I Saw Her Standing There (37 page)

Thank you, Audrey Coty, proprietor of the Nebraska Knoll Sugar Farm in Stowe, Vermont, for allowing me to borrow liberally from her blog (nebraskaknoll.com/vtmaple2013) detailing her facility’s 2013 sugaring season for Colton’s journal entries at the start of each chapter. She also helped to ensure the accuracy of Colton’s descriptions of how he makes syrup. My visit to Nebraska Knoll was one of my favorite moments in researching the Green Mountain Series, and I’m grateful to Audrey for her generosity. Thank you to “Jack’s” team—Julie, Lisa, Holly, Isabel, Cheryl and Nikki—for all you do for me so I can write, write, write. To my agent, Kevan Lyon, my editor, Kate Seaver, and everyone at Berkley Publishing, thank you for your support of the Green Mountain series. A very special thanks to the Orton family, proprietors of the Vermont Country Store, as well as the awesome staff in the Weston and Rockingham stores, for their incredible generosity toward me and the books that were inspired by the store and the Orton family. The series launch parties we held at the stores were the most fun I’ve ever had as an author, and I hope we can do it again sometime.

Thanks to my family—Dan, Emily and Jake—for supporting my writing career, and to my dad for enjoying this wild ride with me.

I usually thank my readers last, not because you are the least important, but because I like to save the best for last. I couldn’t do what I love to do without all of you. Your love for my books overwhelms and honors me every day. Thank you, thank you,
thank you
! I hope you loved Colton and Lucy’s story. If you did, be sure to leave a review on the retail site of your choice and/or Goodreads to help other readers discover the Green Mountain series.

When you’re finished reading, join the
I Saw Her Standing There
Reader Group on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/ISawHerStandingThere to discuss the story with other readers and fans with spoilers allowed and encouraged. Much more to come from the Green Mountains! Keep up with all the series developments and qualify for occasional giveaways as a member of the Green Mountain Reader Group at facebook.com/groups/GreenMountainSeries. The best way to stay up-to-date with all my news is by joining my mailing list at marieforce.com.

Watch for Hunter and Megan’s story in
And I Love Her
, coming in March 2015. Keep reading after the Colton and Lucy short story, “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” for a sneak peek at Hunter and Megan’s story. Thanks for reading!

xoxo
Marie

Turn the page for a bonus short story featuring Colton and Lucy,

LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS

A Green Mountain Series Short Story

“Y
ou want to do
what
?” Lucy asked, certain—absolutely
certain
—she’d heard him wrong.

“Come on, Luce,” Colton said in that charming, cajoling tone that usually worked wonders on her, especially when he was trying to separate her from her clothes. “It’ll be a blast. And you’ll get two whole days with Cameron, your second favorite person in Vermont. Come on . . .
Pretty please?
”

“Don’t do that.”

“What am I doing?”

“That whole I’m-too-cute-for-words thing you do whenever you’re trying to talk me into something you know
I
don’t want to do.”

“I’m too cute for words? Awww, thanks, honey. You say the sweetest things. I’m so glad I was smart enough to ask you to marry me.”

“There! You’re doing it again! Stop trying to distract me, and the answer is still no. An emphatic no-way-in-hell-are-you-talking-me-into-going-camping
no
. Any questions?”

“Just one.”

“And that is . . .”

“Do you love me, Luce?”

“Oh don’t do that either! What kind of question is that? You know I love you. I tell you I love you every day—at least ten times a day.”

He came to her then, his eyes warm and amused as he looked at her, and put his arms around her. “Then let me share something I love with you. Trust me enough to ensure you’ll have a great time and be perfectly comfortable. Please?”

“My idea of camping is an all-inclusive resort with a spa and room service.”

“We’ll do that sometime, too. Any time you want.”

“And Cameron actually agreed to this plan of yours and Will’s?”

“She’s in.”

“I won’t believe that until I hear it from her.”

“You aren’t calling me a liar now, are you?”

“
Liar
is a strong word.
Occasionally truth challenged
might be a better way to put it.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “You do crack me up, Lucy Mulvaney.” Sliding his arms around her, he drew her in close to him and kissed her neck until her knees went weak.

“Don’t do that either,” she said with far less conviction than she’d shown a few minutes ago.

“What?” he whispered, setting off goose bumps down her arm. “What am I doing?”

“Seducing me into going along with this harebrained plan of yours.”

He pulled back to look down at her, his brow raised rakishly. “Harebrained? Really?”

