Lilac Lane (Chesapeake Shores #14)(105)

“If you handle these, I’ll get to the rest, either directly or indirectly,” Nell said, handing her a sheet of paper. “Once word is out that I’m campaigning for the enemy and how high the stakes are, word will spread through town like wildfire.”

“Will you tell Dillon what you’re up to? It is his daughter you’ll be campaigning against,” Deanna said. “I’d hate for there to be a rift between you, even for a cause that he’ll consider a good one in the end.”

“You’ve no need to worry about Dillon. I’ll explain what’s going on and swear him to secrecy. No one wants Kiera to stay in town and find happiness with your father more than he does.”

Deanna beamed at her. “I wish I’d had a grandmother like you,” she told Nell. “My own grandmother on my mom’s side died long before I was born and, needless to say, I never knew my father’s mother. Ash’s mother is very sweet, but she would never engage in something so devious.”

Nell regarded her with concern. “Perhaps you shouldn’t, either. Meddling is considered by some to be a very bad habit.”

“But it’s so much fun,” Deanna said. “I can hardly wait.”

Nell studied her for an instant, then laughed. “Deanna, you’ll make a fine addition to the O’Briens, even if the connection is a couple of degrees removed.”

Amazingly, though the complex family ties Deanna had appreciated all her life had been extraordinary, the very loose ties to the O’Briens promised to bring something very special to her life.

*

Bryan found Luke and Mick O’Brien huddled together in the pub two days before the fall festival. Their whispers were a dead giveaway that something was going on, and their expressions suggested they didn’t like it.

“What’s wrong?” Bryan asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee and joining them at the bar.

“Nothing,” Luke said, backing away quickly, his expression suddenly neutral.

“Not a thing,” Mick confirmed, though he wasn’t nearly as quick to hide his troubled expression. The paper he’d hurriedly stuffed into his pocket suggested otherwise.

“Is this about the bets you’re taking on the cooking contest?” Bryan demanded. “I know all about those, and I know Moira doesn’t approve. Nor do Nell or Kiera.”

“If they knew what we know, they’d be even more upset,” Mick said. “I suggest you pretend you haven’t seen or heard a thing.”

“Now there’s a comment deliberately designed to stir my imagination,” Bryan said. “Since I’m at the center of this, I think I deserve to know what’s going on.”

The two men exchanged a long look.

“I think we ought to tell him,” Luke said. “He is one of the competitors, after all.”

Mick looked less convinced. “This could mean nothing, though. There’s no reason to stir the pot, so to speak.”

Bryan met his gaze and waited. Mick had never been known to keep a secret for long. And, contrary to his statement, he liked nothing more than to stir the pot.

“Okay, then,” Mick said at last. “Up until a few days ago, the bets coming in were in Kiera’s favor. After she had that tasting at her cottage for the women in the family, they started campaigning on her behalf. Everywhere I went, it seemed women were shoving a handful of bills at me and putting it all on Kiera to win the contest.”

Bryan wasn’t at all surprised by the support. Those women had come to consider Kiera one of their own. He’d heard the raves about her stew and assumed they were well deserved. That only made him want to try harder. Now, of course, he had an added incentive that even Mick and Luke couldn’t possibly know about.

“Judging from your expressions, something’s changed,” he said.

“In a dramatic way,” Mick confirmed. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Practically overnight, the tide turned in your favor. Those very same women were coming to me with new bets and adding more money. Their husbands were, as well. It’s as if they know something.”

Bryan frowned at that. “You don’t suppose someone’s planning to sabotage Kiera’s stew, sneak in and dump a box of salt in it or something like that to ruin the taste of it.”

“Not in Chesapeake Shores,” Mick said adamantly. “People here might love to place a bet from time to time on the craziest of things, but none have so much money at stake that they’d stack the odds in their own favor.”

“Besides, we’ve heard rumors that Nell is behind it,” Luke admitted. “She might campaign hard, but she would draw the line at cheating. She and your daughter have been going all over town rallying support for you. I can’t understand it. It makes sense that Deanna would want you to win, but my grandmother? She’s cheerleading against her own husband’s daughter. I imagine Dillon’s fit to be tied.”

“She could be doing it for the sake of the pub,” Bryan suggested, though he was beginning to think it wasn’t about that at all. He could easily envision his daughter blabbing about the proposal to her new ally and the two of them forming a misguided team to back him. “I am the chef here, after all. Our reputation is at stake.”

“That doesn’t sound like Gram, though,” Luke said.