Taste of Tara Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Hit and Run Love — A Magnolias and Moonshine Novella, Book #20

  A Sweet Contemporary Romance

  by

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  Taste of Tara

  Copyright © 2017 by Shanna Hatfield

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Please purchase only authorized editions.

  For permission requests, please contact the author or toodles, with a subject line of “permission request” at the e-mail address below or through her website.

  Shanna Hatfield

  [email protected]

  shannahatfield.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design Copyright © 2017 by For the Muse Designs

  Welcome to the Magnolias and Moonshine series, where you’ll fall in love with the South.

  Twenty New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon bestselling authors joined together to bring you a taste of Southern charm in this brand new Magnolias & Moonshine series.

  There is something for everyone with these ten sweet and ten sizzle contemporary novellas. You’ll enjoy stories with cowboys, weddings, county fairs, lovers reunited, and much more.

  Step into the world of the South and hear the cicadas, taste the mint juleps, see the stars, and smell the magnolias.

  Authors in novella release order:

  Ciara Knight (Sweet)

  Hildie McQueen (Sizzle)

  Beth Williamson (Sizzle)

  Susan Hatler (Sweet)

  Lindi Peterson (Sweet)

  Kymber Morgan (Sizzle)

  Amanda McIntyre (Sizzle)

  Lucy McConnell (Sweet)

  Sharon Hamilton (Sizzle)

  Lisa Kessler (Sizzle)

  Kirsten Osbourne (Sweet)

  Susan Carlisle (Sizzle)

  Tina DeSalvo (Sizzle)

  Raine English (Sweet)

  Amelia C. Adams (Sweet)

  E. E. Burke (Sizzle)

  Melinda Curtis (Sweet)

  Merry Farmer (Sizzle)

  Shanna Hatfield (Sweet)

  Jennifer Peel (Sweet)

  To anyone who has ever dreamed of being a Southern belle…

  Chapter One

  Portland, Oregon

  “I got the job,” Tara Tarleton whispered, staring at her laptop screen in disbelief. “I got the job?” she questioned, reading the email a second time.

  Realization settled over her in a burst of unbridled enthusiasm. She jumped to her feet and pumped both fists into the air. “I got the job! Woo-hoo!”

  In the midst of her victory dance around the bedroom, her roommate raced in, armed with a rolled up newspaper and prepared to do battle.

  “If there’s another spider in here as big as the last one, you have to kill it yourself,” Ellen Meade said, waving the newspaper in Tara’s direction.

  “Who cares about spiders,” Tara declared, embracing her friend in a jubilant hug. “I got the job!”

  Ellen pulled away with a surprised look. “The job? As in the job on a southern plantation that you’ve not stopped talking about since you got back from your interview a month ago. That job?”

  Tara grinned. “That’s the one!” She spread her arms wide and spun around her room, delirious with joy. “Oh, I can’t believe I’m actually going to be the pastry chef at Magnolia Rose Plantation for this year’s living history event.” The euphoric spinning came to an abrupt halt and her smile morphed into a look of panic. “I have so much to do! I need to let my boss know I’m taking a month off, and I’ve got to pack. I’ll need my spice collection and my knives. Maybe I should plan to ship some stuff ahead. Do you think I should…?”

  Ellen laughed and gave Tara another hug. “I think you need to take a moment to let it all sink in, my friend. It’s not every day a dream comes true. You’ve always wanted to visit the South. Once you finished culinary school, you dreamed of cooking there. It’s so awesome you have this opportunity.”

  “It is awesome.” Tara sank down on the corner of her bed. “I feel like I should pinch myself to make sure I didn’t make this whole thing up.”

  Ellen playfully smacked Tara’s arm with the newspaper still in her hand. “It’s real, Tara. When do you leave?”

  “Day after tomorrow,” she said, pointing to the laptop on her small desk.

  Ellen read the message then turned back to Tara. “What can I do to help?”

  “Go with me to tell my mother?” Tara asked with a knowing smile.

  Ellen shook her head and backed toward the door. “You are on your own with that one. The shrieks of excitement when you tell her might shatter glass, or at least break a few eardrums. I’ll find some boxes to ship your baking stuff while you tell her.”

  “Coward,” Tara teased. She grabbed her purse and hurried out the door. Her parents lived a few miles from the apartment she and Ellen shared. The two girls met when they were eleven and bumped into each other on the first day of school. They made a pact to battle the harrowing halls of junior high together and remained best friends, even fourteen years later.

  After Ellen had graduated at the top of her class from law school, she took a job with a prestigious law firm downtown. Tara had no doubt her friend would one day become a partner, if not at that firm, then one with a similar reputation. Sensible and determined, Ellen had both feet firmly planted on the ground and her entire future planned out, right down to the month she would wed. The only challenge to her plans was finding a boyfriend who was potential husband material.

  Tara, on the other hand, believed dreams were just a lot of hard work and a few heartfelt wishes away. After all, the invitation to work in Atlanta offered proof that her anything-is-possible outlook on life held a measure of merit.

