Hallow Haven Cozy Mysteries Bundle Books 4-6

by Mara Webb

  “No, he’s just in charge of the family itself. I don’t really know what that means,” Kate shrugged.

  “You know how a mob boss is just sort of in charge, but you don’t really know what their actual job is?” Effie began. “It’s kind of like that. Kieran is the face of the family, if you have a disagreement about the way they are handling themselves then you go to him and he deals with it.”

  “Well, I’m going to have to get a move on with this Rocky Road then, because I don’t know what time Miller has decided we are leaving for the island,” I sighed. “I can try to call him…” I said, pulling out my cell phone.

  “No need.” Miller was behind me in the kitchen now. He had entered silently but I could now see that Tara and Fern were less than thrilled that their kitchen space had been overrun by people that weren’t cooking. He looked as good as ever. His hair was styled in a semi-messy way and his t-shirt clung to him in all the right places. I felt suddenly conscious of the fact that I’d been in a sweaty kitchen most of the morning and likely looked gross.

  “There you are,” I grinned. “I have to make something to take over—”

  “You haven’t started yet?” he said.

  “Are you kidding? You knew that I was supposed to be taking over an edible gift?” I groaned. “You’re all fired!” I teased.

  “I can help you if you want, Kieran likes marshmallows, I know that much,” Miller offered.

  “I thought I was giving it to the owner of the golf resort?”

  “Yeah, well Kieran likes to take over anytime there is a big event like this,” Miller explained. “He will be the one you are presenting something to.”

  “What does the actual owner think of that?” I asked.

  “I have no idea,” he replied. “I think it’s one of the cousins or a nephew or something. He probably pulled rank. Kieran will be in the newspaper and I think there is some golf publication coming over too.”

  “There are magazines just for golf?” I said, crinkling my nose in disgust. Nothing could sound more boring. How can you fill an entire magazine with commentary on golf games? It had to be mostly adverts for golf balls or something, right?

  “Get out,” Fern said. She didn’t yell, or even raise her voice at all, but simply gave a succinct instruction. “I am trying to cook, get out.”

  I had a kitchen in my own house that I could get to with less than twenty seconds of walking. We were obviously in her way. Effie was piling boxes up to the ceiling, Kate was now taking selfies while leaning against the drawer with all of the utensils in it and Fern was trying to cater to the café customers, loading up plates with orders. Fern was right, we should all take ourselves out of the room.

  “You go do what you need to do,” Effie nodded. “I’ll drag Kate into this nightmare and Miller can… lick the spoon?”

  “Is it gonna be like some rom-com moment between the two of you? Sadie gets a little chocolate on her nose by mistake and then you try to wipe it off, look longingly into each other’s eyes before… I’m sure you can guess the rest!” Kate laughed.

  “Yeah, we can call the movie, ‘They have the choco-hots for each other’, or something,” Effie giggled. “Bit of a wordy title, I’m working on it.”

  “What about, ‘you melt my heart’, or ‘muffin compares to you’… but obviously that only really works if y’all were baking cakes together,” Kate mused.

  “Can you please get out?” Fern repeated.

  “Sorry!” I shouted. I didn’t like the look of the meat cleaver that she had picked up again, so I grabbed Miller’s arm and directed him through the kitchen door that led into my house.

  “She can be pretty scary, huh?” Miller asked.

  “You think?” I laughed. “Right, I have no idea what I have in the cupboards, so fingers crossed that I… oh.”

  I had walked into the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator door, only to find that it was fully stocked with butter, rich chocolate for melting and a couple of sodas. I certainly hadn’t bought anything useful in the last few days, so I had to assume my magic had put these things here after I’d decided on my baking project.

  Miller opened a kitchen cupboard and, sure enough, found a few bags of mini marshmallows, a bag of pecans and a small packet of pretzels. The pretzels wouldn’t be going into the mix but would make for a great chef’s snack as we worked.

  I set up a pan of water boiling on the stove and then broke the chocolate into a glass bowl so that I could melt it slowly over the steam.

