by Ruby Shae
Bear Seeking Bride: Luke
(Bear Canyon Brides, Book 4)
Ruby Shae
Bear Seeking Bride: Luke
(Bear Canyon Brides, Book 4)
Copyright 2015 by Ruby Shae
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
About This Book
Caroline Madison is curvy, beautiful, and often the life of the party. Her confident, easy going personality has the ability to make everyone feel comfortable. Unfortunately, once the party is over, her voice sends men running far, far away. She’s never been asked on a second date, and as much as she wants a life filled with love and her own family, she knows she’s destined to be a one date wonder.
Lucas Wellington, a grizzly bear shifter, owns the best sandwich shop in Bear Canyon. Despite his past, he’s made a life for himself that anyone would be proud of. The only thing missing is a mate. Unfortunately, male shifters outnumber the women three to one, and the thought of placing an ad for a bride is out of the question. He’d hate to find the one, only to have her look at him with disgust when his past is revealed.
After yet another failed date, Caroline decides a vacation is in order. She visits Bear Canyon, not for the ratio of men to women, but to see her newly married best friends. When she meets Luke, their attraction is instant, but after one fantastic date Luke rejects her. Luke vows to keep his distance, but Caroline’s voice sooths him in a way he can’t explain and he can’t stay away forever. In a last ditch effort to save his future, Luke exposes his secrets. Will Caroline turn him away, or will she finally get the second date she’s always dreamed of?
Bear Seeking Bride: Luke
(Bear Canyon Brides, Book 4)
By Ruby Shae
Chapter One
Caroline Madison let herself into her apartment and plopped down on her couch without removing her coat or her shoes. The strappy heels pressed uncomfortably on her little toe, but she didn’t remove them.
She replayed the evening in her mind and tried to pinpoint what she’d done wrong this time, but she couldn’t. Most of her dates ended the same way, and because she was actively pursued by a lot of men, she couldn’t blame it on her size.
That meant the problem was her personality.
As much as she tried to tone down her excitement, or talk in a lower octave, her true self couldn’t stay hidden for long.
She reached down to unbuckle her shoes, and then threw them in the trash on the way to her bedroom. The full length mirror on the back of her door didn’t lie.
Her long wavy black hair fell around her shoulders in all the right places. One of her best friends, Sabrina, had layered the locks in such a way that every strand seemed to stay in place whether she was dancing the night away, or hiking in the middle of summer.
Her hair, combined with her dark brown eyes, made her skin look lighter and her lips look darker than they actually were. Though she only wore lip gloss, her lips looked like she had on dark red lipstick. She looked like a sexy vampire ready to take on the night instead of a legal secretary home early from another failed date.
She surveyed her outfit, but she knew the garments had nothing to do with her inability to keep a man for more than an evening. Her wardrobe consisted of many classic, work appropriate pieces combined with several trendy tops and belts. The fabric hugged her curves in all the right places, and her ass looked fabulous. She always left the house feeling confident and sexy, but when she returned home, reality would set in.
She drew a crowd wherever she went, and it wasn’t because of her confidence or good looks. It was because she dominated the room with her voice.
After years of trying to silence herself, she’d finally given up, embraced her affliction and learned how to make it worth her while. She was usually the one to get a party going, whether it was introducing herself to someone new, or being first in line at the buffet table, and people flocked to her because of it. She could handle any sized crowd, and waved off unwanted stares or attention with ease.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep a man.
Everyone loved her at parties, and she was often approached by men while unaccompanied on her lunch hour. Unfortunately, once they sat down with her alone, their interest would wean the minute she opened her mouth. She’d had a few dates who’d decided to stick around past dinner, and sometimes until the next morning, but she’d never found one brave enough to ask her on a second date.
She should be used to it, but the rejection always cut deep, especially when they ended the meal early for an undisclosed emergency.
She changed out of her outfit and put on her pajamas.
Three months ago, she would have called one of her best friends to join her in devouring a tub of ice cream. Sabrina and Dawn were both married now, and an eight hour drive away, so she sat on the couch with her pint of frozen goodness alone and put on her favorite TV show. When the main character became blurry, she set the ice cream on the coffee table and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
Her cell-phone’s video chat sounded a familiar tone, but she pressed the button to ignore the call. She didn’t want Bree to see her wallowing in self-pity. Seconds later, her phone rang again with the tone she used for her other best friend, Dawn. Because it wasn’t a video chat call, she answered it.
“Hello?”
“Hello!” Her two friends were on speaker phone, and hearing both their voices made her tear up again. She missed them so much.
“How was your date?” Dawn asked.
