Page 124 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bride

My breath hitches like it did the first time I saw him.

Hot damn.

It should be a sin for this man to walk around without a shirt on…

A light sheen of sweat glistens on his chest and arms, and a few drops roll down that perfectVof his hips to the waistband of his low-slung jeans. He scrubs a hand over his face, rubbing at his beard as he approaches.

His gaze darts to the pen, then back to me. “Billy give you any trouble?”

I rest my ass against the gate. “What do you think?”

He smirks. “I think he’s always going to be trouble, just like you are.”

Me, trouble?

I almost object to his statement, but the night he literally had to drag me out of the woods flashes fresh in my mind and stops me. Silas leans in and gives me a quick kiss, then holds something out to me.

I narrow my eyes on it. “What’s this?”

“A satellite phone. You need to return a call to Attorney Fields.”

“What?” I snatch it from his hand, examining the device. “Where the hell did you get a satellite phone?”

While being back on the homestead has felt incredible, the fact that it also means being out of touch with civilization has weighed heavily on me. With Joey still in jail awaiting trial and Marty still floating in the wind, the peaceful life this place allows is constantly interrupted by mental reminders of the unsettled nature of our lives. Having a phone thatworksup here can help change that, but I never thought Silas would ever get one.

The Silas frombeforesure wouldn’t have.

He rests a hip against the fence, crossing his arms over his chest, making his massive biceps bulge. “Before we left Pittsburgh. With everything going on with your brother, I couldn’t very well let you stay at the cabin without any way to get in touch with the attorney or for your brother to call you. I had it delivered to the hotel before we left.”

“Delivered to the hotel, like your suits?”

He grins. “Sometimes being a billionaire has its benefits.”

Like being able to live up here while he’s technically the CEO of Bolton Steel, at least for the time being. He still hasn’t definitively decided what he wants to do with the company, and he left the people his father and Marty put in place to run it as much as they can without him physically being there. But it isn’t the ideal situation for anyone, and he and the board know that.

I wiggle the phone back and forth. “You know they’re going to be able to callyouup here with this?”

His smile falters, thinking about the calls he’s likely to get from company headquarters. “Yeah, I know, but we got the win over Marty on the CEO front. I can’t blow it by not being reachable when I’m needed at Bolton Steel, right?”

“Right.”

He inclines his head toward the device he never would have had on the mountain only a week ago. “Call Attorney Fields. He has a good update for you.”

My chest tightens instantly, and I rub at it with my free hand, trying to push away the anxiety that always overtakes me when I have to speak with the man who holds Joey’s life in his hands.

“Don’t look so scared, Lyla. I saidgood.”

It doesn’t matter.

When it comes to Joey, it’s impossible not to worry and get anxious for any updates. Every day he’s in that jail is one too many. He doesn’t belong locked away withrealcriminals, and the longer he’s there, the greater the chance that something could happen to him within those grimy, dingy, dangerous walls.

I flip open the phone and dial the number I’ve memorized for Attorney Fields. His assistant immediately connects me with him, and I brace myself for the news.

Please, God, let it be something incredible.

Attorney Fields picks up the line. “Lyla, thanks for giving me a call back so quickly…”

Like I would have waited.

---