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Meet Luke, the hero of Paula's second Irish book, Irish Intrigue.
Charley reached Clifden shortly before five o’clock and pulled into the parking area of
the supermarket on the outskirts of the small town. Still familiar with the
layout of the store, she didn’t take long to collect some basic supplies.
A
tall man in a sheepskin jacket stood near the chilled cabinet of yogurts and
desserts, speaking on his phone. “Kate, which yogurts do the kids like? Melissa
said something about pink pots.”
She
reached past him to pick up some mixed fruit yogurts at the same moment as he
turned and bumped against her.
“Oops!
Sorry,” he said.
“No
problem.” She put her yogurts in her shopping trolley, but couldn’t resist
pointing further along the cabinet. “The pink pots are those strawberry ones.”
“Thanks.”
He gave her a quick smile before speaking into his phone again. “It’s okay,
Kate, I see them.”
She
started to push her trolley toward the cash desk, but stopped when the man
said, “Thanks again, but don’t I know you from somewhere?”
With
a small grimace of resignation, she half-turned back to him. She didn’t recall
meeting him when she lived here, but perhaps he’d seen her on television. Or
else it was a clichéd chat-up line.
“I
don’t think so.” She gave him a perfunctory smile as her glance took in rugged
good looks in a square face and dark wavy hair. Not exactly tousled, but
certainly untamed.
The
man frowned for a moment before his face cleared. “You remind me of my
mother-in-law.”
“Really?”
She suppressed a grin. Being compared to a mother-in-law was a novel kind of
comment.
“Not
really, no. Her hair’s short and straight, not long like yours, and her face is
rounder.”
She
couldn’t help but laugh. “So I’m nothing like her?”
“You’re
much younger, of course, but your eyes are the same colour. Unusual.”
“Brown
eyes are unusual?”
“Kind
of coppery. I’m useless with colours, but that’s what she said hers were.”
“Oh,
I see.”
It
seemed an odd conversation to be having with a stranger in a supermarket, but
her heartbeat quickened at the attractive twinkle in his dark eyes as he
smiled.
He
held out his hand. “Luke Sullivan. Pleased to meet you.”
Irish Intrigue
Charley Hunter returns
unwillingly to Ireland to complete the filming of a TV drama series. She still
hasn’t come to terms with the tragic loss of her husband there two years
previously, and the last thing she expects is an instant attraction to an Irish
veterinary surgeon.
Luke Sullivan’s life is full
as he tries to balance caring for his two young children with his busy rural
veterinary practice. After the break-up of his marriage, he vowed to leave
women well alone, but now finds himself drawn to Charley.
While Charley struggles with
the re-awakening of her emotions, Luke faces a series of unexplained crises at
his clinic, as well as an impending custody battle with his ex-wife.
They grow closer as their
initial interest in each other develops into mutual support and then into love.
But how can an English actress and an Irish vet reconcile their different worlds?
And will their relationship survive when Luke believes Charley has endangered
his children’s lives – and then betrayed him?
