by Force, Marie
“He’s been ornery lately.” Hannah acted as if she had a direct bead on Fred’s moods, which she sort of did, not that anyone wanted to admit that out of fear of encouraging her moose-whispering activities. The best part was that she didn’t even think her unique bond with a full-grown bull moose was weird. Everyone else did, though, especially Nolan, who was continuously freaked out by her close encounters of the moose kind. “Ever since I took Baby Dexter home with me, he’s been out of sorts.”
“Has it occurred to you that Fred liked having Baby Dexter around and maybe he didn’t want you messing with him?” Lucas asked.
“Of course it has, but he has no business raising a baby moose.”
Bouncing Caden, who seemed to have dozed off, Lucas raised his brows in disbelief. “And you do?”
“I’m better at it than Fred is. At least with me, the poor baby is getting regular meals and lots of love.”
“Which is critical to moose development.”
“Every baby needs lots of love. Moose are no different.”
It took effort on Lucas’s part not to roll his eyes. Knowing she was dead serious kept him from mocking her—that and his newfound intention to act more like an adult than a buffoon. The sound of a baby crying in the next room had Hannah spinning around to go to her daughter. “Speaking of babies…”
When they were alone, Lucas gazed down at Caden’s sleeping face. “Auntie Hannah may be nuts, buddy, but she’s the best kind of nuts.” Lucas admired his older sister more than just about anyone he knew. After enduring the devastating loss of her first husband, Caleb, in Iraq, watching her find new love with Nolan had been inspirational. And now they had baby Caleb, whom they called Callie, and Hannah smiled all the time. If taking care of a baby moose made her happy, so be it. If anyone had earned the right to be happy, it was Hannah.
“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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Other Books By Marie Force
Love Always Boxed Set, First Books in Four of Marie’s Bestselling Series
Contemporary Romances Available from Marie Force
The Gansett Island Series
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Book 5: Hoping for Love
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Book 6: Season for Love
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Book 7: Longing for Love
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Book 8: Waiting for Love
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Book 9: Time for Love
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Book 10: Meant for Love
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Book 10.5: Chance for Love, A Gansett Island Novella (Jared & Lizzie)
Book 11: Gansett After Dark
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Book 12: Kisses After Dark
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Book 13: Love After Dark
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Book 14: Celebration After Dark
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Book 15: Desire After Dark
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Book 16: Light After Dark
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Book 17: Victoria & Shannon (Episode 1)
Book 18: Kevin & Chelsea (Episode 2)
A Gansett Island Christmas Novella
Book 19: Mine After Dark
(Riley & Nikki)
Book 20: Yours After Dark
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Book 21: Trouble After Dark
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The Green Mountain Series
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Book 1: All You Need Is Love
(Will & Cameron)
Book 2: I Want to Hold Your Hand
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Book 3: I Saw Her Standing There
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Book 4: And I Love Her
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Novella: You'll Be Mine
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Book 5: It's Only
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Book 6: Ain’t She Sweet
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The Butler, Vermont Series
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Book 3: Here Comes the Sun
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Book 4: Till There Was You
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Book 3: Starting Over
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Five Years Gone
One Year Home
Sex Machine
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Georgia on My Mind
True North
The Fall
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Love at First Flight
Line of Scrimmage
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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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