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

by Ann B. Harrison

  “Yeah, I agree. Look, I can see you’re dead on your feet. Go and sleep and give me a call when you want to talk about this. Even though I was shocked it was mainly because I don’t like being left out of things, especially something that involves me. I hate when things hit me out of the blue like that.”

  Jake pushed her away and gave her a tender smile. “I do love you, Bella Moore. We can iron out the problems when you’re capable of a decent discussion. Go.” He pushed her away and closed the door, hoping like hell she’d go and sleep off her exhaustion.

  The following day, an invitation was delivered to Jake at the fire station in a basket with a gift wrapped package.

  “Oh man, looks like you’re in trouble.” Ben watched him unwrap the Notting Hill DVD.

  “I don’t get it.” Jake slid his finger under the flap of the envelope and pulled out a card.

  Miss Bella Moore

  requests the pleasure of the company of

  Mr. Jake Woods

  For Valentine’s Day make-over dinner

  Tonight at 7 p.m.

  At the pink cottage,

  Flathead Lake foreshore.

  “What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall.” Ben chortled and walked away.

  The stress over their relationship, the decision to put away his memories. It all fell from his shoulders. This was his last chance to convince her the pair of them could work and he wouldn’t waste it. He adored Bella, and if it had turned out that she had to go back to Seattle, he’d have gone with her. Luckily for him, it hadn’t gone that way. Now all he had to do was convince her she’d made the right decision and, despite his earlier misgivings, he was good with what she’d done. Somehow he would ignore the publicity and roll with it. Anything to be with the woman he loved.

  He lifted his head to the sky and let out a whoop of joy. With only a couple of hours before he had to be there, he walked into the office and clocked out for the day.

  *

  Bella jumped at the knock at the door. She’d been waiting for hours, or so it seemed, and hadn’t heard the truck pull up.

  She opened the door. Jake stood there with a bouquet of daisies and the movie in his hands. “I hear there’s a dinner happening here tonight.” He smiled and then frowned when he saw what she was wearing.

  Bella leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck. “There certainly is.” She kissed him, nipped at his lips and then lost herself as his arms reached around her.

  His mouth pushed against hers, hungry and all encompassing. Bella got lost in the sensations that flowed through her body. The urgency, the passion, and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  “Wow.” When Jake pulled back she sucked in a deep breath. “That was just what I needed.” Bella took his hand and dragged him into the living room. “We need to talk. Is that okay?”

  He placed the DVD on the television cabinet and stood with the daisies in his hands. “Sure.”

  She dropped down onto the couch and started to talk. “I have to apologize. I had no right letting them use you like that. It was unforgiveable of me, no matter what reasons I give you.” She looked down at her hands. “I don’t have a good excuse but in my mind I wanted to save you the stress of worrying about the details until I knew what my options were. Working with the studio can be daunting and I didn’t give you enough credit to deal with that. I’m used to handling everything myself and not having anyone to lean on.”

  “Bella, it’s okay.” Jake sat down beside her. “You did what you had to. I get that now.”

  “Yes, I did but only because I thought it was what you wanted too. I tried to stop them but, in the end, the bottom line was that if I wanted to stay here with you, I had to agree.”

  He put the flowers down. “So what exactly did you agree to?”

  She sucked in a deep breath and hoped it was what he wanted too. “When they said I had to redo the last episode and I made the offer of a new series, I made it around the premise that it would be shot in Cherry Lake. They will come here, film each episode and go back to the city, leaving you and me to our lives.”

  “So you’ll still have your television series as well as the books?”

  She wanted to wipe away the frown on his face because she knew what he was thinking. “Yes, and it’s going to be totally different to my other show but that’s all I’ll be doing. Mari has a new chef so all I have to do is concentrate on those two things. And you and Cory of course.” She held her breath.

  “Are you sure you still want to go that way, Bella? I don’t want you regretting your decision. Your whole life has been geared toward the glitz and glamour of your show and the people that surround you. You might miss it once it’s gone.”

  She laughed and leaned into him. “Oh no. Not a chance. It took me going back to the city to be one hundred percent sure of what I want but it’s all here in Cherry Lake. I spent a couple of frantic nights in my apartment waiting for the legal department to nut out my contract. I couldn’t sleep, wishing I was back here with the peace and quiet of the lake outside my door and you by my side.” Bella stoked her finger around the scar on his head, the stitches gone and the bruise barely noticeable. “I put my apartment on the market before I left. It’s not me. It was what everyone expected me to live in but, you know something, this is more my thing.”

  “God, I hope so. I’ve been sick with worry ever since you left. And when I freaked out over the promotion, I thought I’d lost you.” He tipped his forehead to touch hers. “I love you, Bella. Cory loves you. We don’t want to lose you.”

  “Not going to happen, my very own hero. I’ve committed to this life and now you’re stuck with me.”

  He tucked a finger under the collar of her fleecy pajamas. “Forgive me for being a bit dense, but you invited me for a make-up dinner. Either I’m early or you’re running late.”

