The Moore Sisters of Montana: The Complete Series Box Set: Books 1-4

by Ann B. Harrison

  He reached for her hand and smiled encouragingly.

  “So when I became a bit more savvy, after a few horrendous mistakes I might add, I decided in my wisdom that it would be better if I dated someone in the industry. They would be an old hand at the fame game, used to mixing with people, and wouldn’t be star struck like my past failures when someone famous was on set.” She paused for breath, licked her lips. “Seems I was wrong. He was worse than anyone else. Knew exactly when to strike and how to make the most effect.” She blew out a breath, looking down in embarrassment, and he felt bad for her, with an inkling of what was coming. “There were, um, some rather embarrassing photos. Not too bad but bad enough considering I’m not that kind of girl. He’d obviously set me up for monetary reasons. I was going to pay up but the lawyers said no. They sent me here to keep a low profile until it all dies down.”

  “That’s disgusting. I’m really sorry.” Jake pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her.

  Bella snuggled into the hug, and seemed content to let someone else be strong for her if only for a moment.

  After a moment she pulled out of his embrace. “So, you see what I’m up against. People want me for what they can get and I hate to say it but I think it’s scarred me. I doubt I could even imagine a relationship after being burned so much. It wouldn’t be fair to you either, not with me going back to Seattle after things settle down, that’s if they ever do. I still have one season to shoot and who knows what’s going to happen from there?”

  “I get it and you don’t have to worry about me stepping over the line. I’m your friend, Bella. I can settle for that. Now, I’d better get back to the station before Ben sends out a search party.” He lifted a hand. “See you around sometime.”

  Back at the station house, he talked out his frustration with Ben. “I don’t get it. The only woman that’s unavailable and she’s the one that stirs something up in me.” He threw himself into his chair and spun around away from his desk.

  “You don’t get to choose who you fall in love with, Jake. It just happens.”

  “I’m not in love with her. Heck, we’re only getting to know each other but it feels as though there’s something there. And it’s all wrong for both of us.” He groaned in frustration.

  “What can I say, man? Roll with it and see what happens. One of you might change priorities if things work out. Who knows?”

  “I’m not looking for a relationship and neither is Bella. She has to go back to her show at the end of her stay and I have Cory to think about.”

  “Women have thrown away much more for love, Jake.”

  He pushed himself out of his chair. “It’s not love. It’s probably more like lust if anything.” Jake looked out the office door to the shiny firetruck. “I don’t think she’s that type of girl either and I wouldn’t dream of treating her like that. For me, it’s all or nothing.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Don’t hurt him, Bella. He’s one of the good guys.”

  Bella looked up. “Why would I hurt him? I like him, probably too much.” She flicked through the recipes in an attempt to avoid looking at her sister. “I didn’t plan on getting feelings like this, it just happened. I never should have told you. He thinks we’re just friends and I don’t like to impose my feelings on him because we agreed that was for the best.”

  “We share, as you well know, and that means I get to tell you my opinion too. Enjoy yourself but don’t get in too deep, okay. Make sure he knows you’re going back to your normal life.”

  “He knows. We’re just friends as I said.” Saying the words didn’t make it so but it did make her analyze every word they’d said to each other. She’d never overthought a friendship like this before.

  Later that day, Bella pulled a batch of pistachio and caraway seed shortbread out of the oven and slid them onto a cooling rack. The color was right, the smell – buttery and sweet with a hint of toasted nuts. Perfect. The ultimate test would be the crispness, the crumbs when they cooled. If they turned out the way she expected, they would go in the book too.

  “Hey, Bella. How’s it going?” Cory burst through the doors, his bag over his shoulder. He slung it on the floor and strode over to the work counter, leaned down and sniffed at the cookies. “They look interesting with those green bits. What are they?”

  “Pistachio shortbread. I need something nice and simple for the sweets part of the book.” She poked at one, deemed it cool enough to hand over. “Try this and tell me what you think?”