  Ten minutes later, she parked her car in the driveway of her parents’ two-story home. Tara rushed up the walk and gave a perfunctory knock on the vibrant magenta-colored door before turning the knob and stepping inside. Although the outside of the house looked like another cookie-cutter single family dwelling from the nineties, the inside transported guests to a time long past.

  Through yard sales, estate sales, and second-hand stores, Melanie Tarleton had amassed a collection of furniture and décor that would have made any Victorian woman proud.

  As a child, Tara hated the “old stuff” in their house, finding many of the pieces ugly and a few downright uncomfortable. The constant threat of bodily harm if she and her brother ever broke one of the antiques loomed over the house throughout her childhood. She likened her home life in her younger years to living inside a museum twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

  As an adult, Tara could appreciate the work and effort her mother put into creating a showpiece from a bygone era.

  “Mom?” Tara called, walking past the front room. Decorated to resemble a Victorian parlor, the floral wallpaper right down to the burgundy velvet tufted chaise lounge in front of the fireplace definitely loo
ked the part.

  A feminine voice carried down the hall. “In the kitchen, honey.”

  Tara made her way into the sunny kitchen where her mom rolled out a crust for an apple pie.

  “Hey, sweetheart. What are you doing here in the middle of the week? I usually don’t see you until Sunday when you and your brother come for dinner. Have you heard from Peter? He had finals this week and was worried about how he’d do in his English class.”

  “He sent a text that he aced it, or at least he thought he had.” Tara picked up a slice of apple from a bowl and took a bite. “I had some news I wanted to share with you.”

  Melanie stopped rolling the piecrust and tipped her head to the side, studying her daughter. Both were dark haired with green eyes and the resemblance between the two women was strong. “Something exciting, I’d guess, by the look in your eye. What is it, honey?”

  “I didn’t tell you this earlier because I wasn’t sure what would happen.” Tara picked up a spoon and stirred cinnamon into the bowl of apples. “Remember last month when I was out of town for a few days?”

  “Yes. You told us you were out of town on a work thing. Did you lie to me? Were you off canoodling with a man?” Melanie wiped her hands on a dishtowel and narrowed her gaze. “Tara Scarlett Tarleton! I taught you better than that! I don’t care how old you are, you should know…”

  Tara held up a hand to stop her mother’s tirade. “Mom! Just let me finish, please!” When Melanie snapped her mouth shut, Tara grinned. “It was a work thing, but not how you think. I was interviewing for a job. In Atlanta.”

  “Atlanta!” Melanie threw her hands up in the air while glaring at Tara. “Doing what? Where?”

  “It’s a position as a pastry chef at Magnolia Rose Plantation, just south of Atlanta. Each April, they do a living history event. Guests stay for the whole month and while they are there, they live just like it was 1860, before the Civil War started. They wear costumes and no electronics are allowed during the day. It’s unlike anything you can imagine. Anyway, the pastry chef who usually works the event is on maternity leave so they needed someone to fill in this year. They chose me, Mom! Out of four hundred applicants, they chose me!”

  Melanie squealed so loudly, Tara clapped her hands over her ears and cringed. She opened her eyes when her mother wrapped her in a breath-robbing hug. The woman began jumping up and down in excitement while still holding tightly to Tara. “Oh, my sweet darling! That is amazing! So you get to cook on a plantation for the whole month?”

  Tara tried to loosen her mother’s grip, but couldn’t quite escape her grasp or exhilaration. “That’s the plan, Mom. I leave day after tomorrow. I just found out a little while ago and came right over to tell you. It’s such an amazing opportunity and will look great on my resume.”

  Melanie released her hold and stepped back. “How will Mr. Bonnell get by without you for a month? That bakery has doubled their business since you started working there.”

  Tara shrugged. “I already talked to him about it. He has a few people who can help him out part-time. You know how Mr. Bonnell is. He encouraged me to try this and not worry about leaving him short-handed. As soon as I leave here, I’m stopping by to tell him the news.”

  Melanie squealed again and bobbed up and down, rubbing her hands together. “I’m so thrilled one of us will finally get to visit the South. I’ve always wanted to go on a grand tour of plantation homes, but your father can’t get away from work that long. Maybe someday we’ll make it once he retires.”

  “I promise you can live vicariously through me while I’m there.” Tara snitched another slice of apple and waggled it at her mother. “Will you tell Dad the news? I really should go. I don’t have much time to get everything together before I fly out.”

  “Sure, honey. If you need anything from us, let me know. Oh, this is just so exciting. If your grandmother were still alive, she’d be beside herself with joy.”

  “I know, Mom. I sure miss Grammy.” Tara hugged her mother then walked with her down the hall toward the front door. “Maybe I’ll sit under a magnolia tree and watch fireflies, just like she always talked about doing someday.”

  “You do that, baby.” Melanie gave her a sly look. “And maybe you’ll be sitting under that tree with Mr. Right holding your hand.”

  Tara rolled her eyes and opened the front door. “Why must you work my need to meet Mr. Right into every conversation we have?”

