Take a Mountain Man Home for Christmas: A Mountain Man Romance Christmas Collection

by Crowne, K. C.

  She knows better than to do this.

  “Bella, what the hell?” I asked her, getting ready to grab her by the collar when I saw a figure dressed in all black laying in the snow. Bella was standing over the person, whining and looking at me. I froze. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman, but who would be out here in a snowstorm?

  “Who’s there?” I called out.

  When the figure didn’t stir, I walked closer and saw that it was a lady laying almost face down in the snow like she’d passed out there. A trekking pole and coffee cup lay at her side.

  “Hello?” I repeated. I wasn’t sure what to do. Bella whimpered and nudged the fallen lady. She still didn’t move.

  Of course, I should help her. I didn’t recognize her face. Was she a new guest? I knew most of the guests, but we did get new people. And who would be hiking out here in a snowstorm?

  I crouched down beside her. Her face was pale, and her lips were blue. I was afraid she might have frozen to death. I felt her neck for a pulse, and thankfully, got one under my fingertips. I shook the lady gently. “Hey, can you hear me?”

  Nothing.

  Why would anyone be back here in a storm, I thought again. I moved my arms under her stiff body and picked her up. She was frozen solid. She would have frozen to death in another couple of hours. She owed Bella a steak dinner.

  I carried her to my cabin and opened the door with my hand that was under her legs. Good thing she was small in my bulky arms, and it was nothing to carry her dead weight. I carried her to my couch and laid her on it. I went to the fireplace and made the fire bigger to help warm her, then grabbed the quilt that was draped over the back of the couch and covered her with it.

  “Now what?” I asked Bella. Bella cocked her ears and tilted her head at me. If she had an answer, I didn’t know what it was.

  I supposed I should get her help. But how? The road was closed until tomorrow. I could call Harley, who had basic first aid training. I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and dialed his number.

  “Hiya,” Harley answered on the third ring.

  “Hey, are you busy? Can you stop at my place?” I asked him, seriously so he knew I wasn’t in the mood for his jokes.

  “Okay,” he answered. “What’s up?”

  “Just get here as soon as you can. It’s a long story,” I told him.

  “On my way,” he replied and hung up.

  While I waited for my younger brother, I wondered if I should take off the girl’s boots and gloves, which were probably frozen to her feet and hands. I untied each boot and pulled them off along with a double layer of wool socks. Then, I pulled off each glove. I didn’t see any frostbite. Only redness. She was extremely lucky.

  I took off her cap and saw a long ponytail of dark brown hair fall from it. The girl was very beautiful, with well-defined features and high cheekbones. Full red lips were parted slightly as she slept. She did have a large bruise and cut on her forehead, which looked semi-serious. She seemed to be breathing steadily, so I decided to just wait for Harley before doing anything else.

  A moment later, there was a rap at my door. “Come on in,” I yelled.

  “What’s going on?” Harley blurted as he walked inside. When he saw the girl on the couch, he froze in his tracks.

  “Bella found her in the woods behind the cabin,” I told him. “She’s breathing but passed out and hasn’t moved.”

  Harley hurried to her and felt her pulse. He counted to his watch and informed me that her heart rate was normal. He looked at her toes and fingers and massaged them for a moment, trying to get the circulation back.

  “Let’s take off her coat,” he suggested. “Better for her to get out of these wet clothes as much as possible for now.”

  I held her up while Harley unzipped and pulled off her thick coat, one arm at a time. I laid her back down and positioned a pillow under her head. She stirred briefly and moaned, then was silent again.

  Harley saw the wound on her forehead and told me to get something to clean it out with and a bandage. I returned with the requested items I’d retrieved from my upstairs bathroom, and he cleaned the wound and taped a bandage to it.

  “Doesn’t look infected,” he observed. “Might need stitches. We can call an ambulance first thing tomorrow. I think she’s okay for the night. Probably just exhausted and passed out from walking in the storm.” He stared at her for a second and mused, “Wonder where she came from?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered, more to myself.

