Green Mountain Collection 1

by Marie Force

  Even though he was fine—this time—she felt dead inside from the certainty that someday he wouldn’t be. “I know. I can see that.”

  With his hands on her face, he forced her to look up at him. “What are you thinking? Please tell me. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it, but I can’t do a damned thing if you don’t talk to me.”

  A sob caught in her throat as tears fell from her eyes. As much as she didn’t want to, she couldn’t help but cry at the thought of losing this wonderful, beautiful man who’d managed to make her fall completely and totally in love with him.

  “Don’t cry, honey. I can’t bear it. I won’t race anymore if it upsets you this much.”

  Hannah shook her head. “No. Don’t say that. You love it.”

  Smiling, he shook his head with disbelief. “I don’t love it anywhere near as much as I love you.”

  “I can’t ask you to give up something that’s such a big part of your life.”

  “Hannah . . .” He closed the door that had remained open and took her into his arms. “The only thing I couldn’t live without is you. Don’t you know that by now? I was perfectly happy as one of the mechanics for the team, and I’ll be perfectly happy going back to that role if it means you never again look as wrecked as you do right now.”

  “I’m a mess. I know.”

  “Baby, you’re as gorgeous as ever, but it’s the wrecked look in your eyes that’s killing me.”

  “I had this feeling, this utter certainty that you were going to die out there. It was so real and so profound.”

  He encouraged her to sit on the bed and knelt in front of her, taking her hands and kissing each one of them. “I’m not going to die, Hannah. I’m going to live to be so old you’ll be wishing I was dead just so you can get rid of me.”

  “Never.”

  “I’m going to live that long just to prove you wrong, but I won’t race anymore.”

  “But what about the team? They’re counting on you—”

  He kissed her, keeping his lips pressed against hers until some of the starch left her spine. “Deke is my backup driver. With a little more practice, he’ll be every bit as good as I am.”

  “And you won’t hate me someday for forcing you to give up something you loved?”

  “You’re not forcing me to do anything. You’re just giving me a chance to prove there’s nothing I wouldn’t do if it means making you happy and giving you peace of mind.” He kissed away the tears on her cheeks before focusing again on her lips. “I understand where all this is coming from, honey. I get it, and I’m only sorry I didn’t anticipate how difficult it would be for you to see me doing something most people consider pretty dangerous.”

  “Most sane people.”

  That drew a laugh from him. “Stay there for one minute.” Still on his knees, he reached for his duffel bag and pulled it close enough to unzip a side compartment. He withdrew a small black box and turned to her.

  “What is that?”

  “Hold on a minute.”

  “I don’t want to hold on a minute. I want to know what it is.”

  Laughing, he leaned his head against her chest and then looked up at her, his heart in his eyes. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to take you on for life with your complete and utter inability to deal with surprises.” He opened the box and placed it on her knee. “Usually, the question comes first and the ring comes second, but in light of your issues, we’ll do it your way.”

  Hannah gasped at the sight of an exquisite diamond in a vintage setting. She looked at the ring and then at him and then at the ring again. “Where did this come from?”

  “It was my grandmother’s. I’ve had it for years waiting for the right woman to come along. For a long time now, I’ve known that the only right one who’d ever come along was you. I had no plans to propose to you in this tacky motel room, but I suppose this won’t be the last time things with you don’t go according to my plan. Hannah, will you marry me and have a family with me and grow so old with me that you’ll get sick of me?”

  Once again she couldn’t seem to breathe as she looked down at him.

  “You promised me I could count on your answer.”

  “Yes,” she said, laughing through her tears. “Yes, I’ll marry you.” She combed her fingers into his hair and brought order to the strands that were in disarray from his helmet. “I never thought I’d have this again. I’d given up on so many things until you came along and showed me I still have my whole life ahead of me.” With her hands on his face, she brought her lips down on his.

