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Sunrise at Butterfly Cove: An uplifting romance from bestselling author Sarah Bennett
Sarah Bennett
*The #1 digital bestseller!*‘Delightfully romantic and touching.’ Phillipa AshleyA year of taking chances…After a nightmare year, Mia Sutherland is hoping for a fresh start! She’s putting the past behind her and pouring all her savings into renovating a crumbling guesthouse in peaceful Butterfly Cove. Nothing will distract her from achieving her dreams!That is, until her very first guest, Daniel Fitzwilliam arrives – quite possibly, the most gorgeous man she’s ever seen. He’s only here for a week, but already Daniel has turned her world upside-down. And as the tide turns, it’s clear that Butterfly Cove has more than one surprise in store for Mia…An uplifting and heartwarming read, perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Rachael Lucas and Hilary Boyd. Look out for Wedding Bells at Butterfly Cove, the second book in the enchanting Butterfly Cove trilogy.Praise for Sarah Bennett:‘Like being enfolded in one big, warm, delicious hug.’ Jules Wake‘A lovely, warm uplifting story.’ Alex Brown‘A heart-warming tale of new beginnings.’ Jennifer Joyce‘Full of charm, engaging and heart warming…what more could you want!’ – Rachel Broughton
A year of taking chances…
After a nightmare year, Mia Sutherland is hoping for a fresh start! She’s putting the past behind her and pouring all her savings into renovating a crumbling guesthouse in peaceful Butterfly Cove. Nothing will distract her from achieving her dreams!
That is, until her very first guest, Daniel Fitzwilliams arrives – quite possibly, the most gorgeous man she’s ever seen. He’s only here for a week, but already Daniel has turned her world upside-down. And as the tide turns, it’s clear that Butterfly Cove has more than one surprise in store for Mia…
An uplifting and heartwarming read, perfect for fans of Trisha Ashley, Rachel Lucas and Hilary Boyd.
Sunrise at Butterfly Cove
Sarah Bennett
Contents
Cover (#u14610431-5360-59d3-a830-8dfbd8623dda)
Blurb (#u8b68da07-bbc6-5285-84c0-a31d5f4d8a1a)
Title Page (#u01db4c3e-5bee-5be2-977f-b5f465f77be3)
Author Bio (#u5b6b41ea-7b9a-589c-a42e-4576f5b12773)
Acknowledgements (#u77619551-fd78-51ef-8dcb-229cd75c94b6)
Dedication (#u7ba45b86-1dd2-5bde-9dad-37c5927e0d1d)
Prologue (#ulink_4e62b5d9-829c-5387-8009-0d695f614940)
Chapter One (#ulink_1dd4be98-ad97-5c13-8dd7-a42ab8ceabbb)
Chapter Two (#ulink_51ecdf1f-940b-5c69-b247-6093183c6295)
Chapter Three (#ulink_058fdb19-db54-5643-9c7f-2328d40ae221)
Chapter Four (#ulink_432a0233-8d44-561e-87b2-d3c4c8551501)
Chapter Five (#ulink_26201753-27ef-5763-b226-481eecd663fd)
Chapter Six (#ulink_e4a1eacf-04a6-5654-aa98-ecf7bff3efd2)
Chapter Seven (#ulink_7bb3d4a9-4dd3-58db-801a-2cf031a647fc)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Excerpt (#litres_trial_promo)
Endpages (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
SARAH BENNETT
has been reading for as long as she can remember. Raised in a family of bookworms, her love affair with books of all genres has culminated in the ultimate Happy Ever After – getting to write her own stories to share with others. Born and raised in a military family, she is happily married to her own Officer (who is sometimes even A Gentleman). Home is wherever he lays his hat, and life has taught them both that the best family is the one you create from friends as well as relatives.
When not reading or writing, Sarah is a devotee of afternoon naps and sailing the high seas, but only on vessels large enough to accommodate a casino and a choice of restaurants. Sunrise at Butterfly Cove is Sarah’s debut novel for HQ Digital UK and you can look forward to the further adventures of Mia and her sisters in the forthcoming Wedding Bells at Butterfly Cove and Christmas at Butterfly Cove.
You can connect with her via twitter @Sarahlou_writes (https://twitter.com/sarahlour79?lang=en) or on Facebook www.facebook.com/SarahBennettAuthor (https://www.facebook.com/public/Sarah-Bennet).
I have lots of people to thank for bringing Mia and Daniel’s story to life.
First and foremost, my husband who has supported me every step along the path of my author journey. Thanks, bun x
My writing buddies from the Chat Chalet and beyond for all their encouragement, enthusiasm and support as I put pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard) for the first time. Roxy, Tracy, Kayleigh, Scott, Nathan and Amie – thank you for helping me believe I could do this.
The lovely team at HQ Digital who have been so warm and welcoming from the very first email. Charlotte, Rayha, Hannah and everyone else who is part of this very special team – you keep making me cry very happy tears.
To the other HQ Digital authors, both old hands and newbies like myself, thank you for making me feel so very welcome. It’s a privilege to part of the HQ family with you.
