Stone Bridges Read online

  New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers has captivated readers with Knights Bridge—a scenic New England town where families and friends experience joy and face challenges together. With its world of inns, old houses, wonderful, quirky characters, romance and adventure, it’s a town you won’t want to leave.

  Adrienne Portale has never settled in one place for long, but takes a job as innkeeper in tiny Knights Bridge, Massachusetts, to spend some time getting to know the father she only recently found. When three small boys get lost in the wilderness that borders the inn, Adam Sloan leads the search. His family ties to the town go back generations. Adrienne sees the bond that people in a small town have as they band together to find the missing children. Adam is impressed with her calm strength, but he’s sure she won’t find what she’s looking for in his quiet hometown.

  Despite their differences, Adam and Adrienne discover they have more in common than they’d expected. They love to explore old stone walls and bridges, and she adores his dog. As summer bleeds into the gorgeous New England fall, the attraction between them grows, and they must decide where—and who—makes a place home.

  Praise for Carla Neggers’ New York Times bestselling Swift River Valley novels

  “A potent friends to lovers story.”

  —RT Book Reviews on The River House

  “A page-turning mystery and clever, slow-building romance featuring two wounded type-A personalities. [Neggers] seduces readers by expertly marrying characters, story lines and scenes, and keeps them up-to-date with series catch-ups. Her family dynamics keep it real, her costars add insight and her stars make it a keeper!”

  —RT Book Reviews on Red Clover Inn

  “Masterful attention to detail, conversational dialogue and past-character catch-up expertly draw readers into her potent mix of romance, mystery and small-town drama.”

  —RT Book Reviews on The Spring at Moss Hill

  “Appealing protagonists, good neighbors, small-town Christmas traditions, and Neggers’ own recipes make for a fine romance.”

  —Publishers Weekly on A Knights Bridge Christmas

  “Neggers does the near impossible: she brings a small-town, family-loving heroine and a footloose hero together in an engaging romance that has its fair share of surprises.”

  —Library Journal on Echo Lake

  “Her people, places and things are colorfully and expertly rendered in this compelling work of fiction.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Cider Brook

  “Neggers captures readers’ attention with her usual flair and brilliance and gives us a romance, a mystery and a lesson in history.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Secrets of the Lost Summer, Top Pick!

  Also by Carla Neggers

  Swift River Valley

  THE RIVER HOUSE

  RED CLOVER INN

  THE SPRING AT MOSS HILL

  A KNIGHTS BRIDGE CHRISTMAS

  ECHO LAKE

  CHRISTMAS AT CARRIAGE HILL (novella)

  CIDER BROOK

  THAT NIGHT ON THISTLE LANE

  SECRETS OF THE LOST SUMMER

  Sharpe & Donovan

  IMPOSTOR’S LURE

  THIEF’S MARK

  LIAR’S KEY

  KEEPER’S REACH

  HARBOR ISLAND

  DECLAN’S CROSS

  ROCK POINT (novella)

  HERON’S COVE

  SAINT’S GATE

  BPD/FBI Series

  THE WHISPER

  THE MIST

  THE ANGEL

  THE WIDOW

  Black Falls

  COLD DAWN

  COLD RIVER

  COLD PURSUIT

  Cold Ridge/U.S. Marshals

  ABANDON

  BREAKWATER

  DARK SKY

  THE RAPIDS

  NIGHT’S LANDING

  COLD RIDGE

  Carriage House

  THE HARBOR

  STONEBROOK COTTAGE

  THE CABIN

  THE CARRIAGE HOUSE

  Stand-Alone Novels

  THE WATERFALL

  ON FIRE

  KISS THE MOON

  TEMPTING FATE

  CUT AND RUN

  BETRAYALS

  CLAIM THE CROWN

  Look for Carla Neggers’ next novel

  in the Sharpe & Donovan series

  RIVAL’S BREAK

  available soon from MIRA Books.

