Page 9 of Her Mountain Man Rescuer

Audrey’s brow quirks slightly, a shadow passing over her face. “We? Do…do you run the cabins with someone else? Like, your wife?—”

“No, my brother, Dane,” I say hurriedly. “He owns three cabins, and I own the other three. But we list them all together on the same website.” Clearing my throat, I add, “I don’t have a wife. No girlfriend either.”

Am I imagining it, or does she look relieved?

“Me neither,” Audrey says. “No boyfriend, I mean.” She looks down at her plate, not meeting my gaze. “Sorry, I don’t know why I said that. You didn’t ask?—”

“Doesn’t mean I didn’t want to know.”

The air thickens between us, and suddenly, the cabin feels swelteringly hot. Audrey is the first to break the silence, her cheeks pink. “I…um…well, anyway, have you always lived in the mountains?”

I nod. “Grew up in this cabin. It was my childhood home. Only left it when I joined the Navy.”

“Oh.” Audrey’s eyes widen. “How long did you serve?”

“Twenty years.”

She lets out a whistle. “Almost my entire life.”

“Damn. Now I feel ancient.”

“Sorry.” She giggles slightly before her face turns serious. “Do you miss it?”

“No.” My answer is immediate. “I don’t regret my service, and as a younger man, I loved it. But you get sick of it after a while, being cooped up all the time. All that wide open ocean around you, but you’re stuck inside a vessel. The older I got, the more claustrophobic it felt.”

Audrey listens intently. “Wow. I can’t imagine…I guess it must be a relief to be back on Cherry Mountain? All the forests, the open space.”

“Exactly. Wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

A comfortable silence falls, nothing but the scrape of cutlery until Audrey says, “Was your brother in the Navy too?”

“Army.” I open my mouth to elaborate but close it again. She doesn’t need to hear about all that. Dane would hate to think of me talking about it. He hates to be pitied.

Audrey seems to sense that she’s hit a nerve because she doesn’t push the subject. We keep things light, talking about the rental cabins and her life back in Denver as we tuck into the creamy vanilla cheesecake I bought for dessert. Time seems to pass at double speed, and all too soon, the meal is over, the table is cleared, and it’s time for Audrey to leave.

“Thank you so much for everything,” she says, shuffling toward the door. “You’ve been so good to me, Weston. I really don’t know how I can thank you.”

Something squeezes in my gut as I watch her standing by the door, about to step out of my life forever. Her eyes are sad, the sparkle dim, and desperation claws at me.

Not yet.

Just a little more time…a few more hours…

“I think you should stay the night,” I tell her, my voice hoarse. “You don’t know these roads, Audrey. They can be dangerous if you’re not familiar with them.”

I’m expecting her to disagree, and a counter-argument is already forming in my head. Anything to convince her not to go just yet. But she surprises me.

“You’re sure?” she asks. “I’ve already inconvenienced you so much.”

“You haven’t. Not at all.” I take a step toward her, wishing more than anything that I could reach out and pull those soft curves against me. “I can have the guestroom made up for you in five minutes.”

To my relief, she doesn’t take much convincing.

“That would be great.” She shakes her head, smiling. “God, I really need to figure out how I’m going to pay you back for all this. You saved my life, fed me steak and cheesecake, and now you’re giving me a room for the night.”

“I don’t need repayment, Miss Denver. I like having you here.”

The words are out before I can think them through. It’s the truth—hell, it’s the understatement of the century—but the last thing I want is to freak Audrey out by showing her how strongly I feel. It’s already freakingmeout, so God knows how weird it would be for her.

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