Mountain Man's Bride

by Lauren Wood

  Copyright © 2018 by Lauren Wood

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. While, as in all fiction , the literary perceptions and insights are based on life experiences and conclusions drawn from research, all names, characters, places and specific instances are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. No actual reference to any real person, living or dead, is intended or inferred.

  Mountain Man’s Bride – A Mountain Man Romance

  Published by Wood Publication, CA

  MOUNTAIN MAN’S BRIDE

  A MOUNTAIN MAN ROMANCE

  BY: LAUREN WOOD

  Contents

  MOUNTAIN MAN’S BRIDE

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  BE MINE: A BAD BOY NEXT DOOR ROMANCE

  BEST SELLER: MY BEST FRIEND’S LITTLE SISTER

  LAUREN WOOD SNEAK PEEKS

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  I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE HERE!

  I would like to personally thank you for choosing to read my book and open your heart to my words. I am grateful to have you on board!

  I appreciate feedbacks; feel free to write me at lauren@authorlaurenwood.com.

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  Love,

  Lauren Wood

  MOUNTAIN MAN’S BRIDE

  Chapter 1

  Molly

  It was going to be a good day. The sun was already shining out of my windows and I had a feeling that it was going to be a good one. I told myself that every day, but something convinced me that I was actually going to be right this time. Either way I was going to be as positive as I could be. It was something that I told myself years ago when I got divorced and found myself as stress as I could ever remember being. It was then that I had decided to make a change and that was what I had worked on the last five years. I was getting good at it if nothing else.

  Moving off of the porch and the crisp air that was negated with the sun shining down on me, I went and refilled my coffee cup. It was a second cup kind of day and I don’t know why I thought that just that I did. The store was already opened; Denise called to tell me that everything was in order. I left it in her hands, knowing that I would have a little while longer before the amount of business would make me a necessity at the restaurant. Until then, I just wanted to enjoy the weather outside for a little while longer. Fall would be here before I knew it and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the warmth just yet.

  I went back out to my favorite spot and tried to settle in for a while, but the phone was ringing. I got back up and tried not to let myself get aggravated. I should have turned the ringer off. It was my own fault for not doing it. There was no peace unless I went out of my way to get it. I knew that and I picked up the phone, still unable to let the machine get it.

  “This is Molly.”

  “Hey Molly, I was wondering if you could come in a little early. There is someone here to see you. He is really cute and I think you should come up to the shop right away.”

  Now I was intrigued, but Denise didn’t have any more information. The man had come in looking for me and quickly left, saying he would be back in an hour. I didn’t have long to get down there, but my curiosity spurred me on. I wasn’t expecting any out of town visitors and he was definitely not from Nome according to Denise. I wondered who it could be and my brained whirled with the possibilities. I didn’t really come up with anything that really stuck in my mind and I tried to think of something else as I made my way in after I got dressed.

  When I pulled up, there were no out of state or even out of county cars in the parking lot. I was a little early from when he said he would be back and I wished that Denise had at least gotten a name. It was most likely someone I never would have thought of or someone that I didn’t even know. It was more of a chance that it was government personnel more than anything else.

  Denise was waiting for me by the door and I smiled at a few early morning customers before I moved behind the counter. “So you look good this morning. You were sounding like you just woke up when I called.”

  “No, I was up a while. I had to feed the animals. They don’t let me have a day off, so I was onto my second cup of coffee when you called.”

  “Sorry about that, but I figured that you would want to know someone was looking for you.”

  “I do want to know, but I wish I knew who. You sure you didn’t catch a name?”

  “No, I didn’t. He acted like he was in a rush and when I turned back around after I rung up a customer, to tell him what time you came in, he was already gone. Really weird.”

  It sounded weird and I still was stumped on who it could be. I couldn’t think of anyone from out of town that would be looking for me.

  “Well what did he look like?”

  “I don’t know, really handsome in a rugged sort of way. He was a little more cleaned up then the guys around here, but I could tell that he was just like the rest. He was at least six foot something, dark hair, dark green eyes and no beard. That’s how I knew that he wasn’t from around here. No one comes to Nome fresh faced and if they do, it doesn’t stay that way for very long.”

  “Green eyes?” That was about the only thing she told me that helped out. Green eyes weren’t very common and I knew that it would narrow it down. My insurance guy had green eyes, but I wouldn’t call him that handsome. He was alright, but not too easy on the eyes that my heart would skip a beat, so I decided it wasn’t him.

