Return to Safe Haven, where a new beginning with your first love is only a heartbeat away...
Yasmin Tanner has devoted her life to making other people’s dreams come true. But between running Safe Haven’s women’s center and caring for her brother, the long days—and lonely nights—are catching up with her...until Officer Liam O’Dwyer knocks on her door. She had good reasons for breaking Liam’s heart all those years ago, but that hasn’t made sharing their small town any easier. She’s missed him—that’s painfully clear to her now. But that’s not the only secret she’s keeping from him...
Ever since Yasmin left, Liam has kept his head down and his chin up. But when a woman from Yasmin’s women’s center goes missing, leaving her teenage son alone, it hits home for Liam. He’ll do whatever it takes to reunite this family...even work closely with the one woman he can’t forget. Yet as late summer days turn into cozy autumn nights rekindling the past, Liam suspects Yasmin is hiding something. And where her loyalties fall could mean the difference between lost love and a second chance at forever.
Praise for Lee Tobin McClain
“Fans of Debbie Macomber will appreciate this start to a new series by McClain that blends sweet, small-town romance with such serious issues as domestic abuse.... Readers craving a feel-good romance with a bit of suspense will be satisfied.”
—Booklist on Low Country Hero
“[An] enthralling tale of learning to trust.... This enjoyable contemporary romance will appeal to readers looking for twinges of suspense before happily ever after.”
—Publishers Weekly on Low Country Hero
“Low Country Hero has everything I look for in a book—it’s emotional, tender, and an all-around wonderful story.”
—RaeAnne Thayne, New York Times bestselling author
Also available from
Lee Tobin McClain
and HQN Books
Safe Haven
Low Country Hero
LEE TOBIN
McCLAIN
Low Country Dreams
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to Dony Jay, who was kind enough to help me improve accuracy of the police details (all errors are my own), and to Kathy Ayres, who read the manuscript just when I needed it done and gave many helpful suggestions. I feel like the most fortunate of writers to work with the HQN team, especially Susan Swinwood, Gloria Bairos and my wonderful editor, Shana Asaro.
Family plays a major role in all of my novels, and I’m grateful to my own small but mighty family: my sister and brother-in-law, Sue and Ron Spore; my niece, Jessica; and most of all, my daughter, Grace, my inspiration and the child of my heart.
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Safe Haven! I love reunion romances, and since Liam is the most hearth-and-home oriented of the O’Dwyer brothers, he seemed like the perfect candidate for a second-chance hometown romance. Liam and Yasmin are very different—he struggled in school while she excelled, and he grew up in modest circumstances while she was wealthy—but they both need a helping hand from their community to overcome their family challenges to the point where they can give and receive love.
Yasmin has particular struggles because of her family’s mental health issues. The latest studies show that 18 percent of adults in the US have a mental health condition. In Low Country Dreams, I wanted to explore the challenges families face when one or more of their members struggle with anxiety, depression or even schizophrenia...and to highlight the fact that people with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of crimes than perpetrators. I also wanted to show that a caring community—and access to mental health services—can improve outcomes and help individuals and families have better lives.
May you find a happy escape in Low Country Dreams...and come back to visit in October, when Cash O’Dwyer’s story, Low Country Christmas, hits the shelves. If you want a reminder, sign up for my newsletter at www.leetobinmcclain.com.
Be safe,
Lee
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
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM LOW COUNTRY CHRISTMAS BY LEE TOBIN McCLAIN
EXCERPT FROM THE NANNY’S SECRET BABY BY LEE TOBIN McCLAIN
CHAPTER ONE
WORKING LATE IN a small Southern town shouldn’t feel this creepy.
Yasmin Tanner looked out the office window of the church where the Safe Haven Women’s Center was located. Live oaks draped with Spanish moss broke the moonlight into a crisscross pattern. Lighted upstairs windows in a few houses along the street indicated that other night owls were still awake.
Awake, although safely ensconced at home with their families.
Maybe it wasn’t creepy so much as just lonely.
Yasmin turned back to the center’s old desktop computer, where a spreadsheet displaying the in-the-red budget was the real scary problem she was avoiding. If they couldn’t find another source of funding, the center might have to close.
The thought of all her clients who needed her—the women who showed up in a panic, often with kids—made her heart ache. No, the center couldn’t provide overnight accommodations, not anymore, but they could help clients escape abusive domestic partners, help them find a place where they and their kids could be safe. If that safety net went away on her watch...
She propped her chin on her hand and stared out the dark window for another minute, then forced herself to sit up straight and study the budget again. Surely there was some way they could manage. Maybe if she let her own salary go for another month...
A loud pounding at the door made her heart jump. She stood and backed into the darkness, adrenaline rushing through her body. Abusers sometimes came to the center angry, considering it to have broken up their relationship. But women in need came at all hours, too. If she could help someone, she’d do it.
