Forever After (Montana Brides, Book 3) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  About this Book

  Dedication

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Contact Leeanna

  Excerpt and Booklist

  FOREVER AFTER

  Montana Brides Series, Book 3

  Leeanna Morgan

  Copyright © 2014 Leeanna Morgan

  Amazon Edition

  ISBN 978-0-9941054-2-4

  Published by Rogan Press

  For more information visit http://www.leeannamorgan.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is co-incidental.

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission of the author.

  About this Book

  She’s on a mission. He’s in control. For now.

  Nicky Scotson is on a mission: to duck, dive and deploy every evasive maneuver she can manage to keep away from Sam Delaney, Chief Executive of her family’s construction company. Falling in love with him two years earlier wasn’t the smartest thing she’d ever done and she won’t repeat the same mistake again.

  Sam is unprepared for the havoc that's about to turn his carefully ordered life into a crazy ride of hormones and heartache. When Nicky comes back to Montana to find the person stealing thousands of dollars from her family’s company, he knows he’s in trouble. A white picket fence and two point five kids have never been part of his plan. He thinks nothing lasts forever…until Nicky shows him that forever is closer than he thinks.

  Forever After is the third book in the Montana Brides series. If this is the first time you have read a Montana Brides story, you can easily read each book as a standalone. If you would like to know when the next book in the series is published, please go to my website www.leeannamorgan.com and sign up to my newsletter. Thank you for your incredible support!

  Other books by Leeanna Morgan:

  Montana Brides:

  Book 1: Forever Dreams (Gracie and Trent)

  Book 2: Forever in Love (Amy and Nathan)

  Book 3: Forever After (Nicky and Sam)

  Book 4: Forever Wishes (Erin and Jake)

  Book 4.5 Forever Santa (A Montana Brides Christmas Novella)

  Book 5: Forever Cowboy (Emily and Alex)

  Book 6: Forever Together (Kate and Dan)

  Book 7: Forever and a Day (Sarah and Jordan)

  The Bridesmaids Club (Linked to Montana Brides):

  Book 1: All of Me (Tess and Logan)

  Book 2: Loving You (Annie and Dylan)

  Book 3: Head Over Heels (Sally and Todd)

  Book 4: Sweet on You (Molly and Jacob)

  Emerald Lake Billionaires

  (Linked to The Bridesmaids Club & Montana Brides):

  Book 1: Sealed with a Kiss (Rachel and John)

  Book 2: Playing for Keeps (Sophie and Ryan)

  Book 3: Crazy Love (Holly and Daniel)

  I love you to the moon and back

  - Leeanna -

  CHAPTER ONE

  Nicky Scotson opened her front door, expecting to see her best friend smiling back at her. What she got was a whole lot worse.

  “Hello, Nicky.” Chocolate brown eyes stared straight at her, with no smile in sight.

  Her heart slammed against her chest, catching her breath in a painful knot. Two years hadn’t made any difference to the way her body reacted to the sight of Sam Delaney, Chief Executive of Scotson Construction, and the man she’d spent far too much time trying to forget. “What are you doing here?”

  “I thought it would have been obvious.”

  “Nothing’s ever obvious with you,” she growled. A long time ago she’d been madly in love with the mountain of a man standing in front of her. Falling for him during her management internship with her family’s company wasn’t the smartest thing she’d ever done. And looking at him now she realized how foolish she’d been. Men like Sam didn’t play for keeps - they played for fun.

  Leaning casually against the door frame, he folded his arms across his chest. “You’re staring at me like a bug under a microscope. Do you like what you see?”

  With a disgusted sigh, Nicky realized it would be impossible not to like what she saw. His brown hair was still as dark as rich coffee, carelessly pushed back from a face that made a woman forget why she should be angry with him. Wide shoulders, thick with corded muscles, were outlined in glorious detail beneath his white cotton shirt. Cowboy boots, scuffed and worn, anchored him to the ground.

  Anyone meeting him for the first time could be forgiven for thinking he belonged on a ranch, not behind a desk building a corporate empire.

  Nicky took a deep breath. It was time to show him she wasn’t the pushover he remembered. A lot of things had happened in her life since she’d left Montana. A lot of things that had made her a stronger person.

  With a stare that would have sent a lesser man scurrying for cover, her gaze traveled down his body. “Do I like what I see? Well, you’ve got a few more wrinkles and gray hairs than last time I saw you, but I’m sure you’ve made someone a nice husband.”

  His lips clamped together, tightening his jaw until she could almost hear his teeth grinding together. “I’m not married.”

  “Really? Spoiled for choice or still dating the wrong type of women?” She expected the snappy comment to make him angry. She wanted him off her doorstep and out of her life.

  He didn’t move. He stood his ground and Nicky’s heart sank at the disappointment shadowing his eyes. What he thought about her shouldn’t matter. But it did. And that worried her more than his unexpected appearance.

