Spring in Snow Valley Read online

  A Romance Anthology

  Copyright © 2016 Pepin Publishing Company

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places, incidents, and dialogue are products of the authors’ imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without prior written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles.

  Pepin Publishing Company

  http://LucyMcConnell.wordpress.com

  Interior design by Christina Dymock

  Cover image by Valerie Bybee Photography

  Cover design by Christina Dymock

  Table of Contents

  Operation Kiss the Girl

  Cindy Roland Anderson

  Love Coming Late

  Jeanette Lewis

  Running from the Cowboy

  Cami Checketts

  The Bet

  Taylor Hart

  Sealed with a Kiss

  Kimberley Montpetit

  Romancing A Husband

  Lucy McConnell

  Operatio

  n Kiss the Girl

  Cindy Roland Anderson

  Chapter 1

  In the past forty-eight hours Ivy Baker had tasted freedom… and she liked it. She knew it wouldn’t last forever—six weeks at the most—and apparently with Aunt Tillie’s help Ivy was going to make every second count until she’d have to return home to the ranch and marry a man she pretended to be in love with.

  Not that she’d admit that to anyone. She’d made a promise to her father, and she owed it to her brothers to follow through with that promise. So as soon as Corbin Spencer asked her to marry him, Ivy was going to say yes.

  Unwilling to dwell on her inevitable destiny, Ivy ran a brush through her long, dark hair, loving the loose curls cascading over her shoulders. Usually she wore her hair in a braid or up in a ponytail, but after arriving in Snow Valley, Montana her Great Aunt Tillie had taken her to the local beauty salon for a mini makeover. Living on a ranch with her four older brothers in a remote part of Montana meant shopping and trips to the salon weren’t a high priority.

  Gwen, the owner of Gwen’s Salon, had studied Ivy for several minutes, commenting on her olive colored skin tone, and debating about what color of eyeshadow would enhance her dark brown eyes.

  Since Ivy rarely used makeup she didn’t want to look too made up, but Gwen had showed her how to apply the makeup so that it looked completely natural. Ivy was surprised by how long her normally dark eyelashes actually were when she used a little mascara.

  The new hairstyle had been the scariest thing. She’d never had highlights before, and worried that the eight inches Gwen wanted to take off would make her feel bald. But the results were wonderful, and her hair still hung to the middle of her back.

  “Ivy?” Aunt Tillie called as she knocked on the bedroom door. “Are you about ready?”

  “Coming.” Ivy set the brush down and crossed the room to open the door to find Aunt Tillie balancing on her good leg with her crutches. “Do I look okay?” Ivy asked.

  Before the makeover, Aunt Tillie and her friend Joyce had picked Ivy up at the bus station in Billings and taken her shopping for new clothes. Aunt Tillie had spent way too much money on her, but her aunt argued that she had plenty of money and no one else besides herself to spend it on.

  Aunt Tillie grinned. “You look gorgeous.” She made a motion with her finger to have Ivy turn around. “I love the new look.”

  Ivy ran a hand down the side of the formfitting jeans. When Aunt Tillie had handed her the skinny jeans to try on, Ivy was positive they wouldn’t fit or would be uncomfortable. Although the jeans clung to her curves, the material was stretchy and proved to be more comfortable than the ratty pair of sweats she used for pajamas.

  “Thank you again for the new clothes. The boys won’t know what to think if they see me in something other than Wranglers and a flannel shirt.”

  “Your brothers love you, dear, but I think they sometimes forget you’re a girl, not one of the guys.”

  It was true, but it wasn’t entirely her brothers’ fault. Ivy had tried very hard to prove to her father she wasn’t a worthless girl. The funny thing was that being a girl was what finally won her father’s respect, or at least the fact that she was a pretty enough girl—even in her Wranglers and flannel—to gain the attention of Corbin Spencer. Corbin had been obsessed with Ivy since the summer she’d turned sixteen. He’d made it clear to her father that he wanted Ivy, and in return he’d grant her family back three out of the five water rights their great grandfather had lost to the Spencer’s during the depression.