  Denise didn’t have any more to tell me and I was forced to just wait and see who showed up. It was nerve racking to think about and I tried to keep myself busy with some of the cleaning that the last shift didn’t do. I was going to have to say something to the waitresses when they came into night, but it was all just incidental when it came down to it. I was there to see who was looking for me. It seemed to be going on a lot lately and I thought of Merle and who had come for her. Since most of my family resided elsewhere, I started to worry that it was going to be the bearer of bad news. I didn’t need any of that.

  “Molly?

  Chapter 2

  Molly

  I knew that voice. It had been a long time since I had heard it and I got nervous that I was actually right about who it was. Talk about a ghost. What in the world was Chris doing here? I thought had had moved away, went to the lower 48 from what I had last heard. We had a deep past and I wasn’t sure why he was here or why he was looking for me. He had family here and I had never heard of him stepping foot back in Nome. I froze and it was hard for me to turn around to look at him. I was that nervous.

>   “Molly, is that you?”

  When I still didn’t answer him, he chuckled and asked me if I realized that he could see me or not. I knew that he could, I was in the open, but that didn’t mean that I was happy about it. What the heck was I going to say to him? It was impossible to think about and I was worried that I wasn’t going to be able to come up with anything.

  I turned around because I was caught and there was nowhere to go. At one time, I had very different feelings about Chris, had wanted to be around him all of the time, but things change and that had certainly been one of them. Some people couldn’t deal with what life threw at them and me and him were a perfect example of that.

  “Chris, what in the world are you doing up here?”

  “I lived here for a long time.”

  “Yes and you have been away, what eight years?”

  “About that.”

  “Well I haven’t seen you in a long time, just surprised. Are you here visiting your aunt?”

  He shook his head that he wasn’t. “No, I will go see them eventually, but for now I am looking for you.”

  “I heard and here you are. What can I do for you?”

  “Go out with me and let’s talk.”

  The request was a little hard to understand because I didn’t know what there was to talk about. A lot had happened between us, but at the end there, none of it was something that we would have wanted to relive. I sure didn’t and I was almost positive that he didn’t either. So what else was there to talk about?

  “You want to go out? Are you in town for a few days?”

  “Or longer. That is what I need to talk to you about.”

  What he said didn’t make sense and me being a determining factor in him staying or the length of his stay was strange to me as well. I hadn’t seen him in eight years, so why would I have anything to do with it?

  “Okay, well let me know when and I will go grab some coffee with you.”

  “Right now?”

  I sighed to myself and shook my shoulders. I forgot how right now he was and how much it had irked me in the past. “Okay.”

  It wasn’t at all who I had thought it would be. Of all the green-eyed handsome men in my life, running into Chris was not one of them that I ever expected to see again. I had feelings from way back for him and I didn’t know how to act around him. How was I supposed to act to the one and only man that had broken my heart? It wasn’t something that I had been faced with for a long time, but I was sure that I was still single because of the man in front of me. I was too worried about every other guy being just like him and I wasn’t going to be able to do it again.

  He smiled at me and for a minute I felt my breath quickening and I tried to ignore the reaction. It was a reaction from being intimate with the man many times and knowing that he knew my body better than I knew it myself. He always had and I had found unspeakable pleasure in his arms. It was just that simple. It wasn’t my heart that reacted. It knew better. I had learned a long time ago to not listen to my heart at all. I knew that it was an idiot.

  “Um, okay, I guess we can go grab a coffee and sit down at a table and have a chat. I have the best coffee in town.”

  “I remember.”

  I didn’t want the reminder of our past, even as it flooded through my body. I didn’t want to think about what all was between us, it was too hard.

  “So do you still take it black?”

  He grinned that I remembered and nodded his head that he did. I went behind the counter to make us a couple of cups of coffee. I needed to finish my second cup anyways, but I never would have thought an old lover would come back to haunt me. I wish I knew what it was that he wanted. It would have been easier to prepare. Denise tried to get my attention, but I ignored her. I didn’t want to get into it with her then. She wanted to know who Chris was and it was hard for me to say.

  What was really strange was the urge I’d had to give him a hug and even a kiss. He was most likely married and there was no telling why he was even here, but it felt strange that he was here and we hadn’t touched in anyway. I mean, really strange. I don’t think we had ever been in the same room and not touched in some way or another.

  Turning around I saw that he had gotten the table that gave the most privacy and for some reason I was even more nervous than I was before. Why did I feel like I was getting set up? Maybe he was the bearer of bad news and I didn’t know it yet.