  “You aren’t just gonna microwave it?” Miller said.

  “Normally, I probably would. I am trying to make it fancy because I feel like there is now a ton of pressure on me to present something amazing and I’ve had all of five seconds notice to pull this off!” I shrieked.

  “How can I help?” he asked. He had been staying out of my way as I swirled around the room like a chaos tornado but was now stood behind me with his hands on my shoulders. I felt simultaneously calmed by his touch and electrified by it.

  “I…” My hands were trying to steadily stir the melting chocolate, but my brain was now swimming with thoughts that made me blush. “Stir,” I said, stepping to the side and handing him the spatula. His eyes sparkled when I looked at him, and a smile touched the corner of his mouth. What thoughts was he keeping to himself? Were they anything like mine? My cheeks flushed even hotter at the notion.

  “What are you thinking about this whole golf tournament?” he asked. “Are you looking forward to a few nights away from the main island?”

  The last time we had been away from the main island was to investigate some random explosions and that had led to the discovery of a dead body. It had hardly been what I would call relaxing, but maybe this time we would actually get some peace and quiet. It’s unlikely, but it might happen.

  “Oliver was here earlier asking me a million golf questions and I feel like I’ve already blown it,” I admitted. “I just don’t understand why I have to attend this thing; I am the last person on earth that should be showing their face at a golfing event.”

  I didn’t want to mention that my ex-boyfriend had been a keen golfer. Miller and I hadn’t really discussed our past romantic lives and I wondered if we both had reasons to be keeping secrets. I had been through a rough break up and then moved out here, leaving Justin behind. Had Miller dated anybody on the island? I know that he’d mentioned something about going to Shell’s Day with someone in the past, and that was an event that was exclusive to Hallow Haven.

  “The golf isn’t happening every hour of the day and night,” Miller grinned. “There are some amazing spots on Tivercana that you haven’t seen yet. I’d love to show you around.”

  “A private tour? Lucky me,” I smirked. I blushed again as our eyes met. Should I mention that Oliver had informed me that there was a rumor going around about Miller and I having the Honeymoon suite? Had Ryder heard that rumor? I thought back to him in the weird store in town buying ‘heartache brew’ and felt my body tense.

  I leaned around Miller to check on the chocolate, turned off the stove and took the glass bowl off the pan so that I could add the other ingredients. I stirred in all the nuts and marshmallows, then tipped the mix into a tray before sliding it into the refrigerator.

  “What time do we need to leave?” I asked.

  “Ideally, we should be getting there before dark, it’s no fun to be rowing around on the ocean after sundown,” he smiled.

  “I’ll go pack quickly,” I said. He raised an eyebrow at me. “Don’t give me that look, I know I should have done it already. I’m all over the place today.”

  “Take your time,” he smiled. The palms of my hands crackled gently with the blue electricity that I get every time Miller touches me, only this time he was a few feet away. How was the feeling getting stronger?

  For some reason Ryder was still on my mind too, and I thought about how I’d gotten the same rush of magic in my hands when he had tried to kiss me. I turned away from Mil
ler and tried to shake the idea from my head. He didn’t know that Ryder and I had shared a moment like that, even though it was before Miller and I became an item. I felt as if it was best not to mention it. I just had to hope it stayed a secret. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?

  6

  The boat ride over to Tivercana was largely uneventful. I say ‘largely’, because my talking cat familiar did show up to chastise me at the marina for fifteen minutes about not taking hand-made sushi as my gift for Kieran. I had to assume Kate or Effie had sent him a text with news about my Rocky Road.

  The thing about my cat, Fitz, is that he wasn’t always a cat. It was confusing, but he was a shifter. He was sometimes a cat and sometimes a human, but in either form he was extremely chatty. You could barely get a word in edgeways most of the time, which, given that his job as my familiar was to assist me, was less than helpful.