  “They are pretty clueless,” Ivy said with a laugh. “But they love me.”

  Aunt Tillie narrowed her eyes. “Yes, they do. That’s why I don’t understand why they’re so dead set on marrying you off to that Spencer fellow.”

  Ivy felt her throat constrict, making it difficult to breath or to speak. She knew how her aunt suspected Ivy wasn’t really in love with Corbin. Her brothers—bless their clueless hearts—thought Ivy was happy about the match that would finally end the Spencer—Baker feud.

  “They aren’t making me marry Corbin. I… want to marry him.”

  She squirmed under her aunt’s probing stare. The reason she wanted to marry Corbin had everything to do with love… for her brothers. Since their mother had died giving birth to Ivy, something her father never let her forget, she’d always felt like she needed to make it up to them somehow. She knew the ranch was in trouble. Marrying Corbin Spencer would benefit the Baker Brother’s Ranch by giving the BBR back the coveted water rights.

  Two lines creased Aunt Tillie’s forehead. Before she could say anything more, Ivy glanced at her watch. “We’re going to be late for your appointment. Didn’t you say we have to be there by nine?”

  Aunt Tillie smiled and gave Ivy a wink. “We’re not done discussing this, Ivy Marie Baker. Although I do need your help around the house and volunteering at the library while I recover from the knee surgery, you know it isn’t the only reason I asked for you to come stay with me.”

  “Really?” Ivy said sarcastically. “I would’ve never guessed you had ulterior motives.”

  Aunt Tillie snorted a laugh as they made their way toward the kitchen. “I’m glad to see you’ve still got some of your grandma’s spunk left in you. Maybe you’ll defy your brothers after all and not marry that haughty Spencer man.”

  Ivy’s grandma, Sarah, had been Aunt Tillie’s only sister. She’d helped raise Ivy until she’d passed away from cancer when Ivy was ten, leaving Ivy’s father and four brothers to finish raising her.

  “I told you they aren’t making me marry Corbin.” Ivy grabbed the keys to her aunt’s sedan and opened the door leading to the garage. “Besides, Corbin hasn’t officially asked me yet.”

  “Good, then if a nice young man wants to take you dancing or to dinner you can say yes.”

  The only reason she wasn’t engaged yet was because Corbin said he wouldn’t propose until a diamond that met his specifications could be found, but Ivy knew it had more to do with him having the upper hand. The Baker’s had wanted to reclaim the water rights for a long time, and the Spencer’s weren’t willing to negotiate—until now. Ivy’s father had drilled it into her that if they had any hope of recovering the losses over the last few years it would be by getting back the lost water rights so she went along with the plan. Corbin knew that, and he liked dangling the proverbial carrot of the water rights in front of
her brothers.

  “If… I meet someone who wants to take me dancing,” Ivy said, helping her aunt into the passenger seat. “I promise I’ll consider going.”

  That pleased her aunt, and got her onto another subject of where Ivy could meet eligible young men. The twenty-minute drive to the physical therapist’s office was fairly pleasant as Aunt Tillie talked about some of the festivities Snow Valley had planned, like the hot air balloon festival.

  Her aunt was disappointed Ivy had missed the barn dance a couple of weeks earlier. Ivy was secretly glad she’d missed it. She’d only been to one dance during school, and it hadn’t gone well. The stupid boy who took her started drinking the minute they walked into the gym, and ended up puking all over her borrowed dress.

  Still, part of Ivy hoped she would meet someone to sweep her off her feet. As an avid romance reader, she knew how a man’s kiss was supposed to make you feel. The few times Corbin had kissed her, his wet sloppy kisses had never once induced erratic heart palpitations, accompanied by warm tingling sensations that made her feel lightheaded. So she tried to avoid being kissed whenever possible.

