A Match Made Perfect--A Clean Romance Read online

  Fifteen years later...

  Are they still a perfect match?

  After a near-fatal accident, Brooke Ardell’s return to Butterfly Harbor sends shock waves around the small town. Years ago, she walked away from the love of her life, Sebastian Evans, and their baby daughter—and she never looked back. Now it’s finally time for her to right those wrongs. Sebastian wants to trust Brooke again...but can he risk his daughter’s heart as well as his own?

  “There hasn’t been a day I haven’t thought about both of you.”

  There it was, the first admission. “There also hasn’t been a day I haven’t missed you.”

  “I didn’t have the luxury of missing you.” Sebastian’s voice sounded detached. “I had a baby girl to worry about. I had a store to open, a home to make. And I had to do it all on my own.”

  “I know. Sebastian, I—” The words evaporated from Brooke’s mind. How many times had she rehearsed this moment? Written it down, talked it out, practiced dozens, hundreds of times. And yet now, when it mattered most, when the opportunity she’d been waiting for had finally arrived, it was clear no amount of preparation would do any good. She’d abandoned him. Abandoned their daughter. Her reason didn’t matter. Couldn’t matter. But, oh, how she hoped.

  Dear Reader,

  I’ve always had a fascination with father-daughter relationships. My own relationship with my father was as complicated as it was nonexistent. It is probably the reason I tend to write idealized fathers in most of my books. I do so again with Sebastian Evans, single father and owner of Cat’s Eye Bookshop in Butterfly Harbor. It’s probably safe to say that Mandy, his teenage daughter, is idealized, as well. But where I draw on complete instinct and personal longings in portraying Sebastian, Mandy is a compilation of a lot of the teenagers I’ve come across thanks to family and friends—good, driven kids who are incredibly mature, intelligent and, yes, on occasion, stress-inducing.

  Mandy’s mother was the ideal heroine for Sebastian. Talk about an abundance of emotional conflict and turmoil. We’ve all read stories about fathers walking away from their families, but I was eager to explore the idea of a mother who did the same. The whys and the hows, and the lasting effect an action like that would have on all involved. Brooke Ardell was a complicated kid and is an equally complicated woman, but after a life-altering experience, she’s come back to Butterfly Harbor to make amends to those she hurt.

  Throw in a bit of teenage matchmaking, a diner filled with well-intentioned gossipers and a town that believes in second chances, and, well, that’s Butterfly Harbor in a nutshell. I hope you enjoy.

  Anna J

  A Match Made Perfect

  USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  Anna J. Stewart

  Bestselling author Anna J. Stewart was the girl on the playground spinning in circles waiting for her Wonder Woman costume to appear or knotting her hair like Princess Leia. A Stephen King fan from early on, she can’t remember a time when she wasn’t making up stories or didn’t have her nose stuck in a book. She currently writes sweet and spicy romances for Harlequin, spends her free time at the movies, at fan conventions or cooking and baking, and most every night has to wrangle her two kittens, Rosie and Sherlock, who love dive-bombing each other from the bed...and other places. Her house may never be the same.

  Books by Anna J. Stewart

  Harlequin Heartwarming

  Return of the Blackwell Brothers

  The Rancher’s Homecoming

  Butterfly Harbor Stories

  The Firefighter’s Thanksgiving Wish

  Safe in His Arms

  Holiday Kisses

  Always the Hero

  A Dad for Charlie

  Recipe for Redemption

  The Bad Boy of Butterfly Harbor

  Christmas, Actually

  “The Christmas Wish”

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  For Madisyn, Brooklyn, Hannah, Emma, Mikayla and Alex.

  And all the other Mandys out there ready to take on and change the world.

  We believe.

  Contents

  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

  EXCERPT FROM HER SURPRISE COWBOY BY CLAIRE McEWEN

  CHAPTER ONE

  “CHIN UP, MANDY.” Sebastian Evans tapped a finger under his own chin as he palmed the softball. “That’s better. Bat up. Just a bit. Even weight on your feet.”