  As I walked over to the table, I realized that I was going to find out real soon, so there was no reason to get my anxiety all up. It was to all be revealed soon enough.

  Chapter 3

  Chris

  Damn she looked good. I don’t know what I was thinking when I came up here, what I was going to find, but damn she looked really good. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her as she walked towards the table with both cups in her hands. I tried to look away, but it was impossible to.

  Not much had changed for her and that was what was the hardest to imagine. I would have thought after all these years; there would be a sign of aging as there was for me, but nothing. It felt like nothing was different and the feeling that I got being around her certainly wasn’t different either. I wanted her as much now as I ever did before.

  Her blonde hair was brushed down her back and it was soft and curled a little at the ends. I could remember sticking my fingers in that glorious hair of hers and I wanted to take the same liberties again. It was hard to handle not being able to touch her, but I knew that it wasn’t right. I was going to have to keep my hands to myself, no matter how badly I might not want to.

  The body was very much the same as I remembered before. She was short and curvy. Molly had never been model thin, but I had never liked that look anyways. She was soft and I could see the differences that were made right after I seen her last. Her chest seemed bigger, but it really had been so long. The pictures I had of her had never done her justice and it looked like they still didn’t. Molly’s curves were just as enticing as I remembered and I was finding it hard to keep my eyes off of her.

  The smile was devastating and her blue eyes twinkles as she sat down across from me, sliding the cup towards me.

  “Here Chris. I haven’t seen you in forever. You look good.”

  She had gotten herself together and she didn’t look as nervous as she was before. I knew that there was something going on in her mind, but I wasn’t sure what it was. She most likely wanted to know why I was here and I didn’t know how to come out with it. It was a lot of things and one part in particular was going to make her respond and react. I just didn’t know how it was all going to go. I knew how I wanted it to go, but nothing ever did work out how I liked when it came to Molly. Case in point was the very fact that it had been so long since we had seen each other. In no scenario in my head would have ended with both of us being apart. I never wanted to be apart from her and I didn’t want to continue the trend. Too many nights, I’d stayed up, thinking about Molly and how things could have been different somehow.

  “So what’s up with you nowadays, Chris? Did you go to the big city and start that business that your father wanted?”

  She was going straight for the jugular from the gate and I couldn’t blame her because I knew that it was because of that very reason that I had left. We’d gotten into it about the pressures on us and I ran away to live a new life without her. It was true, her accusations that she’d made, but it wasn’t like I liked to hear about them. I wanted to move past it and I needed her in a better mood than this.

  “Yes I did. You know that is why I went and I was the good little son for almost five years, well six really.”

  “Was it all that you thought it was going to be? You had the city envisioned like it was magical. Was it?”

  There was a bit of pain in her eyes and it occurred to me then that maybe I wasn’t the only one that had felt the loss when we had broken up and maybe I wasn’t the only one that felt it now. I filled my time with women and a lot of booze to numb it all, but I had ne
ver been able to forget about her. Now I was back, but for reasons that I wish were different. I wish I’d come back sooner and not had to come back for reasons like this. It made me realize how much time has passed since I saw her last. At the moment it feels like no time has passed at all. “It was work. I liked it alright, but there was something missing in the city. I never did get used to it. I still live there, but it gets harder every year. But it’s so different here now as well. I’m stuck in two places that don’t seem to suit me.”

  “Alaska used to suit you just fine. So did you find what you were looking for?”

  I’d left, saying that I was looking for something and I was no closer to finding it now as I was then. I had an idea that it was the wrong want anyways.

  “Never did.”

  “Still searching huh?”

  “I’ve stopped searching. I know what it is now.”

  She smiled and told me that she was happy that I had. I wanted to tell her what it was, but I knew better. I had to ease into this slowly. Molly didn’t like to be told what to do and I knew that me coming in after all of these years, changing her world was going to be met with some resistance. I had to be delicate in how I played it.

  Chapter 4

  Molly

  “That’s good that it’s gone so well. Wife, kids, the whole she-bang?”

  It was something that we had talked about before and since I had shied away from it, I had to wonder if he did as well. I wished well for him of course, I had cared deeply for him at one time, but at the same time I knew that it was going to be bothersome if he had done it all and I had failed at that part of my life. The man was handsome and made of money; I couldn’t see him not doing all of those things.

  “No, I never went that route. I almost did at one time…”