Sweet From the Vine

by Jacquie Underdown

  Sweet from the Vine

  Jacquie Underdown

  romance.com.au/escapepublishing/

  Sweet from the Vine

  Jacquie Underdown

  A second chance at love in the beautiful Ovens Valley—if he just has the courage to take it...

  Matilda James never thought she’d ever return to Alpine Ridge, the small town she grew up in and couldn’t wait to leave. But when her desire to have children proves too great a strain on her childless marriage, she heads back home for a tree-change, determined to find a partner with the same life goals. Good luck and good timing lands her a dream marketing role on a breathtaking vineyard. The only hitch is her boss – her old high school flame. But Matilda is a professional, and that relationship is old news.

  Mitch nearly lost everything when he lost his wife, and he’s worked hard ever since to support and protect the most important people in his life – his two brothers and his beautiful, miraculous daughter. When his high school sweetheart, Matilda, starts working on the vineyard, he still feels the attraction, but the pain of his past is too close and too constant to ever consider acting on it.

  But soon the sparks between Matilda and Mitch grow so bright they can’t be ignored. Matilda is forced to question what she truly wants in life and how far she is willing to push to get what she deserves. And Mitch must learn that moving on is not a betrayal and find the courage to fight for a future he could never have imagined.

  About the author

  JACQUIE lives in Central Queensland, Australia, where it’s always hot and humidity coats the skin, summer or winter. When she wrote her first novel ten years ago, she was working as an accountant. But it didn’t take long for the writing bug to take her over completely and she happily did away with her business career. Now she spends her days wrapped up in her imagination, creating characters, exploring alternative realities, and meeting a host of characters who occupy her mind at first, then eventually her books.

  She has a business degree, studied post-grad writing, editing and publishing at The University of Queensland, and earned a Master of Letters (Creative Writing) from Central Queensland University.

  If you’d like to know more about Jacquie, her books, or to connect with her online, you can visit her webpage jacquieunderdown.com, follow her on Twitter @authoraire, or like her Facebook page

  https://www.facebook.com/jacquie.underdown.10/.

  Acknowledgements

  This series has now come to an end. Both satisfying and saddening to say goodbye to my brothers of the vine.

  A big thank you, Kate Cuthbert, for all the hard work you do behind the scenes. Thanks to the publishing team at Harlequin Australia who create the amazing covers and perform all the functions necessary for publication. Brooke Moody, once again, your editing expertise is much appreciated.

  And, as always, thank you, Brad. You know what you do.

  For my sister Cheree

  Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them. ― Leo Tolstoy

  Contents

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  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

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Bestselling Titles by Escape Publishing...

  Chapter 1

  What a year. Those three words were all Matilda James could think about as she waited in a cupcake shop for her new client to finish with the last of her customers.

  She was tucked away in a small room backing onto the sweet-scented kitchen at a chair opposite a lone desk. On the desk was stationery, a calculator, a laptop, and an adorable looking pink box.

  Inside that box were two of the prettiest cupcakes Matilda had ever seen.

  This particular variety, because of the romantic theme of reds and pinks and the big chocolate heart pierced by an arrow sitting on top, were Cupid cupcakes—the shop’s best seller.

  What a year.

  Matilda shook her head as a giggle moved up her throat wanting an outlet, but she only allowed herself a half-grin. She still couldn’t believe she was here.

  It all started the moment Matilda wanted a baby. That one big splash created myriad ripples in her life. One of those ripples being her return to Alpine Ridge.

  No big deal, right?

  Except it was because less than twelve months ago she was married to a man who very much didn’t want children. And less than twelve months ago, she lived in San Francisco, USA, working in a sixty-hour-a-week marketing role, earning a six-figure salary.

  Wonderful. Great.

  Until it wasn’t.

  Until these bizarre new desires bubbled up from their murky depths within her womb. They never used to exist—in the slightest. She was all gung-ho on her career, happy in her marriage, traipsing across the globe without anything more than a suitcase—no extra carry-on, nothing to worry about back home, not even a goldfish.

  And then one morning she was in an Uber on her way to work and all she could see were mothers and fathers pushing sweet angel-faced babies in prams.

  Every client that came through the door were parents and would happily open their phone to show Matilda pictures—lots of pictures—of their precious children.

  A dissonance built up inside her, needling its way deep into her bones. At first, she thought she disliked parents and their children, no matter how ridiculously cute the little babes were.

  But after a while, she realised the sensation wasn’t dislike but rather … jealousy. She was jealous of all these parents because she wanted to be the one wheeling a pram and showing others pictures of her own children.

  Maybe it was an age thing—she had just turned thirty-three last January. Or maybe, and this was most likely the real reason, she had been living a big fat lie.

  Yep, tough one to admit to.

  It took a while.

