Summer in Snow Valley (Snow Valley Romance Anthologies Book 2) Read online

  A Summer Romance Anthology

  Copyright © 2015 Birch River Publishing

  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.

  ISBN: 978-0-9908608-2-2

  Birch River Publishing

  http://LucyMcConnell.wordpress.com

  Interior design by Christina Dymock

  Cover design by Christina Dymock

  Table of Contents

  Catching Caytie

  Cindy Roland Anderson

  Tin Foil Tiaras

  Jeanette Lewis

  A Touch of Love

  Cami Checketts

  First Love

  Taylor Hart

  Romancing Rebecca

  Kimberley Montpetit

  Love in Light and Shadow

  Lucy McConnell

  Catching Caytie

  Cindy Roland Anderson

  Dedication

  For my son Matthew—thank you for making me laugh, especially when you sneak up behind me and start reading my manuscript out loud in a British accent.

  Chapter 1

  Catherine Holbrook always told herself that if she ever caught her boyfriend cheating, she would dump him faster than her father traded girlfriends. Since this was a frequent event for her dad, why was she standing next to Edward Childs—AKA the Cheating Boyfriend—listening to him tell a group of his associates Catherine had agreed to be his wife? When had that happened? Considering Catherine didn’t drink, she knew it couldn’t have occurred in a moment of drunken stupidity.

  The live band ended a fast-paced song that pounded in time with Catherine’s throbbing head, and started playing a slower, softer melody. Glancing over at Edward, she felt her stomach twist with fury at the sly grin on his chiseled face as he accepted congratulations from his audience. She had yet to confront him about his indiscretion, seeing as he’d been out of town for the last week—with another woman.

  She’d wanted to break up with him the minute he was back in town, but her father had pleaded with her to wait. In the same breath her dad had tried talking her into letting it go and forgiving Edward. When that didn’t fly, he had begged her to at least not say anything until after tonight’s party. Edward was supposed to be schmoozing important clients, and if she caused a scene he might be off his game and ruin the whole deal.

  So, like the dutiful daughter she was, Catherine had agreed to wait until after the party. But now she stood there completely dumbfounded as Richard Holbrook, her not so doting father, raised his drink and said, “Here’s to Catherine and Edward.”

  “To Catherine and Edward!” the group repeated, as their glasses clinked together.

  Her father took a sip of his drink and then said, “When Edward asked if he could speak to me, he was so serious I thought for sure he was asking for a raise.”

  Light laughter rippled through the crowd at her father’s joke. The ice in his drink jangled against the glass as he took another swallow. “But much to my delight, he declared his undying love for Catherine and asked for her hand in marriage. Naturally, I gladly gave my consent.”

  A disbelieving gasp escaped Catherine’s mouth, which she covered with a cough. She couldn’t believe this! Her own father had betrayed her.

  “I’ve always thought of Edward as the son I never had.” Her dad’s voice cracked with emotion. “And now, thanks to my daughter, he will be.”

  Brilliant Dad. Had he totally forgotten the incriminating pictures Catherine had shared with him last night? The ones Edward’s lover had posted on Instagram? Having lived in Beverly Hills her entire twenty-four years, Catherine had made plenty of acquaintances. While most of her friends tended to be on the shallow side, quite a few of them had cared enough to alert her about the revealing photos.

  Anger swelled inside her as she listened to Edward’s smooth voice. She might be a blonde, but she wasn’t dumb. And there was no way she was marrying a cheater. Her mother had already done that and it hadn’t worked out so well.

  The small group applauded the toast as Edward put his arm around her shoulders, and ran his clammy hand up and down her bare arm. “Thank you. We’re going to be very happy, aren’t we, sweetheart?”

  All eyes were on Catherine. Except for her father’s. He was busy checking out the leggy brunette standing next to him—whom, by the way, was not his latest fling—wearing a skimpy little black dress.

  Catherine forced her mouth into a smile. “I’m still so overwhelmed by all of this that I find it difficult to put into words.” Actually, she had plenty of choice things she wanted to say to the two manipulative men…just not in polite company.

  Edward gave a dramatic little chuckle. “Well, that’s a first! I’ve made her speechless.”

  She bit back a retort and stared at her father who had finally dragged his eyes away from the raven-haired beauty. Catherine narrowed her gaze and gave him an overly bright smile. “Oh, I’m sure when everything has settled down I’ll have plenty to say.”

  Her father’s eyes darted away as he tossed back the rest of his drink. The crowd laughed and a couple of women in the group asked to see Catherine’s non-existent ring.

  “I wanted Catherine to pick it out,” Edward said, giving her shoulders a little squeeze. “But I’m sure she’ll show it off at the engagement party my mother plans to throw.”

  Yeah, right. That was one shindig Catherine didn’t plan on attending. And as for this little get-together—she was done.

  Stepping away from Edward Cheating Hands, she said, “Please excuse me. I think I’ll go freshen up a bit.”