  Beneath her San Francisco Giants baseball cap, his nearly fifteen-year-old daughter wrinkled her freckled nose as she always did before a smile broke out on her face. She wiggled into better position, her eyes shifting down to his hand. “You’re going to curve it,” she called. “Your thumb’s off-center.”

  Cheeky kid. She didn’t miss a thing. Sebastian’s heart swelled with the pride that filled him every day. “Don’t get cocky. Focus.” And because she’d caught him, he adjusted his grip behind his back and sent the ball flying across home plate of the baseball field in Skipper Park.

  She swung, caught the edge of the ball and sent it soaring up, but not far. He found himself racing forward as her laughter caught on the Saturday-morning breeze. She hit first base before he had the ball solidly in his glove.

  “Now, that’s what I call a fake-out.” She bent over, hands planted on her knees, and grinned up at him. “Good enough to make the team, do you think?”

  “Good enough.” He tried to sound casual, but inside he was already calling her a star. Whatever sports ability he possessed, she’d far surpassed it. Basketball, soccer, swimming and now softball. She excelled at them all and seemingly without much effort. Thankfully business at Cat’s Eye Bookstore was good enough for him to hire part-time help and leave him with money to afford all the team and uniform fees that loomed in his future. He’d be glad when Mandy found a favorite sport and settled on it. Personally? He was hoping for softball.

  With the sun cresting in the sky, he called it a morning and waved her over, turning the batting-and-pitching area over to the group of kids nearby.

  It was warm for mid-February, even by Butterfly Harbor, California, standards, and the weather had brought out a fair number of residents of the small coastal town. The frenzy of the holidays had been replaced by the barely restrained eagerness for spring as rain and sunshine battled it out. Couples, families and groups of friends mingled here and there, in the park, down at the Butterfly Diner. Some grabbed spots down on the beach for the promised welcoming, but chilly, gentle tide. Life didn’t get much better than this.

  Butterfly Harbor had been his home from the day he’d been born. The small West Coast town had gotten its name due to being a stop on the monarch butterfly migratory path and was quickly boosting its reputation as a tourist destination. A reputation that soon would be kicked into high gear thanks to the butterfly sanctuary and nature center currently under construction.

  He caught sight of Kyle Knight lounging in the stands as he talked and joked with Butterfly Harbor’s newest probationary firefighter, Jasper O’Neill. Sebastian would have to have been blind not to notice the young man these days, and not just because Kyle and Mandy had developed
a friendship in recent months. But their “friendship” did strike an odd, familiar and worrying chord inside Sebastian. A chord that even after fifteen years had the power to send his heart to stuttering.

  He shouldn’t be anxious. The logical part of his brain said that, at least. But Mandy was his little girl. And while she’d be fifteen in several weeks, she would always, much to her horror, be his baby.

  A pang of envy hit him when he glimpsed Deputy Fletcher Bradley and his almost ten-year-old daughter, Charlie, kicking around a soccer ball in the distance. Sebastian was fast running out of those days to spend with his own daughter, who would be off to college soon.

  “Dad. Hey, earth to Dad!” Mandy snapped her fingers in front of his face.

  “What?” Sebastian’s brow furrowed.

  “I said can we stop by the marina to see Uncle Monty’s new boat?”

  He looped an arm around Mandy’s shoulders and, after another longing look at the other father and daughter, steered his daughter toward town. She waved a goodbye to Kyle over her shoulder. “It’s like you’re reading my mind. Lunch at the diner after?” Their tradition after spending time at the marina with Mandy’s honorary uncle.

  “Yes,” Mandy said. “But I have to be at Kendall’s by two to babysit—I mean kid-sit—Phoebe.”

  Sebastian laughed, recalling the horrified expression on little Phoebe MacBride’s face when she’d heard the term babysitter. She was not, she’d declared to her parents, with hands on her tiny hips and big black curls dancing around her round face, a baby. “We’ll get you there, Man, don’t worry.”

