Julianna Morris - Bachelor Protector

“Uh, okay.”

Nonplussed, Sarah watched for another minute. Rosemary had explained she was staying at Poppy Gold with her youngest son, an Army captain who was recovering from a bomb blast in the Middle East. To give him time alone, she’d been exploring Glimmer Creek.

“Shoo, we’ve got everything under control,” Rosemary ordered, looking happier than Sarah had yet seen her. She’d seemed sad and lonely sitting at a corner table for hours, reading and drinking tea. When Sarah had said hello the first time, Rosemary had even anxiously asked if she was in the way.

Sarah gratefully retreated, thinking she would give Rosemary a gift certificate or selection of baked goods as a thank-you.

Sarah’s Sweet Treats had been a lot more fun before it expanded; Sarah wanted to be a baker, not a businesswoman, but she couldn’t let her cousin down—Tessa was the owner-manager of Poppy Gold Inns and had wanted to outsource their food needs. And the contract had helped pay off the debts from opening the shop.

Sarah was even starting to save for a rainy day. Sooner or later her frantic schedule would sort itself out, and she’d have more time for the things she loved.

In the smaller secondary kitchen, she began a batch of fudge. She had a swing-shift employee who made candy, but the fudge was a huge seller and they could always use more. Once she got a few of the standard batches made, she might experiment with a new flavor—chocolate, cinnamon and cayenne. Unique recipes were her specialty.

The familiar task was more soothing than office work, and soon she had several pans cooling on the candy rack, including her latest experiment. The challenge was making it zippy enough to wake up the taste buds but not too spicy.

Periodically she went out to check on Rosemary and Aurelia. Sales had remained brisk and she expected to find empty spaces in the display cases, but Rosemary had found time to restock them from the supplies in the back.

“Maybe I should put you on the payroll,” Sarah joked in a rare lull between customers.

“I’ve noticed your Help Wanted sign in the window. How about hiring me?” Rosemary asked, surprising Sarah. Rosemary dressed chicly and wore expensive jewelry. On top of that, Poppy Gold wasn’t cheap; this couldn’t be a woman who needed a job.

“What about your son?”

“He says he mostly needs peace and quiet and that I drive him crazy when I hover. So I could work afternoons to start and add mornings when he’s better.”

“I...sure,” Sarah said. “If you’re serious, I’ll get an application.”

Rosemary suddenly looked uneasy. “I’m quite serious. But I’ve never had a job, so I don’t have any references. I’ve managed numerous fund-raisers though, and I can give you names of people involved with them. I’m sure they’d vouch for me.”

“That’s fine. I mostly need to do a standard background check.”

Sarah went to get the application, unsure if she was batty or desperate. But Rosemary had already shown she was capable, and Sarah believed in listening to her instincts. The one time she hadn’t, she’d ended up married to a guy with the conscience of a snake.

As a matter of fact, her ex made snakes look good.

CHAPTER ONE

TYLER PRENTISS WAS frustrated and worried.

His red-eye flight had been delayed coming into the Sacramento International Airport, and then the car rental company had lost his reservation. It took an hour before he was finally able to get a vehicle and head for the small town of Glimmer Creek.

He’d never visited California’s Gold Country and wouldn’t be going now if his mom and brother hadn’t lost their minds. The thought made Tyler wince. It was closer to the truth than he liked.

Rosemary Prentiss had almost suffered a breakdown after his father’s death a few months earlier, and now Tyler’s younger brother, Nathan, was struggling to recover from post-traumatic stress and injuries received while serving overseas.

The employee at the Poppy Gold Inns reservation desk directed him to the John Muir Cottage where his family was staying in the Yosemite suite. Nathan was sitting in a comfortable chair in the back garden, and Tyler’s gut tightened. It had been a month since they’d seen each other, but his brother’s face seemed as gaunt as before.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Nathan returned tonelessly.

“I was able to come home a few days early and went to the rehab center for a visit, only to learn you’d checked out. You didn’t mention it when I called.”

“I knew you’d do the big brother thing and try to stop me.”

“Yes, if you weren’t ready,” Tyler couldn’t keep from retorting. “I happen to know your doctor didn’t want you to leave. One of the patients at the center told me.”

Nathan made a rude gesture, which was completely out of character for him. “Screw doctors, I’m sick of ’em. When I said I was checking out of rehab no matter what, Mom got a referral or something to come here.”

Tyler looked around. “Where is Mom?”

“At a shop called Sarah’s Sweet Treats. I didn’t like her hanging over me, so she got a job there. Now she’s gone most of the day, except when she brings something for lunch and checks in on her breaks. It’s much calmer this way.”

A job?

Tyler stared. His mother had never worked in her life, and it seemed unlikely she was in any condition to start now considering how shaky she’d been when he’d left for Italy just a few weeks earlier. Lately she’d seemed a little better when he’d phoned, but still anxious and uncertain.

The guilt he felt for even going on the business trip returned full force, but what else could he have done after postponing it twice? He’d designed a private museum in Rome, and his contract required him to spend a certain amount of time on-site. While the clients were sympathetic and had agreed to a shorter period, they’d run out of patience when he’d tried to delay his visit another time. Then he’d needed to leave for a few days in the middle to fly to Illinois for an emergency.

“All day?” Tyler repeated. “As in full time?”

“I guess. The first day she was just gone in the afternoon, and then she asked if I minded her staying away longer. I was all for it. I’m sick of people fussing at me.”

It was hard for Tyler to picture their mother being able to focus on anything, much less stick to an eight-hour workday. Rosemary Prentiss was a Washington, DC, socialite—a sweet woman with a short attention span, flitting from one cause to the next. She’d never even balanced her own checkbook or paid a bill, leaving everything to her husband.

When Tyler’s father had died, Rosemary had fallen apart. She’d been so unstable, her doctor had considered hospitalization. Then Nathan had gotten injured in Iraq. Needing to concentrate on her son’s recuperation had forced her to set aside her grief for a while, but it didn’t mean she’d fully recovered, any more than Nathan had.

“I’ll go check on her,” Tyler said.

Nathan shrugged. “Are you staying?”

“If I can get a room.”

“No problem. There are two extra bedrooms in the suite. Mom asked for the largest space available, thinking it would be quieter. That’s one of the problems with the hospital and rehab center—it’s never really quiet.” Nathan put his head back and closed his eyes.

More concerned and frustrated than ever, Tyler looked up Sarah’s Sweet Treats on his phone and followed the directions. It occurred to him that he ought to think it through first, but instead he marched inside.

“I need to speak with Rosemary Prentiss,” he told the woman at the counter.

“Rosemary isn’t available right now.”

“She works here, doesn’t she?” The question came out harsher than he’d intended.