Majestic Mountain Romance Series: Books One through Seven! (Clean Western Romances)

by Zoe Matthews

  Sadie nodded. “I guess.”

  “Why don’t you try giving him a chance? Try putting the past behind you and see what the future might hold.”

  Sadie thought a lot about Sheridan’s advice over the next few days. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she still had feelings for Hunter, but less about trusting him and more about trusting herself.

  The days continued to roll by and the final preparations for their opening weekend drew closer and closer. With most of the prep work finished, Sadie found herself with lots of spare time on her hands.

  Sierra was going to homeschool all of the kids living on the ranch, and had offered to let Brooklyn sit in for a few hours each morning, giving Sadie plenty of time to do whatever she wanted to do. Sierra was planning on hiring a young woman to help with schooling all the children once the ranch became busier.

  One morning in the middle of August, she delivered Brooklyn to Sierra and then loaded up her watercolors and easel. It had been a while since she’d found time to paint, and she’d received notices from a local gallery in Pinedale, as well as a few in Denver, that they needed some more paintings to display.

  Sadie had been painting landscapes of the Colorado Mountains since she was a child, and after she had moved back home, her watercolors had brought her some much needed income to sustain her and Brooklyn.

  She slipped out the back door of the big house and headed for the nearest path. It would take her up to the hillside that looked down over the pastures below, with the ponds and river in the background. It wasn’t a very long walk, but with her easel and paints in hand, she was wishing she thought to bring out one of the four wheelers after about five minutes.

  She was just about to set everything down and give her aching muscles a break, when Hunter appeared out of nowhere.

  “Here, let me take that,” he told her, relieving her of the heavy easel and her paint tote.

  “Where did you come from?” she asked curiously.

  “I saw you leaving and followed you.”

  “Stalking me?” she asked in a teasing tone.

  Hunter lifted an eyebrow and then smiled. “Maybe. I like following pretty girls around.” He looked up ahead at the dense trees and asked, “Where exactly are you going with all of this stuff?”

  “Just up there. Beyond the trees there’s a small hill that looks down over the fields and pastures below.”

  “And the easel is to …?”

  “Paint. Watercolors.” Sadie started walking again, feeling happy and relaxed even though Hunter had come along. Uninvited.

  Chapter 17

  Sadie led him to her favorite painting spot. She’d painted several landscapes from this spot. As they finished their walk, traversing the uphill portion of their hike she asked, “Tell me about your family.”

  Hunter was taken by surprise. “Why?”

  “Well, you’ve learned all about mine. We rushed things so much back…well, we never even got a chance to meet each other’s families. If I remember correctly, we didn’t even talk about them.”

  “Believe me, you didn’t miss much on my side of things,” he told her dryly.

  “Why do you say that? Are your parents still alive?”

  “Oh yes, alive and very much disgusted with the choices I’ve made.” When Sadie gave him a questioning look, he continued. “I come from a very wealthy family. My parents were furious when they found out I’d married someone they hadn’t had a chance to meet. They had already picked out someone for me to marry, and I’d ruined their plans.”

  “People still do that? Pick out spouses for their kids?”

  “Mine did. Anyway, they were very upset and urged me to get a divorce. I refused initially, but they pulled out all the stops and threatened to cut me off. Financially and socially. I was twenty-three and the thought of suddenly having no money, or the ability to do what I’d been doing, was devastating.”

  “So that’s why you…”

  Hunter shook his head. “No, well kind of. The same day my father gave me the ultimatum about divorcing you, you came home smiling because you’d just come from the clinic and had found out you were pregnant. I lashed out because I’d been seriously thinking about ignoring my parent’s demands so that we could continue to explore the world together.”

  He watched her as she finished the uphill climb and then stood and gazed out over the green pastures below and mountains in the distance. “I figured I could get a job during the winter months as a ski instructor or something like that, and in the summer maybe at a camp or something, anything that involved being outdoors and would give us enough money to keep having fun.”

  Sadie looked at him and gave him a sad smile. “But then I found out I was pregnant and you realized I wouldn’t be able to do those things for a while.”

  “Not only that, but there would be this little human who couldn’t do those things either and would need a place to settle down, regular meal times, a bed to sleep in at night…it just seemed like my parents were right and our marriage was a mistake.”

  “I hope you realize that I didn’t get pregnant on purpose. I don’t know if you remember, but I was fighting a serious sinus infection and was on antibiotics about a month before I found out I was pregnant. The doctor told me that the medication I was on made it so the birth control I was taking wasn’t as effective.” Sadie never regretted the fact that she became pregnant. She loved having Brooklyn in her life, but she wanted him to know that she hadn’t gotten pregnant on purpose.

  Hunter sighed. “I was pretty selfish back then and all I could think about was me. What I wanted. What gave me that next rush of adrenaline and made my heart pound.”

