Love Rising: Spring (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 4) Read online

  LOVE RISING

  ~ Spring ~

  A Mandrake Falls Four Seasons Romance

  CATHERINE LLOYD

  Copyright 2014 Catherine Lloyd

  Electronic Edition 2015

  Writewood Creations

  261 Lac Bernard Road

  Alcove, Quebec

  Canada J0X 1A0

  [email protected]

  http://www.writewoodcreations.blogspot.com

  ISBN 978-0-9938963-1-6

  All rights reserved.

  This publication remains the copyrighted property

  of the author and may not be redistributed for commercial

  or non-commercial purposes.

  Cover Image by fotostorm

  Cover Design by Anna Berezowsky

  Table of Contents

  LOVE RISING

  Also by Catherine Lloyd

  Note from the Publisher

  LOVE RISING

  Chapter 1: A Spring Wedding

  Chapter 2: April Fools

  Chapter 3: Who Dun It?

  Chapter 4: Sleuths and Suspects

  Chapter 5: Friendly Interrogation

  Chapter 6: In This Together

  Chapter 7: Young Love

  Chapter 8: The Girl She Really Is

  Chapter 9: The Man He’s Kept Hidden

  Chapter 10: Mystery Solved

  Chapter 11: Mr. Marks Steps In

  Chapter 12: Forces Conspire Against Them

  Chapter 13: The Man She Wants

  Chapter 14: Break Them Up

  Chapter 15: The Woman He Wants

  Chapter 16: Love Risen

  About the Author

  Mandrake Falls Romance

  Dark Redeemer Historical Romance

  Also by Catherine Lloyd

  Mandrake Falls Four Seasons Romance

  The Jilting - Summer

  Lie for Me - Autumn

  The Way Home - Winter

  Mandrake Falls Boxed Set Edition

  Dark Redeemer Historical Romance

  Wanton

  Wastrel

  Traitor

  Soldier

  Dark Redeemer Boxed Set Edition

  Note from the Publisher

  She is more than her looks. He is more than he reveals. Nobody expected them to fall in love.

  Nerdy stage manager, Jeremy Marks sees right through Jocelyn Tate’s stunning beauty to the vulnerable girl she is underneath. It’s no secret he’s in love with her. Jocelyn thinks Jeremy is sweet but poor; she’s not interested. Still smarting over Hudson Grace’s rejection, she’s more determined than ever to marry a rich man--preferably a billionaire. Jeremy doesn’t have a hope until a mysterious notice appears in the Gazette announcing their engagement. Thrown together, the young couple form a bond to find out who has it in for them. Jeremy is challenged to protect the girl he loves and Jocelyn develops feelings for the boy she believes she can trust. But Jeremy Marks has a secret. A father with big goals for his son, and a bankroll, threaten the young lovers’ fragile happiness.

  Love Rising is the final story in Mandrake Falls Romance. In wrapping up the series, there are some old characters, some new favorites and the star-crossed love of Jeremy and Jocelyn. The novel contains spicy love scenes written for a mature audience.

  LOVE RISING

  Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?

  Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth

  Tell you I do not nor I cannot love you?

  —Shakespeare

  Chapter 1: A Spring Wedding

  MANDRAKE FALLS was just waking up out of its long winter sleep. Some parts of the country had been roused a month ago, but spring came later to Vermont and consequently was far more welcome.

  Purple and yellow crocuses had pushed out of the snow on the town green. The air turned soft, warmed by the sun, the knife blade winds of February became the wild cleansing winds of March. Everyone remarked that March coming in like a lion was a good sign that spring was well and truly here. The birds took their time, lured back to feeders and front lawns by the grub worms that emerged from the thawing earth. A couple of days of rain had pushed the frost out of the ground and dressed the hardwood forests in Green Mountain Park in pale yellow-green leaves.