  Cory took the cookie, nibbled off a test bite. He chewed and then swallowed, face set in concentration.

  “Well?”

  He jammed the rest of it in his mouth, doing nothing to hide the grin.

  “I take it you approve then?”

  His answer was to take another one from the rack, tossing it between his fingers to cool down.

  “What are you doing to my son?” Jake strolled in, his fireman’s uniform hugging his tall frame, taking her breath away. His dark, skintight T-shirt did little to hide the broad chest and Bella sighed.

  “She’s feeding me. You should try one of these, Dad. They taste pretty good.”

  “So far everything has. I wouldn’t expect anything different.” Jake hugged his son, smiled at her, and Bella’s heart melted.

  “I’m going to go practice with the team for a bit. See you at home, Dad. Thanks for the cookies, Bella.”

  “Anytime, Cory.” She handed him another couple of cookies and he grabbed his bag and scampered out the door with a wave.

  “You’re very good to him. I think he’s more than a little bit in love with you.” Jake reached for another cookie and popped it into his mouth.

  Bella looked away, the swallowing action of his throat too much to deal with right now while her emotions were so muddled. “The feeling is mutual. You’ve done a great job with him, Jake.”

  “I like to think so. He makes it pretty easy though. He’s a great kid.”

  “Yes, he is.” She plated a few of the cookies and pushed them across the counter with a coffee. “Mari said I should talk to you about potential sites for photo sessions for the new book.”

  He picked up another cookie and devoured it. Guess the texture isn’t that much of a problem then.

  “I want to do some here in the hotel but I’d like your opinion on some outdoor venues. Greenery always looks good in food photos. A pretty garden helps too. Kind of like a picnic shot, if you know what I mean, but I want earthy too.”

  “Okay, let me think.” He sipped the coffee, tipped his head sideways, and pursed his lips in thought. “Well, there’s your cottage that probably has the best garden in the lane. Dad would get a kick out of you using that. The greenery there is still pretty fabulous even if there aren’t many flowers out yet. That will come in the next month or so, though, but we could get frost right up to June which tends to slow things down a bit.”

  Of course. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Picture perfect, the green against a blanket of white frost or light snow, her pink cottage in the background. “Yes, you’re right. It’s beautiful.”

  He nibbled the cookie, gave her a winning smile. “How about a cherry orchard? The trees will start dripping flowers in a month or so if you can wait that long. If not, they look spectacular anyway. When are you planning on having the shoot done?”

  “There’s no hurry and I wouldn’t be able to do it all at once anyway. I need to stagger it out over weeks or even months, which is why I thought I could do it while I was here. I have to prepare every meal for every single photo and I can’t do that in a hurry. It takes time and care to set up each plate I create so it comes across how I want it to.” She pushed the cookies toward him. “Jason, my photographer, likes to stay for a few days at a time and we shoot nonstop when he’s in the zone. It’s quite chaotic but I love it.”

  “That’s a heap of cooking.” He sipped his coffee, his gaze on her.

  “Yeah, it is but, as I said, it’s my life.”
She gave him a secretive smile. “Guess what?”

  “What?”

  “Mari’s planning on a Valentine’s Day dinner to outdo the Christmas tree auction. She’s putting a notice in the paper tomorrow.”

  *

  A heaving wave of discontent welled in Jake’s stomach. “And you’re going to do the food? As well as cook for the restaurant?”

  She nodded.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be taking it a bit easy while you’re here? There’s only a couple of weeks until Valentine’s Day.”

  This girl didn’t stop. She was constantly on the go. He wondered where she got her energy from. She ought to bottle it because he’d be the first to buy a case.

  “I can do it. All I need is someone to help with the prep and it’ll be so much fun. I’m going to ask my kitchen and waitstaff from the show to come down and help out. You should book a table. It’ll be a great night the way Mari is organizing everything, promise.”

  “I don’t have anyone I’d like to take so it’d be a waste of a ticket.”

