His Winter Rose and Apple Blossom Bride Read online

  It’s never too late for second chances in Lois Richer’s heartwarming romances

  HIS WINTER ROSE

  Piper Langley knows that she’s just the woman to bring sleepy Serenity Bay back to life. But her impossible boss, Mayor Jason Franklin, isn’t fully convinced. Will Piper’s dream job quickly become the stuff of nightmares…or does God have other plans for her and Jason?

  APPLE BLOSSOM BRIDE

  Ashley Adams’s high school sweetheart was always the one who got away. Seeing Michael Masters again after decades made her teenage feelings rush back in an instant. But time doesn’t always heal all wounds—not for Ash or for a hurting single dad. Only true faith can dispel the pain of the past….

  Praise for Lois Richer and her novels

  “Richer portrays the struggles of her flawed but redeemable characters realistically in this sweet story.”

  —RT Book Reviews on A Doctor’s Vow

  “These two warm stories depict love, life and how not only nature can have new growth in the spring.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Easter Promises

  “This installment is a wonderful, emotionally heartwarming story about loss and love.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Twice Upon a Time

  “Richer’s warm, strongly spiritual story has a hero and heroine both struggling to hear from God and discover His path for their future.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Rocky Mountain Legacy

  Lois Richer

  His Winter Rose

  Apple Blossom Bride

  CONTENTS

  His Winter Rose

  Apple Blossom Bride

  Books by Lois Richer

  Love Inspired

  This Child of Mine

  *Mother’s Day Miracle

  *His Answered Prayer

  *Blessed Baby

  †Blessings

  †Heaven’s Kiss

  †A Time to Remember

  Past Secrets, Present Love

  ††His Winter Rose

  ††Apple Blossom Bride

  ††Spring Flowers, Summer Love

  §Healing Tides

  §Heart’s Haven

  §A Cowboy’s Honor

  §§Rocky Mountain Legacy

  §§Twice Upon a Time

  §§A Ring and a Promise

  Easter Promises “Desert Rose”

  ‡The Holiday Nanny

  ‡A Baby by Easter

  ‡A Family for Summer

  ‡‡A Doctor’s Vow

  ‡‡Yuletide Proposal

  ‡‡Perfectly Matched

  Love Inspired Suspense

  A Time to Protect

  **Secrets of the Rose

  **Silent Enemy

  **Identity: Undercover

  *If Wishes Were Weddings

  †Blessings in Disguise

  **Finders Inc.

  ††Serenity Bay

  §Pennies from Heaven

  §§Weddings by Woodwards

  ‡Love for All Seasons

  ‡‡Healing Hearts

  LOIS RICHER

  began her travels the day she read her first book and realized that fiction provided an extraordinary adventure. Creating that adventure for others became her obsession. With millions of books in print, Lois continues to enjoy creating stories of joy and hope. She and her husband love to travel, which makes it easy to find the perfect setting for her next story. Lois would love to hear from you via www.loisricher.com, [email protected] or on Facebook.

  His Winter Rose

  So whenever you speak, or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law of love, the law that set you free. For there will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others. But if you have been merciful, then God’s mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you.

  —James 2:12–13

  This book is for Judy, Ken and the kids.

  Thanks for introducing me to cottage country.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Excerpt

  Prologue

  “Ms. Langley? Piper Langley?”

  “Yes.”

  Maybe it was the suit that took his breath away—a tailored red power suit that fit her like a glove. But he didn’t think of power when he looked at her. He thought of long-stemmed red roses—the kind a man chooses to give his love.

  Maybe it was the way she so regally rose from the chair in Serenity Bay’s town office and stepped forward to grasp his hand firmly. Or it could have been her hair—a curling, glossy mane that cascaded down her back like a river of dark chocolate.

  His sudden lack of oxygen wasn’t helped by the megawatt smile that tilted her lips, lit up her chocolate-brown eyes and begged him to trust her.

  From somewhere inside him a warning voice reminded, “Trust has to be earned.” Immediately he recalled a verse he’d read this morning: Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him to help you and He will.

  “I’m Piper.” Her words, firm, businesslike, drew him back to reality.

  “Jason Franklin,” he stated. “Would you like to come through to the boardroom?”

  “Certainly.” She followed him, her high heels clicking on the tile floor in a rhythmic pattern that bespoke her confidence.

  Inside, Jason introduced the town’s councillors, and waited till she was seated. Only then did he take his place at the table and pick up her résumé. It was good. Too good.

  “Your credentials speak very well for you, Ms. Langley.”

  “Thank you.”

  He hadn’t been paying her a compliment, simply telling the truth. She was overqualified for a little town like Serenity Bay, a place in Ontario’s northern cottage country.

  “I don’t think we have any questions about your skills or your ability to achieve results.” He glanced at the other board members for confirmation and realized all eyes were focused on the small, delicate woman seated at the end of the table.

