Six Months in Montana — Pamela M. Kelley

Molly Bishop loves living in Manhattan and managing a boutique luxury hotel. She's about to be promoted to her dream job of General Manager, the role she's been striving for her entire career. There's only one thing standing in her way. The will of her childhood friend, Christian Ford's grandfather. She hasn't even seen Christian in over ten years, but a recent run-in with his grandfather during a rare visit home, resulted in a new condition to the will. Christian will only inherit the ranch he's been running and the real estate development business that he has expanded, if he marries Molly and stays married for at least six months. This is what I would call a cozy romance, it's romantic and sweet and is set in a small fictional town about 30 miles from Bozeman, MT. Warning, if you prefer your stories with the bedroom doors wide open and the windows steamed up, you may be disappointed. :) I love to cook and try new recipes and if you do too, you may want to check out the recipe I included at the end of the book, for Lazy Lobster Casserole, the dish that Molly serves her guests at the Rose Cottage Inn's first wine dinner. It's a recipe I know by heart and have made a million times and is great for special occasions. It's a holiday tradition in our family to have it every Christmas Eve. :) This is a novel of about 50k words and 215 pages. Excerpt Chapter One This is a joke right?” Christian Ford looked at his lawyer, and best friend, Travis Jones in disbelief. Now he understood why Travis had insisted that he come by his office for an official reading of his grandfather's will. “Are you seriously telling me that he changed his will less than a month before he died, and added this condition?” “I'd love to tell you I'm kidding, but your grandfather was very clear about what he wanted.” Travis added, “I tried to talk him out of it. Told him you haven't even seen her in years. But he was insistent, said he ran into her at the market last month. She was home for a quick visit, and they got to chatting.” “Doesn't she live in New York city now?” Christian hadn't seen or thought of Molly in years. “She does. Works for one of the large hotel chains. Sounds like she's done pretty well too.” “So this makes absolutely no sense then. Her life isn't here.” Christian glanced around the office, not really seeing the varnished dark wood bookcases, or the breathtaking mountain view out the window behind Travis. His office also overlooked Main Street, which in Beauville, MT, a small town just outside Bozeman, meant that it served as the center of town and most of the small shops and businesses were along this stretch. “Your grandfather seemed to think she'd be better off here.” Travis said. “It's absolutely ridiculous. She'll never agree to it, why would she?” Travis leaned back in his plush leather chair and picked up the will, shuffling the pages until he found the passage he was looking for. “Well, you just have to stay married for six months. She'd be free to go after that if she wishes, and it might be worth her while.” “Have you called her yet?” Christian was having a hard time wrapping his head around this. His grandfather had always marched to his own drum and had plenty of ideas about how Christian should do things, but he'd never meddled to this extreme before. “I spoke with her briefly yesterday. She's on her way here, meeting us in an hour at Delancey's.” “We're not meeting in the office?” Delancey's was the best restaurant in town. “Given the situation, I thought the least we could do is buy her dinner.” ***