Page 4 of Forgotten Mountain Man

“Well, that’s that, then. Can I get you a coffee? I think I’ve got some UHT milk about in the pantry.”

The horror reflected in her eyes probably matched my own, if for a slightly different reason. I wouldn’t know. I didn’t keep a mirror in the house, but she’d find that out soon enough.

Or a phone.

God knew who she’d been calling, but it sure as fuck hadn’t been me.

I strode inside my home that had been built for one and now had to house two bodies. At least until I could figure out howthe fuck to get her off my mountain and safely back to Red Hart before one of us killed the other.

Or worse.

CHAPTER THREE

FAITH

I stared around the small living area with its single, hand-hewn rocking chair, no television, zero tech, and what looked like a hand woven rug I suspected Walker had traded for maybe years ago from the track worn along one edge that seemed to match the width of his boots.

The whole lot overlooked a broad, open veranda where the rest of the mountain dropped away to one side, opposite to where I’d come in. His kitchen was there, too, small, built for one person, with a pantry as advertised, stocked to keep him alive for as long as he needed.

Seeing as he never left, that meant stocked well.

But the view from the rocker that looked out over the sheer cliff face beyond was what blew my mind. Mountains upon mountains spread out in glimpses between the falling sheets of rain that grayed the rest of my vision. Cold draughts blew into the log cabin he had built for himself in the ultimate version of rustic living in the literal middle of nowhere.

I wrapped my arms around myself as I watched the heavens open over us, shivering, but I couldn't tear my eyes away fromthe extreme vista with its brutal beauty laid out so bluntly right before me.

“It’s different here. I know that.” Walker stepped up behind me. His giant, oversized back shielded me from some of the wind that whipped around us. The pine and mountain scent of him filled my senses as I shook my head.

“No, it’s not that. It’s beautiful,” I whispered, still staring through the rain. I had the impression that once it stopped and cleared I would be able to see for miles.

I hoped I would be here to see it when it did.

Then my reality crashed into me, and I squeezed my eyes shut, closing off the stunning view aid out before me. “My car.”My paperwork.That had been on my car when it fell off the mountain.

“I’m sorry, Faith.” A hesitant note entered Walker’s voice before a large hand that matched the mountain man standing at my back cupped my shoulder. “It will be a while before we can leave and head down to…anywhere. I promised you coffee.”

I bit my lip and nodded, willing the tears to stay at bay. “You did.” Everything I’d had with me was in that car. My car that tipped off the edge of his mountain and sounded irrecoverable as it broke on every single solid surface on the way down. My bag containing my purse, my license and all my things in it. My coffee thermos and lunch that Eve had packed. The file with Walker Roan’s notes in it.

Damnit, I’d wanted that thing off my desk, but this was not how I'd planned to achieve today’s goals.

“Coffee would be lovely. Thank you.”

Strange how, in the face of abject panic, we reverted to all the social niceties. Even from this wild man who had the sense to get me out of the pouring rain when my car fell off the edge of the world and into nothingness. For the first time it slammed intome why Travis and Jude had been so worried about me driving up here in the rain.

“Christ.” I pressed a hand to my stomach, half doubling over. “That could have been me in that car.”

If I had taken a few minutes longer to reach him. If I had stayed inside, gathering my thoughts rather than jumping out to sass him, because I was sick of sitting on my ass.

If, if, if…

“It’s okay, you potty mouthed thing.” The hand on my shoulder patted me awkwardly. “How do you take it?”

Rough, fast and with a side of mountain man freshness.

I turned and blinked at him, my reply ready to go because no landslide was going to steal my options today. I blinked when I found deep brown eyes staring at me edged with concern.

“Ah, take what?” Maybe my response needed to be limited, given the circumstances.

His beard twitched, and I wanted to run my fingers through it.

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