  “You still haven’t answered my question,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

  Unfolding his arms, Sam glared long and hard at her. “Are you going to let me in, or do you want to discuss our business out here?” he snapped.

  “We don’t have any business to discuss. If you’ve come about the meeting, I still haven’t decided whether I’ll be there. You’ve wasted your time coming to Denver. Goodbye.” Giving the door an almighty shove, she waited for it to slam in his face.

  Sam’s arm shot out, stopping the door in mid-flight. “I thought the last few years might have mellowed you, but you’re as reckless as ever. If you want to talk on your doorstep, that’s fine by me.”

  “You’re missing the point, Sam. I don’t want to talk to you.”

  “I’m taking you back to Bozeman,” he growled, ignoring the scowl aimed right between his eyeballs. “We’re booked on tonight’s six o’clock flight which gives you about two hours to get ready.”

  Nicky’s jaw dropped. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got a company to run and no reason to get on a plane with you.”

  “The letter I sent should be all the reason you need.”

  “You mean the summons I got last week to discuss a confidential job offer?” she scoffed. “I wouldn’t call sixty thousand dollars for six weeks work a reason. I’d call it a bribe.” Earning that much money didn’t make her heart sing. It made her wonder what was going on. The job had to be illegal,
immoral, or slightly devious to warrant that much cash. And looking at the man standing in front of her, any of those options were a possibility.

  Sam leaned in close. “You’re a business consultant. I’ve got a major problem with your family’s company and you’re the only person that can help. You’re coming with me, even if I have to sling you over my shoulder. You don’t have a choice.”

  His face hovered inches from hers. Taking a deep breath, she tried to ignore the wash of heat screaming through her body. A lot of good that did her. One whiff of his aftershave and she turned into a scatterbrained fool. With a tight smile plastered across her face, she said, “Everyone has a choice. If you’re trying to intimidate me, it won’t work.”

  His gaze hardened. “I don’t believe in bullying people, Miss Scotson. I would have thought you’d want to help in any way you could.”

  Damn the man. Regardless of what she thought about him, he knew she’d do anything for her family. “You can come in and tell me what’s going on,” Nicky muttered. She didn’t miss the smug lift to one side of his mouth. With a warning glare, she stared into his dark eyes. “I’m not saying I’m going, only that I’ll listen to what you have to say.” Which was a whole lot more than he deserved.

  Sam moved forward, blocking the afternoon sun. “Where do you want to talk?”

  Taking a deep breath, Nicky pasted a polite smile on her face. She looked past him at the dark gray SUV sitting in her driveway.

  His eyes followed her gaze, snapping back to look at her face. “You’re out of luck. When I leave this house, you’re coming with me.”

  “I’m sure in other circumstances those words might make some woman’s heart sing. You’ll have to excuse me for not leaping at the chance to spend quality time with you.” Tilting her nose in the air, Nicky moved out of the doorway. His cold glare stung her heated cheeks. She’d let her temper get the better of her and the look in his eyes told her she’d just stepped into enemy territory.

  Nicky followed him down the hall, wishing she could just turn around and disappear outside for the rest of the afternoon. “We can talk in the dining room. It’s the second door on the left.”

  Helping her family was one thing. Helping the man who’d trampled mercilessly over her heart was something altogether different. And she didn’t like it one bit.

  Sam planted himself in the middle of the room, hands on hips and a determined scowl on his face. “Someone’s stolen thousands of dollars from the company. I want you to figure out who it is, how much is missing, and how we can stop it from happening again.”

  For the second time that morning Nicky’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean? You’ve got lots of financial checkpoints to make sure every dollar is accounted for.”

  “We thought so too. Someone who knows the system has been working very quietly in the background, skimming off money. I want you to do an independent audit without anyone knowing why you’re there.”

  Nicky reached for the nearest chair and sat down, grateful for the wooden seats extra support. This couldn’t be happening. Her grandfather must be devastated. He’d started the family business over thirty years ago, growing the successful construction company from nothing more than sheer grit and determination. “How much are we talking about?”

  “Over eighty-five thousand that we know about.”

  Resting her head in her hands, Nicky tried to figure out how the fraud had gone undetected before now. And why the chief executive of the company had flown to Denver to hire her. “Why do you want me and not another consultant? There are other companies in Montana that are more than qualified to do the job.”

  Sam gripped the back of a chair, staring at her with barely controlled frustration. “You know how the company works, you’re discreet, and you’re professional. If anyone finds out what’s going on, our share price could go through the floor.” He pulled the chair out and sat down. “We could lose some major contracts if word got out that our financial management system is flawed. You’re the best person for the job.”

  The bitter taste of flattery and corruption curdled her stomach. “Does granddad know?”

  “He’s the one who suggested you.”