  “Your love has made me feel like the luckiest guy in the history of the world.” He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the bed when he stood and came back down on top of her. “Wait! The ring.” Lifting himself off her long enough to retrieve the box that had fallen on the floor, he removed the ring and slid it onto her left hand. “There. Now, where were we?”

  “I was about to ask you how in the hell we get you out of this thing.” She tugged at the jumpsuit impatiently, which made him laugh loud enough to wake Homer, who came to with an indignant howling yip that sounded anything but fierce.

  Hannah and Nolan dissolved into laughter, and the overwhelming joy she felt at that moment obliterated the fear from earlier. She’d gotten her second chance, and she planned to enjoy every minute of it.

  EPILOGUE

  Engaged . . . again. Nolan promised to live long enough to drive me crazy as an old man. I look forward to that and everything else we’ll experience together. On this joyful day I’m also grateful to Caleb for setting me free to love again. I’ll always love him, too, and I’ll never forget the precious time we had together.

  —From the diary of Hannah Abbott Guthrie, age thirty-five

  Lincoln Abbott had just shut off his computer for the day and was getting up to leave when his father-in-law came hobbling into the office carrying a bottle of champagne and wearing a big smile.

  The bottle landed on Lincoln’s desk with a loud thunk. “Engaged, my friend! How do ya like them apples? One dead battery and a ring on our girl’s finger!”

  “Where’re your crutches?”

  “Oh to hell with them! I’m here to celebrate!”

  Ringo and George raised their heads from their beds in the corner to see what all the noise was about. Seeing Elmer, they got up to greet one of their favorite friends. As always, he had biscuits in his pockets for both of them.

  Amused by Elmer’s effusiveness, Lincoln smiled and shook his head. “I still can’t believe it myself. I take it the lovebirds have been to see you.”

  “Indeed they have, and we had one hell of a celebration.” Elmer took a seat in front of Lincoln’s desk. “I can’t tell you what it means to me to see my little girl smiling again from ear to ear. Never thought I’d live to see that.”

  “I know what you mean. Molly and I were talking about that last night. Were you surprised they got engaged so quickly?”

  “A little, but as they said, they want kids, and they’re not getting any younger. We both know what it’s like to find a perfect fit and not want to wait to get going on a life together.”

  “Yes, we do.” Lincoln had taken one look at Molly Stillman and had known almost immediately that she was going to change all his plans.

  Elmer leaned forward to pop the cork on the champagne and poured the fizzing bubbly into two coffee cups on Lincoln’s desk. “Hope they’re clean.”

  “Just rinsed them out this afternoon.”

  Elmer handed one of them to Lincoln. “Two for two,” he said, raising his mug.

  Lincoln clinked his mug against Elmer’s. “We’re on a roll.”

  “Who’s next?” Elmer asked as he sat back to enjoy the bubbly.

  “I’ve been thinking about that. We’ve got quite a list of possibilities to choose from. It’s come to my attention that our oh-so-serious and focused Hunter has his eye on Megan from the diner.”

  Elmer’s white brows knit with confusion. “Cranky
Megan?”

  “The one and only.”

  “Hmm, not sure I approve of that match. I’ll have to take a closer look at her before I decide she’s worthy of our Hunter. What else have you got?”

  “Max and Chloe could use a little assistance in getting their act together before the baby is born.”

  “Let’s get him out of college before we go there.”

  “Good point. Then there’s Ella.”

  Elmer sat up a bit straighter in his chair. “What about her?”

  “Did you see the way she was gazing at Gavin Guthrie at Homer’s funeral? If that’s not a girl in a serious crush, then I don’t have ten kids.”

  “Well, well, well . . . That’s rather intriguing. Gavin’s a fine fellow. Every bit the man his brother was, and I’d love nothing more than to have another Guthrie in the family.”

  “I’m not sure he’s quite there yet though. The poor guy has been through hell, and that one will take some finesse. We might want to practice our technique a bit more before we move on to them.”