  Bella laughed, kissed him soundly and stood up. “Nope. This is the real me, my favorite thing to do when I have a night off, which doesn’t happen very often.” She ran into the kitchen when the timer pinged, took the lid off a pot and stirred. The smell of bolognaise made his mouth water.

  “Spaghetti bog, a movie, and ice cream from the tub is my idea of heaven.” She took two bowls and spooned a generous helping into each and sprinkled it liberally with grated cheese. “Can you put on the movie please?” She hustled over to the coffee table, put the dinner down. “You haven’t seen this one, have you?”

  Jake looked at it and shook his head. “No. What’s it about?”

  “Oh, just a girl who falls in love with a guy.”

  The End

  Doctor’s Orders

  Ann B. Harrison

  Chapter One

  “You did what?”

  April Moore held the phone away from her ear until the rumbling thunder that was her father’s voice reverberated inside her head. This was never going to be an easy call to make but she wasn’t one to shy away from a painful job. She’d already put it off for far too long.

  “I’ve got myself a shop.”

  “That’s what I thought you said. April, this is ridiculous. You don’t know the first thing about running your own business. What on earth possessed you to be so, so irrational? I thought I knew you but this takes things to a whole new level.”

  She counted to ten before answering. He only had her best interests at heart, he did, just as he did for all his four daughters. “Darling Daddy, if you think about it, I’ve had more experience than most.”

  “Is that right? When? Tell me that. You worked in a garden nursery but you weren’t in the office. You were some glorified weed puller or something. Nor did you do anything remotely organizational when you worked at the florist as a glorified assistant. Another boss that took advantage of you as far as I can see.” He covered the mouthpiece and mumbled. Her mother was probably asking what all the fuss was about. Perhaps it would have been wiser to call her instead. At least she would have taken the news a bit calmer.

  But
back to her experience. That wasn’t true. She’d almost single-handedly run the place for weeks. And she’d told him at the time, too. How easy it was to forget the good she’d managed to do and only focus on the bad.

  “Actually I did. I ran the office when Margery got sick, remember? I told you about it. I even asked your advice on something to do with the banking system she used.” At least she’d mentioned it to him even if she hadn’t gone into too much detail.

  In the end, April had worked it out for herself. She chewed on her lip, the first niggle of doubt creeping up her spine with its multiple legs itching her skin. She brushed it off, refusing to give into thoughts that would only cripple her. This was going to be her time to shine. She wouldn’t let it fail. It was too late for second-guessing her impulse buy this time.

  A resigned sigh came over the phone. “Two weeks from memory. That hardly makes you a great candidate to be a business owner. All that money we spent on you getting your design certificate, learning to ‘dress’ people’s houses and you never even attempted to use what you learned. Waste of time and money, if you ask me. Then I thought you wanted to be a marriage celebrant. You even wrote a bunch of speeches for when you get your license. You’ve registered into the course and it’s supposed to start soon. Don’t tell me that’s another ‘fad’ you’re going to ditch before you start. And just where did the money come from?”

  That was last month’s idea, the celebrant. Sure, she had a way with words and it sounded good at the time but did she really want to marry people when she couldn’t find happiness herself? It seemed like too much responsibility and too boring when she sat down and gave it serious thought. She’d have to do what they wanted and her creativity would probably shrivel up and die a painful death. How long could she look at loved-up couples and be happy? Just as well she’d only paid out a deposit for her course. How was she going to tell him the next part?

  “And what exactly is this shop going to be?”

  “Um, kind of a cross between a florist and a gift shop.” At least he’d gone past the money question. “It’s what I love, Daddy. I’m good with flowers, you know that, and I love rummaging around looking for that special thing that sets my designs apart from everyone else’s. I want to do party and wedding decorating as well as sell flowers.” Why did it feel as though she had to convince him? She’d already made the commitment and no amount of angst from family members would change that. “I’m going to be using my design degree too. I thought you’d be happy about that.”

  “I don’t understand how you can use that to make flower arrangements.”

  “What I’m going to do is advertise a service, Daddy. If I can go to someone’s house or business and dress their rooms with what they already have on hand, I’ll not only give them a new look but save them money as well. You know, like you see on those fashionable television shows where someone goes in and makes everything look fabulous? That kind of thing. But I want the shop as well so I can supply that special something as back up as well as the flowers.”

  “Back up?”

  The way he said it made her feel as though the idea was going to be a massive flop. “I’m good at putting things together. You know that.”

  Her mother consoled her father in the background and April smiled. Good on her for putting out the flames. The girls could always count on Mom to help keep their father calm. Living in a house as the only male probably tipped him over the edge more than he liked.

  “Honey, you’re good at everything you do. That’s the problem. Once you tackle a project and learn how to do it, you move on. I don’t want to see you do the same with a business that you’ve had to put money into. Your mother and I want nothing more than to see all of our girls happy. You know that but I worry more about you than the others.”

  April sighed. “Because I’m the flighty one. Yeah, I know.” She screwed her face up in disgust. It was true and normally she didn’t care when people gave her a hard time about how often she changed her mind and updated her lifelong dreams. But hearing it from her father, especially now she’d signed on the dotted line, hurt. There was more to come though. She might as well spit it out and get it over and done with. “Daddy, there’s more.”

