Page 143 of Ten Mountain Men

I blink.

“Mother, you know it’s illegal to kidnap people and lock them in the basement, right?”

Her laugh tinkles through the speakers.

“Darling, I didn’t kidnap him. It would’ve been so easy to let him go and just move on to the next, but instead, I did the hard thing. I decided to fight for love. And, it appears, I won. Say hi to Rose-Gold, Clive.”

“Hi, Goldie.” Clive sounds so happy.

I slam on the brakes and pull a U-turn. If my mother of all people can fight for love and win…well, that means anyone can.

Including me.

Chapter 48

Luke

From where I sit in Pa’s chair in the attic, I hear them talking about her. Fucking hell, my brothers are loud. And they’re all sitting around, reminiscing like a bunch of lovesick idiots. It’s like they can’t think of anything else. It’s driving me crazy. I’m already halfway to losing my mind, and the last thing I need is to hear them pining after her, like we didn’t kick her out for a damn good reason.

We did kick her out for a damn good reason.

But I can’t stay up here forever. I can’t hide from the fact that she’s gone, and they’re all miserable because of it. And I can’t hide from the fact that I’m miserable because of it.

Damn good reason or not, it hurts.

I get up and head downstairs, ignoring the creaks in the old floorboards beneath my boots.

The second I walk into the room, everything goes quiet. They all look up at me like I’m about to say something important. Like I’m going to give them the solution to all their problems.

But I don’t have one.

“All this talk about Goldie isn’t gonna bring her back,” I snap. “She’s gone. Get over it.”

As if it’s that easy.

“It’s not that simple, Luke,” Ranger mutters.

“It is that simple,” I growl. “She’s not coming back, and you all need to accept that.”

But I’m a goddamn hypocrite, because how can I expect them to accept something I can’t accept myself?

Her absence is more painful than her betrayal. I see it in their faces, and my own when I look in the mirror.

Without another word, I push open the door and stomp outside. The cold mountain air hits me hard, but it does nothing to clear my head. I just keep walking, moving through the woods, trying to shake off the thoughts of her, the memories of her smile, the sound of her laugh.

But no matter how far I walk, I can’t get away from it.

I don’t know how long I’ve been out here, but when I finally turn back toward the cabin, I see something that stops me dead in my tracks.

Goldie.

Running toward me.

Her hair’s wild, like she’s run through a windstorm to get here, and her face is flushed from the cold. She’s so damned beautiful.

“I came back,” she announces, as if I can’t see that with my own two damn eyes. “But at least I didn’t make you fall down this time.”

I stare at her, dumbfounded. She’s really here. She came back.

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