  “So what’s changed? Have your parents changed their minds?”

  “No.” Hunter huffed out a laugh. “My parents are pretty stuck in their ways. But I find that I don’t really care. I don’t care if they decide to cut me out of their wills, or disown me. I can’t live my life to make them happy. I need to make myself happy. I am not sure I even want them to meet Brooklyn or you.”

  Sadie took her paint tote from him and then the easel, setting it up before looking at him. “And what makes Hunter happy now?”

  “Being with you,” he answered back right away. “Brooklyn. I never thought about kids much, but if you’d asked me a year ago, I would have said that spending time with my daughter was the last thing on my to-do list. Now, I can’t wait to see her each morning.”

  “She kind of gets you right here,” Sadie told him, covering her heart with her hand. She still hadn’t acknowledged that he found being with her fun. She was the least fun person living on the ranch, always serious and looking at the downside of things.

  Hunter was quiet for a moment and she went back to setting up her paints. “So, no comment about us being together?”

  “What do you want me to say?” she asked him.

  “You seem more relaxed in my presence now than when I first arrived,” he commented, looking around the small meadow they were in.

  “I guess I am.” Sadie looked at him and watched him wander off a little ways. Shrugging her shoulders, she started her painting, losing herself in the movement of the brush over the watercolor paper and the mixing of the colors.

  “This is where you painted Brooklyn picking flowers.”

  Sadie lifted her head up, “What?”

  “This meadow. It’s where you painted Brooklyn picking flowers a few years ago.”

  Sadie put down her paintbrush and turned to face him. “How do you know that?”

  Hunter realized what he’d said and walked back towards her. “What do you mean?”

  Sadie was confused. Hunter was talking about the painting she’d done of Brooklyn on her first birthday up here in this very meadow. She’d taken a picture of Brooklyn on her phone, and then converted the image to a painting with watercolors over the next several days. Even though she had loved that painting she had done of her daughter, she had sold it because she needed the mo
ney to fix up her vehicle. It had needed new tires and a few other minor issues fixed.

  It was the first painting of hers that had brought in a sizable profit and it had jump started her into painting more to help with her and Brooklyn’s living expenses. But how did Hunter know about it?

  She realized Hunter was trying not to look at her and suddenly she knew the answer. “You bought it,” she accused him angrily.

  Hunter looked at her and nodded his head. “I did purchase it. I didn’t realize I was buying a picture of Brooklyn though. I knew where you were, and I made sure I purchased at least one of your paintings every couple of months.” When Sadie looked ready to explode, he soothed her. “Please don’t get upset. It was the only way I could think of to help you out financially. The only way I could try to correct the bad choices I made that affected you both.”

  Sadie felt like crying. “I thought that many people liked my paintings, not just a few people and my ex-husband!”

  Hunter turned her to face him, setting his hands gently on the outside of her shoulders. “Sadie, please don’t be upset. Don’t ruin what we had today. I needed to do something to help you, but I knew if I came to the ranch and offered you money, you wouldn’t take it.”

  “Of course I wouldn’t.”

  “See. So I had to get creative.”

  Sadie wasn’t sure if she should excuse his behavior, or thank him. The money from those painting sales had kept her from having to live entirely off her father’s charity.

  “You’re not going to stay mad at me, are you?” he teased her, pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear and watching as she shivered in reaction.

  Sadie took a deep breath and then slowly shook her head. “No. I can’t stay mad at you for trying to help me.” She pulled away from him and went back to her painting.

  Hunter left her alone, settling on a patch of meadow grass a few feet behind her and watching her capture the natural beauty of what she saw before her so perfectly, it was if the landscape had transferred itself to the canvas.

  When she finally put her brush down and stretched her arms up over her head, he felt it was safe to talk again. “You do beautiful work. I want this painting when you’re finished with it.”

  “You don’t have to keep buying my paintings, Hunter.” After all, she was going to be getting a large sum of money from her father in a few months.

  “I never had to. I like them. And I want this one.”

  “Why?” Sadie asked him, her eyes going wide when he crawled closer to her and then moved her paints and the easel out of harm’s way.

  “Because you painted it. Because it will always remind me of this place and time when I look at it.” He dipped his head so that his lips were just above hers. “Because it will always remind me of the day we got back together.”

  Sadie leaned her head back and said, “We aren’t back together.”

  “Aren’t we?” Hunter kissed her, keeping it soft and sweet until he felt her relax and wrap her arm around his neck. When she parted her lips, he took full advantage of the opportunity to deepen the kiss and make sure she felt loved.

  Several minutes later, he broke apart from their kiss. “Are we back together yet?”

  Sadie licked her bottom lip and looked into his eyes. “What happens if I say ‘No’?”

  Hunter growled and then lowered his head. “I’ll just keep kissing you until the answer changes.”

  Sadie kissed him back and then laughed. “And what happens when I say ‘Yes’?”

