Summer Light: A Novel (50 page)
Read Summer Light: A Novel Online
Authors: Luanne Rice
She felt John’s warm body against hers, wanted to follow him into bed; something about the coziness of their cottage juxtaposed to the dangerous cliff edge made her want him more than ever. But as she started to turn away from the window, she saw a flash of someone passing by.
“Did you see that?” she asked. “Someone on the path—right there.”
John glanced out the window. He frowned and pressed his head against the glass and tried to see through the rain—there were big, muddy footprints through the side yard, leading toward his sculpture, and another glimpse of a tall man hurrying along.
“Who is it?” She asked, watching John pulling on his jeans.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Then why are you getting dressed so fast?” she asked. “I thought—”
“Where are the girls?” he asked.
“In bed,” she said. “We just said…they’re tired from traveling…”
“Honor,” he said. “That guy I told you about. I met him down at the docks in Cobh. I went to do research there, to find out about the ships my family immigrated to America on. And I stopped into a bar, and got to talking to someone—he’s from Connemara, but came down here looking for work. I needed some help with the heavy lifting, and I hired him. Gregory White.”
“He helped you?”
“Yes, I paid him. But now he won’t leave me alone. He keeps coming back for more work, more money, and when I told him there wasn’t any more, he vandalized my sculpture. Tore off some of the branches, and threw them off the cliff. Knocked the cross off, so I had to climb up and put it back.”
“Why did he do that?”
John shook his head. “I don’t know. Greg’s messed up. Drinks a lot. I made the mistake of telling him about the gold ring, and now he’s convinced there’s pirate gold buried on the land. He’s nuts. We got into a fight, Honor. He was screwing with my work, and I told him I’d kill him if he did it again.”
“What makes you think that was him just now? Couldn’t it be someone else, just taking the coast path?” Honor asked, even as she started to shiver. Grabbing her robe, she suddenly felt cold, as if the wind were rattling through the window panes and into her bones. She felt her heart plummet. She and John had been doing so well since she and the girls arrived, and now this….
“On a day like this?” John asked. She saw the rage building in his muscles; his shoulders seemed to double in size when he got this mad. It was never at her, but she felt it all the same. “Goddamn it. Goddamn it. If he does something else to the installation, I swear to God. The whole bar heard me tell him what I’d do to him. I warned him!”
“John, stop it!”
“Call the garda, Honor. The police. The number’s by the phone. I’ve had it with this. Tell them to come to the Old Head. Ballincastle, right?”
“John, don’t go out in this,” she said, staring into the bleak, ferocious weather. Even as she spoke, he opened the door. The wind howled, blowing papers in a cyclone around the room. John’s eyes met Honor’s, but he didn’t even speak. He just left the house, slamming the door.
Discover Five Timeless Summer Favorites from
Luanne Rice
ON SALE IN PAPERBACK
JUNE 27, 2006
There’s a place in our hearts reserved for miracles….
Summer’s Child
On the first day of summer, Mara Jameson went out to water her garden—and was never seen again. Years after her disappearance, no one could forget the expectant mother whose glowing smile had captured the heart of everyone who’d known her: Maeve Jameson, still mourning the loss of a granddaughter she had struggled to protect…Patrick Murphy, a dogged police detective obsessed with a vanished woman…and Lily Malone, drawn to the rugged beauty of the Nova Scotia coast and its promise of a new life.
Here Lily hopes to raise her nine-year-old daughter, Rose, far from the pain and loss of the past. Here she will meet a gifted scientist, Liam Neill, whose life is on a similar trajectory from heartbreak to hope. And before the season is over, Lily will find the magic that exists in people we love the best…the everyday miracles that can make the extraordinary happen anywhere.
True friendships—like true love—
are made to last forever….
Beach Girls
Twenty-five years ago three friends grew from girls to women on the sandy shores of Hubbard’s Point, Connecticut, forging a bond they swore would last always. Then time and distance drew them apart—and one was lost forever. Now her nine-year-old daughter has returned to the Point with her widowed father, longing to find the “beach girls” of her mother’s stories….
Old friendships—and love—
make all things new again….
The Perfect Summer
Bay McCabe relishes life’s simple pleasures, her children, her home by the sea. She and her husband, Sean, have weathered rough spells and moved on. Now a perfect summer, filled with the scent of beach roses, lies before them…. until the day Sean leaves his young daughter stranded after school, and a phone call confirms that he is missing….
When it comes to love and family, the things you can’t
see are what matter most of all….
Summer Light
May Taylor works as a wedding planner, passing on the timeless traditions of her grandmother and mother, and their belief in the magic in everyday life—especially the simple magic of true love and family. Yet May’s own faith in true love was shattered when she was abandoned by the father of her daughter, Kylie, a very special five-year-old who sees and hears things that others cannot…. Martin Cartier is a professional hockey player and sports legend. His father taught him to play to win—at all costs. Now Martin’s success veils a core of heartache, rage, and isolation. Yet Kylie glimpses the transcendent role Martin will play in May’s life and her own—unless his past tears their blossoming love apart….
Three sisters come face-to-face with the past and find in
each other the courage to go on….
Firefly Beach
Coolly sophisticated and steadfastly single, Caroline Renwick has always been the sister everyone could count on. As she and Clea and Skye gathered at Firefly Hill, their childhood home, Caroline thought that they had all put the past behind them. But as summer gets under way, a mysterious man arrives—a man who has the power to bring it all back….
SUMMER LIGHT
A Bantam Book
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Bantam hardcover edition / July 2001
Bantam mass market edition / June 2002
Bantam mass market reissue / July 2006
Published by Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2001 by Luanne Rice
Bantam Books and the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
eISBN-13: 978-0-553-90275-4
eISBN-10: 0-553-90275-X
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