Sweet Montana Boxed Set 1-5 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Contents

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter One

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter Two

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter Three

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter Four

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter Five

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter Six

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter Seven

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter Eight

  Sweet Home Montana: Chapter One

  Sweet Home Montana: Chapter Two

  Sweet Home Montana: Chapter Three

  Sweet Home Montana: Chapter Four

  Sweet Home Montana: Chapter Five

  Sweet Home Montana: Chapter Six

  Sweet Home Montana: Chapter Seven

  Sweet Home Montana: Chapter Eight

  Sweet Home Montana: Chapter Nine

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter One

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Two

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Three

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Four

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Five

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Six

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Seven

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Eight

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Nine

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Ten

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Eleven

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Twelve

  Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Thirteen

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter One

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Two

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Three

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Four

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Five

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Six

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Seven

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Eight

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Nine

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Ten

  Sweet Montana Outlaw: Chapter Eleven

  Sweet Montana Secrets: Chapter One

  Sweet Montana Secrets: Chapter Two

  Sweet Montana Secrets: Chapter Three

  Sweet Montana Secrets: Chapter Four

  Sweet Montana Secrets: Chapter Five

  Sweet Montana Secrets: Chapter Six

  Sweet Montana Secrets: Chapter Seven

  Sweet Montana Secrets: Chapter Eight

  Sweet Montana Secrets: Epilogue

  Ebooks by Lisa Mondello

  SWEET MONTANA BOXED SET

  Books 1-5

  Sweet Montana Sky

  Sweet Home Montana

  Sweet Montana Rescue

  Sweet Montana Outlaw

  Sweet Montana Secrets

  Lisa Mondello

  Sweet Montana Boxed Set Books 1-5

  Copyright © 2019 Lisa Mondello

  License Notes

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. The work is protected by copyright law from theft and unauthorized distribution. No part of this book can be used, copied, or published in whole or in part in any form without the expressed written permission of the author. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people unless it is part of the lending program. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for lending through an authorized vendor, then please delete it from your device and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work by not participating in unauthorized distribution.

  Sweet Montana Sky

  Copyright © 2017 Lisa Mondello

  Sweet Home Montana

  Copyright © 2018 Lisa Mondello

  Sweet Montana Rescue

  Copyright © 2018 Lisa Mondello

  Sweet Montana Outlaw

  Copyright © 2018 Lisa Mondello

  Sweet Montana Secrets

  Copyright © 2018 Lisa Mondello

  Contents

  SWEET MONTANA SKY, Book One

  Someone is using superstition to cause trouble on the rodeo circuit.

  An upside down horseshoe made Tabby Swanson's skin crawl, but it wasn't enough to keep her from training her prize horse, Tenterhook, for barrel racing so she could get a sponsorship. When Kasper Dobbs shows up the ranch, she's intrigued and hopeful. The handsome businessman, and former local hockey star, has deep pockets. It doesn't hurt that he's devastatingly handsome and makes her heart pound in her chest more than barrel racing. It almost makes her forget about the strange happenings on the ranch until someone turns up dead, and she and Tenterhook suffer a devastating accident in competition, threatening her rodeo days forever.

  Kasper knows Tabby's fall was no accident. Being told you may never compete again is a fate he knows well. He won't let Tabby give up and insists on getting her back into training as soon as he can. But how can he know if whoever caused her accident will try again? He calls the Knight brothers to investigate the mysterious death and strange happenings surrounding Tabby so they can catch whoever is responsible before she takes another fall. He wants to believe he's doing it all in the name of business. But he's fallen hard for the cowgirl whose sunshine smile makes him want more than just to ride again. He wants the girl for life!

  SWEET HOME MONTANA, Book Two

  Dumped by a cheating husband, Katie Dobbs' life had gone off the rails and she is now back to square one, living in her parents' home in Sweet, Montana and working a job she hates. She refuses to stay in a dark and empty house as a constant reminder of her mistakes. So she did the only thing that made sense. She breaks into an old dilapidated chapel to figure out her next move, and is nearly arrested by Caleb Samuel, her brother's high school friend who is now a handsome police officer in town.

  Caleb had heard Katie was having a hard time. Sweet was a small town and everyone knew everyone else's business. Except for one thing. No one knew where his sister Julie disappeared to 10 years ago and no one had heard from her since. Katie had been good friends with Julie before they'd both left Sweet. Now Katie is back. Buying a broken down chapel to renovate as a house is nuts when you don't know the difference between each end of a hammer. And Katie didn't. But she did know Julie, and maybe she'd be able to give him some insight into where Julie had gone. Caleb offers to help Katie renovate. But one problem after another threatens the project, and leaves Katie thinking she'll never realize her dreams. Until she realizes she's falling in love with her brother's friend. Even as everything seems to be falling apart around them, can love help heal their hearts?

