian Homecoming

Boys and Toys

Texting Under the Influence

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Island of Second Chances

Cara Lockwood

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08107-8

ISLAND OF SECOND CHANCES

© 2018 Cara Lockwood

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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“I’d rather have a seasoned woman any day of the week.”

Did Mark mean her? Was he...flirting?

Laura glanced at the bottle in his hand, hesitating. What would one more round really hurt, anyway? Mark seemed to sense her indecision.

He waggled the beer in front of her. “Come on. How miserable are you, really? Just two beers miserable? Because that’s hardly miserable at all.”

She had to laugh at that. She was far more than two beers miserable.

“Fine,” she said and grabbed the bottle from his hand. “You win.”

He chuckled and took another swig of his beer as she started on hers. She’d just stay for one more.

Besides...what was the worst that could happen?

Dear Reader,

I’m excited to share with you my new book, Island of Second Chances, a story about how sometimes we have to lose what we hold most dear before we find out what’s most important to us.

After an ill-conceived affair with her married coworker, Laura Kelly winds up pregnant. Her lover abandons her, however, and she’s left to face the pregnancy all alone, but then a tragic miscarriage sends her into a deep depression. Devastated by the loss, she drops out of her high-profile career and decides to take an extended vacation on St. Anthony’s island, where she battles her own guilt and sense of loss.

Mark Tanner used to work building Tanner ships, but after being betrayed by his brother, he moves to the fictional Caribbean island of St. Anthony’s determined to build a sailboat fast enough to win the local race. He hopes the prize money will help finance a trip around the world so he can heal from a bitter divorce and the tragic death of his son.

Tanner is skeptical of new neighbor Laura at first, but warms to her when he realizes she’s struggling with grief just as he is. He teaches her how to use her hands and quiet her mind, and maybe how to heal her heart. Just when they discover that they might be able to heal each other’s guilt, fate intervenes as a looming hurricane threatens the coast and everyone on the island.

I loved the idea of a couple at odds coming together and bonding from their loss. I hope you’ll enjoy this book about how love and losses can be intertwined, but ultimately there’s no more powerful way to heal than through love.

All my best,

Cara

Dedicated to my love, P.J. Benoit.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Epilogue

Extract

Chapter One

BUZZZZZZT. BUZZZZZZT.

It seemed Laura Kelly had only had her eyes closed for a minute, and suddenly, the air was full of the sound of some ruckus. A chain saw? A swarm of killer bees? What the hell was that?

She sat up in bed, her mouth tasting sour, as she glanced around the unfamiliar bedroom, bewildered. Then, she remembered. St. Anthony’s Island. Her escape route. She looked down and saw she wore the same jean shorts and white T-shirt she’d worn through three time zones yesterday to get here. She’d had three flight delays and a taxi cab driver who’d gotten lost twice before she finally reached the island at 3:00 a.m.