An O'Brien Family Christmas
An O’Brien Family Christmas
Also by
New York Times
and
USA TODAY
bestselling author Sherryl Woods
BEACH LANE
***
MOONLIGHT COVE
***
DRIFTWOOD COTTAGE
***
RETURN TO ROSE COTTAGE
†
HOME AT ROSE COTTAGE
†
A CHESAPEAKE SHORES CHRISTMAS
***
HONEYSUCKLE SUMMER
*
SWEET TEA AT SUNRISE
*
HOME IN CAROLINA
*
HARBOR LIGHTS
***
FLOWERS ON MAIN
***
THE INN AT EAGLE POINT
***
WELCOME TO SERENITY
*
SEAVIEW INN
MENDING FENCES
FEELS LIKE FAMILY
*
A SLICE OF HEAVEN
*
STEALING HOME
*
WAKING UP IN CHARLESTON
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER
THE BACKUP PLAN
DESTINY UNLEASHED
FLAMINGO DINER
ALONG CAME TROUBLE
**
ASK ANYONE
**
ABOUT THAT MAN
**
ANGEL MINE
AFTER TEX
An O’Brien Family Christmas
Dear Reader,
It’s almost become a holiday tradition for me to get to spend the Christmas season with the O’Briens. They feel like family to me, and at least this is one family whose behavior I get to control!
This year’s story is the fulfillment of a promise Susie O’Brien made to her grandmother, that she would see that Nell had a chance to pay a visit to Ireland with the entire family. What no one expected was that it would also mean a reunion between Nell and an old flame! Add in Matthew’s off-again, on-again romance with an older woman—Trace’s sister Laila, no less—and you can imagine the family’s frenzy. You’ll even get a hint of the romance that could be in the wind for Susie and Matthew’s younger brother, Luke, the last of this generation of the family…or is he?
I hope you’ll enjoy all the twists and surprises in the story, as well as the chance to catch up with all of the O’Briens. And as always, I wish you the many blessings of this joyous season!
Sherryl
To the Outer Banks gang—George and Carol Sweda; Kristi, Ron,
Donovan, Carson and Morgan Petrecca; Austin Luchowski; Kim,
Jay, Adam and Jonathan Cerar; and Keri, Tom and Evan Krajewski.
Thanks for all the great summer memories in the “big house”!
Contents
1
S
he’d lost the job of a lifetime because of a man!
Every time Laila Riley allowed herself to think back—how hard she’d worked to gain her father’s trust, how desperately she’d wanted to prove herself capable of running the bank he’d established years ago in Chesapeake Shores, only to throw it all away for what had to have been the most ridiculous fling of all times—it made her a little crazy. She was not the kind of woman who did anything because of a man. She wasn’t impetuous or flighty. She was better than that, more sure of herself, more independent.
She allowed herself a sigh. Surely she must have been out of her mind to think that she and much younger playboy Matthew O’Brien could possibly have a respectable future. That had to explain her uncharacteristic behavior.
But because she’d taken leave of her senses, here she was, back in a tiny office, doing the sort of accounting work that bored her to tears. None of the hoped-for jobs at other area banks had materialized. Her credentials were impeccable. Everyone had agreed on that. But in the current economy, no one was hiring at her level. If that changed, she’d be the first person they called.
Blah-blah-blah.
She’d seen the encouraging words for what they were—so many empty promises.
Within weeks of quitting her job in a huff at the family owned community bank, she’d started berating herself for her foolishness and resenting Matthew for his role in it. If only he hadn’t been so blasted irresistible, she’d thought accusingly. So determined to win her heart. She’d been caught up in the romance of his pursuit.
Even as she was blaming him for all that charm and sex appeal, she was forced to admit that Matthew himself had been totally supportive in the aftermath of her impulsive decision to leave her father’s bank. He’d even found—or created, she suspected—an accounting opening for her at his uncle Mick’s architectural firm, but she didn’t want his handouts. She no longer wanted anything from him, in fact, except to be left alone.
Correction: she wanted sex, but that was out of the question. Lust, combined with loneliness and envy for all the happily married couples around her, was exactly what had gotten her in trouble in the first place.
Ending their misguided relationship within weeks of quitting her job had been her only choice. If she’d also packed up and left Chesapeake Shores, it would have been the ultimate trifecta, a complete upending of her life.