  CARLA NEGGERS

  Stone Bridges

  To Sally Fairchild Schoeneweiss, with thanks

  Contents

  Letter

  Knights Bridge Cheat Sheet

  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

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Author Note

  Recipes

  Apple Crisp

  Pesto

  Hot Mulled Apple Cider

  Sweet Potatoes with Pecan Topping

  Cornmeal Pancakes

  Easy Pumpkin Roll

  Dear Vic,

  I just arrived at the Farm at Carriage Hill! I can’t believe I’m now an innkeeper. I’m excited but nervous. Wish you could be here but I hope you’re having good meetings in DC.

  Love,

  Adrienne

  Dear Adrienne,

  Wish I could be there, too. I drafted a “cheat sheet” to help you keep people in Knights Bridge straight. It’s a work in progress with upcoming weddings and babies on the way, but it’s a start.

  Love,

  Vic

  P.S. I added Loretta Wrentham and Julius Hartley at the last minute even though they don’t live in town.

  Dear Vic,

  Thanks for the “cheat sheet.” It’s a big help. Do you think Loretta and Julius will return to Knights Bridge?

  Love,

  Adrienne

  Dear Adrienne,

  Oh, they’ll be back. It’s the Knights Bridge effect.

  Love,

  Vic

  KNIGHTS BRIDGE CHEAT SHEET

  Olivia Frost McCaffrey:

  Graphic designer and owner of the Farm at Carriage Hill. Married to Dylan McCaffrey (see below). Their first child (a girl) is due in November.

  Dylan McCaffrey:

  Organizer of adventure travel and entrepreneurial boot camps and venture capitalist in Knights Bridge; former NHL player and San Diego businessman.

  Jessica Frost Flanagan:

  Olivia’s younger sister. Works at Frost Millworks and married to Mark Flanagan (see below); they’re expecting their first child early next year.

  Mark Flanagan:

  Architect based at the Mill at Moss Hill.

  Randy and Louise Frost:

  Olivia and Jess’s parents; owners of Frost Custom Millworks.

  Audrey Frost, Randy’s mother:

  Retired Knights Bridge school bookkeeper.

  Felicity Mac
Gregor:

  Event planner, engaged to Gabe Flanagan (see below).

  Gabe Flanagan:

  Start-up entrepreneur recently returned to hometown of Knights Bridge.

  Elly O’Dunn:

  Longtime widow who works for the town and raises goats on her small farm near Echo Lake; four adult daughters.

  Phoebe O’Dunn:

  Elly’s eldest daughter, former town librarian, engaged to billionaire Noah Kendrick (see below).

  Noah Kendrick:

  Founder of a high-tech entertainment company in San Diego, owner of a Central California winery, expert fencer.

  Maggie O’Dunn Sloan:

  Elly’s second daughter, caterer, partner with Olivia McCaffrey in the Farm at Carriage Hill, married to Brandon Sloan (see below), two young sons, Tyler and Aidan.

  Ava and Ruby O’Dunn, twins, Elly’s youngest daughters, just completed studies in theater, not presently living in Knights Bridge.

  Eric Sloan:

  Knights Bridge police officer, single, eldest of six siblings.

  Justin Sloan:

  Carpenter and volunteer firefighter, second-born of six siblings, married to Samantha Bennett (see below).

  Samantha Bennett Sloan:

  Pirate expert and granddaughter of famed adventurer Harry Bennett.

  Brandon Sloan:

  Carpenter and adventure travel guide, third-born of six siblings, married to Maggie O’Dunn (above).

  Adam Sloan:

  Stonemason, fourth-born of six siblings, single.

  Christopher Sloan:

  Knights Bridge firefighter, fifth-born of six siblings, single, recently broke up with Ruby O’Dunn.

  Heather Sloan Hancock:

  Studying interior design in London while husband Brody Hancock (see below) is assigned there, sixth-born of six siblings (and only sister).

  Brody Hancock:

  Grew up on Echo Lake and now a Diplomatic Security Service agent.