“As expected,” Caroline said. “He had an emergency and left me with the check.”
“Oh my god. That’s terrible.”
“Dickhead,” said Bree. “Is that why you didn’t answer my call? You’re not crying are you?”
“No,” she said, even as a few tears escaped. “I miss you guys.”
“We miss you, too, and it occurred to us that you really need a vacation,” Dawn said cheerfully.
“Come visit us,” Bree chimed in.
“No, it’s too soon. I don’t want to intrude.”
“It’s not too soon,” Bree chided. “I haven’t seen you in three months and I want to show you my new home.”
“Me too,” Dawn added. “Please come.”
“You’ll get to see us, plus you’ll get to meet Trent and Olive. Oh, and they have a pool and Olive is an amazing chef. She’s always making us yummy things and I’m sure they’ll be happy to host a pool party.”
“I’d feel like a third wheel,” Caroline said.
“Oh please. You’ve never worried about that before,” Dawn scolded.
“And don’
t forget, there’s hardly any unmated women in this town and it’s thriving with available men. You might meet someone, and then you’d have to move here, too,” Bree said.
“I think that would be a little too perfect,” Caroline laughed, “but I would love to visit.”
“Good, plan to stay the whole two weeks. You can stay with me and Travis.”
“Or me and Tyler,” Dawn added.
“No way. I’m not staying in either of you guys’ love shacks. I’ll stay in a hotel. Work is really slow right now, so I can probably come the week after next. I’ll call you on Monday to let you know for sure.”
“Yay,” Dawn said.
“That sounds great,” Bree added.
They stayed on the phone another hour, and after they hung up, she dumped her melted ice cream down the sink and smiled when she thought about her two friends. She missed them so much, but somehow they always knew when to call and cheer her up.
She’d love to live in the same town as them again, but she knew that couldn’t happen unless she mated with, or married, a bear.
Don’t they have sensitive ears?
She knew that scenario would never happen, but maybe she could drive out to the city and look around. The closest city was thirty minutes away from Bear Canyon, but she’d take thirty minutes over eight hours any day. If she could find a job, she’d consider relocating to be closer to her friends.
She’d have to ask their opinion, but the thought gave her hope. Except for her job, nothing was keeping her where she lived now.
Maybe a new start was just what she needed.
***
Lucas Wellington carefully filled out the deposit slip and placed it on top of the pile of cash he’d prepared for the bank. He bundled it all with another rubber band, put it in the cloth deposit bag, and pushed in the lock. Thankfully, most people paid with either debit or credit cards, and the cash deposits were only about a quarter of their daily income. Even though Bear Canyon was relatively safe, he didn’t like the idea of carrying around large amounts of cash.
“Everything is done out there.”
He lowered the volume on his laptop and looked up to see his sister, Lily, standing in the doorway to his office. Her bright smile lit up the room, and he smiled in return.
“Do you need anything before I go?”
“Yes, stop trying to hook me up with your weird friends,” he said.
“My friends aren’t weird. You’re the weird one. What was wrong with Jeanette?”
What wasn’t wrong with her?
“She was tiny and her voice was so low, I could barely hear whatever she was mumbling. Not to mention, she ate like a mouse,” he said. “If she ordered a sandwich from here, it would probably feed her for a whole year.”
They both laughed. Well’s Sandwich Shop was famous for its bear sized sandwiches.
“That’s probably true,” Lily agreed, “but she’s a nice girl once you get to know her.”
“I don’t want to get to know her—or anyone else for that matter. I will find someone when the time is right.”
“Luke…,” Lily started, all humor gone from her voice. “I don’t want you to be alone. You deserve to be happy.”
“I am happy. I’m just not ready to settle down yet. You, on the other hand seem ready. Instead of worrying about me, why don’t you focus on that sheriff of yours?”
“He’s not my sheriff,” she frowned, “and he’s not interested.”
“I don’t believe that. Do you want me to talk to him?”
“Don’t you dare!” she squealed.
Ha! The key to stop the fix-ups!
“No more dates, or I talk to the sheriff,” he bargained.
“Fine,” she huffed. “No more dates, but you have to promise to actively look, and make a move if you find someone worthy.”
She rolled her eyes when she said the last word, but he ignored her.
“Deal,” he said knowing there was no one worthy in Bear Canyon.
Female shifters have always been rare, but how rare became apparent five years ago when the government sanctioned certain lands to be designated shifter towns. Many human shifter advocates protested the lands, stating segregation and civil rights violations, but most shifters welcomed the change.
In fact, most shifters flocked to the new towns despite their marital status, and as the populations massed, the males outnumbered the females three to one. He knew he’d never find a shifter mate, and the only human women in town were already mated to other bears.