  She made her way to the bathroom, wishing she had at least one person in the world she could talk to who actually cared about her. It was times like this when she longed for a mother—at least the mother in her daydreams—one who hadn’t been depressed and frequently admitted to mental hospitals for anorexia and attempted suicides. That part of her tumultuous upbringing had ended when Charlotte Holbrook had been killed in a car accident. Catherine had been twelve years old and was devastated by the loss. After all, a bad mother was better than none at all.

  Just thinking about her dysfunctional childhood brought tears to her eyes. She hadn’t even been able to go to her nanny for comfort. The young and beautiful caregiver had been seeing her father in his private quarters, and hadn’t really cared about a chubby twelve-year-old with braces and thick glasses.

  Catherine smoothed her hands down the front of her satiny dress, as if to reassure herself that she was no longer the painfully shy and overweight teenager she once had been. Reaching the height of five-seven and adding a daily workout with a personal trainer had transformed her frumpy body into well-proportioned curves. Laser eye surgery had taken care of the glasses.

  As she pushed through the door and stepped into the opulent bathroom, the din from the party faded. Catherine grabbed a tissue and dabbed at the moisture gathering in her eyes. Crying wasn’t something she usually indulged in. Unlike women in the movies, Catherine didn’t look pretty when she cried. Besides, her mother had done nothing but cry, and Catherine had vowed to never be like Charlotte Holbrook.

  She had also vowed to never marry anyone like Richard Holbrook. And Edward might as well have be
en her father’s son because it was apparent they were exactly alike. She’d suspected Edward had been unfaithful before, especially when he’d finally stopped pressuring her to sleep with him. For months and months she’d had to constantly remind Edward that she wasn’t having marital relations until she was actually married.

  Now, with irrefutable evidence of Edward’s infidelity, her father had pre-empted her move to finally break off the relationship by announcing an engagement. What she didn’t get was why he was so set on her marrying Edward. It’s not like he advocated the sanctity of marriage.

  Again, she wished she had someone to talk to. If only her Grandma Rose were still alive. While her maternal grandmother hadn’t exactly been the warmest person in the world, she had loved Catherine very much. When she died a few years back, Catherine had felt so abandoned.

  Closing her eyes, Catherine leaned against the vanity and tried to think of what to do next. Suddenly the door burst open and a giggling woman came into the powder room followed by a man wearing a dark suit and sporting a black cowboy hat. Oblivious to Catherine’s presence—or the fact they were in the women’s public restroom—the man pinned the woman against the wall and started kissing her.

  Great. The partygoers had now progressed from normal-crazy-people to intoxicated-crazy-people. This was the time Catherine usually went home. Edward and her dad were typically just getting started, and wouldn’t be ready to leave until they were in need of a designated driver.

  The woman giggled again and flung the man’s hat to the ground. It landed at Catherine’s feet. Seeing the hat triggered a memory of another man who’d worn a cowboy hat—her uncle George.

  How could she have forgotten him! Well, she knew how she had forgotten him. Twelve years ago George, her father’s only sibling, had come from his ranch in Montana for her mother’s funeral. He was completely opposite of her father and Catherine had loved that about him. But later that night, George and her father had gotten into a heated argument. The next morning Uncle George was gone, and her father had made sure she never heard from him again. If any cards had come for her birthday or Christmas, she never saw them. Once her father made up his mind, he rarely changed it.

  She remembered Uncle George as a soft-spoken, kind person who had called her Caytie Bug. Would he even remember he had a niece? Or even care? Still, somehow knowing she did have another living relative made her not feel so alone. As soon as possible, Catherine wanted to find a way to contact him.

  Stepping around the cowboy hat, Catherine exited the bathroom and then made her way to the cloakroom to collect her purse and keys. She always drove to these parties for the sole reason of being free to leave when she chose to.

  Once she had her things, she handed the valet the ticket to retrieve her car. While she waited, she hung back inside an alcove to avoid running into anyone she might know. Seconds later, her breath backed up in her throat when she caught sight of Edward and her father passing by.

  “Catherine nearly blew the whole thing by acting like she didn’t want to marry me!” Edward said angrily. “You said she’d forgiven me and agreed to announce our engagement.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” her father said with a soft chuckle. “She’ll come around.”

  “She better get there fast if we’re getting married in two months.”

  What! She almost stepped out to confront the two men, but stopped when she heard her father’s reply.

  “She will marry you. I’ll make sure of it.”

  They had moved down the hall and Catherine couldn’t hear anymore. But she’d heard enough to know the tone of her father’s voice, and to know he meant every word of his promise to Edward. He’d manipulated Catherine her entire life, usually getting what he wanted by cutting her off financially.

  However, telling her where to go to school or what kind of clothes to wear was completely different than ordering her to marry someone she didn’t trust or love. Truthfully, Catherine wasn’t sure she ever wanted to get married. Most of the men she knew were very similar to her father and Edward: self-serving, egotistical and unfaithful. No thank you. Once she had her own money and could live independently, she had no desire to have a man dictate what she had to do, or tell her how to act.

  She’d been going along with her father’s demands, knowing she only had to hold out for a few more months until her twenty-fifth birthday—the magic number when she’d finally gain access to the trust fund Grandma Rose had left her.