  Jocelyn Tate jiggled her foot and cast her eyes over the congregation assembled in All Souls’ Church for the wedding of Hudson Grace and Michael Shannon. The place was packed. Every pew was filled as well as the extra chairs crammed at the front, and that didn’t include the media circus that had crowded into the choir loft. Michael Shannon, star of Tomorrow Never Comes and the new Artistic Director of the (renamed) Mandrake Falls Theater Company was a big deal locally and a semi-big deal nationally. Jocelyn doubted anyone outside of the U.S. cared about Michael Shannon’s wedding but she was probably wrong about that. She was wrong about Hudson, she was wrong about Michael Shannon not having any talent. She was wrong about everything lately.

  Shake it off, Jocelyn told herself firmly. Don’t allow negative thoughts to invade your energy or you will attract negative outcomes. This was a scientifically proven fact. Jocelyn smiled at her date, Ryan McIntyre, to show she wasn’t negative or bothered at all that Hudson Grace had chosen Michael Shannon over her. Hudson could’ve broken the news to her before she announced their relationship to Darlene at the Beauty Box because the word spread faster than she could contain it after that. Then when Hudson called to “talk” after Christmas, it was pretty damn embarrassing. Not that she cared less who Hudson Grace fell in love with but he shouldn’t have strung her along. That’s all she was saying. And just about everybody agreed with her, except for hopeless Michael Shannon fan-boys like Jeremy Marks.

  She peered around Ryan to get a look at Jeremy who was sitting with Paula Dunlop from the Beauty Box—a totally weird choice in a date. Paula was cute but she had red hair and wore makeup and obviously read all the fashion magazines. She was a huge fan of Michael Shannon. That’s probably all Jeremy and Paula had in common. If that’s what Jeremy Marks was looking for in a woman, he sure wasted his time pursuing Jocelyn over the winter. Did he really think she was going to give up a man like Hudson Grace for a nerdy, nervous stage manager who was only a year older than she was and marginally employed?

  Jocelyn Tate had plans for her future. She was ambitious and now was the best time to lay the foundation, while she was still young and appealing to older men. She had it all figured out. Her future husband would be a man in his mid-to-late thirties, preferably a billionaire, but if she couldn’t get that, he’d have high earning potential. Her organic soap-making business was doing all right but Jocelyn was so over being poor. It was cool being frugal when she first graduated from high school but four years later, she wanted more out of life than minimum wage jobs.

  Jeremy Marks had called her a gold-digger and that’s the last time she spoke to him. If he was going to be abusive, he could go to hell. Enjoy your boring date with Paula “Squee” Dunlop, Jeremy Marks, Jocelyn thought, suddenly irritated by everyone and everything.

  “Having a good time?” Ryan asked.

  Jocelyn beamed and squeezed his arm hoping Jeremy was watching, but Mrs. Louise Dean sat down and blocked the sightline with her enormous pregnancy. Louise was better known as Scout Rutherford. No one could get used to calling her Mrs. Dean. She married her best friend Ryder last summer and now they were expecting twins. Scout seemed happy about it which Jocelyn would definitely not be if it was her body being stretched out of shape. Scout’s antiques business was the hottest ticket in town for the tourists and Ryder Dean worked for Green Mountain Parks and Forestry, so no w
orries there. He was really good looking, Jocelyn noticed. Scout looked like she could go into labor at any minute. Knowing Scout Rutherford, she probably would. Jocelyn had heard the stories. Disaster seemed to follow that girl around.

  Sheriff Sawyer McIntyre was here too with his wife, Shelby. Not a lot of money in law enforcement so he was never on Jocelyn’s radar. Great-looking guy though. They got married on Halloween of all the weird days. Shelby Porter was five months pregnant but still working the media scrum like a pro. She owned the Mandrake Falls Gazette, the only paper in town anyone bothered to read, and as far as Jocelyn could tell, the woman never took a day off. She’d give birth in the newspaper office if her husband would let her. Jocelyn remembered hearing a story about those two that they used to hate each other. Bizarre. Because it was like they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Bit disgusting seeing as they were in a church, she thought.

  Maybe the sheriff’s brother, Ryan McIntyre was the man for her. He was hot and he had money. This was only their first date so it was too early to tell but the fact that he’d called and asked her to the wedding had to be a good sign.

