Page 2 of Escaping with the Mountain Man

My laughter died a little as I stared at those shears. Finally, I was able to compose myself.

“Do you know where they are?” I asked.

“Vacation,” he said. “I’m watching the place while they’re away. Are they…expecting you?”

His gaze lowered to my dress as he asked that question. Yeah, there was no logical explanation for a woman standing on someone’s front porch wearing a wedding dress and matching veil. Unless that front porch was her own. But even then, someone would be with her—preferably her groom.

“No,” I said.

I lowered my hands to my sides and winced as my veil caught on my engagement ring. I looked down at my hand and debated jerking the ring off and throwing it into the yard. But I probably should return that to my ex-fiancé. No telling what he’d spent on it, banking on a future where he didn’t have to worry about money.

“I just ran away from my wedding,” I said. Then I looked back up at him and said, “I need somewhere to hide.”

2

DEREK

Iwas harboring a runaway bride. Was that illegal? Would the town sheriff show up to arrest me for it?

“I have water and orange juice,” I called out as I stood in front of the open fridge. “Unless you like beer.”

“Beer would be perfect,” she said.

Those words caused me to straighten and look over at her. The bride still wore that white sparkly dress, but she’d removed the veil. And she kept staring at the gigantic diamond on her finger like she wanted to do something about it.

Toby, Zack and Ashlynn’s golden retriever, had gotten over his initial excitement that he had a visitor. He was on his bed, but he didn’t take his eyes off me as I carried an open bottle of beer to the bride.

“Thanks,” she said as I handed the bottle to her. She took a long swig. When finally she lowered the bottle, she looked around. “Are you house sitting or dog sitting?”

I smiled as I settled onto the recliner. “A little of both, I guess.” I looked over at Toby. “Let’s just say Zack calls it house sitting because he doesn’t want to admit he can’t kennel his dog.”

“Spoiling a dog is an admirable trait in a guy.”

I watched her as she took another long sip. More of a guzzle. She’d already emptied half the bottle.

“You okay?” I asked.

That brought her gaze to my face. It also notched my up attraction to her—an attraction that had been there since the first time our eyes met. I was trying to shove those feelings aside. Obviously, this woman had a lot going on right now, and I didn’t need the drama.

“No,” she said. That word came out as a long sigh, and it seemed to make her immediately relax. It was as though just saying the word brought relief. “I made a mess of everything.” She looked at her left hand—at the ring that was so big it didn’t look real. “I was saving myself for marriage, but he’s not the guy I’d want to lose my virginity to.”

My eyebrows arched. Had she just revealed she was a virgin? This gorgeous creature, sitting in front of me? Whoever this guy was, he’d almost been a lucky, lucky man.

“So, you basically ran out on your wedding?” I asked.

She looked up at me. “That’s exactly what I did. All that money, wasted. We rented out the whole retreat center for the weekend. Did you know that?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t kept up with what was going on at the retreat center. Zack was my neighbor and one of my buddies long before his now-wife came to town and built the place. I heard plenty about the retreat center during construction, but now that it was open with a steady stream of guests flowing through each week, we didn’t really talk about it.

“Then there were the flowers. The string quartet.” She laughed. “We even had butterflies to release when the preacher pronounced us man and wife.”

“Husband and wife,” I corrected. At the stunned look she shot me, I added, “That’s how I look at it. Marriage is a partnership. I’d be the husband, she’d be the wife. The old way sounds like the man is taking property.”

She tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes. “Did you know he wanted the preacher to give a whole speech about how man is head of the household? I said no.”

I nodded. “Red flag. I don’t blame you for running out.”

She picked up the bottle again and took another sip. Had my words been too harsh? Hell, it wasn’t like I had experience with this sort of thing.

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