And of course, to you, the reader. Thank you for taking a chance and picking up this book. I hope you enjoy your first (and hopefully not last!) visit to Butterfly Cove.
This one is for my mum.
Prologue (#ulink_ca311d68-51f7-59c0-903c-f8549ab2be05)
October 2014
‘And the winner of the 2014 Martindale Prize for Best New Artist is…’
Daniel Fitzwilliams lounged back in his chair and took another sip from the never-emptying glass of champagne. His bow tie hung loose around his neck, and the first two buttons of his wing-collar shirt had been unfastened since just after the main course had been served. The room temperature hovered somewhere around the fifth circle of hell and he wondered how much longer he would have to endure the fake smiles and shoulder pats from strangers passing his table.
The MC made a big performance of rustling the large silver envelope in his hand. ‘Get on with it, mate,’ Daniel muttered. His agent, Nigel, gave him a smile and gulped at the contents of his own glass. His nomination had been a huge surprise and no-one expected him to win, Daniel least of all.
‘Well, well.’ The MC adjusted his glasses and peered at the card he’d finally wrestled free. ‘I am delighted to announce that the winner of the Martindale Prize is Fitz, for his series “Interactions”.’
A roar of noise from the rest of his tablemates covered the choking sounds of Nigel inhaling half a glass of champagne. Daniel’s own glass slipped from his limp fingers and rolled harmlessly under the table. ‘Bugger me.’
‘Go on, mate. Get up there!’ His best friend, Aaron, rounded the table and tugged Daniel to his feet. ‘I told you, I bloody told you, but you wouldn’t believe me.’
Daniel wove his way through the other tables towards the stage, accepting handshakes and kisses from all sides. Will Spector, the bookies’ favourite and the art crowd’s latest darling, raised a glass in toast and Daniel nodded to acknowledge his gracious gesture. Flashbulbs popped from all sides as he mounted the stairs to shake hands with the MC. He raised the sinuous glass trophy and blinked out at the clapping, cheering crowd of his peers.
The great and the good were out in force. The Martindale attracted a lot of press coverage and the red-carpet winners and losers would be paraded across the inside pages for people to gawk at over their morning cereal. His mum had always loved to see the celebrities in their posh frocks. He just wished she’d survived long enough to see her boy come good. Daniel swallowed around the lump in his throat. Fuck cancer. Dad had at least made it to Daniel’s first exhibition, before his heart failed and he’d followed his beloved Nancy to the grave.
Daniel adjusted the microphone in front of him and waited for the cheers to subside. The biggest night of his life, and he’d never felt lonelier.
***
Mia Sutherland resisted the urge to check her watch and tried to focus on the flickering television screen. The latest episode of The Watcher would normally have no trouble in holding her attention—it was her and Jamie’s new favourite show. She glanced at the empty space on the sofa beside her. Even with the filthy weather outside, he should have been home before now. Winter had hit earlier than usual and she’d found herself turning the lights on mid-afternoon to try and dispel the gloom caused by the raging storm outside.
The ad break flashed upon the screen and she popped into the kitchen to give the pot of stew a quick stir. She’d given up waiting, and eaten her portion at eight-thirty, but there was plenty left for Jamie. He always said she cooked for an army rather than just the two of them.
A rattle of sleet struck the kitchen window and Mia peered through the Venetian blind covering it; he’d be glad of a hot meal after being stuck in the traffic for so long. A quick tap of the wooden spoon against the side of the pot, and then she slipped the cast-iron lid back on. The pot was part of the Le Creuset set Jamie’s parents had given them as a wedding gift and the matching pans hung from a wooden rack above the centre of the kitchen worktop. She slid the pot back into the oven and adjusted the temperature down a notch.
Ding-dong.
At last! Mia hurried down the hall to the front door and tugged it open with a laugh. ‘Did you forget your keys—’ A shiver of fear ran down her back at the sight of the stern-looking policemen standing on the step. Rain dripped from the brims of their caps and darkened the shoulders of their waterproof jackets.
‘Mrs Sutherland?’
No, no, no, no. Mia looked away from the sympathetic expressions and into the darkness beyond them for the familiar flash of Jamie’s headlights turning onto their small driveway.
‘Perhaps we could come in, Mrs Sutherland?’ The younger of the pair spoke this time.
Go away. Go away. She’d seen this scene played out enough on the television to know what was coming next. ‘Please, come in.’ Her voice sounded strange, high-pitched and brittle to her ears. She stepped back to let the two men enter. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’
The younger officer took off his cap and shrugged out of his jacket. ‘Why don’t you point me in the direction of the kettle and you and Sergeant Stone can make yourselves comfortable in the front room?’
Mia stared at the Sergeant’s grim-set features. What a horrible job he has, poor man. ‘Yes, of course. Come on through.’
She stared at the skin forming on the surface of her now-cold tea. She hadn’t dared to lift the cup for fear they would see how badly she was shaking. ‘Is there someone you’d like us to call?’ PC Taylor asked, startling her. The way he phrased the question made her wonder how many times he’d asked before she’d heard him. I’d like you to call my husband.
