Page 1 of The Minx and the Mountain Man

Chapter One

Sadie

I press my forehead against the cold window of the bus, watching as the tiny mountain town of Pine Hollow unfolds like a winter dream with quaint storefronts adorned with hearts, chimneys puffing lazy streams of smoke into the frosty air, a towering evergreen in the town square twinkling with red and pink lights.

I should be delighted. A fresh start, a cozy town, a new life are exactly what I want. What I’ve chosen.

But my stomach is currently tangled in about seventeen knots because I am about to step off this bus and meet the man I’m supposed to marry.

A man I do not know.

A man who sent exactlythreeemails in response to my carefully crafted, heartfelt correspondence through the Mountain Mates Dating Service. Three emails, each more practical and businesslike than the last, lay out the terms of the arrangement in clipped sentences.

You need a place to go. I need a wife. We’ll keep it simple.

Oh, and my personal favorite:

This is a transaction, Miss Winslow. Not a romance.

So, naturally, I signed right up.

To be fair, my options were limited after exposing my former boss’s embezzlement scheme and subsequently being blacklistedfrom my entire industry. It turns out that people don’t like whistleblowers, no matter how many laws are being broken.

My boss had also been my landlord, so my lease was terminated. My bank account? Dismal. And my once-busy social calendar had been reduced to an endless string ofSorry, I just don’t want to get involvedtexts.

So here I am. A mail-order bride, pulling into a town that looks like it belongs in a Hallmark movie, about to meet a man who probably has never seen a Hallmark movie because they might make him feel something.

The bus shudders to a stop and the doors wheeze open, spilling a gust of icy air into the cabin.

“This is you,” the driver calls over his shoulder, giving me a once-over. “You sure about this, miss?”

No.

I paste on my best everything-is-going-to-be-amazing smile. “Absolutely!”

I haul my suitcase down the narrow aisle and step onto the snow-packed sidewalk. The cold is instant, slicing straight through my wool coat like it has a personal vendetta. I squeak out a little gasp, my breath puffing in front of me in a white cloud.

And then I see him.

Reid Calloway.

Leaning against an old blue pickup truck like he’s been here for years, arms crossed over a chest that is roughly the size of a barn door. His dark, thickly lined coat looks like it’s seen more than a few winters, and the beanie pulled low over his forehead does little to soften the storm brewing behind those icy blue eyes.

He is massive. Broad, tall, all rough-hewn edges and imposing presence. A full foot taller than me, at least, with shoulders so wide they could block out the sun.

Not that there is any sun at the moment.

The sky is the same gray as Reid’s mood.

His expression is unreadable—somewhere between deep irritation and outright regret. Like he was hoping I wouldn’t show up, and now that I have, he’s mentally revising his entire life plan.

I brighten my smile another few watts and stride forward, boots crunching in the packed snow. “Reid Calloway?”

His gaze flicks over me in one slow, assessing pass before landing back on my face. “Miss Winslow.”

That’s it. No hello. No handshake. Just my name, like I’m a minor inconvenience.

“Nice to finally meet you,” I say, extending my gloved hand. He looks at it like I just offered him a dead fish.

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