  Unless this was a pity date. Maybe Ryan felt sorry for her because she was the only person in town not invited to the Wedding of the Year. For days now, Mandrake Falls had been overrun with camera crews and photographers from every entertainment magazine ever published. Michael Shannon wasn’t super famous but she did something newsworthy before Christmas that sparked a media firestorm and it hadn’t let up.

  Jocelyn hoped Ryan could see how unimpressed she was by the spectacle. She knew better than to appear overawed. Ryan McIntyre was by far the most successful man in Mandrake Falls, the best looking and he was still a bachelor. If she played this opportunity right, who knew where it could lead? She could be the next one down the aisle.

  THE CONGREGATION rose to their feet as the bride stepped into the nave. Michael Shannon was breathtaking in a heavy cream antique wedding gown that was simple yet incredibly classy, perfectly suited for a small town wedding. The assembly would never have guessed the expense that pulling off this ‘simple’ look had been for the bride. Michael Shannon had a genius for creating atmosphere and the right atmosphere did not come cheap.

  The groom, Hudson Grace, watched his nephew Simon march down the aisle bearing the ring box on a cushion. The four-year-old took his duties very seriously and had even agreed to allow his hair to be cut for the event. A flash went off. One of the photographers was pushing the rule of no photos during the service to the limit.

  There would be a few years more of that ahead for them, Hudson sighed inwardly. His bride wasn’t completely done with fame. Michael tilted her head on cue to give the media scrum a better angle. He knew the sort of woman he had fallen in love with. Michael Shannon was devoted, fearless, vain and stubborn. But all that mattered to him as he watched her come down the aisle smiling with the same secret joy he had in his chest, was marrying her.

  This wedding wasn’t even supposed to be happening. Hudson and Michael were not eager to get married—not ever. They’d only just declared their love to each other and were still trying to wrap their heads around that catastrophe when word got out that Hudson was involved with Jocelyn. The news had been posted at the Beauty Box where all relationship news is generated, forcing Hudson to break it off with Jocelyn, which was unfair because he didn’t think they were involved in the first place. But Jocelyn obviously did and the longer he put it off, the worse it would be for her when the truth came out about him and Michael.

  So he told her face-to-face but since when is that the end of it with women. A barrage of questions followed; everyone demanding to know why he’d dumped poor Jocelyn Tate over Christmas of all the rotten things. Backed into a corner, Hudson blurted that he was in love with Michael Shannon. In Mandrake Falls one thing leads to another and now here they were—a couple of players—Michael Shannon and Hudson Grace, grinning at each other like fools because they were about to tie the knot. They appreciated the irony.

  In the end, Jocelyn Tate did him a favor by going public and pushing Hudson to declare his involvement with Michael. Vain, stubborn and expensive—life with Michael Shannon wasn’t going to be easy and Hudson Grace wouldn’t have it any other way.

  JEREMY MARKS pushed his glasses up on his nose and shot Paula a quick smile. He was sweating a little under his tweed jacket. He probably shouldn’t have worn the sweater vest but his one good shirt had a button missing and the sweater vest hid the problem. Besides, it was usually cold and drafty in the church. The heating system was faulty and March wasn’t warm enough to make up the difference.

  “You look nice,” said Paula.

  His head bobbed and he grinned. “So do you.”

  “Thanks,” she whispered back, her eyes were on Michael Shannon walking down the aisle. “I picked this dress out at Très Jolie. Lisa said it was a good color for my hair.”

  Paula’s hair was the color of an apricot but most people called it red. It was very shiny and Jeremy thought she did look pretty in that dress which was black chiffon with tiny orange rhinestones. To be honest, Paula Dunlop looked pretty damn sexy and almost no guy ever thought of Paula Dunlop as being sexy. She was the ‘runner-up’ girl; the girl a guy will ask to go to weddings, dances and office parties after he’s turned down by his first choice girl.