  Fitz had mentioned that he would be joining us on Tivercana the next day. He had some business to take care of tonight apparently, I didn’t ask any follow up questions. I was sure I would hear all about it tomorrow.

  Miller had operated the powerboat from the main island, and I had sat back to enjoy the ride; the sound of the engine was too loud for us to easily talk anyway. The sun was still up, and would be for a couple more hours, but twilight seemed to linger around here. The sky was a dusty blue with a few streaks of purple, but without a cloud in sight. Maybe Ryder had worked his magic with the weather already. Would he be coming over to the island?

  The boat slowed and the sound of a crowd beyond shore grew louder as we approached the dock. Miller tied up the boat and was about to reach out to help me up when two men started running towards us.

  “Ms. Alden,” they shouted.

  “Please let me carry your bags up to the hotel, it would be my pleasure,” the shorter one said. Miller coughed to draw attention to his presence. Neither of the men had acknowledged he was there at all.

  “I can get your stuff, I guess,” the taller one said, shrugging. I let out a short, sharp laugh and Miller looked back at me in disbelief.

  “I get that she is the guest of honor,” Miller said. “Don’t sweat it.” Miller grabbed his own bags and smiled as the two men in bell-boy uniforms collected my luggage and began to spring off with it, running over the sand and disappearing off towards the golf course.

  “Wow, are you going to use your powers of invisibility for good or evil?” I teased. “It was like they couldn’t see you at all!”

  “Yeah, I picked up on that,” he smirked. “If you get lucky then a third guy might show up and give you a piggy-back all the way to your room!”

  I heard something approaching and the two of us looked at each other with wide eyes. What was going to happen now?

  A golf cart rumbled into view and I recognized Kieran behind the wheel. He was waving enthusiastically at me and turning back to look into the lens of a camera that was being held by a woman I didn’t know.

  “Sadie! Such a joy to have you here on Tivercana once again. The most beautiful island in all of Hallow Haven, I’m sure you agree,” Kieran grinned. I smiled in response. I couldn’t be seen to be picking a favorite island because the others would riot, Kieran knew that and winked at me. “You don’t have to say it,” Kieran laughed.

  “Thanks,” I smiled, relieved.

  “I know you think it though!” he whispered. “This is my friend Emma from the Golfer’s Digest.”

  “It’s Emmy,” she sighed. Her tone suggested that she had corrected him about her name several times today already. “I’m taking photographs and video footage for the website. We provide a lot of exclusive content for our premium members, and—”

  “Yeah, golf stuff,” Kieran dismissed. “Anyway, I thought you’d like a ride up to the resort! It’s best to save your legs for all the hiking and exploring you’re probably going to enjoy between golf games.”

  I had barely parted my lips to respond, before he turned back to stare right into the camera. “There are just so many enchanting hiking trails to choose from, the only problem is deciding which one to check out first!”

  Emmy rolled her eyes in my direction. It seemed obvious that Kieran was trying to record his own promotional video for the island, Miller smirked out of the corner of my eye.

  “Is there room for Miller on the golf cart?” I asked. “Two bell-boys took all of my luggage but left him with his.”

  “Well, you are our honored guest, and Miller is just the sheriff,” Kieran laughed. He then straightened up and turned back to the camera. “We respect law enforcement here, so of course Sheriff Miller will get a ride.”

  Hey, if Kieran was only going to be nice to Miller because the camera was there then so be it. It was better than nothing. Kieran helped load Miller’s bags onto the golf cart and then insisted that I sat up front with him. Miller climbed onto the back beside Emmy, and we pulled away from the beach.

  “During your last visit you didn’t have a chance to enjoy our casino, where we run both table games and slot machines, isn’t that right?” Kieran smiled.

  “No, I didn’t,” I replied flatly. I didn’t want to be part of this weird commercial.

  “Well, I’m sure you will be interested in trying your luck over the next few nights. That’s if you can tear yourself away from our luxury swimming pool area or our exclusive dining facilities,” he grinned.