  “Not anyone? Don’t you have a friend you could bring, doesn’t have to be a female. Just someone you don’t mind spending an evening with.”

  He stared at her, a frown line between his eyes. “I could ask you but you’re probably too busy.”

  “You’re the sweetest thing saying that. And you’re right but it’d be nice if you could be there. I could pop in and out of the kitchen between service and once the last main’s served, I can join you. The desserts will all be preprepared if Mari approves my menu.”

  “You want me to sit out there by myself until you have the time to sit with me? That’s going to make me look pathetic and lonely.” Hurt filled her eyes and he mentally kicked himself. Surely he could share a table with someone. “But if you’re sure that’s what you want, I’ll do it. Only because you have me by the taste buds, mind you. I wouldn’t do this for anyone else. Guess I can ask Ben if he’ll come with his wife. If I know Sally, she’ll already be onto it.”

  She launched herself into his arms, her hands wrapped around his neck. Jake felt the heat of her against him. He wondered if he should kiss her. The friends deal seemed to have moved somewhere along the line and he wasn’t upset about it. At the risk of overthinking things, Jake let his heart make the decision for him. Her lips were soft under his, the smell of perfume and sugar mixing with the taste of coffee on his tongue. Before he got carried away or upset her, he stepped back. Things were moving way too fast.

  “What time will you be finished in here?”

  Bella stepped around the counter, fiddled with her bowl of cookie dough and Jake wondered if they’d been a bit impulsive. “Not long now.”

  “How about I pick you up and take you out for dinner tonight? You’ve cooked enough meals for us the last week. I think the least I can do is repay you. What do you say?”

  “I think that’s a great idea but I can think of something even better. I have green tea smoked chicken in the refrigerator and some delicious warm salads I’ve been trying out. How about I pack them into a basket and we go for a picnic somewhere quiet? Just the two of us? I don’t care that it’s cold out. A picnic is always fun in any weather.”

  “I like how you think, Bella Moore. It just so happens I know the perfect spot. Pick you up at six and wear something warm. It’s breezy out today.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “See you later.”

  Jake walked out with a spring in his step as he thought about where he would take her. It’d been ages since he’d been up to the Christmas tree farm and checked out his fishing cabin. Now was the perfect opportunity to go and make sure everything was alright. He hurried home to deal with family duties before it was time to take her out.

  When Jake picked Bella up later that evening, she had a basket packed with food as promised. He hoped she wouldn’t be disappointed in his choice of picnic spot. He’d bet it wasn’t anything she’d imagine but he had the idea it was better that way than trying to compete with her city lifestyle.

  He was glad she’d taken his advice and wore warm clothing. Her trademark jeans, a thick, white cable sweater that hugged her body and a scarf wrapped around her neck and the cutest beanie he’d seen forever. It would be cold out at the cabin but worth it for the solitude and the alone time with her away from prying eyes.

  Fishing was his only indulgence in his limited time off, always busy with Cory and his sport, Jake hadn’t spent much time indulging himself for a while. Just being out by the water went a long way to easing some of the tension in his shoulders. His job was stressful even though he loved it and wouldn’t change anything. Jake wondered how Bella coped with the high profile stress in her life. From what he’d seen, she probably thrived on it.

  “Where are we going?” Bella glanced out the window as they drove through town past the library and followed the shoreline away from civilization. He took a left turn onto the dirt road through a stand of trees and slowed at a big sign.

  “Surprise.” Jake drove up to the Christmas tree farm, and turned in through their gates. He followed the driveway for a few hundred yards before taking a turnoff through the trees toward the water.

  “Bit late for Christmas trees, isn’t it and I thought you’d finished the boat?”

  “That’s not what we’re here for; have patience. There was something I didn’t show you last time we were here.”

  “I don’t have a lot actually. I’m usually going flat-out so patience never comes into the equation.”

