Page 37 of Haunted By the Mountain Man
"I don't need the world. I just need you."
"Too bad. You're getting both." He kissed me, soft and deep. "My wife is never going to want for anything."
"Not your wife yet."
"Details. You already said yes."
"You haven't actually asked."
"I will. When you least expect it. But make no mistake, Raven—you're already mine. The ring is just a formality."
I snuggled into his chest, breathing him in. "I love you too, you know."
He went still. "I haven't said—"
"You did. With every possessive word, every desperate touch. You love me, Shane Wolfe. And I love you. Deal with it."
His arms tightened around me. "I love you so fucking much it terrifies me."
"Good. Use that fear. Let it remind you that I'm worth fighting for. Worth keeping. Worth believing in."
"You're worth everything," he said against my hair. "Everything."
Tomorrow, we'd deal with Walt's care. We'd figure out the future of the lodge. We'd tell his brothers I was staying permanently.
But tonight, we just held each other, two damaged people who'd found home in each other's arms. The trespasser and themountain man. The YouTube star who'd given up fame for love, and the secret millionaire who'd given up isolation for family.
We'd both chosen each other over our fears.
And that was the only ghost we needed to exorcise.
Chapter 10
Shane
Three weeks later, I stood in Walt's new room at Mountain View Memory Care, watching him flirt outrageously with his favorite nurse. The stroke had stolen his ability to walk and slurred his speech, but it had also given him something unexpected—consistent recognition of the people around him, even if his memories were still fractured.
"Shane, my boy!" His face lit up when he saw me. The consistent recognition still felt like a miracle. "Did you bring that pretty girl with you?"
"She stopped at the gift shop." I sat beside his bed. "How are you feeling today?"
"Can't complain. Though I keep telling them I need to get back to work, but they say I'm retired." He looked confused but not distressed. "When did I retire?"
"Few years back," I said gently. "You earned it."
"Must have. This is a nice place." He looked around the bright room with its mountain view. "Expensive looking. How am I affording this?"
"Insurance," I lied smoothly. "You had a good policy."
Walt nodded, accepting this. The stroke had taken his memories of the lodge, of Rebecca and Jimmy, of the fire. In a way, it was a blessing. The guilt that had tortured him for thirty years was finally gone.
Raven appeared in the doorway carrying a vase of flowers, and Walt's face brightened even more. "There's my favorite girl! After Shirley, of course."
Shirley, the seventy-year-old woman knitting in the corner, giggled.
"Of course," Raven agreed, kissing his cheek. "How are you feeling?"
"Good, good. They say I had a heart attack. Don't remember it." He frowned. "Don't remember much, honestly. But Shane here says that's normal for someone my age."
