Montana Welcome: Book 1 in The Blackwell Sisters series
A bride on the run and a cowboy to show her the way home…
Lily Harrison’s wedding day isn’t quite what she imagined. Not only does her fiancé not love her, she’s just discovered she’s a Blackwell—a member of Montana’s well-known ranching family. Now Lily’s ditched her own wedding for a road trip with handsome cowboy Conner Hannah. But will Lily find her answers in Montana…or lose the cowboy she’s already begun falling for?
Excerpt:
A commotion arose inside the church. Most likely, Lily’s family had discovered the bride was missing.
“That’s my cue to leave.” Keys in hand, Conner turned toward the motorhome door.
“She’ll be questioning herself.” Big E caught Conner’s arm. He may have been old, but he wasn’t frail. “You’re as good with people as you are with horses, Conner. I’ll double the bonus we agreed on if you can take care of things until I return to Montana.”
Double meant Big E expected Lily to have more than doubts. He expected her to have regrets. Double meant Conner had to make sure her regrets didn’t send her running back to an ill-conceived marriage. Double meant Conner could pay the second mortgage on the Rocking H this month and the feed bill in full.
He nodded.
“Now, git.” Big E strode back toward the church where four bridesmaids, the father of the bride and a soon-to-be-jilted groom were spilling out the back door.
Conner hopped into the motorhome and started the old tank up.
“Wait. I see my sisters.” Lily emerged from the bedroom with a noisy rustle of voluminous material. “And there’s Danny! And my…my stepdad.”
“Big E’s taking care of your goodbyes.” Conner gunned the motorhome out of the parking lot.
“But…oof.” Lily fell into the dinette, skirt groaning louder than Conner’s stiff new boots. “They’ll think you’re kidnapping me.”
“Big E knows what he’s doing.” Oh, if his Blackwell friends could hear him now. Their laughter ricocheted in his head.
“But…” Lily righted herself and stumbled forward to stand next to Conner, or as close as she could, given the girth of her wedding dress. “What if I think you’re kidnapping me?”
Conner braked sharply at a yellow light, bringing the old motorhome to a premature stop. He gaped at Lily. “In case Big E’s intro didn’t sink in, I’m Conner Hannah and I’m not a kidnapper. I’m a cowboy.” Mental cringe. One didn’t necessarily cancel out the other.
Lily knew it, too. She smirked.
“I mean…” Conner turned his attention back to the intersection. “This isn’t a hostage situation. I wrangle cattle for the Blackwells and guests on their dude ranch.” Instead of running his family’s place, which his pay barely kept afloat.
Double bonus. Some might call that abduction wages.
Conner’s temples throbbed.
The light changed and he sent the motorhome lurching ahead, like a bull charging out of a rodeo gate.
“You’re driving like a kidnapper.” Lily may have been the prettiest lady he’d ever laid eyes on, but she wasn’t the prettiest lady to listen to, given kidnapping was a serious crime.
If Conner dwelled on her words much longer, he might convince himself to head toward the nearest police station and drop her off. But that wouldn’t help him pay the mortgage or keep a roof over his mother’s head.
“I apologize. This old RV has a hard time shifting out of first gear. I’m slowing down.” He took a deep breath and eased the pressure off the accelerator.
The bell of her skirt crowded against his seat, his leg and the three-foot-high center console.
Motorhomes weren’t made for wedding dresses.
“Could you take a seat?” Without shifting his gaze off the road, he gestured with his head toward the dinette behind him.
She moved in the direction of the passenger seat instead, hindered by the circumference of her gown. A huffing fit ensued. Lily sounded like a wild Mustang being penned in for the first time. She bent down, grabbed the hem of her skirt, picked it up like a collapsed Slinky and then sat in the passenger seat. The hooped skirt rose above the back of her head like an albino peacock’s feathers in full spread. “I never should have let Fiona talk me into this dress.”
“Fiona being one of your sisters?” He’d seen them file out of that room she’d been in. The family resemblance was strong.
She nodded. “We found a picture of our mother on her wedding day in a dress like this. And since I was the first of five sisters to get engaged, she thought it’d be a good way to honor our mother’s memory.”
“Nice.”
Her skirt had so much hardware working noisily to keep it intact, it practically grunted with effort.
He and Lily exchanged a quick glance.
“I should get out of this dress before it explodes.”
“There’s just one problem with that idea.”
They exchanged another quick glance, and then both said, “Clothes.”
The Story Behind the Story
The five authors, including me, in the original Blackwell series had so much fun writing together, that we created a set of long lost Blackwell’s. And since apparently we all has something to say to our editor about our positions in the series, we switched everything up. I went from 3rd position to 1st position. And yes, if we write anymore Blackwell books, I’m going to switch again!
I’ve always wanted to write a runaway bride book. And Montana Welcome afforded me the opportunity to fit one into my writing schedule. Poor Danny suffered as a character, because I couldn’t let readers feel more than a smidge sorry for him being dumped. LOL!
Amazon BN iBooks Harlequin Walmart Kobo
Learn More About The Blackwell Series HERE.