More pounding. She tiptoed to another room in the church and peeked out the window.
Her brother, Josiah? What was he doing here at this hour?
She rushed to open the door. “Joe! What’s going on?” She took his hand and pulled him inside, studying the face that she used to be able to read, but that now remained an impassive mask. A symptom. But his fists were clenching and unclenching. Something had happened.
Someone was behind him... Uh-oh. Her heart gave an extra hard thump. “Rocky! Is that you?” She reached out and grasped the young teen’s shoulder. Rocky was a terrific kid who lived in a rural area about fifty miles inland. His mom kept making the wrong choices and ending up here.
But why was he here with her brother rather than with his own mother?
“Hide, hide.” Josiah urged Rocky toward the church door and looked at Yasmin. “Where can we hide?”
“What happened?” Josiah had a lot of delusions that confused him, but Rocky usually knew the score. She looked from one to the other. “How’d you two meet up? Why are you wanting to hide?”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Josiah kept repeating the words, looking into the center as if enemies mi
ght be hidden behind the pamphlet-holder or potted plants.
“Come on.” She ushered both of them into the center, and only then did she notice the police car cruising along the street toward them.
The way her heart skittered made her mad at herself.
She was through with Liam. She wasn’t going to give him another thought. She needed to focus on Josiah and Rocky, not her maddeningly attractive ex.
“Are you in some kind of trouble?” She watched her brother’s nervous hands pluck at his shirt.
He didn’t answer. Her Einstein-smart brother was now next to nonverbal on his bad days. She wanted to lean into his tall form, let him put an arm around her and explain the situation, tell her that everything would be okay, make high-level jokes that only the two of them would understand.
Heart aching, she turned away and studied the young teenager before them. He’d probably grown six inches since the last time she’d seen him. His hair curled messily down his neck and his shirt reeked of perspiration.
His eyes were wide and terrified.
“What’s happened? What are you doing here?” She put an arm around the thirteen-year-old.
He shrugged away and brushed a fist across his eyes. Whoa. He was a tough kid, and if he was crying...
“Where’s your mom?”
He hunched back, then spun and made for the door.
Josiah stepped in front of him and shook his head. “Stay here. Have to hide.”
They glared at each other for a minute and something passed between them, some communication Yasmin didn’t understand.
Then Rocky shoved past Josiah and looked out the door, cautiously, as if assessing whether it was safe to leave.
And froze.
Which made sense when Yasmin saw the black-and-white parked at the curb. Liam emerged and faced them, shading his eyes from the streetlight overhead.
Just looking at her former boyfriend made Yasmin’s chest go tight. Time slowed down and tugged at her gut. What was Liam doing here? Had Josiah or Rocky—or both of them—done something wrong?
Liam adjusted his gun belt and clicked on his portable radio, smooth, automatic movements she’d seen him perform dozens of times, and then walked toward the church. Their eyes met and held, until Yasmin looked away, yearning gnawing at her gut like hunger. There’d been a time when she would have run to him, flung her arms around him and asked him to come help her sort out this situation, sort out all her troubles. But life’s hard truths had forced her to mature and to stand her ground, solid and independent. She couldn’t lean on anyone. In particular, she didn’t want to lean on dark-haired, blue-eyed Liam O’Dwyer.
She glanced back. Josiah stood motionless by the church door, Rocky beside him. Neither looked ready to panic or bolt, at least not immediately. She moved down the church steps and onto the cement sidewalk, palms sweating, heart in her throat.
You’re an idiot. You’re supposed to be over him.
Liam spoke first. “What’s going on here?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” She watched as he stepped closer, alert and confident. She loved that certainty in him, had loved it since fifth grade when he’d waded into a group of kids teasing her and made them stop with a few sharp words.
Just like then, he made it clear that he could control the situation. For one thing, he was an excellent marksman and could get his Taser or gun out in less time than it would take either Rocky or Josiah—or Yasmin herself for that matter—to take a threatening step in his direction, or run away.
She also trusted that he was the kind of cop who wouldn’t shoot unless it was the absolute last option, necessary to save lives.
And she didn’t need to be thinking about his good character, or his protective nature, or the slight, sexy swagger in his walk. “Why are you here?”
“I got a phone call.” He watched her for a moment, let his eyes travel slowly from Rocky to Yasmin to Josiah. “From your next-door neighbor.” He gave a sideways nod toward old Mrs. Jackson’s house.
Yasmin’s shoulders relaxed a little. If Liam’s visit only had to do with her nosy neighbor, then it could be quickly resolved and she could send him on his way and deal with whatever had brought Rocky and Josiah here tonight.
She could get back to her policy since their breakup: maintain distance between them.
