A Second Chance for the Single Dad

  A LITTLE HELP—AND A LOT OF LOVE

  Ever since her mother died, nurse practitioner Kayley Quartermain has been searching for somewhere to belong. She wants that somewhere to be her hometown of Bedford, but first she needs a job. Thankfully, her matchmaking godmother offers a solution: a career match—and hopefully a romantic one, too—assisting recently widowed Dr. Luke Dolan at his clinic.

  Still adjusting to life as a single dad, Luke is reluctant to accept Kayley’s help. Sure, she’s great at her job, and five-year-old Lily adores her, but Luke’s developing strong feelings for Kayley, too. For Lily’s sake, he needs to be careful about whom he lets in. But with Kayley fitting in so perfectly as they rebuild their lives, could she be the one piece they’ve been missing?

  Just as she was about to turn toward her vehicle, which was parked in his driveway, Kayley glanced down.

  And that was when she saw it. There was a bright, shiny new penny right in her path.

  Without giving it a second thought, Kayley quickly bent down to pick it up. She’d stopped abruptly without giving Luke any warning, making him walk right into her as she stooped over the coin.

  The unexpected contact almost caused her to pitch forward, and she would have done just that had Luke not grabbed for her, pulling her to her feet and throwing her off balance. Her body hit his. Air whooshed out of her and she found herself looking right up at him with less than half an inch between them.

  Temptation, fast and furious, appeared out of nowhere, taking control while his brain went on temporary hiatus for about ten seconds.

  Before he realized what he was doing—and the consequences that would come with it—Luke found himself kissing Kayley.

  MATCHMAKING MAMAS: Playing Cupid. Arranging dates. What are mothers for?

  Dear Reader,

  Every story comes from somewhere. This story has its origin from two different sources. A friend who truly believed that the pennies she found in her path were a form of communication by her late mother—telling that friend that her mother was watching over her—and a short article about a movie star who was revisiting fatherhood for a second time. Trying to be a good dad, he had joined forces with his imaginative young daughter, who was determined to catch a leprechaun. Reading it brought a smile to my face. So much so that I cut the article out and reread it whenever I felt a little down—hey, it happens. I wanted to bring that smile to you as well as that feeling that loved ones who’ve left us are still with us in a way.

  This book was written in December, when the hustle of Christmas was all around us. It’s a time of year that’s very special to me. It’s also a time of year, despite having my family with me, that I really miss my mother a great deal. When I was growing up, she was Christmas to me. She always found a way to put something under the tree even when we were living hand to mouth. People we love never leave us. They’re always there, in our hearts and in everything we do.

  As always, I thank you for taking the time to read my book and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.

  All the best,

  Marie

  A Second Chance for the Single Dad

  Marie Ferrarella

  USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award–winning author Marie Ferrarella has written more than two hundred and seventy-five books for Harlequin, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website, marieferrarella.com.

  Books by Marie Ferrarella

  Harlequin Special Edition

  Matchmaking Mamas

  Meant to Be Mine

  Twice a Hero, Always Her Man

  Dr. Forget-Me-Not

  Coming Home for Christmas

  Her Red-Carpet Romance

  Diamond in the Ruff

  Dating for Two

  Wish Upon a Matchmaker

  Ten Years Later...

  A Perfectly Imperfect Match

  Once Upon a Matchmaker

  The Fortunes of Texas: The Secret Fortunes

  Fortune’s Second Chance Cowboy

  Montana Mavericks: The Baby Bonanza

  A Maverick and a Half

  Montana Mavericks: What Happened at the Wedding?

  Do You Take This Maverick?

  The Fortunes of Texas: Cowboy Country

  Mendoza’s Secret Fortune

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  To Dr. Johnson,

  Dr. Younger,

  Dr. Kang

  And all the others who

  Worked hard to put me back together

  This year

  Thank you

  I now know what Humpty Dumpty

  Felt like

  Contents

  Prologue

  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

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Serenity Harbor by RaeAnne Thayne

  Prologue

  One moment the blond-haired, attractive woman with the kind blue eyes wasn’t there; the next moment, she was. Her very presence seemed to dominate the real estate office, an office devoted to a business that Maizie Sommers had taken such pride in building up over the years.

  The only business that Maizie took even more pride in was the one that she and her two lifelong best friends, Theresa Manetti and Cecilia Parnell, conducted unofficially. A business that yielded no monetary rewards. However, the rewards that it did yield were far richer than any dollar amount.

  And it was as if the woman standing before her now sensed that fact despite that they had never really talked about it.