  He stole a glance at Jocelyn. She looked like ... a goddess. A beautiful, unapproachable goddess. He almost hated looking at her because it killed him whenever he saw her these days and if she was in the room he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. It was a horrible place to be, being in love with Jocelyn Tate. Correction—being in love was horrible full stop. He was pretty sure the whole emotional process was hell until a guy and a girl got married. Hudson Grace was lucky to get it over with.

  Jocelyn was wearing a vintage blue satin dress, belted at the waist like a warrior princess and she had on boots of brown leather. He knew for a fact that when she tried to wear heels she fell off them. She was too tall. The boots were sexy. Jeremy liked a girl in boots. Jocelyn wore her blonde hair board straight and parted down the middle. She had a heart shaped face so she could get away with it. He noticed these things—face shapes and hair and clothes. It was almost a hobby, to catalogue what people looked like at different events. Jocelyn didn’t have her hair up in a ponytail as she usually did. It hung to her waist. Very thick and shiny.

  Paula dug her nails into his thigh. “You’ve got to stop staring at her. Everyone is wondering what she’s going to do at this wedding; if she’s going to pull a scene after going public about Hudson and their non-existent romance. I felt bad for her for about five minutes until I realized she didn’t care about Hudson, only his money. She just wanted a rich husband.”

  “Hudson isn’t rich. He’s a forester for the State Parks Department.”

  “Hudson Grace has money enough to suit Jocelyn. When his brother and sister-in-law died he became the beneficiary of their estate. Riley surrendered his property when he became a minister but his wife had property in Florida. It was sold when Simon was orphaned and Hudson manages the funds. It’s for the little boy’s education but Jocelyn doesn’t care about that. When you’ve been raised in a backwoods shack, poorer than dirt, Hudson Grace looks like a millionaire. He was supposed to be her sugar daddy, a flunky to pay the bills so she can keep on being the special snowflake she is.”

  “I accused her of being a gold digger. We’ve all kind of dumped on her lately.”

  “She brought it on herself. The romance she claimed to have with Hudson was all in her head. It was bound to catch up with her sooner or later.”

  “What was bound to catch up with her?”

  “Her arrogance with men! Jeremy, even you must see it. She thinks because she’s hot she can do what she wants and men are going to fall all over her. She reminds me of the other one—Sheriff McIntyre’s fiancée, Janice Feron. She broke up with him right before their wedding and then came back, expecting him to be thrilled
. But he’d already fallen for Shelby so it serves her right.”

  Jeremy grinned. “Be nice. Everyone is stupid when they’re in love. And Janice Feron is in town for the wedding. She was Michael Shannon’s interior designer in New York. The wedding planner hired her to help design the reception. I had to give her the spare key to get into the theater and set up. I’ve never met the sheriff’s ex-fiancée before. She’s really hot. She looks like a model.”

  “She’s in town?” Paula craned her neck to see over the congregation. “Janice Feron was always gorgeous but she’s a total bitch. I wonder how she’s taking it seeing Sawyer and Shelby together. Probably about as well as Jocelyn is taking being at Hudson’s wedding.”

  “Jocelyn isn’t like Janice Feron. She’s just going through some stuff right now with her business and trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life.”

  “I’ll tell you want she wants to do.” Paula had to drop her voice to a whisper because people were glaring at them even though Mrs. Gurney on the organ drowned out every word. Mrs. Gurney played one tune for every bridal processional in Mandrake Falls—Here Comes the Bride. No substitutions. “Jocelyn Tate wants to marry a rich man and think about Jocelyn Tate for the rest of her life. She’s read too many of those billionaire romances. She thinks that happens in real life. Sure, like billionaires are hanging out in Mandrake Falls.”

  Jeremy turned to examine Jocelyn. She was hunched forward and twisting her hair, a sign she was uncomfortable. She wasn’t as confident as Paula thought she was. At least, that’s not the girl Jeremy saw when he looked at her. Deep down, Jocelyn Tate was as insecure as he was and that’s why he loved her. Jeremy was twenty-three and he’d never have the confidence of a guy like Ryan McIntyre if he lived to be a hundred.