The Bachelor Baker. Carolyne Aarsen

      

      An Unlikely Partnership

      Opening a business isn’t a piece of cake—something Melissa Sweeney discovers when an anonymous benefactor brings her to Bygones, Kansas. She can’t fulfill her longtime dream of starting up her own bakery without help. But with his traditional views of work and family, Brian Montclair is the unlikeliest candidate for the job.Even more surprising is the powerful attraction sprouting up between the rugged mechanic and his fiercely independent new boss. Brian’s heart and soul belongs to his hardworking community that is slowly coming back to life. Melissa wants to be part of that transformation…if she can make Brian believe they can be true partners in everything—including love.

      Melissa turned and almost ran into Brian.

      “I’ll take care of this,” he growled. “You go bake your little fours or whatever you call them.”

      She held his steady gaze, his eyebrows lowered over his deep-set eyes. She would not be intimidated by an employee, but at the same time she sensed he was not backing down.

      “Okay. I’ll be in the back,” she said with a forced smile, knowing she would have to talk to him later about the boss/employee relationship. If he was going to work here, they needed to keep a few things straight.

      Their eyes held a moment and she couldn’t look away.

      She couldn’t figure out why his attitude bothered her. Brian Montclair was not her type and the last person she would want to have anything to do with beyond the bakery.

      CAROLYNE AARSEN

      and her husband, Richard, live on a small ranch in northern Alberta, where they have raised four children and numerous foster children, and are still raising cattle. Carolyne crafts her stories in an office with a large west-facing window through which she can watch the changing seasons while struggling to make her words obey.

      The Bachelor Baker

      Carolyne Aarsen

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry,

      and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

      —John 6:35

      I’d like to thank Dennis Donker and Candice of Barrhead Bakery for their help showing me how their bakery works. And for making me want to come back and buy every kind of pound cake they make.

      Special thanks and acknowledgment to Carolyne Aarsen

      for her contribution to The Heart of Main Street continuity.

      Contents

       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

       Dear Reader

       Questions for Discussion

      Chapter One

      He took up her whole office.

      At least that’s how it felt to Melissa Sweeney.

      Brian Montclair sat in the wooden chair across the desk from her, his arms folded over his chest and his entire demeanor screaming ‘‘get me out of here.’’

      Tall with broad shoulders and arms filling out his button-down canvas shirt rolled up at the sleeves and tucked into worn blue jeans, he looked more like a linebacker than a potential baker’s assistant.

      Which is what he might become if he took the job Melissa had to offer him.

      Melissa drew in a deep breath, brushed her long hair back from her face and held up the worn and dog-eared paper she had been given. It held a short list of candidates for the job at her bakery, Sweet Dreams Bakery. She had already hired one of the people on the list, Amanda True, but as a high school student she was only available to work part-time.

      The rest of the names, once neatly typed out, had been crossed off with comments written beside them. Unsuitable. Too old. Unable to be on their feet all day. Just had a baby. Nut allergy. Moved away.

      This last comment appeared beside two of the eight names on her list, a sad commentary on the state of the town of Bygones, which she had only recently moved to.

      When Melissa had received word of a mysterious benefactor offering potential business owners incentive money to start up a business in the small town of Bygones, Kansas, she had immediately applied. All her life she had dreamed of starting up her own bakery. She had taken courses in baking, decorating and business management, all with an eye to someday living out the faint hope of owning her own business.

      When she had been approved, she had quit her baking job at the hotel in St. Louis, packed up her few belongings and come here. She felt as if her life, after all the mishaps and missteps, had finally taken a good turn. A turn she had some control over.

      She started up the bakery in July and for the past month she had been running it with the help of Amanda. However, in the past couple of weeks it had become apparent she needed extra help.

      She had received the list of potential hires from the Bygones Save Our Streets Committee and was told to try each of them first. Brian Montclair was on the list. At the bottom, mind you, but still on the list.

      “I want to thank you for coming here,” she said by way of introduction.

      “No problem,” he said, glancing her way, then looking suddenly away as if unable to hold her gaze. “What can I do for you?”

      “The reason I called you here was to offer you a job,” she said, injecting a note of enthusiasm into her voice.

      Melissa still didn’t know what the people on the SOS Committee were thinking when they put this man on her list. He looked like he should be pulling wrenches, not handling the delicate petit fours, tarts and cupcakes she stocked in the bakery.

      Brian pulled back, his frown making his heavy eyebrows sink lower, hooding his eyes. “A job? Here? In a bakery? That’s why you phoned me?”