  SWEET MONTANA RESCUE, Book Three

  Sometimes the person you are rescuing...becomes your rescuer.

  Dangerous Montana snow storms are no surprise. So when police dispatcher, Harper Madison, heads to the mountains to bring supplies to a survivalist/scientist who is renting her invalid grandmother's remote cabin high in the mountains for the summer, she doesn't take chances. But when a elk runs in front of her car and it tumbles down an embankment, nearly killing her, and leaving her stranded on the mountain until she can be rescued.

  The only thing Nash Webber wants is to be left alone. Working in the Montana mountains will give him much needed perspective. But as soon as he arrives, his quiet retreat is quickly compromised when a sudden blizzard leaves a stranded woman perched precariously on the cliff of the mountain road leading to his cabin.

  The cabin is certainly big enough for two. But can they be forced in close proximity for days on end without losing their minds and their hearts?

  SWEET MONTANA OUTLAW, Book Four

  He did time for killing a man he should have killed to save a woman he loved...

  Brody Whitebear had the reputation as a bad boy and people won't let him forget. His past has come back to haunt him when he returns to
Sweet, Montana at the request of an old friend who wants to help give him a second chance. Some people won't let him forget or move on.

  Tara Mitchell knew her brother wasn't a saint but he didn't have to die because of it. She'd tried for years to forget what she'd seen and to focus on building her little novelty shop in Sweet. But now that Brody is back in town, the fantasy that her brother was blameless is hard to ignore. Can she forgive Brody for what he did without losing her heart and falling in love?

  SWEET MONTANA SECRETS, Book Five

  They say time heals all wounds, but time doesn't make you forget who you were...

  Ten years ago Hunter Williams' life was a mess. Injured on the rodeo circuit, the absolute last thing he needed was to fall in love. He hadn't expected being completely taken by Julie Samuel, a beautiful young woman who took riding lessons at the ranch he worked at. But their love hadn't been enough to conquer his demons.

  Julie had never been able to forget her first love no matter how hard she tried or how far she'd run. Running hadn't changed anything or the loss that still ate at her heart every single day. The only way to rid herself of her pain was to confront it. But how can she go home after so long and face the one man she'd never stopped loving? And would he hate her when he learned the secret of why she'd left in the first place?

  Sweet Montana Sky: Chapter One

  The rusted horseshoe above the old weathered crossbuck barn doors was turned upside down. Tabby Swanson’s stomach fell just a notch. Not everyone would notice a little thing like a downturned horseshoe. Not everyone would care. But Tabby did.

  The nail holding it upright must have broken and caused it to slip. That is the only reason she could think why the horseshoe was upside down. Trip, the owner of the Lone Creek Ranch, was more superstitious than she was, and that said a lot.

  She’d ask him about it later. When he was in a good mood. Right now Tabby just wanted to get on her horse and do a couple of good barrel runs to warm up and get ready for the day.

  She grabbed the bridle in the tack room and walked the few yards down the center aisle of the horse barn toward Tenterhook’s stall. All the while, she fought the nervous tension building inside her.

  Trip had been on edge all day. In fact, he hadn’t been this edgy since she moved to the Lone Creek Ranch nearly eight years ago. A stupid upside down horseshoe wasn’t the reason. She knew that. The rodeo world had many superstitions. Most people didn’t pay any mind to them even though they secretly knew all of them, like the upside down horseshoe.

  Tabby wasn’t someone who went around wearing the same socks under her cowboy boots during the rodeo season like a few of the barrel racers she knew. But she wasn’t completely immune. She talked herself out of superstitious talk all the time and preferred to think that she was in control. Well, as in control as anyone could be. No one could be ready for swerving cars on the wrong side of the road, like the one that had taken both of her parents’ lives and shattered her world in a single moment.

  But on that same day, she had taken control. And an upside down horseshoe was staying in the locker room for her ride today. Tenterhook was waiting for her.

  As she walked down the center aisle of the barn, she saw a strange man standing in front of Tenterhook’s stall. She had never seen him on the ranch before. But that didn’t really mean anything. She mostly kept to herself and had a few friends in town and on the rodeo circuit.

  She walked closer, but he didn’t seem to hear the sound of her footsteps. She did hear the soft crooning he made while talking to Tenterhook. He was completely out of place here with his freshly pressed dark suit and expensive shoes. She noticed an overcoat slung over the gate of the stall. She got within ten feet of him before he finally turned and looked at her.

  “Is this your horse?” the man asked.

  Now that she was close to him she could smell the scent of his aftershave. It was an odd thing to be smelling in a barn that usually smelled of hay and animal.