When she saw him around town, she usually managed to ease into a different aisle at the grocery, turn down a different street. She’d locked her phone in her car more nights than one to prevent herself from giving in and texting him in a fit of late-night weakness.
In a small town like Safe Haven, avoiding your ex was difficult, but not impossible.
Except now, in the middle of the night, with a puzzling situation on your hands.
* * *
LIAM LOOKED AT the woman he used to love, standing there with her brother and some kid, and wished old Mrs. Jackson next door wasn’t quite so observant and quick to leap to conclusions. When she’d called in a disturbance just a few minutes ago, said there were a couple of men skulking around the center, he’d rushed to respond, worried Yasmin was at risk.
Looked like a false alarm.
He and the other officers joked that as much as Mrs. Jackson knew about what was going on in town, they’d soon have to give her a badge. But truthfully, Liam was glad for it, glad to live in a place where people watched out for one another.
More than anything, he wanted to be appointed police chief in this place. To devote his life to taking care of it, and to show he was worthy of doing that.
But it was hard to stay focused on his goals with Yasmin in front of him. She looked like she’d lost a little weight, and even though he’d always liked her curvy figure, he had to admit she looked great. She’d taken to wearing her blond-streaked hair in long, wild curls, and even in jeans, she looked classy. Daughter of a Safe Haven blue-blooded mother and a biracial physician father who’d died young, she’d grown up with all the financial advantages, but he didn’t begrudge her that, nor envy her. Her family had its share of problems.
What did make him mad was the chip on her shoulder when she was the one who’d dumped him. He gestured toward the two-story house next door. “Since Mrs. Jackson called in a disturbance, it’s my job to investigate.” He reached the church’s front steps, tore his eyes away from her and tried to see into the building.
“Everything’s fine.” She glanced back at her brother and the young boy.
“Hey, Josiah, good to see you again,” he said to Yasmin’s brother, who was backing into the church. One of Liam’s fellow officers had mentioned Josiah had gotten a little eccentric since arriving back in Safe Haven a couple of months ago, but Liam hadn’t had much contact with him. There’d been no reports of his causing any trouble.
Liam focused on the kid. “Who’s that?” he asked Yasmin, keeping his voice low.
She bit her lip, shook her head rapidly. “Client confidentiality. And speaking of clients, I need to take care of this one, so...”
She started to back in, letting the door close, but a loud, angry voice came from inside the center. Was that Josiah, or someone else? If there were another male visitor to the center, it would make sense of the whole “disturbance” thing. Liam climbed the rest of the way toward the church doorway and looked in.
The same voice came, less angry. It was Josiah.
Liam frowned. “You okay, Josiah?”
Josiah didn’t answer, but he didn’t look upset, either. Putting thoughts of Yasmin’s brother and his issues aside to think about later, Liam shrugged and turned. And realized that Yasmin was only inches away.
He sucked in a breath and there it was: her musky cherry perfume. He cleared the sudden thickness in his throat. “You sure I can’t help?”
“Yes!” She stepped back and lifted her hands like stop signs. “I’m fine, Liam. Go solve crimes,
or whatever.”
Fine, dismiss him. Maybe a cop wasn’t important in the upscale world of a doctor’s daughter, but let someone steal her diamond tennis bracelet and she’d call the police, all right.
Which wasn’t exactly fair, since Yasmin’s family money seemed to be mostly gone and she wasn’t a superficial lady of leisure. He forced his mind to stay in the here and now. “Seems like there’s some kind of problem.”
“One I’d like to take care of.” She turned away, then, as the boy scuttled past her into the church. She looked back over her shoulder. “I’ll call 911 if I need anything.”
Because God forbid she should call him directly. He looked at the lift of her chin, the pout of her full lips, and his body tightened. Even after everything she’d done.
She was almost inside when the boy came up behind her. He stuck his head out the door. “You look like him,” he said. His voice cracked, and Liam couldn’t tell if it was from emotions or just the normal hormonal changes a boy’s voice went through.
“Like who?” Liam asked.
The boy held out a much wrinkled and mauled business card, and Liam took it. His older brother Sean’s card, for his construction business. “Where’d you get this?”
The boy cringed back, and Liam realized he’d been too abrupt, had sounded like he was making an accusation. Not to mention the fact that his uniform could be scary to a kid, especially one who was for some reason at a women’s center without parents.
Kids, innocent victims of their parents’ problems, always got to Liam. “Sean’s my brother,” he explained gently to the boy, holding up the business card. “He’s on his honeymoon. Maybe I can help.”
But the kid crossed his arms tight over his chest. You had to look close to see the fear in his eyes, but it was there. Liam was familiar with it—the stark “my life has blown up” terror, and the bravado that hid it—from the inside.
“If he met Sean before,” he said to Yasmin, “it must have been here, at the women’s center. Was he with his mom?”
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