Page 5 of Dangerous Mountain Man

But I wanted to know everything about her. And if I stood here long enough, sipping this surprisingly good coffee, maybe I’d get the information I wanted.

“You said you were living in another cabin?” I asked. “You just moved here?”

“This is a rental cabin. I guess you know that.”

Yeah, I knew that all too well. I’d seen different people come and go, but truth be told, I didn’t really care who lived here…or didn’t, as the case may be. Not until I saw this woman.

“My boss built these cabins,” she said. “I work part time for him. He owns the show cabin you see as you’re coming up the mountain.”

Oh yeah, couldn’t miss that.Custom Log Cabins,the sign in front of it read. I figured that was the guy who’d built the cabin where I now lived.

“My apartment was a roach motel, so my boss hooked me up with a friend who owns a bunch of these cabins and rents them to vacationers,” she said. “He liked the idea of having someone stay in them when they were unoccupied. I can make sure nobody’s stolen anything and keep it aired out. Hopefully, I’ll be able to stay here for a couple of months, though.”

Hopefully was right. I loved the idea of her sticking around for a while. She probably wasn’t any good for me, but I’d be damned if I could look away from that beautiful face.

I’d moved up here to be alone. No plans to get involved with a woman. But the thought of never seeing this woman again was doing something to me. I didn’t like needing someone else, but I had no idea what to do about it.

3

MALLORIE

He was over there somewhere.

A full fourteen hours after we drank coffee together, I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about the man who’d been in my kitchen that morning. I hadn’t been able to forget him since he walked out after downing his coffee, saying he had to get to work.

The good news was no deer were shot today. The bad news was I had no idea how to work things around so I could see my neighbor again.

I shouldn’t want to see him again. I’d sworn off dating until I got my law degree. That and my part-time job took enough of my time, and I didn’t need some guy throwing me off track. In fact, if my boss’s buddy called and told me I had to be out tomorrow, it would probably be a good thing. I would hate it, but it would be best for me.

Thunk.

I’d turned on my side, forcing my eyes closed, when the noise jerked them open again. What now?

Thunk.

He was a logger. He chopped down trees for a living. At least, that’s what I assumed. Was he out there with an ax, chopping down trees in the middle of the night?

I crept over to the window and parted the blinds to peek through, but all I could see was the side of his house. His driveway wasn’t even visible from here.

I had to go look.

I grabbed my robe, threw it on, and shoved on my flip-flops. I usually just wore those around the house, but I didn’t really want to wear them out in the yard. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to step too far off the front porch.

Actually, I didn’t have to step past the front door to see exactly what was going on. The lumberjack was standing shirtless in his driveway, the hood of his truck propped open. Steam was pouring from it.

I realized then I wasn’t irritated with him. I had no plans to come out and yell at him. I simply wanted to see him again. Seeing him shirtless was a bonus.

But I had questions. If he was out here like this, I assumed he’d just gotten home and his truck had started smoking. Didn’t cars start smoking while they were being driven? Or maybe he’d started it up to go somewhere. But it was after eleven, and he had to work tomorrow, so he’d probably been out and was just getting home.

What would someone be doing until eleven o’clock at night? Dinner? Maybe a date with a woman?

Jealousy surged through me. And that was absolute lunacy. I had literally just met the guy. Yesterday at this time, I barely knew who he was. I certainly hadn’t noticed he was this handsome.

But that was no doubt due to the bushy beard and longish hair he’d had when I first saw him. I guess he’d cleaned up atsome point. But I’d still have found him handsome, scruffiness and all, if I’d gotten a close-up look at him like I had today.

“You okay over there?” I called out.

He jerked upright and hit his head on his propped-up hood. I winced and jumped a little. Sympathy pains.

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