  Jack and Cora Sloan:

  Parents of Eric, Justin, Brandon, Adam, Christopher and Heather, owners with their offspring of construction business.

  Evelyn Sloan:

  Retired nursery school teacher and widowed mother of Jack and grandmother of the six Sloan siblings.

  Clare Morgan Farrell:

  Knights Bridge librarian for the past year, recently married to ER doctor Logan Farrell, mother of Owen by her first husband (widowed).

  Charlotte Bennett:

  Samantha’s cousin, a marine archaeologist due to marry DSS agent Greg Rawlings in Knights Bridge the day after Thanksgiving.

  Russ Colton:

  Security consultant, recently married to children’s book author and illustrator Kylie Shaw/Morwenna Mills.

  Grace Webster:

  Nonagenarian retired Latin and English teacher, birth mother to Dylan McCaffrey’s father, Duncan McCaffrey (deceased).

  Loretta Wrentham, Dylan McCaffrey’s friend and personal attorney in San Diego, and her husband, private investigator Julius Hartley.

  One

  For the first time in the five days since she’d started work as a small-town New England innkeeper, Adrienne Portale felt relaxed and comfortable as she took her coffee outside on a beautiful early September morning. She stood on the edge of the stone terrace off the kitchen of the classic center-chimney house built in 1803 on what had been then, and was now, a quiet country road.

  She looked out at the inn’s extensive herb and flower gardens. “I’m not in over my head,” she whispered to herself. “I didn’t bite off more than I can chew.”

  The Farm at Carriage Hill was a unique establishment. It wasn’t exactly a farm, and it wasn’t a traditional inn, either. It wasn’t open to drop-ins. Adrienne’s first guests wouldn’t arrive until next weekend. The inn was booked through the popular foliage season with the type of small events for which it was ideally suited—showers, weddings, birthdays, lunches, seminars, reunions. The antique house-turned-inn was off the beaten track, part of its appeal. It was situated amid rolling fields and woods two miles from the center of Knights Bridge, a classic New England village west of Boston.

  Adrienne sat at a round table and listened to birds twittering in the trees, herbs and flowers. She didn’t know what kind of birds. She could learn. Wanted to learn. She recognized some of the herbs—parsley, oregano, thyme, basil, cilantro, at least three kinds of mint—and could tell a maple tree from an oak or a white pine. She wasn’t bad with flowers. Not great, but not bad. She’d trimmed a bed of coreopsis yesterday. The property needed a regular gardener. That was right at the top of the list of changes she planned to recommend.

  She leaned back, cupping her mug with both hands. The garden had bark-mulched paths and was bordered by an old stone wall. Carriage Hill, for which the inn was named, loomed across fields dotted with wildflowers. Adrienne promised herself she’d hike up to the summit before she’d need to do it in snowshoes. The locals liked to joke it could snow any day now, but she knew that was an exaggeration. She smiled, enjoying the perfect late-summer morning. She’d finish her coffee, whip up breakfast in the big country kitchen and then get on with her day.

  She heard someone humming and sat up straight in surprise, almost spilling her coffee. Olivia McCaffrey, Carriage Hill’s owner, who lived up the road with her husband, Dylan? Maggie Sloan, Olivia’s business partner?

  No. Not Olivia or Maggie.

  Adrienne set her coffee on the table and jumped to her feet. She was still in her nightgown and robe. Before she could leap back inside, a man, humming merrily, materialized in the side yard. He stopped abruptly, a heavy-looking sack of something on one shoulder.

  She recognized him immediately.

  Adam Sloan.

  He was one of six Sloan siblings—five brothers and one sister. Adam was—fourth? Adrienne thought so but she’d have to consult the cheat sheet Vic had emailed her detailing the family connections of the people she’d most likely encounter in her new job. Vic Scarlatti being her birth father, a retired diplomat and her reason for ever having stepped foot in Knights Bridge in the first place.