“Yes! Do you have any idea what a pain in the ass I’ll be on a camping trip? Do you have the first clue how much bitching, moaning, pissing and groaning there’ll be?”

“I have a fairly good idea.”

“And you still want to take me?”

“Very badly.”

She shook her head with dismay. “You’re a glutton for punishment.”

“Your kind of punishment is my favorite kind.”

“Colton! I’m being serious. I’ll hate every minute of it, and you’ll hate me for ruining something you love.”

“I could never, ever,
ever
hate you, Lucy. Ever.”

“Even if I complain for two straight days without taking a breath?”

“Even then.”

Lucy wished she were still eight like her niece, Simone, and could get away with a full-blown temper tantrum followed by a good old-fashioned pout. But that wasn’t going to happen, and it was beginning to look like the camping trip was. So she had two options—flat-out refuse to go and run the risk of disappointing him or suck it up and compromise. This relationship thing was not for the faint of heart.

While she had her own internal argument with herself, he waited patiently, his gaze never straying from her face as she weighed her extremely unappealing options.

“Fine,” she said sullenly. “I’ll do it. But, you’re taking me to a fabulous spa in the next month.”

“Deal.” He kissed her then, sucking the oxygen from her lungs and all thoughts from her head that didn’t involve the exquisite pleasure of being kissed—devoured, in fact—by Colton Abbott, love of her life. “Wait till you see how hot tent sex is.”

Damn if he didn’t always make her laugh, especially when she was on the verge of starting a great big fight with him. “It better be the hottest sex of my life, or this will be the last time you ever get me into a sleeping bag, you got me?”

“Oh, baby . . . I got you, and I do love when you throw down the gauntlet.”

The look he gave her was full of sexy determination. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

*   *   *

It sucked. It absolutely, positively
sucked
.
Suck
,
suck
,
suck
was the only word bouncing around Lucy’s mind as she pretended to participate in the paddling of a canoe against a strong current in a river located smack in the middle of nowhere. She was hot, sweaty, smelly and apparently the daily special on the mosquito buffet despite multiple doses of bug spray.

Even though she’d lathered on sunscreen and reapplied frequently, she could feel her fair skin burning as the sun beamed down on them. And her arms ached from the effort required to help propel the canoe forward.

She glanced over at Cameron, sitting in the front of Will’s canoe, laughing and splashing with her boyfriend and appearing to have a jolly good time. Lucy wished she’d brought a slingshot and some acorns she could shoot at Cameron, who was ruining everything. How was she supposed to bitch and moan when perky Cameron had embraced this fiasco as a great big adventure?

Naturally, Colton had failed to mention the canoe part of the program when he talked her into this ridiculous outing. She kept telling herself—two days and one night and then they’d be back to his place on the mountain, which was positively plush compared to this. It was funny to think that she’d once found his cabin to be rustic.
This
was rustic—trees and water and birds and a cloudless blue sky above them.

On most days, Lucy appreciated a cloudless blue sky. Today she’d kill for a cloud or two between her and the hot sunshine. If there was one perk to this nightmare, it was the opportunity to occasionally glance back at Colton in all his shirtless glory as he paddled and steered the canoe from the back.

The play of his finely honed muscles was a sight she usually enjoyed. When they were in Vermont, one of her favorite pastimes was sitting on the porch of his cabin and watching him swing the axe as he split the wood he’d need for the next sugaring season.

Today, however, even the sight of his sexy body failed to cheer her the way it usually did.

“How’re you doing up there?” he asked after a long period of silence.

“Great. Never been better.”

“Do you think I can’t hear the sarcasm in your voice after all this time together?”

“I’m getting eaten alive. Are you sure that was actual bug spray you gave me and not something that actually appeals to them?”

He stopped paddling and stood, coming toward her and making the canoe tip precariously.

Lucy dropped her paddle into the boat and grasped the sides, preparing to be dumped into the freezing water at any second. No matter how warm the summer sun got, Colton had told her, the river never really warmed up. “What’re you doing?” she asked over her shoulder as he came toward her.

“Turn around,” he said.

Lucy moved carefully to accommodate his request without pitching them both into the river.

“Time to reapply.” He pulled the can of bug spray from one of the pockets of his cargo shorts and squatted before her, spraying her legs and arms. “Do your neck.”

Lucy took the can from him and did as directed.

From the pocket on his other leg, Colton retrieved the sunscreen. “How can you still be getting burned under that big hat when I put eighty-five on you earlier?”

“Irish skin. You knew this about me.”

“Still . . .” His brows furrowed with concern. “I don’t want you getting burned.”

“Might be too late for that.”

