Kate Kelly - When Adam Came to Town

Temptation moves in next door

Sylvie Carson has no idea what she’s going to do with the rest of her life! Artistically blocked, she hopes a prolonged stay in the seaside village she grew up in will help her get over this hump. But when Adam Hunter moves in next door, things only get more complicated, not less.

The artist in Sylvie is immediately intrigued by her new neighbor—the haunting lines of his face, the natural athleticism of his body. Maybe Adam is the muse she’s been looking for…but his shadowed eyes suggest he’s just one more person keeping secrets from her. Though Sylvie can’t deny that Adam inspires passion in her, the last thing she needs is a romance…right?

“I thought you’d given up on me,” Sylvie said.

“Sorry about that,” Adam said. “I’m selfish sometimes, and all I think about is what I want or need.”

She leaned back, surprised by Adam’s honesty. After a minute, she laughed. “You and the rest of us.”

“Yeah.” A crooked smile hooked the corner of his mouth up. “But that doesn’t excuse my behavior. You’re a good friend, and I shouldn’t have let you down.”

Friend. Why did that have a hollow sound to it? She set her computer on the side table and stood. “Is this another rescue for the underdog?”

When he looked sheepish, she turned away from the temptation to hug him. Imagine that big, hard-muscled body of Adam’s, holding her, his smell and heat surrounding her. Her body trembled at the sudden, vivid image.

Dear Reader,

With every book I write I’m inevitably drawn to one character. I want to say it’s Adam with this book, because in my mind he’s not only the perfect hero, but I like him! If I met Adam in real life, I’d want to be his friend. But for all the heroic qualities he possesses, Sylvie is the character who fascinates me. As is often pointed out to her, unlike Adam, she has it all. How much harder it must be to admit failure when you appear successful to everyone around you.

I thought a lot about success while writing this book. More specifically, fear of success, which is one of Sylvie’s challenges. It’s not that Sylvie is afraid of succeeding; she’s already a well-known artist. But the foundation or reason she pursues success is faulty, and eventually her world comes tumbling down. Luckily for her, Adam, and her family and friends, are there to help her rebuild her world.

I’ve always thought of success as a linear process. You set a goal, then work to achieve it. But human beings are rarely simple, and many of us set land mines along the way. Sylvie excels at sabotaging herself. In order for her to succeed, she must change not what she’s doing, but why she’s doing it.

Writing about Sylvie forced me to view my life from a different angle, and I wonder if when you read this book, you’ll also look more closely at why you want to achieve something rather than concentrating on the end goal. The answers may surprise you!

I hope you enjoy reading Sylvie and Adam’s story. I had a lovely time creating the village they live in and the characters who populate it. As always, I look forward to hearing from my readers. You can contact me at this address: kate@kate-kelly.ca, or drop by my website for a visit : www.kate-kelly.ca.

Warm regards,

Kate Kelly

When Adam Came to Town

Kate Kelly

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kate Kelly has had a love affair with books her entire life. Writing came in fits and starts, and she didn’t take it seriously until her forties. Now she can’t get along without it. She finaled in the RWA Golden Heart and won the RWA Daphne du Maurier contest. She has the good fortune to live on the east coast of Canada with her husband (the children have flown away). She writes, grows herbs and perennials, and sails when the wind blows her way.

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To Teressa, Molly and Colleen.

The best sisters, one and all. Thanks for always being there.

To Romeo

RIP

And as always, to my guys, Adrian, Reed and Rei

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

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE

SYLVIE CARSON PUSHED the door to the family café open and made a beeline for the washrooms located at the front of the restaurant. She locked herself in a stall and thrust her head down between her knees. Breathe. She counted to seven before letting out her breath, blood rushing to her head.

Second breath. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. And out. The door to the washroom burst open.

“They’re taking bets out there on how many months along you are, and who the father is. Oliver’s in the lead.” Sylvie heard the scrape of a match as Teressa, head cook and childhood friend, lit a cigarette.

“No smoking in here,” Sylvie croaked. She sat up and braced her hand against the side of the stall as she waited for her equilibrium to even out.

“Like you’re going to fire me. You have a better chance of finding an available man who can support himself in this village than a professional cook. Unless you want to do my job. You’d have to learn how to boil water first, though.” Teressa snickered.

Sylvie pushed the stall door open with her foot. “Very funny.”

“For someone who has the perfect life, you’re sure acting like you’re at death’s door a lot.” Teressa frowned at her in the mirror. “Please tell me you’re not pregnant. It would ruin my day. You’re the golden girl, and golden girls do not mess up. Although having to marry the scrumptious Oliver...” Her friend looked away from her reflection in the mirror long enough to take another drag off her cigarette. “Hard to feel sorry for you, Syl.”

Teressa had two small children to support, both from different fathers, which made her life a scheduling nightmare. So, yes, from Teressa’s point of view, Sylvie’s life probably looked pretty good. She was single, made enough money that she didn’t have to worry about it and had even achieved a small amount of fame.

And it had all come to a crashing halt six months ago.

The curvy redhead took one last look at herself in the mirror and turned to face Sylvie. “No offense, but I don’t get why you’re still here. If I had your life, I’d be out of Collina like a shot. Your dad’s getting stronger every day. He’s out in the kitchen right now, trying to tell us all how to run a restaurant. You should stop torturing yourself and go back to Toronto and your cushy life.”

Sylvie sighed. Cushy life. Why did people think being an artist was easy? “Wait ’til everyone finds out that I’m not pregnant...that I’m just...whatever.”

Every day, that first step inside the café, the oh-my-God-what’s-happened-to-my-life moment, stole the breath right out of her body. She’d tried blaming the whole fiasco on her father’s heart attack and having to move home six months ago. Six months! Normal, well-adjusted people did not let their lives become gridlocked because their father got sick.