Page 2 of Claimed By the Mountain Man

His expression darkened further, if that was even possible. “Mountain what?”

Oh no.

“The dating app?” My voice climbed an octave. “The one for marriage-minded mountain men? Where you swipe left or right to find your perfect mountain match?”

“I know what a dating app is,” he said flatly. “What I don’t know is why you’re on my porch.”

My cheeks burned. “Because we matched? And you—well, someone—invited me here to... discuss our future?”

“Hold on.” He cut me off, running a hand through his damp hair. “Ididn’t sign up for any app.”

Now it was my turn to narrow my eyes. “You didn’t?”

“Nope.”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. “But we’ve been messaging for a week. Someone’s been sending me these sweet, if slightlygruff, messages about wanting to share their life on the mountain, and they used your picture. So either you’ve got a twin running around out there, or someone’s catfishing as a very grumpy lumberjack.”

His jaw tightened. “My brother,” he muttered under his breath, sounding both irritated and resigned.

“Your brother?” Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. “Wait—Ethan Miller? The owner ofMountain Mates? The one who hired me to design the app’s interface?” My brain was working overtime connecting dots I really wished weren’t there. “That’s your brother?”

Logan crossed his arms over his chest, which only made his biceps look even more ridiculously large. “The same. And he’s always pulling stunts like this.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. What was I even supposed to say to that? I’d agreed to be his mail-order bride, hauled my entire life up a mountain, and burned pretty much every bridge behind me—all because his brother thought it would be funny to play matchmaker?

The reality of my situation hit me like a bucket of ice water. I was standing on a stranger’s porch, in the middle of nowhere, with no backup plan and a trailer full of everything I owned. And the man I’d thought I’d been connecting with all week had no idea I even existed.

Not exactly the best way to start a new chapter in my life.

“Well,” I said weakly, “this is awkward.”

CHAPTER TWO

LOGAN

I’d just stepped out of the shower when the knock came. Standing in my bedroom, water still dripping down my back, I seriously considered ignoring it. Nobody came up Lone Mountain without a reason, and at this hour, I doubted that reason would be good.

The knock came again, more insistent this time.

Cursing under my breath, I grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on, not bothering with a shirt. Probably just another lost hiker who couldn’t read a GPS. It happened more often than you’d think, which was exactly why I’d started the wilderness tour business in the first place. To keep people from roaming around the mountain, getting into trouble.

But when I yanked open the door, I found something far more dangerous than a lost hiker.

She was curvy, with wild dark hair that looked like she’d been running her hands through it for hours. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, and her eyes—warm brown and startlingly direct—widened as they met mine, then dropped to my chest. Something hot and unexpected curled in my stomach at her obvious appreciation.

Then she opened her mouth and turned my world sideways.

The story tumbled out—Mountain Mates, messages, marriage—and with each word, my fury at Ethan grew. Of coursemy brother would pull something like this. He’d been trying to drag me back into the real world ever since I’d left the rat race of a life and moved back here, three years ago.

We’d grown up in the shadow of Lone Mountain. Two tech-obsessed kids dreaming of Silicon Valley. And we’d made it too, built our company from nothing, sold it for millions. But while Ethan saw it as a beginning, I saw it as an escape. The years working day and night, surrounded by people who only saw you as a big dollar sign, had left me disillusioned. I hated the crowds, the noise, and the endless pressure of civilization.

I’d come back to Lone Mountain, bought this piece of land, and found peace in the solitude. I had started the wilderness tours because it gave me purpose without forcing me back into the world I’d left behind. Ethan had followed, claiming he could code from anywhere, but I knew he was worried about me. He called my cabin my hermit hideout, joked that I needed someone to drag me back to humanity.

And now here she was—humanity personified, standing on my porch with a U-Haul full of her life and expectations I couldn’t possibly fulfill.

I should have sent her away. Should have pointed her back down the mountain and gone back to my quiet life. But something in her face—a mix of embarrassment, determination, and genuine distress—made me hesitate.

“There’s a hotel in town.” Since I wasn’t used to talking to people much anymore, I knew the words sounded harsh. Unfeeling.

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