Shifter towns gave all shifters protection against prejudice, or fear induced humans and allowed his kind to live in peace. While he didn’t hate humans, he and Lily have known their hate better than most. When the first homes in the Canyon went on the market, he’d pounced along with several other shifters. A year later, he’d rented the building to open his sandwich shop and he’d never looked back.
Well’s Sandwich Shop was located on Main Street amid the other thriving small businesses in the center square. He’d tailored the menu and hours to allow him and Lily to share the duties for the first two years, but soon the demand became too much for the two of them to handle.
They now had two part-time employees and a steady stream of customers from the time their doors opened at ten in the morning, until they served the last guest at four in the afternoon. On a normal work day, he worked on the clock from nine to five.
“When are you leaving?” she asked, changing the subject.
“In about an hour. I want to look at the supply order again. I have to call it in Monday morning.”
“Okay. Have a good weekend.”
“You, too, and be safe,” he said.
She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes again.
“I’m always safe, big brother,” she said. “Have some fun this weekend. Don’t spend it all hiding out in your garage.”
“I don’t hide out, I work out,” he corrected her.
“Please, you pump iron to avoid meeting women. Trust me, you’re buff enough,” she laughed.
“Women love a muscly dude,” he said, flexing his biceps.
“True, but they don’t want a dude who spends all of his time in his garage.”
She made a funny face and shivered as if the thought gave her the creeps.
“Fine, I got it. Don’t be creepy garage guy.”
“Exactly.”
They both laughed again, and he shook his head when she couldn’t stop her giggles. Lily had always been able to make him laugh, and it was probably one of the only reasons he’d been able to survive his past and work toward a better future. She deserved to giggle any time she wanted without repercussions.
“Okay,” she said, holding her stomach and wiping her eyes. “I’m leaving, love you.”
“Love you,” he called after her.
He listened for the back door to close, and then thought about her words.
Was he weird workout guy? He didn’t think so, but he took her advice and called up a few of the guys for a night of pool and darts in the city. Bear Canyon only had one bar, and it had tables and a dance floor, but not much else.
The next night, he sipped a beer and thwarted advances from at least three different women. While they were pretty, and willing to give him at least one night of fun, none of them caught the attention of him or his bear.
He didn’t want someone small, petite and obsessed with looks so much that they hung on his every word. He wanted someone tall and curvy who could speak when he didn’t want to and love all of him, including the parts he didn’t show anyone else.
It seemed whomever he was looking for was nowhere to be found.
Chapter Two
“If we can’t find a big table, we can push two small ones together,” Bree said.
“Wow, this place is packed,” Caroline observed.
“Yeah, it’s always like this. They’re only open for a few hours a day and everyone takes advantage of it. They have the best sandwiches in town,” Dawn said.<
br />
Caroline smiled when she remembered the sign on the outside of the building. Well’s Sandwich Shop (Roaring Good Food!) Her friends had raved over the shop since she’d arrived in town, and she was excited to finally try it.
As promised, she’d checked her work schedule the following Monday morning to see if a vacation was viable. After she’d confirmed it was, she sought the approval of her bosses. Both men hated to lose her for a long period of time, but they believed in vacations to avoid burnout. Later that night, she’d called her friends with the good news.
They gave her the lowdown on all the hotels in the area, and she chose the one they’d both stayed in when they went to meet their future husbands. She figured if she was going to be on vacation alone, she might as well enjoy some lavish accommodations.
She’d made the eight hour drive on Sunday, and had a casual dinner with both girls and their husbands that night. The following day, she’d met Trent and Olive. Olive made a great addition to their group, and she’d had fun exploring the town and shopping with the three of them over the last two days.
The guys walked in at the same time two small tables opened up, and Travis and Tyler rushed to claim them and push them together. After they’d gathered enough chairs for everyone, the girls went up to the counter to place the orders.
“Hi,” the guy behind the counter said when it was Caroline’s turn.
“Hi,” she said.
Oh holy hell!
He was only a few inches taller than her, but lord was he muscular. Most of the shifters she’d seen so far had a lot of muscle, but this guy was different. If she had to guess, she’d bet he lifted weight, and a lot of it. He was big, and defined, without being extremely bulky. She wanted to rip off his shirt and lick every inch of his chest.
He had platinum blond hair and deep blue eyes that studied her like they could see into her soul. She’d seen a lot of men over the last couple of days, hell, they were everywhere in this town, but she’d never seen one sexier than him. Thinking about what it would feel like to touch him had her squeezing her thighs together to stop the tingles. She’d never been so attracted to anyone in her life.