It was a little past seven on a Tuesday night. They’d eaten a light and healthy dinner earlier and now Jake was in the kitchen getting slices of blueberry pie with ice cream for dessert.
The cats jumped at what sounded like a champagne cork popping out of a bottle. Jake brought out the desserts and set them on the coffee table and then a moment later, he returned holding two champagne glasses filled with something bubbly.
He handed one of them to Jess. She raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was up to. He smiled and lifted his glass toward hers.
“Today is our one-month anniversary. I thought we should celebrate!”
“Oh my goodness, it is!” Jess peered into her glass, watching the bubbles fizz and pop. “What is this?”
“Sparkling apple-cider. It should go great with the pie.” Jake tapped his glass against hers and said, “Cheers!” He sat next to her on the sofa, scooped Oliver up and away from bothering Rudolph and plopped him in his lap.
“I can’t believe it’s already been a month,” Jess said. They’d gotten married less than a week after Jake proposed. Neither one of them wanted a fancy wedding or any kind of a fuss. They went to town hall on a Friday morning, got married, and Jake and Oliver moved into Jess’s cottage that evening. It didn’t make sense to either one of them to wait.
They enjoyed each other’s company immensely, even more so now that they were married. It was a true partnership in every way. Living and working together was going even better than Jess had hoped, and they were both looking forward to moving into the new house as soon as it was completed. If everything stayed on schedule, which it seemed to be doing so far, they would be able to move in just before the holidays.
“I’m so glad we didn’t wait. I love being married to you.” Jake leaned over and kissed her tenderly. Jess broke the kiss off when something flew into her lap, startling her so that she almost spilled her drink. Oliver had taken a flying leap from Jake’s lap into hers and was now howling and demanding that she pet him. She ignored him for just a moment though, to respond to what her husband had just said.
“I’ve never been this happy. I love you so much, Jake. You and Oliver.” The little cat’s cries turned to purrs as she rubbed his back. She sighed and reached for her pie. Jake did the same.
Love, cats, and pie. Life was very good indeed.
~The End~
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Read on for a sneak peek into Accidental Agent, the next book in the series, by Amelia Adams!
Also by Pamela M. Kelley
Six Months in Montana
Mistletoe in Montana
Mischief in Montana
Match-Making in Montana
Winter in Ireland
The Wedding Photo (a friends to lovers romance)
Trust (Waverly Beach Mystery Series #1)
Motive (Waverly Beach Mystery Series #2)
Accidental Agent Sneak Peek!
Liz works part-time at Kelsey's Kafe, waiting tables and cleaning up after messy eaters while waiting to land her big book contract. Jack is a troubled FBI agent seeking solace from a difficult case who wanders onto the ranch purely by accident. But was it really an accident, or was it destiny?
Accidental Agent
River’s End Ranch Book Three
by Amelia C. Adams
Chapter One
When the bell over the door at Kelsey’s Kafé jingled, Liz looked up from the Formica table she was wiping. The family she’d served just a few moments ago had been cute, but the two toddlers had thrown more food than they’d eaten. She’d probably be finding bits of hamburger under the benches for days.
The customer who’d just entered might help take her mind off that, though. He was tall and good-looking, dark-haired—as all really good-looking men are—and dressed well. He glanced around as though he’d never seen a diner before and didn’t know how to act inside one.
“Welcome to Kelsey’s,” Liz greeted him, tossing her rag into the bucket of bleach water she’d placed on the bench nearest the mess. “Where would you like to sit?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. Anywhere, I guess.”
“How about over here? You really can’t beat this view of the mountains.” She led him over to one of her favorite tables, the one closest to the huge front window.
“Yeah, this’ll be fine.” He sat down, and she handed him a menu.
“Take a minute to look this over, and I’ll be back. In the meantime, what can I get you to drink?”
“Coke?”
“Sure. Be right back.”
Liz stepped into the kitchen and washed her hands, then dispensed a Coke from the machine on the wall. As she set it down in front of her customer, she asked, “What else can I get you?”
“Oh, I guess I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries.” He handed her the menu. She was about to head back to the kitchen, but instead, she studied him for a moment.
“You don’t sound very excited about your order.”
He shrugged. “Same old, same old. I get the same thing wherever I go.”
She shook her head. “Well, that’s no fun. Why do you do that?” “Less risk. I know what I’m getting.”
“But . . . but that’s so boring. Do you trust me?”
He looked up at her with eyes of blue. “Excuse me?”