  “Maizie,” the woman said in a soft voice, “you need to help Kayley find someone. I don’t want her spending the rest of her life alone. It’s not right. She has so much love to give and no one to give it to. I’d find her someone myself, but I can’t do that now. And she is your goddaughter,” Karen Quartermain added pointedly. “Help her, Maizie. Please.”

  The woman’s quietly worded request seemed to fill up every single space within the room.

  Gasping, Maizie bolted upright. She wasn’t in her office—she was in her bed.

  Her bedroom was dark, except for the ray of moonlight intruding like a laser through the window. It was shining on something on the rug. Something small and round.

  Blowing out a long breath, Maizie ran her hand along her forehead.

  A dream. It was only a dream.

  Her brain should have realized that even though every detail had seemed so incredibly vivid and real. Her office had looked just like her offi
ce. And her friend had looked just like her friend. Except that Karen had looked the way she had a year ago, before she became ill.

  Why in heaven’s name was she dreaming about Karen Quartermain, Maizie silently asked herself. She’d never dreamed about Karen, even when she was alive. Why now, two months after her friend had died?

  With a sigh, Maizie lay back down. It was still very early. Turning on her side, she faced the window. She inhaled deeply and willed herself to get back to sleep.

  Vivid or not, it was just a dream, nothing more. Nothing—

  What was that on her rug?

  The moonlight made her light gray rug appear pale even as it highlighted something on it.

  Whatever it was looked as if it were winking at her.

  Maizie sighed again. She was going to drive herself crazy guessing.

  She wouldn’t have any peace until she found out what was on the rug. Throwing off her covers, Maizie got up and went to see exactly what the moonlight was shining on.

  It was a penny.

  What was a penny doing on her rug? The only explanation she could think of was that it must have fallen out of her pocket when she had gotten undressed for bed last night. But why had it been in her pocket in the first place? She never kept change in her pocket.

  After picking it up, she sat down on the edge of her bed, staring at the coin. She was certain she hadn’t put it into her pocket. Any pennies she acquired went into a glass jar in her office and she hadn’t acquired any in a while.

  “Karen?” she finally said uneasily, glancing around her bedroom. “Is this from you? Is this your way of giving me a sign?”

  She knew it would have seemed silly to a great many people, thinking that the penny had just mysteriously appeared, a sign from a world that had no physical boundaries. But she and Karen Quartermain went back a long way. Karen had once jokingly said that if she died before Maizie and ever wanted to communicate, she’d drop a penny in her path so that she would know that she was trying to send a message, that Karen wanted something from her.

  Karen had said the same thing to her daughter. Then she’d laughed, saying that was all pennies were good for these days—communication—since it took too many to buy anything.

  Maizie closed her fingers around the penny, holding it as tightly as she had once held her friend’s hand as Karen was slipping away.

  “That was you, wasn’t it?” Maizie whispered into the darkness. “That was you, asking me to find someone for Kayley.”

  It was no longer a question. It was, Maizie thought, an assignment. One she felt honor bound to take on.

  “Okay, Karen,” she said, completely awake now. “I’ll see what the girls and I can do.”

  Chapter One

  “If you don’t mind my saying so, Dr. Dolan, you look a little lost. Is there anything I can do for you?” Cecilia Parnell asked kindly.

  As was her habit since she’d begun her housecleaning service—long before she had the large staff of excellent workers that she had now—Cilia would come by and personally check in with her clients once a month to make sure everything was more than satisfactory as far as the service went. Ordinarily, her clients had nothing but praise for the women in Cilia’s employ.

  But this admittedly was not an ordinary situation.

  Cilia had taken a special interest in Dr. Lucas Dolan ever since he had abruptly returned from serving his country overseas. A highly respected orthopedic surgeon who was also a reservist, he had selflessly done two tours of duty in the Middle East, seeing to the needs of not only wounded US soldiers but the native population, as well, many of whom had never even been to a doctor.

  And then a call had come nine months ago that changed everything.

  His wife, Jill, was driving their four-year-old daughter, Lily, home from preschool when she was broadsided by a driver texting to her boyfriend. Jill and Lily were rushed to the hospital. Luke flew home immediately, praying all the way. But Jill died before he could reach her bedside.

  Lily had sustained cuts and bruises and was shaken up by the accident, but apart from being very confused and frightened, she was all right.

  “Lost?” Luke repeated, glancing at the woman whose services Jill had engaged the week that they had moved into their house as a husband and wife.

  Sitting in his living room, Luke struggled not to allow the sadness that had become his constant companion to overwhelm him.