But, no, she didn’t quite have the will to cut the ties to the town she loved and her infuriating family. So she was stuck here, alone and miserable and working for half a dozen pitiful clients who barely kept her in the rocky road ice cream that lately she craved by the gallon.
“Sulking, I see,” Jess O’Brien Lincoln said, braving Laila’s dark mood by stepping into the office uninvited. She looked around, took in the drab beige walls that needed paint, the tiny window with no view and the seriously scarred desk, shook her head, then sat on a chair that had seen better days. Not even the bright posters Laila had framed could save this place, and they both knew it.
“I am not sulking,” Laila protested. “I’m working.”
“Yes, I can see all the work piled up on your desk,” Jess noted, her tone wry.
“It’s on the computer,” Laila informed her. “Haven’t you heard? Financial records are computerized these days.”
Jess tried to settle more comfortably onto the cramped office’s one guest chair, gave up and shrugged. “So I hear. Not my forte.”
Laila gave her friend a wary look. “Why are you here? I hope it’s not on your cousin’s behalf. I’ve told Matthew—”
Jess cut her off. “Matthew didn’t send me.”
Despite the convincing tone, Laila wasn’t reassured. O’Briens were a sneaky lot. “Then what brings you by?”
“I can’t stop in to check on a friend?”
“You could, but lately you’ve been so caught up in the extended honeymoon phase of your marriage that you barely leave the inn.”
“Not true. I go out all the time. Will and I are not joined at the hip. He does his thing. I do mine,” she declared with a nonchalance that didn’t fool either of them. Once Jess had accepted her feelings for Will were real and his for her, she’d been a little gaga ever since.
“If you say so.” Maybe it just seemed to Laila that everyone in Chesapeake Shores was traveling in contented pairs these days. “Okay, let’s say I believe this is a purely casual visit. What’s up with you? Is everything running smoothly at the inn?”
Jess’s expression brightened. “We’re packed, as a matter of fact. Connor gave me this idea a while back about offering specials for small business conferences, and now that the golf course has opened nearby, that’s working out really well during the week. Even better, weekends are booked all the way through the holidays with tourists. The word seems to be out that the inn is a great spot for a romantic getaway. It helped that we had a huge spread in a regional travel magazine showcasing how beautiful it is here at Christmas.”
Laila was genuinely impressed. “That’s terrific. You should be proud of yourself, Jess. Making a success of the inn is a fantastic accomplishment.”
Jess grinned. “Quite a change from my teenage screwups, huh? And that brings me to one of the things I wanted to discuss with you.”
“Uh-oh, here it comes,” Laila murmured, regarding her accusingly. “I knew this wasn’t just some spur-of-the-moment visit.”
“Okay, I’ll admit it. I am on a mission,” Jess confessed. “Two, as a matter of fact. One from Abby and me, and one from Susie. Neither one has a thing to do with Matthew, I promise.”
Laila wasn’t entirely placated. They were all O’Briens, after all, a family that was notoriously tight-knit. These days, she didn’t trust a single one of them, not even her sister-in-law Abby, much less the clever friend seated across from her with the cat-that-swallowed-the-canary glint in her eyes. As for Susie, she was Matthew’s sister, so her motives were suspect on more levels than Laila could possibly count.
“Okay, try me,” she said grudgingly. “What do you and Abby want? And why didn’t Abby call me herself?”
“She did. Several times, in fact. Apparently you haven’t been returning her calls, or your brother’s, or those of anyone else with the name Riley. Or O’Brien, come to think of it. Connie says she hasn’t spoken to you in ages, and even though I’m a Lincoln now, you’ve pretty much been ignoring me, as well.” She gave Laila a chiding look. “Thus the personal visit.”
“I’ve been busy,” Laila claimed defensively.
“Yeah, right,” Jess replied, clearly not buying it. She waved off the subject. “We’ll leave a discussion of the way you’ve been neglecting your friends for another time. This morning I want to talk to you about taking on the accounting duties at the inn.”
Laila regarded her with deepening suspicion. Jess had started The Inn at Eagle Point, gotten herself into financial hot water even before the doors opened, and needed her older sister to bail her out. Abby, the family’s financial whiz, had maintained a fierce oversight of the inn’s accounting procedures and expenditures ever since. She’d put her own hand-chosen man in charge of keeping tabs on things. Jess had chafed at the strict oversight, but even she knew it had been a necessity.
“What happened to the accountant Abby brought on board?” Laila asked.