Lilac Lane (Chesapeake Shores #14)(54)

Now Bryan looked a little desperate. “I really don’t have the time.”

“My grandson is a big supporter of this event,” Nell informed him. “Luke will see that you have the time. The first meeting is tomorrow morning at nine, right here.” She turned her gaze to Kiera. “I’ll expect you both.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Kiera said with enthusiasm, casting a defiant look at Bryan. She pointedly looked from him to the increasingly gloomy skies, then stood. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to take a rain check on the tea and scone, though. I want to get home and ready for work before it storms.”

Her father seemed to take his cue from her. “I’ll drive you, just in case it doesn’t hold off.”

For once Kiera didn’t argue.

“Bryan, would you like a lift, as well?” Dillon offered.

“Thanks, but no. I need to finish my run. I’ll just be jumping in the shower after that, so a little rain won’t matter. I’m going to spend another minute or two wasting my breath trying to convince Nell I’ll be no help on this committee of hers.”

Dillon chuckled. “Good luck with that. Once my wife’s mind is made up, it’s unlikely to change.”

“Like some others I know,” Bryan said.

Kiera walked past him and followed her father outside. When they were on their way, she felt her father’s curious gaze studying her from time to time.

“Did I sense some tension between you and Bryan just now?” Dillon asked.

“We’ve never had an easy time of it. I’ve been getting under his skin since I arrived,” Kiera responded.

“But today, it seemed to be the other way around.”

Leave it to her father to develop a deeper level of perceptiveness at exactly the wrong moment, Kiera thought wryly.

“The truth is that I came over this morning in an effort to avoid him. The last thing I expected was to find him in your kitchen.” Even she could hear the grumbling note in her voice suggesting that he was somehow lending aid and comfort to the enemy.

“Is that a problem?”

She drew in a deep breath. “No, of course not,” she said, trying to infuse her voice with a different tone entirely. “Is this a regular thing, then? These visits of his?”

Dillon still seemed puzzled by her reaction. “He stops by from time to time when he goes for his run,” he explained. “He and Nell talk about menu ideas for the pub. She’s become quite fond of him.”

“I’ll have to keep that in mind and time my own visits accordingly.”

Dillon gave her a quick, worried glance. “Has he done something to offend you, Kiera? Moira seemed to think you all were getting along swimmingly these days.”

“Moira’s an optimist,” Kiera said.

At her father’s chuckle, she swallowed her annoyance and laughed with him. “Okay, it’s not a word I’d normally associate with Moira, but in this case it fits. She and Luke want Bryan and me to get along. We’re doing the best we can. Too much contact may test our fragile peace.”

Her father gave a nod of understanding. “And now Nell has put him right in your path yet again with this committee of hers. I can ask her to change her mind. It’s clear he wants no part of it anyway.”

“I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction,” Kiera said.

“Okay, then, whatever you want.”

Kiera evaded his knowing gaze and sighed. As if she had any bloody idea what that was!

*

“Well done,” Dillon enthused when he got back to the cottage and joined Nell in the kitchen.

“I thought so,” Nell responded. “It’s clear there’s something going on between those two. Every time their eyes met, sparks flew. They just need a nudge here and there.”

“They’re both going to fight the attraction, no question about that,” Dillon said. “And we need to be subtle or Kiera, at least, will move heaven and earth just to defy us.”

“The committee was just the first step and, frankly, one I hadn’t even envisioned until they both turned up here this morning and gave me the perfect opening to throw them together. Just wait until they hear what I have in mind,” Nell said, her expression filled with anticipation.

“Tell me.”

As she described her plan, Dillon sat back in awe. He’d watched Mick O’Brien meddle in various family romances, but the man had obviously learned from a matchmaking genius.

“Well, what do you think?” Nell asked. “Will it work, or am I going too far?”

“Pure genius, given their competitive natures,” he said. “But a word of caution. If it seems that you or I are involved in some sort of scheme, Kiera will balk. She and I are just starting to bond. I worry that this could cause another rift between us.”

His concern seemed to put a damper on his wife’s enthusiasm, but within moments her expression brightened again. She stood up and dropped a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll enlist a little help with the plan. The suggestion won’t come from me at tomorrow’s meeting, so you will be able to deny you knew a thing about it. What is it those lawyers we watch on TV call it, plausible deniability?”

Dillon chuckled. “Who knew those shows would serve a useful purpose? So where are you going now?”