  Yes, he was lost, Luke thought. Lost because his high school sweetheart, the woman he had come to rely on for absolutely everything, was gone. Jill had generously freed him up so that he could concentrate on being the best surgeon he could be.

  And now she’d been ripped out of his life without warning, leaving him not just to cope with all those details she had been so good at attending to, not just to cope with the emptiness that her absence had created, but also to cope with the prospect of being a single father to a little girl he hardly knew.

  Sometimes it was almost too much for him to bear.

  Lily was two when his reserve platoon had been called up and sent overseas. She was four when he came back into her life.

  Now she was five, and things were somewhat better between them. But, like a blind man, Luke was still trying to find his way around in a world that was totally unknown to him.

  He forced himself to smile at Cilia, knowing that the older woman was only trying to be kind. But as far as her question went, he couldn’t open up to her any more than he could open up to his mother-in-law. Barbara Baxter had moved in to help bridge the gap for Lily after her only daughter had died. Barbara was still there, taking care of Lily since he’d gone back to work.

  Because Cilia appeared to be waiting for more of a response from him, he grasped at the first thing that came to mind.

  “I’m just a little stressed out, I guess,” he told her. “I went back to my old orthopedic medical group recently and so far, I’ve been sharing the services of a physician’s assistant with another one of the surgeons. But I can see it’s exhausting for her, trying to be accommodating to my patients as well as his. I’ve been looking into hiring a physician’s assistant of my own, but finding the right person has turned out to be more challenging than I thought.”

  “Really?” Cilia said sympathetically. “Well, I have the occasion to interact with a lot of people in my line of work, not to mention that my two closest friends have their own businesses, as well, and they come in contact with an even larger variety of people than I do. I’ll tell them to keep an eye out for a possible candidate for you to interview. I’m sure that between the three of us, we’ll have you set up with someone more than suitable for your needs in no time,” Cilia promised with a warm, motherly smile.

  “I’m looking for a physician’s assistant,” Luke emphasized, wanting to be absolutely clear that she understood what he needed.

  Cilia’s smile widened. “But of course—I understand completely,” she told him. “I’ll let you know the moment one of my friends or I find one,” she promised. “Always a pleasure talking to you, Doctor.”

  She nodded at Luke’s mother-in-law as she passed the woman on her way out.

  Barbara had filled her in on her son-in-law’s story, sharing with her that she was worried about Luke. He was like a fish out of water without Jill in his life, she’d told Cilia. It was obvious that Barbara grieved for the loss of her daughter, but Cilia could tell that the woman also grieved for Luke and for Lily. She and Barbara were in agreement that Luke needed a wife and Lily needed a mother, and Barbara was unselfish enough to realize that.

  Aware of what she and her two friends did on the side, Barbara had called and spoken to Cilia earlier today, appealing to her as a mother—and a grandmother. Quite blatantly, Barbara had asked Cilia for her help.

  It was what had prompted Cilia’s visit today, since Barb
ara had told her that her son-in-law had taken the day off.

  Cilia had wanted to feel Luke out for herself. Looking into the handsome thirty-eight-year-old’s eyes and exchanging a minimum of words, Cilia had decided that the young doctor was definitely someone she and her friends could help.

  Indeed, they needed to help the man who had suffered such a terrible loss while he’d been nobly serving his country.

  Leaving the doctor’s house, Cilia couldn’t wait to talk to her friends. She called Maizie and Theresa from her car before she even started it, suggesting they get together that evening to play cards, which had become their euphemism for undertaking the very challenging task of matchmaking.

  * * *

  “I’ve got a candidate for us!” Cilia declared as she crossed the threshold later that evening, walking into Maizie’s living room.

  “We’re in here,” Theresa called out to her from the family room.

  The moment Cilia entered the family room, where all their card games took place, Maizie told her, “Cilia, you took the words right out of my mouth.”

  Slightly puzzled, Cilia looked at her friend. “I was the one who called for a meeting,” she reminded Maizie.

  “Only because I haven’t had a chance to,” Maizie answered. “I was busy meeting with our next matchmaking candidate.”

  Cilia was accustomed to Maizie being the unofficial leader of their group. She always had been. But this one time, she decided to dig in her heels. “I think my candidate needs our attention first.”

  Maizie wasn’t used to arguing, but she stuck to her guns—because this was personal. “Mine’s my goddaughter.”

  One of the reasons they had remained such close friends over the decades, weathering good times and bad, was that none of them pulled rank or disregarded the other two. Because it sounded as if this match Maizie had brought up was so important to her, Cilia inclined her head in agreement.

  Sitting down at the card table where they did all their best brainstorming, Cilia said, “All right, it’s your house, Maizie. You go first.”