“Do you trust me? Do you believe that I know this menu very well, and that I can bring you something the likes of which you’ve never tasted before and might not ever taste again?”
“Uh . . . sure, I guess.”
She flashed him a grin. “Don’t worry—I won’t poison you. Back in a minute.”
As she headed toward the kitchen, she yelled, “Western Wonder.”
“Western Wonder,” Bob, their new cook, hollered back.
Liz pulled out a tray and set a bottle of ketchup on it, then threw some fries into hot oil. While she waited for them to crisp up, she also cooked an onion ring, which she tossed to Bob as soon as it was done. He layered it on top of a nice lean quarter-pound hamburger patty smothered with cheddar cheese, four strips of bacon, and cheese sauce. He drizzled barbecue sauce over that, and topped it with sautéed onions. This was one of the new items he’d added to the Kelsey’s Kafé menu, and it was Liz’s favorite by far.
When everything was assembled, Liz loaded her tray and carried it out, where she set it in front of her customer with a flourish. “Here you go—our new Western Wonder barbecue bacon cheeseburger and chili fries.”
He looked down at his plate suspiciously. “It looks like a heart attack waiting to happen.”
Liz put one hand on her hip. “Come on now—all I did was take your order and give it some life. It’s not like I talked you out of a spinach salad or something.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He didn’t look all that convinced, though.
“Well, I tell you what. I’ll be right over there bussing that table. If you decide you really hate it, I’ll bring you whatever you want, on the house. And by ‘whatever you want,’ I mean ‘within reason,’ and when I say ‘on the house,’ I mean, ‘out of my paycheck,’ which is why I mean ‘within reason.’”
He cracked a smile, the first sign of emotion she’d seen from him. Good. Now they were getting somewhere.
“Just holler if you need me.”
Liz went back to work, wiping dried ketchup off the table. If this had been left to sit another five minutes, she’d be heading for a razor blade to scrape it up.
Everything was set back to rights and she’d put away her cleaning supplies when her handsome customer lifted his hand. She made her way back across the room and smiled as she approached his table. “Well, I see that your plate’s empty.”
“I was skeptical, but that might have been the best burger I’ve ever tasted. What w
as in that barbecue sauce?”
Liz shook her head. “Bob never reveals his secrets. He comes in first thing in the morning and mixes up his concoction before any of the rest of us are here. In fact, I’ve heard it rumored that he grinds the spices under the light of the full moon.”
“Is that so?” His lips twitched into a smile. He really did have a nice smile. Even if he had barbecue sauce on his upper lip.
“It’s very much so. Can I get you anything else?”
He looked out the window, and for a moment, Liz wondered if he’d heard her. Then he seemed to snap out of it. “I’m new in the area, and I need some advice on where to stay and what to do while I’m here.”
Liz motioned at the bench across from him. “Do you mind if I sit down?”
“No, of course not. Please do.”
She slid onto the bench. She and the other waitresses weren’t usually encouraged to hang out with the customers like that, but she knew she’d be excused because she was giving him advice on the best places to eat and do stuff, and of course she’d be recommending that he stay and play at River’s End Ranch. Kelsi, her boss, would be over the moon if Liz managed to get this guy to spend money at more ranch locations than just the diner.
“My name’s Liz,” she said, knowing he could read her name tag perfectly well, but always preferring the friendliness of an introduction.
“Jack,” he replied.
“Well, Jack, where are you from?”
“California,” he replied. She waited for him to expound on that illuminating comment, but he didn’t, so she went on.
“And what do you do?”
“You mean, for a living?”
“Um, yes, that’s what I meant.”
“I . . . don’t really know right now.”
Oh, dear. That didn’t sound hopeful for the ranch’s bottom dollar. “You said you’re new to the area—are you moving here or just passing through?”
“I don’t really know that, either.”
Liz held back a sigh. Why did all the really good-looking men have to be the shiftless ones? “It sounds like you’ll need a place to stay. We have some nice guest rooms here, or you can drive into Riston. There’s a Motel 8 there.” Hopefully that gave his wallet some options.
He nodded. “What else is here on the ranch?”
Liz shrugged. “What isn’t on the ranch? We’re like a whole little universe all by ourselves. We have horseback riding, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, a general store, a restaurant in addition to this café—we even have a spa. You know, you look kind of tense—a massage might be good for you. I get one pretty regularly.” And I’m not nearly as uptight as you are, she thought, but didn’t say.
“I don’t know.”
