Page 33 of The Mountain Man's Runaway Bride

I blink. “What?”

“Using my profile. I didn’t even know she really existed until I saw her standing on the tarmac.”

“Boone wrote her.”

“Apparently he started up again when she reached out to apologize for never showing. He wrote back. Again. Somewhere along the way he fell for her.”

“Oh.” It knocks the air out of my indignation.

“You believe me don’t you?”

“Of course I do.” And, I mean it. Unlike Axel, who proved time and time again that I couldn’t trust or count on him, Knox has always been dependable. He’s always been honest with me.

I should have given him the benefit of the doubt before hopping the first flight out of there.

“Good.” He hesitates. “You left without saying goodbye.”

“You weren’t there.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “I was fueling the plane.”

My throat tightens. “I thought—” I break off, folding my arms across my chest like armor. “Doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

Silence hangs between us like the thick fog that settles in the valley near the mountain he calls home.

“You should probably come inside.” I open the door wider and step aside.

Knox walks into the apartment silently, almost reverently. As if he’s walking through an ancient cathedral. His fingers brush the back of the couch, the edge of Lacy’s scratching place.

“I imagined this place a hundred times,” he says. “It’s so like you. Pretty. Sweet. Calming.”

“It's fine.” I shrug. “It’s what I always thought I wanted.”

He turns, his gaze steady. “And now?”

“Now… Now, I’m not sure,” I admit. “I think I needed to leave to realize what I was missing.”

He takes a step toward me. “So did I.”

I stare at him. “Is that why you came?”

He nods. “Because I couldn’t let you leave without knowing just how damn much I love you.”

My breath catches.

“You said once that you needed to prove to yourself you were strong on your own,” he says. “That you needed to learn how to rescue your own self.”

I nod slowly.

“Now, I hate to argue with you," Knox says, a crooked smile tugging at his lips and wraps his arms around you. "Especially after I’ve just gotten you back in my arms. But I’m afraid I’m going to have to.”

I arch an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

“Really.” His expression sobers. “You didn’t need me or my mountain or your adventures in the wilderness to prove anything.”

“Oh really?” My brows pull down into a feigned frown. “You’re really going to tell me how I think and feel?”

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