  “Then I keep kissing you until you can’t remember the question.”

  “So, let me get this right. Either way, you’re going to be kissing me?”

  “That’s about it. Any complaints?” Hunter asked her before moving back and meeting her eyes. “I want you to give us another chance.”

  “For Brooklyn?” Sadie asked.

  “Not just for Brooklyn. For us. For what we once had and for what I should have never thrown away. We can have that again, but it’ll be better this time. Just give us a chance.”

  Sadie looked at him and realized that what he wanted was what she wanted. She’d been so caught up in her anger and hurt, she’d let it control her life these last three years. But she didn’t want to live there anymore.

  She wanted to enjoy life, to laugh, to smile and have fun in the simple things, and not be worried all of the time. That’s what Hunter was offering her. That’s what she wanted.

  Leaning over, she kissed him tenderly on the lips and then gave him a small smile. “Okay.”

  Hunter looked at her and then narrowed his eyes at her. “Okay what?”

  “Okay. I’ll give us another chance.”

  Hunter pulled her towards him and kissed her for several long moments before he finally released her. “And the painting. You promise to give me this painting.”

  “Hunter…”

  “Promise me,” he urged her, his fingers finding her sides where he knew she was ticklish. He used to tickle her all the time to get her capitulation on non-important issues, but the easy familiarity that action required hadn’t been there. Until now.

  She tried to evade his fingers, but she couldn’t without endangering the painting. Panting as she giggled, she gripped his fingers and nodded her head. “Fine. You win. I’ll give you this painting.”

  Hunter smiled at her and then kissed her soundly before releasing her and settling back to the spot he’d occupied earlier. Waving his hand at the painting, he told her. “Get back to it. I’ll just sit here and watch a master at work.”

  Sadie shook her head at his silliness, but when she turned back around and picked up her brush, it was with a smile upon her face. It seemed her life had come full circle and her first love had come back to her. Not only were she and her siblings growing closer together, but her family had been re-united. Through all of the trials of the last three years, Sadie finally felt as if the sun was going to shine down some happiness on her life.

  And deep down, she knew there was soon going to be another wedding in the family. But this time, it was going to be held in the flower gardens.

  The End

  Colorado Dawn

  Majestic Mountain Ranch Romance Series, Book 4

  Written by Zoe Matthews

  Copyright © 2015

  All rights reserved

  No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination and used fictitiously.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Prologue

  Los Angeles, California. Four months earlier…

  “Hey, Chef. There’s a phone call for you,” one of the prep cooks hollered back into the airy kitchen. It was ten minutes before the lunch service would begin, and the kitchen was busy with the sounds of cooking, wait staff trying to get organized, and orders being given in rapid fire English from the woman in charge of it all today. The senior chef had taken a rare day off, and that meant everyone was on their toes and doing their level best to not mess up the meal service.

  The woman left in charge of it all was Stella Collingsworth. She’d met with all of the kitchen and wait staff earlier and let them know she was there to support them and expected them to be there to support her and each other. A cohesive team between the kitchen and the wait staff was crucial to a smooth service and she’d left the meeting excited about her role in th
is establishment.

  “Chef?” the cook hollered back again.

  “Tommy, we’re about to start service. Take a message or tell them to call back in three hours,” Stella answered, not looking up from finishing the last touches on some cheese cake. She expected her orders to be obeyed.

  Stella was the assistant sous chef at a very chic, five star restaurant in the Los Angeles area. She’d interviewed for the position several times before being given a chance to do a cooking interview, and now that she had the position, she couldn’t imagine doing anything else for the next while.

  She’d worked hard to get where she was, and she hadn’t accomplished that by bending the rules for herself that she expected everyone else to follow. That included taking personal phone calls during services times!

  A few seconds later, Tommy was standing next to her as she carefully sliced the last of the cheese cake and arranged them on small serving plates. She glanced at him and curtly asked, “Yes?”

  “Sorry, Chef. The caller says it’s urgent and can’t wait.” There was a brief pause and then he added, “He says he’s your brother, Sheridan.”

  Stella carefully placed the utensils in her hands down on the counter and tried to still her racing heart. Sheridan was her oldest brother and had never contacted her by phone; certainly not while she was at work. She prayed she wasn’t going to hear bad news.

  She wiped her hands on the apron tied around her waist and then accepted the phone, “Tommy, finish this up. Please.”

  Tommy nodded and Stella took the phone and headed for the back of the kitchen and the door, which led out to a small courtyard used by the kitchen staff when they simply needed a break from the noise and bustle of the kitchen.

  She looked at the phone and then took a deep breath. “This is Stella.”

  “I thought maybe that kid forgot about me,” Sheridan groused into the phone.

  “Sorry, Sheridan. We’re just getting ready to start our lunch service. Can I call you back a little later?”