  The valet pulled up in her red BMW, and Catherine hurried outside. Hands shaking, she gave the young man a generous tip, climbed in behind the wheel and set off for home. She didn’t know how much time she had before either her father or Edward figured out she’d left the party, but when they did she would be long gone.

  Hopefully her uncle was still the kind of man she remembered because Catherine was going to do more than just call him. Like it or not, Uncle George was getting a visit from his only niece.

  ***

  Sweat trickled down Jace McAllister’s back as he hefted the fifty-pound feed sack into the bed of his truck. Late June in Montana was proving to be a scorcher. Usually this time of the year the highs were in the seventies, but the past few days the temperature had soared above ninety.

  Before loading the last sack, he took off his Stetson and wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. A warm breeze tousled his dark hair that was too long. He really needed to take the time to get a haircut.

  Placing his hat back on his head, he glanced at the passenger in his truck and caught the anger etched on Kellen Thomas’ face. Jace would give just about anything to have Kellen helping him. Not because Jace couldn’t do it, but because Kellen couldn’t do it—at least for now. Maybe never if the kid didn’t start trying.

  Reaching down, Jace loaded the final sack into his truck. He pulled off his leather gloves and stuck them in his back pocket. Rounding the side of the truck, Jace tapped on Kellen’s window.

  The kid lowered the window and glowered at Jace. “What?”

  Jace’s emotions battled between pity and frustration for the young man. The nineteen year old had barely been in the army for a year before he was deployed to Afghanistan. Only a month into his tour, an IED had killed four men in his platoon and left Kellen severely wounded. The doctors had saved his life but they’d had to amputate his left leg below the knee. Kellen said he wished they had let him die.

  “I just need to run back inside to get the new part for the tractor. Do you want a Coke or something?”

  Kellen’s dark blue eyes reflected the anger simmering inside him, boiling hot like one of Yellowstone’s geysers ready to erupt. “No thanks.”

  “Okay. Be right back.” Jace knew there was nothing he could do to help Kellen until the kid wanted to change. It hurt him to see someone he loved like a brother in so much pain.

  Though ten years spanned their age difference, Jace and Kellen were good friends. Both of them had lost their parents in their youth. Both of them had found a home at the GH Ranch in Snow Valley, Montana.

  At sixteen, Jace had been orphaned when his mother finally took her last hit of meth. Not ever knowing who his father was Jace had had no place to go. George Holbrook, owner of the GH and Jace’s employer since he was fourteen, had promptly offered Jace a permanent home. It was the first time he’d ever felt wanted.

  And thanks to Ilene Thomas, the housekeeper and cook at the GH, Jace had finally found out what a real mother was like. Ilene was also Kellen’s grandma, and after he had come to live with her, Jace had taken the kid under his wing and the two of them had become so close that some mistook them for real brothers.

  Kellen had the same dark, wavy hair as Jace’s, only now the kid kept it army short. Just last year, he’d had a final growth spurt and was now as tall as Jace at six two. The only difference was their eyes. While Kellen had deep blue eyes like that of a stormy lake, Jace’s eyes were dark brown, identical to his mother’s. He hated that, but at least his eyes had never once h
ad that glazed-over-stoned look he’d seen in his mom’s every day of his life until the day she died.

  Now the hopelessness in Kellen’s eyes haunted Jace. And there was nothing he could do but be patient with him.

  Jace picked up the tractor part and a couple of ice-cold Cokes. He exited the air-conditioned store and felt the heat hit him full force. He climbed inside the truck and cranked up the AC to high.

  “Man, it’s hotter than Hades out there.” He offered one of the Cokes to Kellen. “Here, I got you a drink.”

  Kellen sat still, the muscle in his jaw working to hold in his anger. Maybe if Kellen just went ahead and punched Jace, he might release some of his rage. To his surprise, Kellen turned and met his gaze. “Thanks,” he said, taking the bottle.

  A flicker of hope took hold in Jace’s chest. For just a second he had seen the real Kellen Thomas. I knew you were in there, kid.

  Jace opened his drink and took a long swallow. Kellen did the same then promptly let loose a belch loud enough to shake the windows. “That good, huh?” Jace said.

  Kellen didn’t reply, but Jace could almost swear the corner of his mouth twitched before the kid took another drink. This trip to town had been good for both of them. Jace would have to bully Kellen into coming more often. Maybe he might even persuade him to help out with the little league baseball team Jace coached.

  Feeling more encouraged than he had in a while, Jace put his Coke in the cup holder and backed out of his parking space, and headed for home. As he approached the intersection for Center Street and Main, he noticed traffic was unusually busy for Snow Valley. It was like every rancher had decided to stock up on supplies today.

  The one and only stop light in town was usually efficient, but with increased traffic the timing didn’t allow for very many vehicles to clear the light before it changed to red. Just as the light turned yellow, Jace noticed a bright red sports car approach the intersection. The BMW with California plates stuck out in downtown Snow Valley like a girl in a boy’s locker room.