  But the moment she had crawled down from that massive high horse she had been riding for the last decade and a half and stood her two strong feet on the solid earth, there was no denying it.

  Everything, all starting with the very first decision to up and leave her hometown of Alpine Ridge fifteen years ago, was a big fat sham. She may as well have shipped herself off to some bizarre cult for fifteen years with all the de-programming she now had to do to break away from the mindset she had adopted.

  So here she was back in Alpine Ridge, working as a marketing and media consultant, very much single, and as Jane Austen would put it, ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’

  Except, of course, switch man for woman and wife for husband and throw in a baby or two or three.

  Matilda checked the time on her iPhone—ten minutes to five.

  Note to self: stop turning up so early to appointments.

  She opened the taunting pale pink box that sat on the desk, and the rich chocolatey scent wafted around her.

  Intoxicating. This entir
e shop was intoxicating. Providing marketing help to Amy, the owner of this shop, would be the easiest consulting job she had scored since arriving back in town.

  The cupcakes stared up at her, begging to be tasted. It would be prudent for her to sample the goods she had been contracted to offer marketing advice for—it only made sense really.

  She reached in, pulled out the perfectly iced cupcake, peeled back the patty paper and took an enormous bite as though compelled to thrust as much into her mouth as absolutely possible.

  ‘Oh my god,’ she mumbled around her mouthful. She closed her eyes as she chewed and moaned. ‘Is this even real?’

  Matilda had another big bite, chewed, moaned and exclaimed as to its ridiculous brilliance, then took another bite until there was no more cupcake.

  By the time Amy met her in the back room, she had devoured the second cupcake too and was staring at the empty box, wondering what genius ingredient these little food items possessed that a grown self-possessed woman could so rapidly become their victim.

  ‘Love and Cupcakes is an inadequate name. Your shop should be called Cupcake Gluttony or I’ll Take you Down to Sweet Sweet Cupcake Hell,’ Matilda said when Amy walked in.

  Amy rolled her head back and laughed. ‘Strangely, I’ve had similar suggestions from customers.’ Amy had blonde hair, which was tied back into a high ponytail. Her physique was slight, as was her height, and she had sparkling blue eyes that brightened more when she laughed.

  Matilda had already had a phone conversation with Amy about what she wanted from her with respect to marketing advice and digital media avenues for Love and Cupcakes.

  Other than the quick introduction earlier where Amy showed her around the shop and gave her two sample cakes, this was their first face to face meeting.

  Amy sank into a chair beside her and sighed.

  ‘Busy day?’ Matilda asked, understanding the universally known translation of that kind of sigh at the end of a work day.

  She nodded. ‘Hectic.’

  ‘After I’m done with our consultation and you implement my advice, it’s only going to get busier,’ Matilda said with an arched brow.

  ‘I’m ready for bigger. It just means I’ll have to hire some more casuals to help me out.’

  ‘Good. Well, how about we dive into this.’

  Matilda reached into her own bag and pulled out her laptop. When she opened it, she searched for the Love and Cupcakes website. She pointed to the screen. ‘We’ll start here. Your website provides all the necessary information and is neat and professional, but it’s still lacking a landing page that pops. And you need a statement that will prompt your audience to make an online order or, better yet, come into the store. So I’m going to write one for you, which I guarantee will increase sales from website traffic by at least thirty per cent.’

  Amy’s eyes widened. ‘Thirty per cent?’

  Matilda nodded. ‘Guaranteed.’

  No use mentioning that in her marketing role in San Francisco, the company she worked for charged clients one hundred thousand dollars for her to write such statements.

  But that life was behind her, and this wasn’t the town, nor business, for that type of expense.

  ‘I’ll also play with your SEOs, so you’re appearing higher on web searches.’

  A door clanged from within the store, followed by footsteps. ‘Where is my sexy fiancée?’ came a deep voice, followed by his head poking into the back room.

  Matilda and Amy turned, so they could gaze upon the gorgeous man in the doorway.

  ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t realise you had company,’ he said apologetically when noticing Matilda.

  The familiarity of this man could not be ignored—his height, bulk and warm brown eyes—though he was older than when Matilda last saw him as a teenager. Matilda grinned as her recognition grew. ‘Tom Mathews?’

  His lips parted until commandeered by a smile. ‘Matilda James. How are you? Long time no see. I heard through the grapevine you were heading back to town.’

  ‘Grapevine being my mother?’

  He laughed. ‘Felicity may have mentioned it in passing.’

  Tom was the younger brother of Mitch Mathews, the boy she dated for two years while a senior in high school.

  ‘Matilda is giving me some marketing advice,’ Amy said.

  Tom winced. ‘Oh yes, you did mention that. Sorry to interrupt.’

  Matilda shook her head as she waved his apology away. ‘No problem. It’s so good to see you again. How’s Mitch going?’

  ‘Really well. He has an adorable daughter now.’