  He rose to his feet with a grunt. “Call me if her condition changes. If she wakes up, give her some broth or something easy to digest at first.”

  “Okay, thanks, Harley. Talk to you later.”

  Harley left me alone with the girl and Bella. Bella licked the girl’s hand, and she stirred slightly. I grabbed a beer and sat on the armchair to sip on it and keep watch over her. At some point, I ended up passing out in the chair. Bella was on the rug in front of the fireplace. A movement woke me. I opened my eyes to see the lady standing over me with my empty beer bottle in her hands, poised to bring it down on my head.

  I put up my hands and cried, “Wait! I was only trying to help you. I found you in the woods, passed out in the snow.”

  Bella was standing on the rug, looking from me to her. I shook my head at Bella, telling her not to react. She understood and sat down. The lady looked from Bella back to me. She dropped the bottle but kept it positioned between us, just in case either of us made a move. Her bright green eyes were shining with fear.

  “We won’t hurt you,” I promised her, trying to speak in a calm voice. My deep voice could come across as intimidating if you didn’t know me. “I was working in my work shed behind the house, and Bella must have heard you or sensed you. She ran off, and I followed her and found you laying face-first in the snow. I carried you here and had my brother take a look at you and bandage your forehead.”

  The lady moved her free hand to her forehead and felt the bandage. The fear subsided from her eyes, but she continued to hold the glass bottle pointed toward me.

  “Please, put down the bottle,” I asked her. “Let’s talk. Are you hungry? Can I heat up some broth? Or whatever you like.”

  She paused to think about what I was saying and slowly lowered the bottle. She looked from me to Bella. Bella wagged her tail, and the lady smiled slightly. How could you not smile at Bella?

  “I’m starving,” she finally said, facing me now.

  “Okay, let me get a plate for you,” I said, slowly standing up. I didn’t trust that she wouldn’t try to smack me with that bottle she was still holding. It as it obviously made her feel better, so I didn’t bother her about it.

  I realized I was a huge man who towered over her, a total stranger who brought her to his house while she was passed out. I could only imagine what she must have been thinking. For all she knew, I was a serial killer, and she was my next victim.

  I went to the kitchen and opened a can of chicken broth. I poured it into a bowl and threw it in the microwave. I thought maybe she would want a roll to go with her broth, so I put a couple fresh ones from the restaurant on the tray. I put a spoon and napkin on the tray, as well as a bottle of water that I retrieved from the fridge.

  The microwave beeped, and I took the hot broth and tray over to her. She was sitting on the couch, watching the fire.

  “Here you go,” I said, leaning down to hand her the tray.

  “Thank you,” she muttered. She looked extremely tired. “And thank you for bringing me here. I would have frozen to death out there. You saved my life,” she said, trying to smile. She cringed with pain.

  “You’re welcome,” I told her and sat down to let her eat. Neither of us spoke as she ate, which she did quickly. When she finished, I offered to take the tray from her. As I lifted it, I asked her if she wanted anything else.

  “No, thanks. I’m so tired, though.”

  I took the tray to the kitchen and returned to my chair. She was laying down un
der the quilt. “Is it okay if I stay here for the night?” she asked.

  “Of course,” I told her. “Nowhere to go anyhow. The road up here is closed until tomorrow from all of the snow.”

  She just nodded.

  “My name is Cole Hunter. What’s your name?” I asked her.

  Her eyes widened for a moment, then slowly closed. “I don’t know.”

  Her eyelids fluttered and closed, and she passed back out.

  Lindsay

  Warmth spread through me, thanks to the fire the handsome stranger had built and the quilt he’d laid over me. I was somewhere between being awake and sleeping, remembering what had happened to me after waking up in the SUV. But I still couldn’t remember anything before that.

  It had seemed like forever, but eventually, the sunlight had broken through the trees. I got up and made another cup pine needle tea with the hot ashes of the fire and drank the tea quickly. I heated up one more cup of snow in the cup and put the lid on it. I’d tried to carry it so I had some water to drink while hiking.