  A strangled cough came over the phone before silence met her words.

  “You know you and Mom were making noises about moving to Cherry Lake to be with the girls? Since you’re coming up to retirement and all. Well, I’ve got a shop there.”

  “You did what?”

  “I signed a lease on a shop there in a large building that has a doctor’s practice in one side and it’s even got an apartment upstairs I can live in. It’s close to Mari’s hotel. At least that’s what she said. And I can help her if she’ll let me once she gets the wedding business up and running again. I want to do her wedding displays, make the bride’s day the best it can be. I can help her. It’ll be fun working together.” She held the phone away from her ear knowing there was going to be some serious yelling any second. She was right.

  His voice rose to a higher octave and she grimaced. “You don’t even know where the shop is? April, did you not even bother to go and look before you leapt?”

  “It was too good a deal, Daddy.” When the realtor said he had another interested party, she had no choice but to make an offer unseen. Hopefully, he wasn’t leading her on, and Mari had assured her they were pretty honest in the small family-run business, even if he was a newcomer to town. She’d find out shortly when he handed over the keys. How bad could it possibly be? “I couldn’t let it slip between my fingers. I can live over the shop and save money there. Really make a go of it.” She could. She would. “There was someone else looking at it.”

  “I suppose the agent told you that, did he?”

  “Yes. But it’s too late now. I’ve signed the papers.”

  The tone of her father’s voice changed to resignation. “When do you take over?”

  “I get the keys today. I’m already in Cherry Lake, Daddy.”

  *

  Dr. David Morrison turned off the stereo as the last strains of the opera died away, leaving him bathed in a sense of peace. The perfect way to start what would no doubt be a hectic day. He rinsed his coffee cup in the kitchen sink, placed it in the draining tray, and folded the tea towel, lining it up on the oven door. He straightened the chairs at his dining table and brushed off a speck of dust from the blonde Scandinavian timber.

  It’d been an early start to his day. An uninterrupted jog through town, along the lakeshore and back home again before breakfast with his little friend. The scratch on the mudroom door was followed by a plaintive whine. “Oscar, you can’t come in when I’m not here. You know the rules.”

  Why his elderly aunt had thought to leave him the small wire-haired terrier when she passed on, was beyond him. He understood leaving him the house as he’d always loved it and she was a spinster, with him being her only relative besides his parents. She knew he didn’t like animals much, especially her boisterous Oscar. The little brown and white dog made it his mission in life to jump all over David every chance it got. Each visit he made to Cecily when he was home to see his parents, was fraught with tension between him and her faithful companion. Oscar would target his leg every time he walked in the door, either jumping up running his claws down his shins or humping it without a care in the world.

  “He likes you, dear.” Aunt Cicely had been bedridden for the final years of her life and the dog was keeping her going more than modern medicine was, David was sure of it. It made it hard to be too angry when it gave her such pleasure and peace in her last months.

  “So long as he leaves some skin on my legs, I’ll like him back.” How could he tell her dogs weren’t really his thing?

  “You’re such a good boy, David. You don’t have to keep checking on me, you know.”

  “You’re family, Cecily. Of course I want to keep an eye on you. You were the one who looked after me when my parents were both working. Before and after school, wasn
’t it, from ever since I was little? It’s you I have to thank for my love of opera and my interest in travelling. Those vacations when you and I combed through cathedrals and farmer’s markets in Italy.” He sighed with pleasure. “Not many young people get an education like that. Still today, the sound of opera makes my skin tingle with excitement, brings back the best memories of us together. I certainly don’t get that from the parents.”

  She smiled, her eyes bright with the memory. “No, you don’t. Nothing wrong with having educated taste buds where music is concerned. I loved my time living in Europe, seeing the ballet and attending the opera. It’s a shame I couldn’t take you as an adult, darling, but my health didn’t make that possible. I do love the time we spent together. Made up for me not having a family of my own.”

  It wasn’t a surprise to him when the will was read and he’d inherited her house but along with that, came Oscar. David opened the door, quickly putting his foot out to stop the dog sneaking into the living room. “No, you don’t. You’re not getting another chance to chew on my leather lounge, you little rascal.” He bent down and patted Oscar, stroking the hair from his eyes. “I’ll take you for another walk after work. Now behave and don’t chew anything today. Try and leave something intact in the yard too, there’s a good boy.” The back door had a doggy door and the yard was fenced. It wouldn’t be a hardship for him to spend the time outside like a normal dog would but Oscar was more inclined to laze on the lounge taking a selective chew every now and then on the corner if David wasn’t looking.

  He checked the living room was tidy before he picked up his car keys and shopping list and, with a second glance around the room, he let himself out of the house.

  The drive to his office only took a few minutes. Cherry Lake was beautiful this time of year as the snowy mountain caps receded and the thaw gave way to new shoots of grass and leaves. The chill still hung around but only early in the morning and it was bracing to start the day that way.