  But she dreamed of being kissed like the heroine’s in her novels. In fact, Ivy had started a list of romantic ways she wanted to be kissed. Corbin would never take her out in a rowboat for a romantic evening on the lake and kiss her under the moon. She also couldn’t imagine him ever pressing her back against the wall of a gazebo and kissing her passionately during a rainstorm.

  Maybe she would take her brother Ethan’s advice instead of Morgan’s. Ivy pictured the look on her oldest brother’s face when he’d hugged her goodbye. Morgan had told her to enjoy her time with Aunt Tillie and not worry about the ranch. Then he’d admonished her not to fall for some cowboy with a pretty face. Ethan, the youngest of the four brothers, had taken Ivy to the bus station and told her just the opposite.

  “Have some fun, Ivy Girl, kiss a few cowboys before you tie the knot with Spencer.”

  Ethan was the only one of her brothers who had voiced his concerns about her marrying Corbin before having a chance to date other guys. But then Ethan was the only brother to leave the ranch and go off to college. He was done with school now, and handled the business end of the BBR ever since their father’s death.

  Weston and Christian were less vocal about her love life, but they tended to side with Morgan and told her to be safe and to remember she was a Baker. Technically all four of her brothers had no business giving her advice on love. None of them had ever fallen in love before. They didn’t have time for it. They were too busy trying to keep the ranch afloat.

  She decided that as soon as she was back home she would make it her mission to find wives for the Baker boys.

  “Turn left here,” Aunt Tillie said, directing Ivy to the physical therapist’s office.

  Pulling into a vacant space, Ivy glanced at the clock on the dashboard and grinned. They’d made it with five minutes to spare.

  After cutting the engine, Ivy climbed out of the car and rounded the front of the vehicle to assist Aunt Tillie. Her great aunt had had a total knee replacement the week before. She’d hired a nurses’ aide to assist with her recovery, but a few days ago the woman had to leave unexpectedly for a family emergency.

  Aunt Tillie needed to continue with the physical therapy, and needed someone to drive her to the appointments and also help out around the house. With no children of her own, her aunt had called and requested Ivy come stay with her for the four to six weeks she’d be in physical therapy. Ivy was happy to help Aunt Tillie. Although spring was one of the busiest times on the ranch, her brothers all agreed Ivy should help their aunt out in her time of need.

  Corbin hadn’t liked her coming here at all. She hadn’t asked for his permission and that bugged him. He was very much a control freak. At least he hadn’t texted her this morning. The past two days he’d texted her annoying little reminders that she was his and what was at stake if he decided not to marry her. There wasn’t one message that said how much he loved her and missed her.

  “Watch the curb,” Ivy said from behind, watching as her aunt hurried with her crutches toward the door of the office. At sixty-nine Aunt Tillie was fairly feisty and didn’t like being immobilized. The doctor said her stubbornness would help her have a speedy recovery as long as she didn’t overdo it. Without Ivy coming to stay, Aunt Tillie was sure to overdo it and end up back in surgery. Especially since Snow Valley was one of the most close-knit communities Ivy had ever seen. They always had something planned and her aunt liked being in the thick of things.

  As a little girl Ivy remembered visiting Snow Valley during Christmas when her Grandma Sarah had still been alive. The entire town had been like the miniature Christmas Village her grandma had set up every year. She had wanted to live in a place like Snow Valley ever since then.

  Before Ivy could get the door, her aunt pushed the big silver button to open the door automatically.

  “Hey there, Miss Tillie,” the receptionist said with a grin. The pretty girl had a charming southern accent and a beautiful smile with the whitest teeth Ivy had ever seen. “You’re lookin’ wonderful today.”

  “Thank you, Cassie.” Aunt Tillie looked at Ivy. “This is my beautiful niece, Ivy, I was telling you about.”

  Cassie smiled and held out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Ivy.”

  “Hi,” Ivy said, taking her hand briefly. She wondered if she should insist on teeth whitener the next time she visited the dentist. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

  “Y’all have a seat, and Dr. Marshall will be right out to get you.”