Working with intense concentration, Colton reapplied the sunscreen to her arms, her legs and the tops of her feet. Though she wished she could click her heels together and be anywhere but floating on a freezing river in the mountains of Vermont, she had to admit the slide of his hands over her skin had her thinking about the amazing tent sex she’d been promised.

Then he handed her the sunscreen stick she preferred to use on her face.

“Don’t forget your lips,” he said. “I’ve got big plans for them later. We can’t have them sore or burned.”

“Everything okay over there?” Will called as he and Cameron circled back to check on them.

“Yep,” Colton said. “Just reapplying bug spray and sunscreen.”

“Are you getting bitten, Luce?” Cameron asked.

“Like crazy.”

“You must be sweeter than me. They don’t like me.”

“Good thing I do,” Will said suggestively, making Cameron laugh.

Everyone was in such a great mood, excited for the getaway and the chance for the guys to share one of their passions with the city girls they’d fallen in love with. Lucy felt a little guilty for being so grumpy. Perhaps if she tried to embrace it as an adventure and time away from the rat race of life with the man she loved, she might actually enjoy it.

She snorted inelegantly. As if.
Okay, so you might not be enjoying it, but maybe you can let him think you are
, she reasoned with herself. If she did that though, he might want to do this again, and that was not happening. Several hours in, Lucy already knew this was going to be a onetime thing.

*   *   *

She’s miserable and trying to hide it
, Colton thought as he propelled the canoe forward along the lazy river that wound through the Green Mountains. He’d been coming here all his life and had wanted to share it with Lucy, but that might’ve been a mistake. He could
feel
her agitation despite the three feet that separated her seat from his. He could
see
it in the unusual slump of her shoulders.

Since her happiness and comfort were always foremost on his mind, he decided to try to cajole her out of her bad mood by showing her how much fun the outdoors could be when you were with the one you loved.

“We’re going to take a little detour,” Colton called to Will as they reached a fork in the river. “Meet you at the campsite?”

“Sounds good.”

Cameron waved as they took the left side and Colton directed their canoe to the right.

“Where are we going?” Lucy asked.

“Just down here a little ways. I’ve got something I want to show you.” He paddled along for another half mile or so before he steered the canoe around a bend and into a small cove that had been carved out of the earth by water rushing by over thousands of years.

“This is pretty,” Lucy said as Colton beached the canoe, jumped out and dragged it up onto the small stretch of sand.

“It’s one of my favorite spots along this river.” He held out a hand to help her out of the canoe, which again tipped when she moved. Luckily she pitched right into his arms, and he lifted her onto the beach.

“I suck at this,” she said glumly.

“No, you don’t. It’s just new to you. That’s all.”

“You don’t have to pretend to be glad you brought me here.”

“I’m never pretending to be glad when I’m with you, Lucy. I don’t care what we’re doing or where we are. If you’re there, I’m happy.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“
Why
would you say that?”

“Because I’ve been thinking really mean thoughts about you all morning.”

Colton tossed his head back and laughed hard.

“You think it’s funny that your fiancée is thinking mean things about you?”

“What kind of mean things?” he asked when he’d stopped laughing.

“Mostly all the reasons I hate you for making me go camping—bugs, sun and bathrooms were tops on the list.”

“Bathrooms? I hate to tell you . . .”

“You don’t have to tell me there’s no indoor plumbing out here, Colton. I have eyes. So what’s a girl supposed to do when she needs to pee? Urgently?”

“She tells her big studly fiancé that she has to pee—urgently—and he sets her up.”

“Sets her up how?” she asked, eyeing him skeptically.

“Leave it to me.” He went back to the canoe, rooted around in the huge pile of stuff that he’d tied into the back of the boat and returned with a roll of toilet paper and a plastic bag. “Let’s go.”

“You’re not coming with me to pee.”

“Hmm, well, I thought you’d want me to check for bears and bobcats and snakes, but if you’ve got this . . .” He held out the toilet paper and bag.

“You can come with me.”

“Thought you might say that.”

“Are there really bobcats in these woods?” she asked as she followed him into the trees, looking everywhere for glowing eyes ready to pounce.

“I’ve never seen one, but they’re native to this area. I’d hate to have one find you when you’ve got your cute little butt out on display. That would be a tragedy.”

“It would be just my luck,” Lucy said.

Colton led her into an area so dense with trees, the sun’s rays only faintly penetrated, sending weak beams to the ground. He took a deep breath of fresh air and pine. “Smell that?”

Lucy breathed deeply. “Uh-huh.”