  “You make a good point. We’ve had some significant beginner’s luck with Will and Hannah, and we wouldn’t want to get too big for our britches or anything.”

  “God forbid.”

  Elmer took a sip of his champagne as he appeared to puzzle over their options. “Where does that leave us?”

  Lincoln sat back in his big leather chair and rested his feet on the desktop. “Colton.”

  Obviously intrigued, Elmer said, “Do tell.”

  “Remember the day Cameron and her friend Lucy pitched the website to us?”

  “That was the same day she and Will got back together and ran off into the sunset.”

  “Right. Molly and I invited Lucy to dinner, and Colton joined us. The two of them hit it right off, and he offered to see her back to the inn after dinner. Far be it from me to interfere with that kind of spark, so naturally we took him up on the offer. Since then, he’s shaved off the beard he’s had since high school, cut his hair and has dropped his dogs with us for several weekends away. He’s never said another word about Lucy since that night, but if you do the math—”

  “I can’t believe you’re just telling me this now! We’ve got work to do! Any friend of Cameron’s—”

  “—is a friend of ours.”

  “You said it! So what’s our plan?”

  Lincoln picked up a flyer from his desktop and handed it to Elmer.

  Elmer took the paper and scanned it, his face turning bright red as Lincoln fully expected. “What the hell is this?”

  “It’s a conference coming up in New York City.”

  “I can see that. I’m talking about the . . . the . . . things.”

  “They’re ‘pleasure aids’ for people of all ages.”

  “What in the name of tarnation sakes . . .”

  “Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,” Lincoln said with a smug smile.

  “You’d better watch yourself, boy. It’s not too late for me to come fetch my daughter away from you.”

  Elmer’s flustered reaction got a laugh out of Lincoln. “I think it might actually be ten kids too late for that.”

  “I ain’t too late as long as I’m still drawing a breath.” He tossed the paper back on the desk. “What’s all that got to do with Colton?”

  “I’m going to ask him to attend the conference and help me decide if we should offer the product line in the store.”

  “You want to bring that . . . stuff . . . into my store?”

  “Don’t have an apoplexy over it. That stuff sells like gang-busters, and we’d be crazy not to at least look into it.”

  “I like the idea of sending Colton, but I’m not sold on the product line.”

  “I’ll consider that a half victory.”

  “You think you’re so smart, don’t you?”

  “Whose idea was it to hire Patrick’s daughter to build a website for the store? And look at how that worked out. Have you ever seen Will happier?”

  “It was my idea to mess with Hannah’s battery,” Elmer grumbled.

  “We’re tied at one a piece. If this works out between Colton and Lucy, that counts in my column because she came through Cameron.”

  Elmer rolled his eyes at Lincoln’s logic. “What makes you think Colton will want to go to a pleasure aid conference in New York City? What’s that got to do with maple syrup?”

  “Not a damned thing. It won’t be about the conference, Elmer. If he snaps up the opportunity, we’ll have our confirmation that Lucy’s the one he’s been running off to see every chance he gets.”

  “You make a good point, even if I can’t picture those products in our store.”

  “Leave that part of it to me.”

  “Gladly.”

  “So we’ve got a plan?”

  Elmer raised his mug. “It’s a plan. Let’s go for three.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you, Audrey Coty, proprietor of the Nebraska Knoll Sugar Farm in Stowe, Vermont, for allowing me to borrow liberally from her blog (nebraskaknoll.com/vtmaple2013) detailing her facility’s 2013 sugaring season for Colton’s journal entries at the start of each chapter. She also helped to ensure the accuracy of Colton’s descriptions of how he makes syrup. My visit to Nebraska Knoll was one of my favorite moments in researching the Green Mountain Series, and I’m grateful to Audrey for her generosity. Thank you to “Jack’s” team—Julie, Lisa, Holly, Isabel, Cheryl and Nikki—for all you do for me so I can write, write, write. To my agent, Kevan Lyon, my editor, Kate Seaver, and everyone at Berkley Publishing, thank you for your support of the Green Mountain series. A very special thanks to the Orton family, proprietors of the Vermont Country Store, as well as the awesome staff in the Weston and Rockingham stores, for their incredible generosity toward me and the books that were inspired by the store and the Orton family. The series launch parties we held at the stores were the most fun I’ve ever had as an author, and I hope we can do it again sometime.