  “He is,” she answered. “Can I help you with something?”

  He shook his head and turned his attention back to Tenterhook. “I’ve seen this horse before. But I couldn’t have. He would be about twenty years old by now and this horse doesn’t look that old.”

  “We’re definitely talking about two different horses. Tenterhook is nine years old.”

  The man reached out and brushed his hand along Tenterhook’s back, something she knew her horse relished. “He’s a beauty, that’s for sure. What’s his name?”

  “Tenterhook.”

  The man frowned. “Really. That’s kind of a strange name for horse.”

  “Have you been to the Western Rodeo Circuit lately? There are a lot of horses with stranger names than mine. They grow into them and then become them. And then it seems like they could never have a name that’s different.”

  “Unique.”

  She smiled. “Exactly.”

  “How did he get his name?”

  “He looks like he’s stretching, even when he’s not running. It’s kind of hard to see it from this angle. But when you get him out in the arena, you see it.”

  “He’s a thoroughbred, huh?”

  She frowned. “Mustang. I’m not sure of the lineage since he was purchased from the BLM.”

  “He’s wild?”

  “Was.”

  He looked intrigued. “Fast? Champion fast?”

  Tabby shrugged, wondering what all the interest was in her horse. “I’m hoping. He’s had a good showing these last few years, but mostly at the local level. I’ve had good scores and he’s made me some money. He’s learned a lot.”

  Giving her a slow grin, he asked, “What about you?”

  With a quick smile that hinted of pride, she said, “Well, I’m not one of those riders who’ve been barrel racing since they could climb into a saddle, but I’ve got some rides behind me. I’ve been doing this for a few years when I can.”

  “So it’s not your first rodeo.”

  Frowning, she said, “Isn’t that a bit cliché?”

  “Maybe. But considering my reason for being here, it fits.”

  “I guess.” She tossed the bridle over the stall door and then opened it. The water trough was empty. Dusty probably hadn’t had a chance to fill them all yet. She grabbed a bucket and walked to the faucet at a few yards down from the stall and filled the bucket with water before walking back to the stall.

  The man was standing inside the stall, seemingly unaware or uncaring that his fancy shoes could very well be wrecked by the stomp of a hoof any second.

  “What are you actually doing here?” she asked. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t look like a cowpoke. Those loafers are going to be toast by the end of the day if you keep stepping into the stall the way you’re doing.”

  He chuckled. “Loafers?”

  “Your shoes.”

  “I know what you’re talking about. I just haven’t had anyone call them loafers for about…well, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard someone call men’s dress shoes loafers.”

  She straightened her back. She’d been an outsider in Sweet, Montana for a long time. It took years to dig roots here. Many of the locals who’d been living here twenty years were still considered “new” to town by the families who’d been here generations.

  “Are you making fun of me?” she asked.

  “I wouldn’t dare.”

  “I have no way of knowing what you’d dare. But for the record, just because Sweet is a small town, doesn’t mean we’re small-minded people.”

  “Let me explain—”

  “You really don’t have to, if you don’t mind my saying.”

  “I do mind, actually.”

  She frowned. “You…do?”

  “You think you know something about me. But the way I look at it, you’re the one who is assuming something without really understanding the situation.”

  She dumped the pail of water into the trough and noticed Tenterhook’s grain bin was almost empty.<
br />
  “He needs some grain. Would you mind stepping out of the stall so I can close it?”

  She shut the stall door before heading down the aisle to the feed room. To her surprise, the stranger followed.

  “I happen to know a thing or two about Sweet, Montana.”

  “Yeah? I’m sure you’re eager to enlighten me.”

  He shook his head slightly and stopped walking. She wanted to stop too, but she was entirely too uncomfortable with this stranger for some reason. She continued into the feed room and started scooping grain into a bucket.

  “Sweet, Montana is my hometown.”

  She swung around in surprise. “Really?”

  “Born and raised until I moved to New York.”

  “You’re a long way from there now. I’ve never seen you around town.”

  “I’ve been gone a while. But I’ve come back. Mostly for holidays and family events.

  She looked at the way he was dressed. “I’ve never seen anyone dressed like that around here. You must work at a bank or something.”

  “A bank. Do you always make judgments about people before getting to know them?”

  “No, you just look like you work in a bank.”

  “Let me guess, just because I’m dressed like this you assumed I was a suit who never got dirt under his fingernails or lifted piles of manure out a dirty stall.”

  “Are you offering to help me then?”

  He laughed, which seemed to take away the tension she’d created by being rude, something she knew her mother would admonish her for at any age.

  But it was more than just her embarrassment over being rude to a stranger. His laugh did things to her in ways she hated to think about. It made her feel exposed and she didn’t know why.