Beth Kery - Claiming Colleen

“Sixteen months ago I kissed you, and a few months later, you slugged me in the jaw in Jake’s Place parking lot.”

Her mouth fell open but she didn’t utter a word. She didn’t know what shocked her more: the fact that Eric had again brought up that kiss on Sunset Beach or his reference to her impassioned, impulsive act last summer…or possibly the evidence that said jaw was now hovering a half a foot away from her upturned face.

“I…I’ve never apologized for that. I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I didn’t bring it up because I was looking for an apology.”

“No?” she mouthed. She stood frozen to the spot, even though she knew she should back away.

“Which do you regret more?” he asked.

When she just stared at him, her bemusement obvious, he clarified, “The punch? Or the kiss?”

For a stretched few seconds, neither spoke. The silence was absolute. Colleen wondered if they both held their breath.

Dear Reader,

Hello, and thank you for reading the latest installment of the HOME TO HARBOR TOWN series! Of all the Harbor Town heroes and heroines, I feel as if I have such a fond spot for Colleen and Eric. Sometimes I could perfectly hear their snappy, sparking banter in my head. They’ve grappled with their attraction and seeming dislike for one another in the background of the first two Harbor Town books, so I was especially glad to give them center stage for their own opposites-attract, emotional, very passionate romance.

Colleen Kavanaugh is a woman who knows her own mind, and she’s convinced the last person on the face of the earth that she’d fall for is arrogant, know-it-all, playboy Dr Eric Reyes. Eric has always resented the fact that their shared tragic history has created such a barrier between him and ColIeen, and he’s not above using the circumstances of their siblings’ upcoming wedding as an excuse to get closer to her.

I hope you enjoy Colleen’s realization that the heart can be blind, and that an avowed enemy just might offer the ideal opportunity to learn, to grow, and to love with the full force of the passionate Kavanaugh spirit.

Find out more about the rest of the HOME TO HARBOR TOWN series at www.bethkery.com.

Beth Kery

BETH KERYholds a doctorate degree in the behavioral sciences and enjoys incorporating what she’s learned about human nature into her stories. To date, she has published more than a dozen novels and short stories and writes in multiple genres, always with the overarching theme of passionate, emotional romance. To find out about upcoming books in the Harbor Town series, visit Beth at her website at www.BethKery.com or join her for a chat at her reader group, www.groups.yahoo.com/group/BethKery.

Beth Kery

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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I’d like to thank my editor, Susan Litman, for having

faith in these stories and for her excellent suggestions in

crafting and content. Lea, thank you as always, for

your generosity and valuable feedback. My heartfelt

appreciation goes out to my husband, who manages

never to tire of my frantic schedule and who always

seems to offer the exact kind of support I need.

Sixteen months ago

The spring evening was unseasonably hot and humid, but the remnants of winter still lingered in Lake Michigan. Colleen Kavanaugh Sinclair shivered for the first five minutes of her swim, but by the time her internal clock told her it was time to turn back toward shore, the cool water felt delicious sliding against her heated skin.

Her swim off Sunset Beach was as much a part of her summertime routine as taking her children, Brendan and Jenny, to soccer or baseball practice. Traditionally, her first swim of the season happened on this weekend. But this Memorial Day would be her last swim here. This evening, she was saying goodbye to Sunset Beach.

She climbed onto the sand and dried off, thinking of all the times she’d cavorted on this beach with her brothers and sister while their mother, Brigit, sunbathed and chatted with her friends. The late-night bonfires and holiday barbecues. Her sister’s water-skiing events—never again.

Colleen had acquired her final memory tonight. Her favorite public beach had been gobbled up by the wealthy elites of Harbor Town. She’d personally gone and spoken out against the privatization of the public park at the last few city council meetings, but in the end, money talked louder than she could.

Movement caught the corner of her eye. She turned and saw him standing there.

“It’s a nice night,” Eric Reyes said, his voice low.

Colleen froze in the action of toweling off her bare belly, caught off guard by his bare-footed, silent approach in the sand. His dark eyes flickered downward, making her skin tickle with sudden awareness.

She knew who he was, of course.

He’d already finished high school by the time Colleen and Liam attended Harbor Town High. She’d known who he was before that, though. He’d worked for the local landscaper. More than once, the tall, dark boy with the serious expression had caught the attention of Colleen and her friends when they saw him working shirtless in the park or unloading a truck on Main Street. She’d heard once through the grapevine that he was Harbor Town High School’s best hockey player.

Eric Reyes wasn’t like Colleen, or Mari Itani, or any of her other friends who vacationed with their families in Harbor Town during the summers. He was a year-rounder who worked and who didn’t have the time to while away the hours on one of the beaches in the charming lakeside vacation community.

One summer before the accident—she couldn’t recall which summer, precisely—Colleen had been walking with several of her girlfriends down Elm Street and saw Eric Reyes coming out of the Harbor Town Library, several books in the crook of his arm. He’d paused on the sidewalk, probably struck by the gaggle of suntanned teenage girls. Her friends had grown predictably giddy in the vicinity of a good-looking, older boy, but when Colleen’s eyes met his, she’d given him a smile.

Now they stood face-to-face again, strangers who shared a past. Fifteen years ago, her father had killed his mother in a three-way car crash. The lawsuits against Derry’s estate had drastically altered the Kavanaughs’ economic status. Eric had used his portion of the lawsuit to go to medical school. Now he owned a luxurious Buena Vista beachfront home, and she was the trespasser on the familiar beach.

Now she was the outsider.

Seeing him standing there caused anger to flare hot inside her, the strength of it shocking her a little.

“Are you going to call the police?” she asked him quietly.

“I hadn’t planned on it, no. Why, are you about to do something illegal?”