  Thanks to my family—Dan, Emily and Jake—for supporting my writing career, and to my dad for enjoying this wild ride with me.

  I usually thank my readers last, not because you are the least important, but because I like to save the best for last. I couldn’t do what I love to do without all of you. Your love for my books overwhelms and honors me every day. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope you loved Colton and Lucy’s story. If you did, be sure to leave a review on the retail site of your choice and/or Goodreads to help other readers discover the Green Mountain series.

  When you’re finished reading, join the I Saw You Standing There Reader Group on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/ISawHerStandingThere to discuss the story with other readers and fans with spoilers allowed and encouraged. Much more to come from the Green Mountains! Keep up with all the series developments and qualify for occasional giveaways as a member of the Green Mountain Reader Group at facebook.com/groups/GreenMountainSeries. The best way to stay up-to-date with all my news is by joining my mailing list at marieforce.com.

  Watch for Hunter and Megan’s story in And I Love You, coming in March 2015. Keep reading after the Colton and Lucy short story, for a sneak peek at Hunter and Megan’s story. Thanks for reading!

  xoxo

  Marie

  CHAPTER 1

  Sugarmakers in Vermont feel a bit tender about the weather this winter, what with memories of the heat wave in March last year that choked off the sap runs. In response, we decided to start tapping earlier than ever, on February 6. What’s two weeks? It sounds insignificant, but it feels akin to moving Christmas Day up to December 11.

  —Colton Abbott’s sugaring journal, February 11

  Colton Abbott had never considered himself a particularly private person—that is, until he had something big to hide from his loving but overly involved family. His six brothers, three sisters, two parents and one grandfather were dying to know how he was spending his weekends lately, and Colton was loving that they had no idea. Not the first clue.


  A smile split his face as he drove across Northern Vermont, from his home in the Northeast Kingdom town of Butler to Burlington, where his family owned a lake house and where his “secret” girlfriend would be meeting him in a couple of hours. He wanted to get there early and hit the store for supplies so they could relax and enjoy every minute of their time together.

  Colton had big plans for this weekend, the sixth one he’d spent completely alone with her. During that time, they’d talked about nearly every subject known to mankind, they’d kissed a lot, fooled around quite a bit and last weekend, they’d even gone so far as to take each other all the way to blissful fulfillment. But they’d yet to have sex.

  He intended to fix that this weekend before he lost his mind from wanting more of her. He’d tried to respect her wishes to “take things slow” so they didn’t “get in over their heads” when they lived so far from each other and had so little time to spend together. Of course he’d heard people say for years that long-distance relationships sucked, but until he’d experienced the suckage personally, he’d had no idea just how totally the situation sucked.

  It got worse with every weekend they spent together when he was left wanting more and having to wait a full week before he could see her again. They’d been lucky so far. Other than the weekend he’d stayed home for the funeral of his sister Hannah’s dog Homer, they’d had six weekends with no other commitments to get in the way of their plans, but he knew reality would interfere eventually. They both had busy lives and families and other obligations that would mess with the idyllic routine they’d slipped into over the last month and a half.

  They’d met halfway the other times, and this would be the first time that she’d come to Vermont. Since he wasn’t quite ready to expose her to the austere life he led on his mountain, he’d asked his dad for the keys to the lake house.

  And what an odd conversation that had been the day before . . . With time to think about it during the two-hour ride across the state, Colton had the uncomfortable suspicion that the one person he wasn’t fooling with his secret romance was his dear old dad.