Hometown Valentine

Finding Her Family

Lily Rogers is ready to follow her dreams. Now all she needs is funds. Taking a job as baby Peyton’s temporary nanny seems like an easy way to earn cash for her plane ticket to LA. But there’s nothing easy about how Lily feels for Peyton’s uncle, coffee shop owner Blake Stonely. As Valentine’s Day approaches, Lily’s head fills with romantic notions of the handsome new daddy. She’s falling for a family that isn’t hers, and dreaming of a life with the blue-eyed barista and his adorable niece. Will Lily leave Blake and Peyton behind…or make a new future—and family—with them by her side?

Moonlight Cove: A beachside town where love and faith blossom

“I need to focus on my career goals, not falling in love.”

Made perfect sense, though for some reason Lily’s statement had disappointment poking at him. Blake shook the emotion off. “I hear you there,” he replied. “Who has time for romantic relationships?” Or the guts.

“Not me.”

“Not me, either. I have more than I can handle with the store and Peyton.”

“So you aren’t interested in dating either?” she asked in what seemed like a very well-modulated voice.

“No,” he said emphatically. “I don’t have time.” Which was part of his reasoning. The other part was too personal to share.

“Right? Me neither.” She hesitated, her brow creasing. “We’re actually a lot alike, you know.”

“Hmm. You know, you’re right.”

“Maybe that’s why we get along so well.”

“That has to be it,” he said. “We’re on the same page.”

“Right.” She nodded. “Same page is good. Really good.”

“Actually, it’s excellent. We get each other.”

“Yes, we do,” she said, her gaze meeting his. It held. Something passed between them; what, exactly, he couldn’t say, just something odd yet exciting.

LISSA MANLEY decided she wanted to be a published author at twelve. After she read her first romance as a teenager she decided romance was her favorite genre, although she still enjoys a good medical thriller now and then. Lissa lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, a grown daughter and college-aged son, and two bossy poodles. When she’s not reading, she enjoys crafting, bargain hunting, cooking and decorating.

Hometown Valentine

Lissa Manley

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving

let your requests be made known to God.

—Philippians 4:6

This book is dedicated to

my bestie and sunset sweats comrade. Thanks for always being there for me. Tally ho!

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

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

Epilogue

Dear Reader

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Snapping her umbrella closed, Lily Rogers hurriedly stepped from the chilly late January downpour into The Coffee Cabana. The entry buzzer sounded above her head.

As the earthy smell of coffee hit her, she came to an abrupt stop just inside the door and darted her gaze around. The place was dead empty.

Odd. Washingtonians were famous for their voracious coffee appetites. She’d expected to find the place packed, especially since this store was the only thing that remotely resembled a coffee shop in Moonlight Cove.

Maybe business was bad. Lily hoped not. She desperately needed the barista job advertised in the help-wanted sign in the window. Though being a coffee jockey wasn’t her dream occupation, it was a paying proposition, and those were few and far between in a town the size of her hometown. She needed money; her future as a fashion designer was at stake.

Putting her still-dripping umbrella in the metal holder by the door Lily headed toward the unmanned front counter. As she neared it, she heard a shrill sound that seemed to be coming from behind a door to the left of the counter. She cocked her head, her eyebrows drawn together. Was that a...baby crying?

She listened intently. Yes, yes, it was. The sound was a baby wailing, actually. Her well-developed baby-soothing instincts had her immediately cringing. Her youngest sister, Laura, had shrieked like that from dawn to dusk when she’d been a newborn.

Lily stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Was the place even open? The door had been unlocked, and it was the middle of normal business hours on a Monday, so she assumed so. Should she go look for the manager? Just leave a résumé on the counter? Hunt for the shrieking infant? What? She hadn’t planned on finding the place deserted, and she certainly hadn’t expected to encounter an unseen child in distress.

Just as she was about to go find the baby and take care of the poor thing, the door behind the counter opened and a man holding said screaming infant over his broad shoulder stepped out.

Ah. One mystery solved.

The man, who appeared to be around Lily’s age of thirty, give or take, moved toward her. As the grayish light from the windows hit his face, she realized that everything about him screamed exhaustion. Mussed hair. Dark shadows under his eyes. Sagging shoulders. Clearly this baby had been on a crying jag of epic proportions. Lily knew how grueling that could be.