  Piper Langley had done nothing and yet they all seemed captivated by her. Himself included.

  Careful! his brain warned.

  “I’m happy to answer anything you wish to ask, Mr. Franklin.” She picked an invisible bit of lint from her skirt, folded her hands in her lap and waited. When no one spoke, she chuckled, breaking the silence. “I’m sure you didn’t ask me here just to look at me.”

  So she knew she drew attention. Was that good or bad?

  “No, we didn’t.” He closed the folder filled with her accomplishments, set it aside. “It’s obvious you have what we’re looking for, but I can’t help wondering–why do you want to leave Calgary? Especially now, after you’ve worked so hard to build your reputation, finally achieved the success you’ve earned? Why leave all that to work in Serenity Bay?”

  She didn’t move a muscle. Her smile didn’t flicker. But something changed. If he had to put a name to it, Jason would have said Piper-the-rose grew prickly thorns.

  “Several reasons, actually. As you noted, I’ve been working in the corporate world for some time now. I’
m interested in a change.”

  That he understood. He’d come here to seek his own change.

  “I was intrigued when I heard about your plans for Serenity Bay. The town has always been a tourist spot for summer vacationers.”

  “Lately the year-round population has been in decline,” he admitted.

  “Yes.” Her gaze narrowed a fraction. “If I understood your ad correctly, you’re hoping to change that.” She glanced around the table, meeting every interested stare. “I’d like very much to be a part of that process.”

  Nice, but not really an answer to his question.

  Why here? Why now?

  Jason leaned back in his chair and began to dig for what he really wanted to know.

  “How do you view this town, Ms. Langley?”

  “Please call me Piper.” She, too, leaned back, but her stare never wavered from his. “I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but to me Serenity Bay looks like a tired old lady much in need of a makeover. The assets are certainly here, but they’re covered by years of wear and tear. I’d like to see her restored to a vibrant woman embracing life with open arms. I have some ideas as to how we might go about that.”

  Piper elaborated with confidence. Clearly she’d done her research, weighed every option and planned an all-out assault on the problems besieging the Bay. But she didn’t stop there. She offered a plethora of possibilities Jason hadn’t even considered. Two minutes into her speech she had the board eating out of her perfectly manicured hand. None of the other candidates had been so generous in sharing their ideas.

  Jason was left to find a hole in her carefully prepared responses.

  “You’re used to large budgets, Ms. Langley. You won’t have that here.”

  Her brown eyes sparked, her perfectly tinted lips pinched together as she leaned forward. So Miss Perfect had a temper. He found that oddly reassuring.

  “Money isn’t always the answer, Mr. Franklin.” Her fingers splayed across the shiny tabletop, her voice deepened into a firmness that emphasized the sense of power that red suit radiated. “Yes, it will take some cash to initiate change. It will also require hard work, forward thinking, a vision that reaches beyond the usual means to something new, untried. There will be failures, but there will also be successes.”

  “I agree.”

  She stared at him hard, her focus unrelenting, searching. Then she nodded, just once.

  “It will also take commitment. By you, your board, the community. No town gains a reputation for great tourism through one person’s actions. It takes everyone committing to a common goal and pushing toward it—no matter what. It takes teamwork.”

  Jason hoped his face remained an expressionless mask, but his heart beat a hundred miles an hour. Of everything she’d said, that one word had made up his mind.

  Teamwork.

  It was what he’d been cheated of before.

  It was the one thing he’d demand from the town’s newest employee.

  “Unless anyone has another question, or you have something more to say, Ms. Langley, I believe we’re finished. Thank you for making the trip.” He rose, surprised to see more than an hour had passed. “We will notify you of our decision by next week.”

  “It’s been my pleasure.” She worked her way around the table, shaking hands, flashing that movie-star smile. “Regardless of whom you chose as your new economic development officer, I wish you much success in your endeavor. I look forward to coming back in the summer to see the changes you’ve wrought.”

  Jason ushered her out of the room, back into the reception area.

  “Thank you again,” he said, holding out his hand toward her. “You’ve obviously put a lot of thought into how you’d do the job, Ms. Langley. We appreciate your interest.”

  “It’s Piper,” she murmured, shaking his hand. “And the pleasure was all mine. It’s been good to see the town again.” She picked up a long, white cashmere coat and before he could help she’d wrapped it around herself, fastened the two pearl buttons in front.

  A winter rose.

  He got stuck on that thought, gazing at her ivory face rising out of the petal-soft cashmere.

  “Mr. Franklin.”

  “It’s Jason,” he told her automatically.

  “Very well, Jason.” She inclined her head, flicked the sheath of sable-toned hair over one shoulder, shook his hand in finality. “Thank you for the opportunity. Goodbye.” Then she turned toward the door.

  Jason kept watch as she strode to her car, a grey import rental. He waited until she’d climbed inside, until the quiet motor glided away from the town office.

  She was wrong about one thing.