This one was a big talker, wasn’t he? “I tell you what. Go up to the main house and get a room, and they’ll give you a brochure with everything we offer. You can pick and choose from there.”
“Okay, thanks. I think I will.” He rose and tossed a bill on the table. “Keep the change,” he said as he walked away.
Liz picked it up, thinking it was a twenty. His meal had come to nine dollars and twenty-four cents, so a twenty would be a nice little tip, but then she blinked and looked again. He’d given her a fifty. That had to be a mistake—who runs around Idaho giving fifty-dollar bills to waitresses?—but he had left quickly, and she needed to get back to work. She’d pocket the change and then go over to the main house later and see if she could find him to give it back. Maybe he wasn’t as shiftless as she first thought.
Jack climbed the stairs to the long porch that circled around the main house at River’s End Ranch. He didn’t know what had brought him here, just that he badly needed to get away. His boss had put him on leave, and rightly so—he needed time to clear his head, to figure out what he wanted to do next. Those were answers he wasn’t going to get overnight.
He stepped into the main house and walked over to the reception desk. A young woman with curly red hair greeted him, welcoming him to the ranch.
“My name is Gwen, and I’ll be more than happy to coordinate your stay,” she told him. “How long would you like to be here with us?”
“I don’t know,” Jack replied. “Can we start with three days and go from there?”
“Of course. I have a great guest room available alongside the balcony—the view can’t be beat—and if you decide you’d like to extend your stay, just let me know. Here’s a brochure that tells you about all the activities and services we offer, and if there’s something you need but you don’t see it here, just ask, and we’ll see what we can do.”
Jack glanced down at his slacks, button-down shirt, and tie. “I think I need some clothes that are a little better fit for a ranch.”
“We have a clothing section in our general store,” Gwen told him. “The selection isn’t super extensive because really, how could we carry everything, but you should be able to get what you need.” She opened the brochure and showed him a map of where to find the general store, then pointed out other areas of interest on the property.
“Thanks, Gwen,” Jack said. “You’ve been a lot of help.” He handed her his credit card to reserve the room, then decided to head straight over to the general store. He didn’t have any luggage with him, so there was nothing to carry up to his room, and he might as well get the shopping over and done with—he hated shopping.
The general store was something else. When he walked in, he saw barrels of old-fashioned candy, bolts of fabric, big sacks of flour—did these people really think that tourists wanted to buy fifty pounds of flour as a souvenir of their trip? But as he walked farther inside, he saw that the old-fashioned stuff was like window dressing, and all the good stuff was just beyond it.
“Can I help you?”
He turned and saw a cute girl with dark hair pulled into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. “I need some jeans,” he told her.
“Not a problem. Right over here.”
Gwen had been right—the store didn’t carry a huge variety of men’s clothing, but they had everything he needed. He ended up with two pair of jeans, two T-shirts, two plaid shirts to go over the T-shirts because that seemed to be the thing, a pair of sneakers, some socks, and some underwear. He also found a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, razor, shaving cream—everything that he’d left behind when he got in his car and started driving blindly to the north. He still had no idea how he’d ended up in Idaho, but this was as good a place as any to hide out for a while.
At the register, he saw some cloth shopping bags for a dollar, and he decided to grab a couple. They weren’t exactly luggage, but they were a far sight better than what he had, which was nothing.
The dark-haired girl—her name tag read “Heidi”—rang up his purchases, put everything in his shopping bags, and didn’t ask him any questions. He appreciated that. He didn’t imagine too many people came in and bought all new clothes from the skin out, and he figured the logical conclusion would be that he’d lost his luggage, but she didn’t say a word. She just swiped his card, gave him a receipt, handed him a coupon for 10% off any entrée at the restaurant, and wished him luck.
Luck. He wasn’t so sure he believed in luck.
Accidental Agent will be releasing on Monday, November 24!
And if you haven’t already read the first book in the series, Short-Order Sheriff, by Kirsten Osbourne, you can get that here.
Short-Order Sheriff
About the Author
Pamela M. Kelley lives in the historic seaside town of Plymouth, MA near Cape Cod. She has always been a book worm and still reads often and widely, contemporary and historical romance, suspense, and cookbooks. She writes contemporary romance and suspense and you'll probably see food featured and possibly a recipe or two. She is owned by a cute little Maine Coon Cat, Ivy Lou.
Connect with Pam
@pamelamkelley
pamelakelleybooks
www.pamelakelley.com
[email protected]
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Veterinarian's Vacation (River's End Ranch Book 2) Page 11