  “If I had a scooter, it wouldn’t take you away from the store.”

  “If you had a scooter, I’d need medication. You have a bike.” He pulled her in and kissed the top of her head. “That’ll suffice for now.” Thank goodness state law didn’t allow moped licenses until age sixteen.

  “Aw, man.” But Mandy said it good-naturedly. It wasn’t the first time they’d had this discussion. It wouldn’t be the last.

  They talked about her classes and what else she was occupied with. Just before Christmas she’d taken in a box full of kittens to foster. Now all but one had been adopted, leaving only Zachariah, their permanent senior feline resident, and the mischievous gray fur ball Mandy had named Tribble. Thanks to a recent adoption drive in town, and a ton of new volunteer households, they had been foster-cat-free since Christmas. While the cats acted as a draw for people to come to the bookstore, he was grateful for the reprieve.

  These Saturdays had become sacred to him. Time with his daughter was passing entirely too quickly. It didn’t help that she had a social schedule that rivaled most CEOs. Between school and sports and volunteer hours with various causes, he counted himself lucky to see her for dinner most nights.

  But Saturday mornings? Oh, Saturdays were just for him.

  Mandy tapped the bat along the ground as they walked. Then, as they rounded the corner to the marina entrance, she broke away, racing down the dock to the fleet of boats belonging to WindWalkers and Monty Bettencourt.

  “Well?” Monty slapped the rag he’d been using to wipe down the catamaran against the railing. “How’d you do?”

  “I hit two doubles and a single off him.” Mandy jumped onto the boat beside him and set down her bat. “I would have had a triple, but the sun was in my eyes.”

  “Seems as good an excuse as any.” Monty waved Sebastian on board. “Come down to see your new purchase?”

  “Huh?” Mandy crinkled her eyes in confusion.

  “Your uncle Monty and I are now partners,” Sebastian told her. “Well, sort of. I made an investment. Gives us use of the boats when they aren’t rented out.” Sebastian feigned skepticism. “Unless you disapprove.”

  “Are you kidding?” Mandy squealed and jumped so high that when she landed, the boat jostled. “Whoops! Sorry.” She whipped off her cap and a tumble of blond curls fell loose down her back.

  Something inside Sebastian caught. In that moment, she looked so much like Brooke that he almost couldn’t breathe. The excitement, the enthusiasm, the way her blue eyes sparkled. It was as if a time loop had roped him in and sent him soaring back to the day he’d first seen Mandy’s mother. Brooke hadn’t, Sebastian realized with an uneasy squirm, been much older than Mandy was now. Heck, neither had he.

  “This calls for an official partner celebration,” Monty announced. “Gotta make it quick, though. I’ve got a diving group coming in about an hour.” He disappeared into the galley and returned with three bottles of root beer.

  The trio twisted off the caps in unison, clinked bottles and chugged. The ensuing belches had them all laughing. It was a ritual that the three, or rather four, if you counted Monty’s twin sister, Frankie, had been performing since Mandy could hold her own bottle.

  “Can I explore?” Mandy asked.

  “Of course.” Monty stepped back. “Have at it. You’ve got a few days off of school next week, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. Teacher conferences. Why?”

  Monty shrugged. “I’ve got a couple of diving groups booked. I thought maybe you’d like to tag along, earn some extra cash by helping me out. You could get some dive time in, too. Seeing as you’re an investor now...” He trailed off, looking wide-eyed and innocent when Sebastian glared at him. “You’d be okay with that, right, Dad?” Monty grinned and finished his root beer.

  “Oh, please, Dad?” Mandy said as she spun to face him. “That would be so amazing.”

  “How about you look at your schedule before you commit? Dr. Collins—”

  “It’s Dr. Gordon now, Dad. Jeez!” Mandy rolled her eyes. “You were at her wedding.”