  A bubble of surprised laughter stuck like glue in the back of her throat. For years her grandfather had refused to accept that she could match the skill and attitude of the male managers his company hired. Working at his side during every school vacation hadn’t made any difference to his confidence in her abilities. If it hadn’t been for his retirement, she’d never have been given the opportunity to complete the management internship with his company.

  Sam watched her from the other side of the table, his brown eyes focused on her face. She glanced away, determined to ignore the pull of attraction that could turn her no-nonsense attitude into squishy jello.

  The only good thing to come out of the offer was the salary. Sixty thousand dollars would knock half of her mortgage into the great blue yonder. “If I come back, I want my own place. I’m not staying with my dad and stepmom.”

  Sam’s eyes softened to warm molasses. He thought he’d won.

  She knew he had. But she wouldn’t make it an easy victory.

  “Fine,” he said. “You can use one of the Lofts in the Village.”

  Nicky remembered seeing photos of the apartments Scotson Construction had built a few years earlier. Red brick buildings and a huge loft complex had been designed around landscaped grounds, close to the heart of Main Street. With five floors, the Lofts were the closest thing to high-rise apartment living in Bozeman.

  “I’ll need a logical reason to be there if I’m going undercover to investigate what’s happening.”

  “I’ll tell everyone you’ve been employed to do an efficiency audit. Being the granddaughter of the majority shareholder, and with your reputation, I don’t think you’ll get too much grief from anyone.”

  Nicky scowled. “What do you mean by ‘my reputation’?”

  “You’re strong-willed, demanding, and a perfectionist. Exactly like your grandfather.”

  Giving Sam a level stare, she tried to work out whether those qualities were an asset or a liability. He glared back, daring her to find fault with his back-handed compliment.

  If he thought she’d wiggle onto his hook that easily, he was sadly mistaken. It would take more than an apartment, a healthy bank account, and a semi-bogus job description to get her on a plane. She still had a few things to sort out before she went anywhere with him.

  “I get my own office, unlimited access to all company records, and you’re not to tell me how to do my job.” This time around her relationship with him would be according to her rules; professional, respectful and with as much distance between the two of them as she could manage.

  The glimmer of a smile lurked in his eyes. “Okay. But I reserve the right to make intelligent suggestions.”

  Leaning back in her chair, Nicky thought about how interfering those intelligent suggestions could become. “As long as you remember who’s in charge of the investigation, that’s all right.”

  He nodded.

  “I’ve also got my own business to run.”

  “You can work from Bozeman, if that helps.”

  Nicky drummed her fingers against the edge of the table, running through the projects waiting for her back at her office. It could work, but only if the rest of her team were happy to take on extra work.

  “I’ve got one more question. Why did you come here today? I was supposed to meet someone from the office on Monday.”

  “You wouldn’t have come. So I made your decision for you.”

  For a few seconds she didn’t think she’d heard him correctly. A hiss of air escaped her lips when she realized he’d been serious. Leaning forward, she matched him stare for stare. “I’m not a gullible twenty-four-year-old anymore. There’s no way I’ll let you make decisions for me. If I come with you, it’s because I want to, and my family needs me.”

  After the briefest hesitation, he said, “
Fine. No more decision-making on your behalf.”

  Dropping her arms to her side, Nicky dragged herself out of the chair. “It’s a deal then. I’ll pack my bags and make a few phone calls.”

  Sam smiled with such ferocity she felt as though she was about to be eaten by a big bad wolf. And she knew from personal experience just how big and bad he could be.

  ***

  After a quick change of clothes, Nicky found her suitcases and wheeled them into her bedroom. She pulled clothes out of her closet, tossing them into the open bags before she changed her mind about leaving.

  In between calling her staff and her neighbor, she managed to fill three suitcases to overflowing. Staring at one of the bulging bags sitting in the middle of her bed, she began to have serious doubts about what she’d agreed to do.

  “Cheer up. It can’t be as bad as that.”

  Sam stood in the doorway, looking like a man who really cared. She knew how deceptive those looks could be and she wasn’t getting sucked into his life anymore than she had to. “It’s okay for you. I’ve got six weeks of family life ahead of me. Six not so glorious weeks of fashion advice, grooming tips, and man advice.”

  Sam laughed. “I thought Maureen would have gotten the message after the last guy got the boot.”

  Nicky’s head shot up. “How do you know about the last man she earmarked for me? I never saw you the whole time I was in Bozeman.”

  “You mean you made sure you never saw me. But I heard about what you’d been up to.”

  “I’m going to kill Cody when I see him,” she choked out. “That brother of mine thinks Maureen’s matchmaking tendencies are funny. Just wait until she turns her attention on him. He won’t be laughing then.”

  For some strange reason, Cody and Sam had become great friends. Between a chief executive who thought he could tell her what to do, and a brother who had about as much common sense as a snail, she knew she’d be heading into dangerous territory. “That’s why I need my own apartment. At least Maureen won’t be able to pounce on me.”