Butler, Vermont Series Boxed Set, Books 1-3
Page 67
“Was she going on about the baby moose again?” Nolan asked, his mouth full of cheese and cracker.
“Maybe?” Lucas hesitated to toss his sister under the marital bus.
Nolan groaned. “She’s round the bend over that baby. Wanted to bring him in the house the other night because it was too cold for him outside. I have to keep telling her he’s a wild animal, not a house pet.”
“He’ll be a house pet by the time she’s done with him.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of—having a full-grown bull moose in bed between me and my wife.”
Lucas snorted with laughter. “Might be a good idea to nip that in the bud.”
“Ya think?”
“What’re we nipping in the bud?” Lucas’s father, Lincoln, asked as he came from the family room to join them.
“Hannah’s affair with the baby moose,” Nolan said. “If she had her way, he’d be in bed with us.”
“Oh dear,” Linc said. “Probably best to not let that happen.”
“I hate to tell you this, Linc, but there’re times when your daughter is downright unmanageable,” Nolan said.
“She gets that from her mother,” Linc said.
“I can hear you, Lincoln Abbott,” Molly said, “and you will pay for that later.”
“Sorry, Nolan,” Linc said. “You’re on your own.” Heading toward his wife, Lincoln said, “You heard me wrong, love.”
“No, I did not.”
“No wonder my wife is nuts,” Nolan said. “She was raised in a nuthouse.”
Lucas cracked a grin. “You’re just figuring that out now?”
“Oh, I’ve known it for a while.” Nolan had grown up with Lucas’s older siblings and had been in and out of the Abbotts’ barn for decades. Nolan’s crush on Hannah had developed years after his close friend Caleb had died. And no one doubted Nolan’s fierce love for his wife, despite her moose antics.
The door to the mudroom slammed shut, jolting Caden.
Lucas rubbed the baby’s back. “Easy, buddy.”
“Quit slamming that door,” Molly said to Landon.
“Sorry, Mom.” Landon laid a loud smacker on Molly’s cheek. “It’s my birthday. Don’t I get a pass on door slamming?”
“No door slamming in this house, even on your birthday. It’s in the Abbott family rule book.”
“I never got my copy,” Landon said, making his twin smile. Lucas would’ve said the same thing. “Mom, you remember Amanda, right? I hope it’s okay that I invited her to join us.”
Lucas froze.
Landon had brought Amanda to their birthday dinner? No way.
“Of course it’s all right,” Molly said. “The more the merrier is the Abbott family motto, which you’d know if you’d read the rule book. Welcome to our insane asylum, Amanda.”
When Amanda laughed, Lucas wanted to turn to look at her, but remained rooted in place, barely able to breathe, let alone move. “Thank you so much for having me, Mrs. Abbott.”
“Please, call me Molly. Everyone does.”
Lucas listened to them with a surreal feeling of detachment as his mind raced to catch up. Amanda had come to their birthday dinner. With Landon.
Worst birthday ever.
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About the Author
Marie Force is the New York Times bestselling author of contemporary romance, including the indie-published Gansett Island Series and the Fatal Series from Harlequin Books. In addition, she is the author of the Butler, Vermont Series, the Green Mountain Series and the erotic romance Quantum Series. Duchess By Deception is the first in her new historical romance Gilded Series, that will continue with Deceived By Desire in September 2019.
Her books have sold more than 8.5 million copies worldwide, have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list 30 times. She is also a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller, a Speigel bestseller in Germany, a frequent speaker and publishing workshop presenter as well as a publisher through her Jack’s House Publishing romance imprint. She is a three-time nominee for the Romance Writers of America’s RITA® award for romance fiction.
Her goals in life are simple—to finish raising two happy, healthy, productive young adults, to keep writing books for as long as she possibly can and to never be on a flight that makes the news.
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