  Adam was tall, broad-shouldered, dark-haired and as sexy as she remembered from when she’d first met him last winter, when she’d house-sat for Vic. Adam was the stonemason Sloan. Quiet, she recalled.

  He took her in with a quick glance. His charcoal-gray canvas shirt was rolled up to his elbows, his forearms tanned and muscled. He was dressed for physical work, including sturdy work boots. “Adrienne. Hey, there. Welcome back to Knights Bridge.”

  “Adam. Hi. I...um...”

  Adrienne cleared her throat. She was never at a loss for words. She’d drunk wine with a European prince. She’d stocked a world-famous actor’s wine cellar. Why was she tongue-tied now, with a good-looking stonemason?

  Because you aren’t dressed, for one thing.

  She subtly tightened the belt to her bathrobe. It wasn’t one of the inn’s sturdy terry robes that hung in each of its guest rooms. It was a slinky, lace-trimmed black robe over a matching nightgown. Not her usual style. She felt downright exposed but did her best not to look self-conscious. “It’s good to be back.”

  He frowned. “Maggie and Olivia forgot to tell you I was coming.”

  “Or I missed it. It doesn’t matter.” They were her employers, and Adam was Maggie’s brother-in-law. No way was Adrienne saying more. She waved a hand, careful given the precarious state of her attire. “Feel free to do your thing.”

  “I’m just dropping off supplies.”

  “Supplies for...what, exactly?”

  “I’m rebuilding a stone wall that was disturbed during construction of the new addition.”

  The addition included a first-floor suite for a live-in innkeeper, a first for the Farm at Carriage Hill. Its design, both inside and outside, fit seamlessly wit
h the rest of the attractive antique house with its narrow, cream-colored clapboards and double-hung windows.

  “It’s not a big job,” Adam added.

  Adrienne had noticed the pile of stones and broken mortar behind the house but hadn’t thought much about it. She’d assumed it was debris from construction and would be hauled off eventually. “Sounds good.” She kept her tone neutral, no betrayal of her awkwardness. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  His blue eyes settled on her just long enough to make it clear he was well aware he’d caught her before she’d had a chance to get dressed. “All set.” He paused ever so slightly. “Don’t let me keep you from anything.”

  Such as a shower, clothes, shoes, breakfast. More coffee. It was tough to deal with a rugged stonemason while under-caffeinated, never mind in nightclothes. She pushed back her hair—long, dark, curly, messy—with one hand. “Sure thing.” She thought she at least sounded unselfconscious. “Give me a shout if I can help with anything.”

  “Will do. Have you heard from Vic since you got here?”

  Adrienne nodded. “A few emails.”

  Adam shifted the bag on his shoulder. “I won’t be long right now, but I’ll be back later this afternoon. That work?”

  “Works fine.”

  He continued past her to his pile of rubble. He was muscular, fit. Made sense that a man who hauled rocks and mortar and sledgehammers and such for a living would be in good shape.

  Adrienne drank the rest of her coffee. It was lukewarm but she didn’t care. She’d realized pretty much everyone in Knights Bridge knew about her and Vic Scarlatti, but she still wasn’t used to people mentioning him to her. She’d learned he was her biological father a year ago. He hadn’t known about her, either. She’d figured that out when she’d house-sat for him last winter, not telling him that her mother had finally admitted she and Vic’d had a fling and Adrienne was the result. He’d retired after a forty-year career as a respected diplomat and was in the process of moving full-time into his country home on Echo Lake in little Knights Bridge, Massachusetts.

  It hadn’t been easy, but they’d made their peace with her mother’s revelation. Adrienne had worked on her wine blog and consulting business while house-sitting for Vic, and then she’d taken a job at a Central California winery, owned by Noah Kendrick, a San Diego billionaire with his own connections to Knights Bridge. It’d been a great job. She’d done well. Yet when Noah and Phoebe, his fiancée and Maggie’s sister, mentioned the Carriage Hill job, Adrienne had jumped at the chance.