Page 35 of The Mountain Man's Runaway Bride

The sun sets behind them, casting pink and orange shadows as far as the eye can see.

I’ve lived in Alaska for more than a year. It’s beauty still takes my breath away. I have zero doubt it will in another forty-nine years. I have it on good authority from a certain crocheting grandma who was once a young bride in this wild, rugged country falling in love with a wild, rugged mountain man.

Said mountain man comes to stand behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. His hand rests on the slight bulge of my belly.

“I never thought I’d see the day,” he whispers, his voice low and resonant.

“I get it.” My lips twitch. “One day your buddy Boone is ordering you a bride. The next, he’s marrying her.”

Knox chuckles. “He always was a pain in the ass.”

“A pain in the ass who is head over heels in love.”

In his nervousness, Boone stumbles over a word of his vows. Erica squeezes his hand and gives him an encouraging grin. My heart hitches.

“Who knew they’d be perfect together?” I whisper. “Who knew we would be perfect together?”

“I knew.” He nuzzles the side of my neck. “I knew the moment you ran into me my life would never be the same.”

He rests his chin on the crown of my head. It’s strange to not have his long beard scratch it. He’s trimmed it short for the first time since I’ve known him. At the bride’s request.

She’d originally asked all of the men to be clean-shaven, but Boone and Knox had pitched a fit at that.

But even if I hardly recognized Knox the first time I saw him, he still feels and smells the same. Like pine, fresh air, and something that’s masculine and uniquely him.

We stay wrapped up in each other until our friends finish their vows and the officiant proclaims them husband and wife. After joining the rest of the small audience in applauding, Knox spins me around in his arms and smiles down at me. His eyes crinkle around the edges in the way they do when he’s totally, completely happy.

“Sometimes the wrong path takes you exactly where you were always supposed to be,” he says.

“First you became a poet. Now you’re a philosopher?” I shake my head and toy with the gold band I put on his finger a few months ago. “Who else are you going to be?”

“Well, I plan to be the world’s best husband, your lover, your partner.” He rubs my belly, a soft expression lighting his face.“The father of our children. Nothing will ever beat being all of those things.”

My bottom lip quivers, and I catch it with my teeth before I can blubber. I swear, everything makes me cry these days. I would have been a watering pot the whole ceremony if Knox hadn’t been holding me.

“Hey, no more of that, please.” He lifts a hand to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing the tear from my cheek. “You told me I wasn’t supposed to let you ruin your makeup.”

“Then you need to stop saying the most perfectly wonderful things.”

“That’s something I’ll never stop trying to do.” He lowers his forehead to mine. “But maybe I’ll ease up on the break. At least until the reception is over.”

He kisses me then, and my heart leaps. It’s slow and sweet. But like always, it’s full of the passion that never seems to burn anything short of bright for us. Even here, surrounded by friends and strangers, it’s like Knox and I are in our own little world.

“Get a room, you two!” Boone hollers from the deck.

Knox doesn’t even blink. “What a good idea. Maybe we should sneak off right now.”

The earns another cheer and a few catcalls from the people around us. Even as I roll my eyes and blush, I can’t help but smile at the surprisingly sweet and silly man I’ve chosen to spend my life with.

“What do you say I spin you around the room a few times,” he says. “And you and the baby should load up on as much food as you want before I take you back to our room and seduce you.”

“Does it count as seduction when I’m perfectly willing and eager to join you?”

Chuckling, he takes my hand and pulls me to the floor where a few other couples are already swaying to the acoustic guitar music while the bride and groom take photos with their families.

I rest my head against his chest, letting the music and the beat of his heart soothe my always churning emotions.

“Hey,” I say quietly pulling back so I can see his face. “Do you remember the day you came to bring me back home?”

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