  It wasn’t goodbye. He knew that for sure.

  Chapter One

  “A toast to each of us for thirty great years.”

  Piper pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, protection not only against the March sun’s watery rays, but against the reflected glare of those highest peaks surrounding the bay where traces of winter snow still clung to the crags and dips.

  She held her steaming mug of tea aloft, waiting to clink it against those of her two friends in a tradition they’d kept alive since ninth grade.

  “Happy birthday, ladies. May we each find the dreams of our heart before the next thirty years pass.”

  Rowena Davis drank to the toast, but her patrician nose wiggled with distaste at the mint tea. Rowena was a coffee girl, the stronger the better. She quickly set down her mug before studying the other two.

  “We’ll hardly find any dreams here in the Bay,” she complained with a motion toward the thick evergreen forest. Her dubious tone mirrored the sour look marring her lovely face.

  “Don’t be a grump, Row.” After a grin at Piper, Ashley Adams sipped her tea, savoring the flavor thoughtfully. Ash always took her time.

  “A grump? Wake up, woman.” Rowena shook her head. “I can’t imagine why on earth you’ve moved back here, Piper. Serenity Bay isn’t exactly a hot spot for someone with your qualifications.”

  In unison they scanned the untouched forest beyond the deck, its verdant lushness broken only by jutting granite monoliths dotted here and there across the landscape. Beyond that, the bay rippled, intensely blue in the sunshine with white bands of uninhabited beach banding its coastline.

  “Maybe Serenity Bay’s not a hot spot, but it is calm and peaceful. And she can sail whenever she wants.” Ash turned over to lie on her tummy on the lounger and peered between the deck rails, down and out across the water.

  “True.” Rowena laid back, closed her eyes.

  “Peace and quiet are big pluses in my books these days. I may just come and visit you this summer, Pip.”

  The old nickname had never died despite years of protest. Strangely enough, Piper liked it now; it reminded her that they cared about her, that she wasn’t all alone.

  “You’d leave the big city, Ash?” Piper struggled to hide her smile. It was impossible for her to imagine her friend ignoring the lure of the galleries and new artists’ showings she adored for more than a weekend.

  “Yep. For a while, anyway.” Ashley’s golden hair swung about her shoulders as she absorbed the panoramic view. “I’d forgotten how lovely it is here. No haze of pollution, no traffic snarls. Just God’s glorious creation. This invitation to join you and Row for our annual weekend birthday bash has reminded me of all the things I give up to live in my condo in Vancouver. Especially after soaking in your posh hot tub last night! The stars were spectacular.”

  “Total privacy is a change, too.” Rowena sighed as the sun draped her with its warmth. “You know, Pip, Cathcart House could bring in millions if you turned it into a spa.”

  “It already is one,” Ashley joked. “Welcome to Piper’s own private chichi retreat. Which I’ll happily share whenever she asks.”

  “Anytime.” Piper chuckled. “I recall you were always partial to my grandparents’ home, Ash.”

  “No kidding.” Rowena snorted. “I think she spent m
ore time on their dock than in her own backyard those summers on the Bay.”

  “My grandparents never minded. They loved to see you both.” The pain of their deaths still squeezed Piper’s heart, though time was easing the sting of loss. It helped to recall happier times. “Remember the year Papa bought the sailboat?”

  “Yes. I also remember how many times we got dunked before we figured out how to sail it.” Rowena’s face puckered up. “The bay never gets warm.”

  “But didn’t it feel good to whiz past the beach and know the summer kids were envying us? We wowed ’em that year.” Ashley leaned over, laid a hand on Rowena’s shoulder. “In retrospect, they weren’t all bad times, Row.”

  “No, they weren’t.” After a long silence, Rowena managed to summon what, for her, passed as a smile. “I had you two to go with me to school. That meant a lot.”

  Rowena tossed back her auburn hair as if shaking off the bad memories, then took another tentative sip of tea.

  “Now tell us, Pip. What exactly are you doing back here? Besides hosting our birthday bash, I mean.”

  Piper leaned back, her gaze on the bay below.

  “I’ve accepted a position as economic development officer to organize Serenity Bay’s tourism authority,” she told them.

  Stark silence greeted her announcement.

  “Economic development?”

  “Did she actually say that?”

  Rowena looked at Ashley and both burst into giggles.

  “What development? The place looks smaller now than when we used to live here. A few cottagers, some artists, a defunct lumber mill. What’s to develop?”

  Just as she had when she was fourteen and frustrated by their inability to see what was so clear to her, Piper clenched her jaw and grumbled, “You have no vision, Philistines.”

  “Oh, boy, that takes me back.” Ashley laughed out loud. “Okay, David. Tell us how you’re going to conquer your next Goliath.”

  Piper took her time, gathering her black hair into a knot and pinning it to the top of her head while making them wait. It was an old trick and it always worked. Their interest had been piqued.