  “Because you still haven’t found him.” Melanie grinned. “Once you do, I’ll never mention it again.”

  “Bye, Mom.” Tara kissed her mother’s cheek then jogged back to her car.

  The next stop on her list took her to the bakery where she worked. Mr. Bonnell looked up from the counter in the back where he formed fragrant cinnamon-laced dough into uniform loaves.

  “Let me guess. You got the job,” the older man said, smiling at her.

  Unable to contain her happiness, Tara nodded her head. “I did. They asked me to leave in two days. Are you sure you don’t mind me going for a month?”

  Mr. Bonnell beamed at Tara. “I’ll make do just fine, Tara. My nephew and his son will help keep things running on schedule. Go on and have your adventure. You deserve it.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Tara said. She helped him finish the loaves of bread before she left with his blessing and words of encouragement. On her way home, she ran by the store and picked up several things she thought she might need, and then sped back to the apartment to pack.

  In less than forty-eight hours, she’d be in Atlanta, ready to make her dreams come true.

  Chapter Two

  Tara craned her neck in an attempt to get a better view of Magnolia Rose Plantation from the backseat of the company car that picked her up at the airport. As the car traveled down a wide lane lined with old dogwoods, she was glad they hadn’t yet blossomed. Witnessing the spectacle of them in full bloom was on her checklist of things to see before she returned to Oregon.

  “Oh, wow!” she gasped as the car turned and the main house came into view. Set on a slight hill, the plantation house looked exactly as she pictured Scarlett O’Hara’s home from Gone With the Wind.

  Tara grew up surrounded by her grandmother and mother’s obsession with Gone With the Wind. The two women could recite entire scenes from the movie by heart. Drawn into their mania, she developed one of her own. Tara’s dog-eared paperback copy of Gone With the Wind had been read so many times over the years, the cover had long ago disintegrated. Several pages fell out with regularity, but she carefully tucked them back inside each time it happened.

  Named Tara from her mother’s love of the fictional plantation, Tara Tarleton couldn’t help but gape at the impressive structure before her.

  Four sturdy white columns reached from the top of the front steps up to the overhang from the second floor. Twin chimneys flanked that section of the house with a wing shooting off to the left at an angle and another straight back on the right. Green shutters gave the home an earthy appearance, especially with the profusion of trees and grass surrounding the house.

  The sparkling glass bordering the double entry doors twinkled in the afternoon sunlight. “It looks even prettier than I remember,” Tara whispered, recalling the whirlwind trip she’d made there the previous month to cook six different dishes as an audition for the position. It had been cool and rainy the weekend she interviewed for the job, but today the sun shone overhead and the plantation burst with life, evidence that spring had arrived.

  “Welcome to Magnolia Rose, Miss Tarleton,” the driver said. He parked the car in the circular drive in front of the mansion then opened her door.

  “Shouldn’t I go to a back entrance or something?” Tara asked. She stepped out of the car then leaned back in, retrieving her purse and shoulder bag.

  The driver smiled and flicked his hand toward the broad steps leading up to the front door. “No, Miss Tarleton. All guests, including our new staff, are brought to the front entrance. If you’ll please
go inside, I’ll make sure your luggage is delivered it to your room.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Watling. I appreciate it.” Tara hesitated, uncertain if she should tip him or not. While she wavered in her decision, he climbed in the car, waved, and drove off, presumably to a back door.

  Tara took a deep breath, then climbed the steps and tapped on the door. It opened almost immediately and a lovely woman in her early thirties greeted Tara with a welcoming embrace.

  “Tara! Welcome back to Magnolia Rose. We’re so thrilled you agreed to accept the position in the pastry kitchen.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Fontaine. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this opportunity.” Tara smiled at the woman who, with her husband, had purchased a run-down plantation ten years ago and turned it into a place of beauty. A place they shared with visitors just twice a year —in April and again in December. Tara could only imagine how magnificent the place would appear during the holiday season, bedecked like an enchanting girl ready for her first formal ball.

  “Please, Tara, I insist you call me Ashley and refer to my husband as Wade.” The woman drew her further inside the foyer where sunbeams gilded the gleaming hardwood floor and softened the roses in the patterned wallpaper. Ashley looped her arm around Tara’s, guiding her away from the door. “It’s you who are doing us a huge favor, lovey. A pastry chef with your talent will make this spring’s event one our guests will always remember. Why, I’ve thought of that delicious dessert you made the last evening you were here so many times, I’ve begun to dream of it in my sleep. What did you call it again?”

  Pride mingled with pleasure on Tara’s face. “Magnolia Bliss. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.”

  Ashley laughed and guided Tara into a sitting room decorated in shades of cream and mauve. The decidedly feminine room fit the hostess, with her petite, delicate form and pale blond curls.

  “Wade and I nearly gorged ourselves on it after everyone left. Goodness, but it was delicious.” Ashley gave Tara a knowing look. “Stuart Hamilton himself offered high praise for it.”