  I’d tried to remember which direction I had seen the smoke. As the sun had risen higher in the sky, I found I’d lost my sense of direction. Which way had I been traveling on the road? The sun was in front of me until the road turned up the mountainside. Then, I’d hiked straight, or so I’d thought. To go in the right direction, I should’ve kept the rising sun to my back.

  I’d banked the fire by kicking snow over it and began to hike with the sun behind my back. I’d walked and walked. My body was even sorer from crouching in the den all night. I’d stopped stretched my muscles, which helped a little with the stiffness.

  I’d walked for some time before I’d seen what I thought were the same set of boulders I sheltered in. As I got closer, I realized that they were, indeed, the same boulders. There was the small den I’d slept in and the ashes from my fire seeping through the wet snow I’d kicked on it earlier. I’d nearly lost it. I’d kept an eye on the sun and tried to walk in the same direction. How could I have gone in a full 180-degree circle to end back in the same place that I had started?

  I’d wiped at the tears burning my frozen cheekbones. Then, I got angry. I am not going to die out here, I’d told myself. At that point, the sun was past mid-day, so I had plenty of daylight to find who made that fire. I’d tried to position myself in the correct direction. I picked a point in the distance I’d be able to see as I walked and planned on finding it if I got discombobulated.

  I’d been so tired. The wind was blowing hard, ripping at my clothes, burning my face. The snow was making it hard to see just a few feet in front of me. I kept hearing small noises, the only thing that kept me going. I hoped that I wasn’t imagining them.

  Finally, I saw what I thought was a clearing up ahead. Only fifty more feet, I told myself. I’d heard the barking of a dog but couldn’t find it.

  I’d felt dizzy, and blackness stole my sight. I’d known I was going to pass out any second. I’d tried to fight it but couldn’t. I’d grabbed a tree trunk to try and steady myself. It did no good, and I started to see stars. Beautiful butterflies, I thought hazily. The last thing I remembered was seeing an angel’s face telling me not to give up.

  “Keep on going,” the lovely face had said.

  “I can’t,” I’d answered, trying to reach out to her. “Sophie,” I’d cried. She reached out, but before our hands touched, everything went black.

  * * *

  I opened my eyes with a start. I had slipped back into sleep, and the nightmare of the last two days had played in my head. I panicked and sat upright. A big dog slept by the fireplace on the rug in front of me. Turning my head, I saw a huge man with a shaggy beard snoring in the armchair facing the fire. An empty beer bottle lay on the floor beside the couch, at my feet.

  I stayed quiet as not to wake him up. I reached up and felt the bandage on my forehead. I stared at the stranger, gazed at his dog, and clearly remembered they’d saved me. This man and his dog had found me in the woods. He brought me here. He fed me. I’d be dead if it weren’t for him.

  I calmed and took a better look at the man who had saved my life. If you could get past that shaggy beard with the light-brown head of hair to match, there was a handsome face under there. Long, dark eyelashes under his closed eyelids, full lips almost hidden by his beard. He looked tall, about 6’2”, I judged from his sitting position. I smiled; he hardly fit in that armchair. He was a big, burly man. And just look at those muscles.

  One thing was for certain, I couldn’t have asked for a hotter man to rescue me.

  The man stirred and opened his hazel-colored eyes. He saw me watching him, and I felt my cheeks get hot. I’d been caught staring. I smiled at him to try and cover it up. His German Shepard sensed that her master was awake and got up to greet him.

  “Morning, Bella.” He rubbed behind her ears, and she licked his hand. Looking at me, he said, “Morning to you, as well. Did you sleep okay?”

  “Yes, I feel rested. Thank you for your hospitality,” I told him, remembering his name was Cole. “I really mean it. I know I’m a stranger and all.”

  “It’s no problem. Just glad we found you when we did.” He glanced at the happy dog. “Well, Bella is the one who really found you,” I confided in her.

  I looked at her and said, “Thank you, Bella. I owe you one.” She barked quietly, and I giggled. Cole chuckled too.

  “Do you want some coffee?” Cole asked me.