  “I’m not recording,” Emmy announced. I heard Miller laugh and Kieran gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, I saw his knuckles grow pale as he tensed. I managed to keep a lid on my own amusement, but I doubted it would be the last time he tried to sell the resort to the online golf community through Emmy’s footage.

  We pulled up at the building that was associated with the golf course and we climbed down onto the ground. It seemed to have had a fresh coat of paint on the exterior and every blade of grass surrounding it had been manicured to perfection.

  “This place looks great!” I smiled. “Oh, I brought you something.” I had sliced the Rocky Road into squares once it was chilled, gift wrapped it in plastic and tied a bow around the top. I had stored it in a cool bag surrounded by frozen peas because I knew that the heat in the air would probably melt the whole thing before I got it over here. I handed Kieran the gift and let out a sigh of relief that it wasn’t a messy puddle of chocolate covered nuts.

  “Thank you!” Kieran smiled. “I wasn’t expecting anything like this. Last time we hosted an event, Greta just brought me a six-pack of canned lemonade. This is great!”

  I shot Miller a look of, ‘did you know that Greta had done that?’, but he was trying to look anywhere but at me. I’d be having words with Effie and Kate later on, that was for sure.

  “You’re welcome,” I replied.

  “Hey, could you guys take these bags up to the suite?” Kieran ordered. He was speaking to the two bellboys that had previously run off with my luggage. There was a small sense of satisfaction that they were now carrying Miller’s bags as they had obviously been trying to avoid it up until that point.

  I had felt my heart beat loudly when Kieran had mentioned ‘the suite’. Had Oliver been right? Had Miller and I really been set up in the Honeymoon suite? Why was it called that? It wasn’t our honeymoon, that was for sure. The last time we’d been in a hotel on one of the smaller, outer islands we had been sleeping in separate rooms. This was new.

  I guess news of our relationship must have gotten out, gossip spread like wildfire around here. But someone should have asked our permission first, surely.

  A loud noise pulled me out of my head; it was a familiar voice, and they were yelling.

  “I told you that I wanted ice, not that I wanted only ice,” Susan shouted. “I know it’s a scam so that you don’t have to pour as much drink into the glass. It’s all about profit with you people. You make me sick!”

  As we entered the building it became clear who she was screaming at. Susan and her husband were standing in the reception area, berating a youn
g woman behind the desk who was almost in tears.

  “Ma’am, I didn’t make the drink,” the receptionist whimpered.

  “Oh, so you don’t think you bear any responsibility for one of your guests being served a subpar beverage? That was a golf pun, by the way. I don’t expect that you would understand a high-brow joke like that,” Susan snarled. This woman was a nightmare, and I was pretty sure that when you used the word ‘subpar’ in reference to golf, it meant that it was good. I don’t know much about golf, but for some reason I knew that.

  “Excuse me,” Kieran called out, hoping to diffuse the situation. “How can I fix this for you?” Susan clocked him and her whole demeanor changed. She went from overtly hostile to more of a casual pose, as if she had just recognized a friend.

  “I assume you’re the manager, I’m a business owner myself,” she smirked. “But I’m sure you knew that already, I’m famous around here.” I hadn’t even heard of her until she was ranting and raving in my café, so she couldn’t be that famous.

  “I am in charge today, yes,” Kieran replied.

  “Well then I suggest you fire whoever made this drink. I know that filling a glass with ice first is a tactic to reduce the amount of the drink I actually get so that you can save money. That is not the standard that I expect, you see…” she turned to walk back to the bar and Kieran dutifully followed along behind her. Her husband trotted behind like a lap dog and I raised my eyebrows an inch higher as I watched.

  “Make sure we stay on her good side,” Miller laughed.

  “I am already on her bad side, I probably should have mentioned that,” I smiled. “It looks like she is busy making new enemies though, so maybe she will move on from complaining about lasagna.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, shaking my head. I didn’t want to talk about that right now. The tall bell boy had just returned from wherever he had taken Miller’s bags and was gesturing for us to go with him.