  Jake smiled. “Perhaps it’s time it did.” He pulled into a small clearing beside the cabin and parked facing out over the jetty where his boat sat tucked undercover for winter. Jake opened the glove box and took out the little yellow buoy key ring that Cory had given him one year for Christmas.

  Bella glanced at him, a question in her eyes. “We’re not going out on the lake?”

  “Nope. This is the key for my fishing cabin. I’ve leased it off the current owners for years because they have no use for it.” He pointed over his shoulder up a rise to the building tucked behind a stand of trees.

  “Okay, great.” She opened the truck door and slid out. “I was kind of worried there for a minute. It’s beautiful out here, Jake. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how lovely it is no matter how many times you bring me out here.”

  “It’s the only place I could think of where we could be alone that wasn’t at your house. Figured you might like to have a change of scenery.” He took her hand and pulled her over the frosty ground to the cabin. Homemade wooden chairs sat on the front porch facing the lake, a touch of snow around their feet from an earlier dusting. He put the key in the door and turned it, pushed it open, flicked on a light switch and stood back. “Welcome to my home away from home.”

  Bella walked inside and he followed, closing the door behind them. The cabin had never felt so small or basic before. “Living room, kitchen, and bedroom are all one room as you can see and there’s a bathroom through there. Nothing flashy but it does the job.” He took the basket from her and put it on the table. “Let me light the fire so we don’t freeze.”

  He bent down over the hearth and put a light to the paper, watching as it took and crackled its way to life through the wood. “Always pays to leave it ready to go because I never know when I’m going to get the time to sneak up here. So long as I can get warm, I can deal with the place lacking some of the finer things in life.”

  Bella walked over and sank down into one of the two big armchairs that faced the stone fireplace and snuggled down into the patchwork blanket covering the old worn leather. “I don’t know. It’s not lacking anything as far as I can see.”

  *

  Bella leaned back in the chair, watching the final rays of sun play over the water, catching the sparkle of ice crystals closer to the frozen shoreline. “I can’t believe how peaceful it is out here. Wish I could live like this forever.” She’d taken the blanket from the chair and carried it outside to the porch to wa
tch the sun go down.

  “It has a special quality to it, sitting out by the lake. Gives you time to think, to put everything into perspective. It’s also a damned good fishing spot when we can get a line in.” He moved over and stood behind her, smiled when Bella reached out to him. It seemed natural to let his hands drop to her shoulders. “That trout you cooked for us? That would have come from Flathead Lake.”

  She reached up, took his hand and looked up into his face. “Really? It was pretty special. Now I know why.”

  “I think you had something to do with that. That sauce was to die for. Hope you’re putting it in that new book you’re planning.”

  “It’s a definite as far as I’m concerned.” She sighed and looked over lake. “That final ripple of sunlight over the water is so pretty. Thank you for bringing me out here.”

  “I’m glad you could spare the time. It seems to me that you’re working pretty hard when the idea of you coming out here was to relax more.”

  She laughed. “Oh, Jake, how much you have to learn about me. What I’m doing now is nothing compared to the crazy life I had in Seattle. I loved every minute of it.”

  Jake, man, you have no hope if you think you’ll ever be enough for this girl. Cut your losses while you still can. No matter how much his words made sense to him, he was already in too deep to ignore what his heart was saying. How the hell was he going to sort this out? With his wife, Lisa, he had no choice but to let her go. Cancer won out in the end as they had known it would. But with Bella, all he had to do was fight her fame and her lifestyle. Should be easy for a heroic fire chief from Montana, shouldn’t it?

  “In that case, I’d better show you how much the laidback life in Cherry Lake can be as consuming and fun as the big city then. And if you’d care to join me inside, we can lay some cushions down in front of the fire and have our picnic.” He took her hand and led her back inside the cabin where it was warm and cozy.

  When Bella was settled, he handed her the basket and she produced her idea of a picnic. A bottle of champagne and a pair of plastic glasses came out first.