  “I’d love some.”

  “Come on, Bella, you probably need to go out.” He got up, let her out the front door, and went to the kitchen to make a pot. “How about some eggs? Scrambled is all I’m good at.”

  “Sure, sounds great,” I answered. “Can I help you?”

  “No, stay there. I got this, I think,” he answered, grinning a super sexy.

  I tried to get up anyway and pressed my lips together to keep the groan inside. My body was sore from sleeping in one position all night, and I needed to stretch. I slowly walked to the kitchen island and pulled up a stool. I grimaced as I sat my butt down on it.

  “That bad, huh?” Cole asked me, looking concerned.

  “My whole body hurts. I was in a car accident.”

  “A car accident?” he blurted out in surprise. “Geez. Do you know where you crashed? You weren’t trying to come up to the resort, where you?” He hurried to the door when he heard Bella scratching.

  “The resort?” I repeated with a frown. “No. I don’t think so. Really, I don’t know where I was going. I think I was out hiking because all I had was a trekking pole.”

  “You’re at Hunter’s Mountain Resort,” he told me, worry in his tone as he returned to the kitchen with a happy Bella following him. “I really hope you weren’t trying to navigate the mountain road leading up here in that snowstorm. They closed the road two nights ago.”

  “No, I crashed on some side road. Like an off-road type of trail,” I told him.

  “Oh,” he replied. “There are a lot of those up here in the mountains, used for hunting and quad riding and stuff when the weather is nice.”

  I felt tears well up in my eyes. “I wish I could remember,” I mumbled, trying not to cry in front of him. My own name had evacuated my brain, and I didn’t know how to react.

  “You will be okay,” he assured me, spooning scrambled eggs onto my plate. The toaster popped, and he quickly lathered four pieces of toast with butter and put two on my plate and two on his. He handed me a fork and napkin then poured us each a glass of OJ.

  I was famished. I ate all the eggs and crammed the toast in my mouth. I washed it all down with the OJ in two big gulps. When I looked up from my plate just a few minutes later, Cole was grinning at me. He’d hardly touched his food, and I’d already finished mine.

  “Sorry. I was really hungry,” I said, feeling sheepish.

  He chuckled. “I was just thinking about how you would get along great with my brother Harley. He eats just like that. On purpose. All the time.” He was still
laughing as he forked some eggs into his mouth. He turned to pour two cups of coffee when someone rapped on the door.

  “Speaking of Harley,” he said. “Come in,” he yelled roughly.

  His voice is so manly, I thought with a small smile.

  The door opened, and a second handsome man walked in. This one had short, dark hair with sideburns and a five o’clock shadow. Charming blue eyes smiled at me as he walked into the kitchen and helped himself to a cup of coffee. I noticed his muscles bulging out of his thin jacket. His jeans were tight-fitting and showed off his perfectly round ass.

  Oh, no. I was in big trouble at this mountain resort full of hot brothers. What was wrong with me? I had no idea where I was, no idea who I was, and I was checking out asses. Jesus.

  “How’s the patient doing this morning?” He smiled at me after sipping his coffee. “I see you’re eating, which is a good sign. Mind if I take a look at your forehead?”

  “Harley has first aid training,” Cole reminded me. “You don’t want that to get infected,” he continued, pointing at my bandage.

  “Okay,” I agreed and let Harley peel the bandage away from my forehead. Wow, he smells good.

  As Harley and I chatted, I could tell he wasn’t my type. Hot, yes. A pretty boy for sure. I don’t know why or how, but I just knew I didn’t go for the charming, pretty boy types, no matter how hot they were.

  Cole, on the other hand… That brought something to my mind, something I hadn’t considered before. I wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. But was I married? Or did I have a boyfriend? A significant other? What about kids? I had no recollection of any family members, parents, siblings, anyone. I sighed. This was too hard, and I had no idea what to do.

  “You okay?” Cole asked, looking worried again.

  “I’m fine. I just wish I could remember what I was doing out there. I wish I could remember anything, for that matter.”