  “Right. Dr. Gordon. She’s come to rely on you.”

  “She also has a new partner and tech assistant, so she doesn’t need me as much at the vet practice. This is a job, Dad!” Mandy reminded him. “Close to it, anyway, and it’s on the water!”

  Sebastian couldn’t argue with that. Mandy had practically been born with flippers on. She was a natural in, around and on the water.

  “How many jobs are actually fun?”she pleaded. “Besides, it’ll look great on my college applications. Diverse activities and interest, plus employment.”

  Sebastian choked on his root beer. “You cannot be thinking about college applications already.”

  That earned him another eye roll.

  “Of course I have. With my college prep classes, my advisor thinks I can apply in a little over a year, at least for extension classes for the marine-biology department. She’s even verifying if I qualify for early graduation.”

  “That’s great, kiddo.” Monty toasted her with his root beer even as he shot a sidelong glance to a silent Sebastian. “Always knew you were ten times smarter than this lug.” The elbow in Sebastian’s ribs told him to laugh at the joke and give his approval to Mandy’s fast-track education.

  Sebastian swore he heard a cash register ringing in his head, but he pushed a smile onto his lips. “Right, sorry. I forgot who I was talking to. Of course you’re planning ahead.” And just like that, any similarity to her mother faded. Brooke had been many things, but a planner? Not even close.

  There were days Sebastian asked himself why he’d fallen so hard and so fast for Brooke Ardell, but there was never a day he regretted it. How could he when, despite all her faults, despite all the disappointments and rejection he’d endured, Brooke had given him the greatest gift he could have ever hoped for: his daughter.

  “You seem a bit lost in thought today,” Monty said to Sebastian as Mandy disappeared around the side of the boat. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing. Just for some reason, I keep thinking about Brooke.” He winced, then distracted himself with the label on his bottle.

  “Not surprising.” Monty sat and kicked up his feet. “Mandy looks more like her every day. Must be because Mandy’s birthday
’s coming up.”

  “Yeah,” Sebastian said as he looked out into the ocean. “Maybe.”

  But he wasn’t convinced. Whatever had him thinking about Brooke Ardell, it didn’t matter. She’d walked out on both him and Mandy fifteen years ago, and never looked back. She’d moved on.

  Maybe it was time he finally did the same.

  * * *

  “MORNING.” BROOKE ARDELL, still trying to shake off the days-long drive from South Carolina, wobbled into her godmother’s kitchen at just after ten on Tuesday morning. Finally. After all these years, she was back in Butterfly Harbor.

  “Good morning, Brooke.” BethAnn turned from where she was pouring coffee near the sink. “I was hoping I’d see you before I headed out. Would you like a cup?”

  “That would be amazing, thank you.” Brooke dropped into a chair and stifled a yawn. It had been nice last night to end the day in a comfortable, welcoming home rather than a roadside motel that, if she was lucky, had a vending machine. If she never saw a cheese curl again, she’d consider it an accomplishment.

  Looking around the familiar place had her finally beginning to feel settled. The decor had been updated fairly recently, from what Brooke could tell. She could still smell traces of paint and turpentine. The ivory-striped wallpaper and matching curtains were gone. Now a soft mocha colored the walls and contrasting espresso-hued fabric draped the two windows that allowed the morning sun to stream in over the stunning backyard. And the bed in the guest room upstairs? Oh, her back had been so happy not to have a spring invading her spine.

  “Sorry I got in so late last night. After four days on the road, I just wanted to get here.” Which was why she’d driven nearly twelve hours straight. Her body was not even close to forgiving her. She lowered her head into her hands, shoved back her hair and sighed in relief as BethAnn Bottomley, one of her mother’s oldest friends, set a filled red mug in front of her. “Nectar of the gods.” Brooke sipped, savored, swallowed. “Thanks.” Given the amount of coffee she’d ingested during the endless drive, she wouldn’t have been surprised if this cup barely gave her a jolt.