  Soon after Aunt Tillie got settled into one of the chairs, an enormous man in both height and girth came into the waiting area. “Tillie Cooper, my favorite patient to torture.”

  Aunt Tillie laughed. “You flatterer. I’ll bet you say that to all of your patients.”

  “Nope.” He grinned widely. “You really are my favorite. I especially love all the endearing expletives you say to me.” He put a hand over his heart. “It truly warms my heart.”

  Ivy stared at her aunt with wide eyes. She’d never heard one cussword come out of her aunt’s mouth before. “Do you want me to come in with you?”

  “No, thank you, sweetie.” Her aunt propelled herself toward Dr. Marshall. “I don’t want you hearing any naughty words that might slip out while Dr. Brute here torments me.”

  “You must be Ivy,” Dr. Marshall said as he took a few steps to offer Ivy his hand.

  “Yes, it’s nice to meet you.” Ivy shook his large hand. “I think.”

  “That’s my girl,” Aunt Tillie said with a laugh and then slipped past the doctor.

  “I really am a nice guy.” Dr. Marshall winked at Ivy. “As long as you aren’t one of my patients.”

  The big man followed Tillie down the hall. Ivy might have been concerned for her aunt if she didn’t know this was a necessary part of her recovery. Her brother Christian had injured his knee when he’d been bucked off a new horse Weston was training. A physical therapist assistant had come out to the ranch three times a week to help get him back up on his feet.

  “Dr. Marshall is the best,” Cassie said. “Your aunt is in good hands.”

  “Thank you.”

  The phone started ringing and Cassie excused herself to answer it. Ivy was anxious to dive into her book while she waited for her aunt, but first she needed to use the restroom. Since Cassie was still on the phone, Ivy got up to find the bathroom herself. She wandered down the opposite hall and easily found it.

  As she placed her hand on the doorknob, she heard a loud clatter coming from the next room over followed by a distinct cussword her brothers would’ve washed her mouth out for using.

  The person doing all the cussing and yelling sounded young, and Ivy found herself curious about what was going on. She eased down the hall until she came to a door with a window. Peeking inside, she saw a teenage girl sitting on an exam table with her arms crossed defiantly over her ches
t. Ivy’s eyes immediately honed in on the girl’s missing leg. Two other young people were in the room, staring at the defiant girl.

  A broad-shouldered man wearing a straw cowboy hat walked across the room and bent down and picked up a prosthetic leg that the girl had clearly chucked in anger. He slowly walked toward the girl with a slight limp. When the man stopped in front of her and held up the leg as if to strike her, Ivy sucked in a breath, prepared to barge into the room to save the girl.

  The girl’s eyes widened and then her lips twitched and stretched into a smile. Ivy was curious about what the man had said to make the girl smile. In fascination, Ivy watched as the girl shook her head and started to laugh.

  Just then the man in the cowboy hat turned and caught Ivy staring at him through the window. He had amazing blue eyes, and a killer smile that made her knees feel weak. It was probably just her imagination, but the guy reminded her of the main character in the romance book she’d finished a few weeks earlier.

  Seconds ticked by as their gazes remained locked. Before Ivy did something crazy like rush into the room and demand the cowboy kiss her senselessly, she heard Cassie direct a Mrs. Iverson to find her daughter in the first room past the restroom.

  With her heart pounding wildly, Ivy quickly retreated to the restroom and locked the door. Leaning back against the door, she took in several deep breaths. She was being completely ridiculous, and acting as if she’d never met a good-looking cowboy before. There’d been plenty a ranch hands she’d found attractive, but her overprotective brothers pretty much threatened the life of any guy who dared to ask her out.

  Corbin had slipped by their notice because of her father’s insistence the feud between the two families end with their generation. Corbin was a frequent guest for dinner where her father would discuss the possibility of buying the rights back. But somewhere along the line Corbin had struck a deal with her father that involved marrying Ivy.