Lilac Lane (Chesapeake Shores #14)(49)

Once more, he’d caught her off guard. “As far as you know? I don’t understand.”

“Her mother took her and left when she was barely a year old. I haven’t seen or heard from them since.”

Surprise turned to shock. “And you haven’t tried to find them?”

“Of course I have,” he declared impatiently. “I filed missing persons reports. I hired private detectives.” He sighed. “But when an adult really wants to disappear, it’s apparently easier than you can imagine.”

Kiera tried to envision a circumstance in which a woman would take her child and run from someone, vanishing so thoroughly they couldn’t be found.

Bryan regarded her with a steady gaze. “Go ahead, ask. I know you’re imagining the worst, that I must have done something terrible to drive them into hiding.”

“Did you?” she asked evenly, not wanting to believe such a thing was possible. She and Bryan might have had a rocky start, but she’d come to believe he was a good man, albeit one who kept to himself. That distance had served her well, so she’d never tried to bridge the gap. Instead, she’d aimed for civility, a few cautious overtures of friendship and little more. She was no readier for more than he was, despite the undeniable, simmering attraction between them.

“I was neglectful, no question about it,” he confessed, the chattiness something new. He seemed intent, though, on making her understand. “I was just out of culinary school in New York, trying to make a name for myself. A chef’s hours are never easy, not at a top restaurant that’s crowded from opening till closing. The demands to get it right are extraordinary, the stress high. I thought I was doing it all for us, but the truth is, it probably only mattered to me. I was ambitious and believed what I’d been told, that I’d have my own top restaurant one day if I worked hard enough and paid my dues.”

Kiera had never worked in anyplace with fiery-tempered ambitious chefs, but she knew the demands of restaurants well enough. “You got caught up in the dream,” she concluded.

Bryan nodded. “And look where it got me. I wound up in a deli and then here.”

“What exactly is wrong with here?” she demanded, instantly indignant on Luke’s behalf. “It’s a fine pub and, despite the way I taunt you, you do a fine job.”

He looked startled by the faint praise. “A fine job?”

“Don’t be letting it go to your head. There’s room for improvement.”

A rare smile tugged at his lips. “Perhaps Luke was right,” he murmured, standing up.

“About?”

“A challenge being just what I need.”

He ran his fingers gently over Kate’s cheek, now smeared with the stain of strawberries.

As he walked back into the kitchen, Kiera stared after him, even as she wiped the baby’s face. She still couldn’t quite get over what he’d revealed to her, not just the facts of his past, but his pain. That was something she understood. It gave them something in common. She knew all too well that a bond such as that could be dangerous to a woman who didn’t want to risk her heart.

*

Kiera sat quietly for a time after Bryan had gone, distractedly playing with Kate to keep her occupied. She was so preoccupied that she didn’t notice Moira at first, staring at them from just inside the front door of the pub.

When her daughter realized she’d been spotted, she crossed the room and took Kate from Kiera’s arms. “What was that all about?” she asked. “You and Bryan? It looked intense.”

“Just having a word with each other,” Kiera said, reluctant to share what had been said in private.

“Not hurling words at each other?” Moira pressed. “That’s a pleasant change. It adds to the bond of friendship the two of you are developing.”

Kiera thought of the trust Bryan had just placed in her by talking about his daughter and allowing her to see what not having her in his life had cost him. The glimpse inside his heart had shifted things between them yet again.

“It was a good conversation, as a matter of fact.” Kiera focused her gaze on Moira. “What is that pink in your cheeks all about? Did you get overheated walking here or did things not go well in your meeting with Megan?”

“A little too well, if you want to know the truth. She’s found an opportunity for me to show my photographs in San Francisco.”

“That’s remarkable,” Kiera said enthusiastically. Seeing no such excitement in her daughter’s eyes, her own expression faltered. “It is, isn’t it?”

“As if you didn’t already know the answer to that. I know Megan’s been filling your head with information about the opportunities I’ve been avoiding and trying to enlist you to be on her side.”

Kiera saw no reason to deny the truth of that. “And have I added to the pressure on you?”

“No,” Moira conceded. “Thank you for that.”

“May I say, though, that I don’t entirely understand your reluctance to do what Megan is asking of you. You know her judgment is sound in this area. And I was there when she put off one gallery owner, an old friend, to protect you from being overextended, so I saw for myself that she’s only pressing you to do the shows that truly matter.”

“I didn’t realize there were offers she’s never even mentioned,” Moira said, clearly surprised. “That does make this one seem doubly important.”