  ‘Yes, I had heard that through the bush telegraph.’

  ‘Bush telegraph also being your mother?’ Tom asked.

  Matilda laughed. ‘Exactly.’

  She wasn’t going to mention that she had also heard that Mitch’s wife had died recently. Tom wasn’t declaring that either, obviously, but it was strange how simply thinking about it charged the air around them.

  Tom thumbed in the direction of the kitchen. ‘I’ll sit out here until you’re finished.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Amy said. Then when Tom had left the room, ‘He’s taking me out for dinner tonight. He obviously forgot I told him to pick me up a little later.’

  ‘That’s fine.’ Matilda turned to the laptop screen again and pointed. ‘So how are you at blogging?’

  Amy winced and shook her head. ‘Not great.’

  ‘You understand how to add content to your website, though?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Good. I can show you the format for the rest. I want you to start blogging. The more people we get re-blogging your content like on Pinterest or their own blogsite, the more your website is quoted on other websites, thereby moving your web address to the top of search engine results. Now, you don’t have to spend a lot of time on this—just one a month should do it.’

  Matilda took out a sheet she had prepared earlier with a sample blog post and handed it to Amy. ‘I will show you how to take the photographs—the more the better. People these days are much more visual, mostly due to their time-poor lifestyles.’

  For the next half hour, Matilda ran through all the social media sites Amy needed to be seen on.

  ‘I believe Instagram will be your best friend. It’s completely visual and with the way your cupcakes look, they will be a hit. I’ll help set up your bio with punchy phrases to entice people to your website. How do you feel about making videos—cooking demonstrations and the like?’

  ‘I’m sorry to interrupt,’ came Tom again from the doorway.

  Matilda looked up at him.

  ‘I’ve been listening in,’ he admitted with a modest smile. ‘But only because you caught my attention. What are your plans in Alpine Ridge, Matilda? To continue consulting?’

  She nodded. So far it had been the only option compatible with her skills. There weren’t a lot of great marketing roles in a town this size.

  ‘From what I’ve heard so far, you know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘I’ve earned a lot of experience.’ Where was he going with this?

  ‘We’re looking for someone exactly like you for the vineyard. We’re expanding with a new line that requires major marketing decisions. We’ve interviewed a dozen people, but no-one has the experience. And then the one person we did like was from Melbourne and wasn’t willing to move here … anyway, long story short, would working for a big local business be something you’d be interested in?’

  Matilda shrugged, lips gently parted in surprise. ‘Sure, I guess, if the position and salary are right.’

  ‘Why don’t you come to the vineyard tomorrow and have a chat with me and my brothers …’ he trailed off, probably because she reactively had frowned.

  ‘You don’t think it would be weird considering Mitch and I have a … history?’

  Matilda could feel Amy’s renewed attention, but she didn’t look at her.

  Tom shook his head. ‘Not at all. It was a long time ago and so much has happ
ened since then. As long as you’d be comfortable—’

  ‘Sure, yeah, I’d be fine with it.’ Maybe. ‘After all, I’m a professional, as I’m sure you all are when it comes to running your business.’

  ‘Absolutely. And it’s such an exciting time because we have a new line we’re on the cusp of launching.’

  ‘I’d be happy to pop in.’

  ‘How about nine am tomorrow. Just for a chat. Maybe show you around. If you’re interested, fantastic, if not, nothing lost.’

  She nodded. ‘Sounds great.’

  Amy pointed out to the kitchen as she looked at Tom. ‘Now can you please leave us be.’

  Tom laughed. ‘Sure.’ And strode out of the room.

  Amy arched a brow when her blue eyes met Matilda’s. ‘You and Mitch were a couple?’

  Matilda waved her hand as if to say ‘no big deal’.

  Except it was—he was her first boyfriend, her first love, the boy whom she had lost her virginity to, and the first boy’s heart she had ever broken.

  ‘We dated for two years while in our senior years of high school.’

  Amy’s smile shared a hint of curiosity. ‘Well isn’t that interesting.’

  ‘Old water under the bridge,’ Matilda said. ‘So, back to this. Videos? You interested in making those?’

  ‘Headless, sure.’

  ‘Headless, really? But you’re gorgeous …’

  Amy shook her head. ‘I have an adversary in Melbourne that destroyed a previous business I owned and almost my life. I won’t risk him finding me out here.’

  Wow. Okay, that wasn’t what she expected to hear from Amy, but, sadly, it wasn’t the first time Matilda had encountered this in her career. ‘Headless will be fine. I can show you some incredible examples of videos where not a single face is shown.’

  For the next forty-five minutes, Matilda explained to Amy all the avenues she had, marketing-wise, to grow her business online—there was a world of opportunity for additional income streams for someone with Amy’s talent—and in-house.

  She did demonstrations on lighting and photography using equipment she brought with her.