Mia bit her lip against the pointless words, and ran through a quick inventory in her head. Her parents would be useless; it was too far past cocktail hour for her mother to be coherent and her dad didn’t do emotions well at the best of times.
Her middle sister, Kiki, had enough on her hands with the new baby and Matty determined to live up to every horror story ever told about the terrible twos. Had it only been last week she and Jamie had babysat Matty because the baby had been sick? An image of Jamie holding their sleeping nephew in his lap rose unbidden and she shook her head sharply to dispel it. She couldn’t think about things like that. Not right then.
The youngest of her siblings, Nee, was neck-deep in her final year at art school in London. Too young and too far away to be shouldering the burden of her eldest sister’s grief. The only person she wanted to talk to was Jamie and that would never happen again. Bile burned in her throat and a whooping sob escaped before she could swallow it back.
‘S-sorry.’ She screwed her eyes tight and stuffed everything down as far as she could. There would be time enough for tears. Opening her stinging eyes, she looked at Sergeant Stone. ‘Do Bill and Pat know?’
‘Your in-laws? They’re next on our list. I’m so very sorry, pet. Would you like us to take you over there?’
Unable to speak past the knot in her throat, Mia nodded.
Chapter One (#ulink_25b51a9f-7e05-56c6-913c-23311ba4d9fb)
February 2016
Daniel rested his head on the dirty train window and stared unseeing at the landscape as it flashed past. He didn’t know where he was going. Away. That was the word that rattled around his head. Anywhere, nowhere. Just away from London. Away from the booze, birds and fakery of his so-called celebrity lifestyle. Twenty-nine felt too young to be a has-been.
He’d hit town with a portfolio, a bundle of glowing recommendations and an ill-placed confidence in his own ability to keep his feet on the ground. Within eighteen months, he was thenext big thing in photography and everyone who was anyone clamoured for an original Fitz image on their wall. Well-received exhibitions had led to private commissions and more money than he knew what to do with. And if it hadn’t been for Aaron’s investment advice, his bank account would be as drained as his artistic talent.
The parties had been fun at first, and he couldn’t put his finger on when the booze had stopped being a buzz and started being a crutch. Girls had come and gone. Pretty, cynical women who liked being seen on his arm in the gossip columns, and didn’t seem to mind being in his bed.
Giselle had been one such girl and without any active consent on his part, she’d installed herself as a permanent fixture. The bitter smell of the French cigarettes she lived on in lieu of a decent meal filled his memory, forcing Daniel to swallow convulsively against the bile in his throat. That smell signified everything he hated about his life, about himself. Curls of rank smoke had hung like fog over the sprawled bodies, spilled bottles and overflowing ashtrays littering his flat when he’d woven a path through them that morning.
The cold glass of the train window eased the worst of his thumping hangover, although no amount of water seemed able to ease the parched feeling in his throat. The carriage had filled, emptied and filled again, the ebb and flow of humanity reaching their individual destinations.
Daniel envied their purpose. He swigged again from the large bottle of water he’d paid a small fortune for at Paddington Station as he’d perused the departures board. The taxi driver he’d flagged down near his flat had told him Paddington would take him west, a part of England that he knew very little about, which suited him perfectly.
His first instinct had been to head for King’s Cross, but that would have taken him north. Too many memories, too tempting to visit old haunts his Mam and Dad had taken him to. It would be sacrilege to their memory to tread on the pebbled beaches of his youth, knowing how far he’d fallen from being the man his father had dreamed he would become.
He’d settled upon Exeter as a first destination. Bristol and Swindon seemed too industrial, too much like the urban sprawl he wanted to escape. And now he was on a local branch line train to Orcombe Sands. Sands meant the sea. The moment he’d seen the name, he knew it was where he needed to be. Air he could breathe, the wind on his face, nothing on the horizon but whitecaps and seagulls.
The train slowed and drew to a stop as it had done numerous times previously. Daniel didn’t stir; the cold window felt too good against his clammy forehead. He was half aware of a small woman rustling an enormous collection of department store carrier bags as she carted her shopping haul past his seat, heading towards the exit. She took a couple of steps past him before she paused and spoke.
‘This is the end of the line, you know?’ Her voice carried a warm undertone of concern and Daniel roused. The thump in his head increased, making him frown as he regarded the speaker. She was an older lady, around the age his Mam would’ve been had she still been alive.
Her grey hair was styled in a short, modern crop and she was dressed in that effortlessly casual, yet stylish look some women had. A soft camel jumper over dark indigo jeans with funky bright red trainers on her feet. A padded pea jacket and a large handbag worn cross body, keeping her hands free to manage her shopping bags. She smiled brightly at Daniel and tilted her head towards the carriage doors, which were standing stubbornly open.
‘This is Orcombe Sands. Pensioner jail. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred pounds.’ She laughed at her own joke and Daniel finally realised what she was telling him. He had to get off the train; this was his destination. She was still watching him expectantly so he cleared his throat.
