Catherine Lanigan - Heart's Desire

His homecoming is bittersweet...for both of them

Café owner Maddie Strong is finally ready to take her burgeoning cupcake business to the next level. With the help of handsome businessman Alex Perkins, her future’s all mapped out. Until her first love comes home.

At seventeen, Maddie adored Nate Barzonni with her whole heart and soul. But when he asked her to elope, she’d said no—she couldn’t let him throw away his dream of becoming a doctor. Then he vanished from her life for eleven years. Now the cardiac surgeon has returned to Indian Lake asking for a second chance, and Maddie has to choose between her new life…and the man she never stopped loving.

Maddie stared. Then she blinked. Twice.

At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. She peered into the darkening day.

There, underneath the black wrought-iron Victorian street lamp, the evening fog drifting along the sidewalk, stood Nate Barzonni. He looked directly at her, and when their eyes locked, he smiled.

Her heart thrummed in her chest and blood pounded at her temples. She felt dizzy.

In the eleven years since Nate had abandoned her, Maddie had not had a single boyfriend. She had dated a few men here and there, but all her energy had gone into her business. She had convinced herself that she was strong and willful, that she owned her own power. She purposefully fanned and fueled the fire of her anger against Nate to mask even the tiniest possibility that she still had any feelings for him. For eleven years, Maddie had told her friends over and over that Nate Barzonni was the devil to her.

There was no way Nate was actually standing outside Bride’s Corner. No way. Maddie closed her eyes and opened them again.

Nate was gone.

Dear Reader Dear Reader Title Page About the Author Dedication Acknowledgments 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 CHAPTER THIRTY Copyright ,

The inspiration for my Shores of Indian Lake series came right out of my own life when I returned to my hometown after thirty-five years of living in big cities like New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona.

It has been a revelation to me that the lives of those in small towns are filled with just as much pathos, romance, chaos and eternal struggle as people in glamorous cities.

The Shores of Indian Lake series is filled with endearing, haunting and oftentimes seemingly eccentric characters who will steal your heart. Heart’s Desire is the second book in the series. In this story, Maddie Strong is faced with impossible choices with regards to her own career dreams when her first love, Nate Barzonni, returns to Indian Lake, in pursuit of his own long-held dream of being a cardiologist and dedicating his services to those most in need. Nate finds himself face-to-face with the one woman he’d left brokenhearted…and very angry.

I would love to hear from you and what kind of story you would like to read about along the Shores of Indian Lake. You can write to me at cathlanigan1@gmail.com or visit my website at www.catherinelanigan.com. I’m on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, as well.

Catherine

Heart’s Desire

Catherine Lanigan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CATHERINE LANIGAN

knew she was born to storytelling at a very young age when she told stories to her younger brothers and sister to entertain them. After years of encouragement from family and high school teachers, Catherine was shocked and brokenhearted when her freshman college creative writing professor told her that she “had no writing talent whatsoever” and that she “would never earn a dime as a writer.” He promised her that he would be her crutches and get her through his demanding class with a B grade so as not to destroy her high grade point average too much, if Catherine would promise never to write again. Catherine assumed he was the voice of authority and gave in to the bargain.

For fourteen years she did not write until she was encouraged by a television journalist to give her dream a shot. She wrote a six-hundred-page historical romantic spy-thriller set against World War I. The journalist sent the manuscript to his agent who then garnered bids from two publishers. That was nearly forty published novels, nonfiction books and anthologies ago.

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This book is dedicated to my granddaughter, Caylin Pieszchala, whom I love with all my heart. It is my fondest wish that you have happiness, love and laughter all of your life, my darling.

Acknowledgments Acknowledgments 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 CHAPTER THIRTY Copyright

There are some who would say I live under a lucky star, but I know better. It takes a choir of angels and then some to bring any novel to the readers who patiently wait for authors to pound out a story that will come alive for them and haunt them long after the cover is closed and it collects dust on a shelf.

I have been blessed for decades with exceptionally talented editors and publishing mentors. From my first Harlequin MIRA books that were honed and polished by Dianne Moggy and others on her team to my present editors and master wordsmiths, Victoria Curran and Claire Caldwell. Ladies all, it is my honor to bang our heads together, cut, slice, dice and chop my oftentimes cumbersome manuscripts into the magical romances I intended them to be. I am forever grateful.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text His homecoming is bittersweet...for both of them Café owner Maddie Strong is finally ready to take her burgeoning cupcake business to the next level. With the help of handsome businessman Alex Perkins, her future’s all mapped out. Until her first love comes home. At seventeen, Maddie adored Nate Barzonni with her whole heart and soul. But when he asked her to elope, she’d said no—she couldn’t let him throw away his dream of becoming a doctor. Then he vanished from her life for eleven years. Now the cardiac surgeon has returned to Indian Lake asking for a second chance, and Maddie has to choose between her new life…and the man she never stopped loving.

Introduction Maddie stared. Then she blinked. Twice. At first, she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. She peered into the darkening day. There, underneath the black wrought-iron Victorian street lamp, the evening fog drifting along the sidewalk, stood Nate Barzonni. He looked directly at her, and when their eyes locked, he smiled. Her heart thrummed in her chest and blood pounded at her temples. She felt dizzy. In the eleven years since Nate had abandoned her, Maddie had not had a single boyfriend. She had dated a few men here and there, but all her energy had gone into her business. She had convinced herself that she was strong and willful, that she owned her own power. She purposefully fanned and fueled the fire of her anger against Nate to mask even the tiniest possibility that she still had any feelings for him. For eleven years, Maddie had told her friends over and over that Nate Barzonni was the devil to her. There was no way Nate was actually standing outside Bride’s Corner. No way. Maddie closed her eyes and opened them again. Nate was gone.