Page 14 of Mountain Man's Surrender

He fills a pint with amber liquid from the tap, foam rising to the top in a perfect head as his gaze darts to Aspen. “You’re wound tighter than a spring. Something to do with Simon’s daughter meeting with the broker over there?”

I grunt noncommittally. Of course, the town gossip mill is already churning. In a place like Wildwood, news travels faster than a wildfire in August.

“Heard she showed up at the Sugar Plum the other day,” Rhys continues, setting the beer in front of me. “And then got caught up at your place during the storm.” One eyebrow lifts suggestively.

My eyes drift past Rhys to where his wife, Piper, is arranging glasses behind the bar. She smiles at me, then when Rhys turns to see who I’m waving at, flashes him a smile so tender, so full of understanding, that my chest constricts painfully. Rhys returns the smile, a silent conversation passing between them in that brief exchange. They’ve somehow made it work, a relationship built on mutual respect and deep affection despite their age difference. For a fleeting moment, I let myself imagine what it would be like to have that with Aspen, to exchange such looks across a room, to build a life with her.

I shut down that thought hard and fast. A scarred, broken man like me has no business dreaming of such things. I take a long pull from the glass. “Just helping out Simon’s kid.”

“Uh-huh.” Rhys’s tone indicates his disbelief. He leans a hip against the bar as his attention returns to Aspen. “She’s a beauty. Got Simon’s eyes.”

My gaze drifts back to her. She’s nodding at something Derek says, her brow furrowed slightly in concentration. I want to charge over there, interrupt, but I resist. “She does.”

“Landry, good to see you.”

I spin at the sound of Piper’s voice. “You, too. This old man taking care of you.”

She smiles fondly at her husband. “Always.” Rhys pats her on the ass. “What are you up to today?” she continues, “I heard something about—”

“He’s watching Simon’s daughter meet with the developer’s broker,” Rhys explains, amusement lacing his voice as he tilts his chin toward the table by the window. “And pretending he’s not interested in her.”

Piper laughs, a warm sound that fills the space between us. “Oh, is that all? Because to me, it looks like he’s ready to jump out of his skin.”

I mutter a curse under my breath and take another drink as she kisses Rhys on the cheek then leaves us alone.

“You know, when Piper first showed up at my cabin,” Rhys says, a fond smile playing on his lips as he watches her walk away. “She was a young thing, full of fire.”

Despite my foul mood, I snort. “She’s still a young thing.”

“Not too young for me.”

“Didn’t she slap you across the face within five minutes?”

A wide smile breaks out across his face. “That she did.”

Rhys and I aren’t close, exactly, but we understand each other. We’re both mountain men who prefer solitude and have foundour peace in the quiet of the Vermont wilderness. And now, I realize with a jolt, we’re both fallen for women half our age with direct connections to men we respected more than anyone.

“You gonna tell her?” Rhys asks quietly, placing both hands on the bar. “About the ownership?”

My jaw locks as I stare into my beer. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Not relevant.”

“Like hell,” Rhys counters.

Heat sweeps up my neck. “It’s what Simon would’ve wanted.”

“Sure it is.” Rhys grabs a towel and starts polishing a glass. “But don’t you think she deserves to know the part you played? Especially if she’s considering selling the place to some developer who’ll tear it down?”

I don’t answer right away, watching as Derek pulls some papers from a manilla envelope and slides them across the table. My stomach churns. What’s he offering her? Enough to make her forget everything else? Enough to make her dreams come true?

“Piper was furious with me at first,” Rhys continues. “For leaving when her father died. For not being there when she needed me. For running from my feelings because I thought they were wrong.”

I tear my eyes away from Aspen to growl at him. “What’s your point?”

“My point is, I nearly lost the best thing that ever happened to me because I was too stubborn and too blinded by my sense of honor to admit what I really wanted.” He leans closer, his voice dropping. “Don’t make the same mistake, Landry. Life’s too short to deny yourself happiness because you think it’s the right thing to do.”

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