Page 21 of The Mountain Man's Hunted Bride

Something is wrong. I can tell by how Beck keeps looking at Gray. Then they both disappear as soon as the groceries are in the cabin.

“Don’t worry, child. They know what they are doing. You’re safe.”

“I think something happened, Gerdie.”

“Let them talk it out. Gray will come to you when he’s ready. Let’s work on the cookies for that boy with the sweet tooth and start dinner. We should probably make extra. I have a feeling more will be showing up.”

We’ve just put the first batch of cookies in the oven when Gray and Beck come back in.

“Gerdie, can I steal Tawny if I leave Beck as your assistant.”

“Phew, all he’ll assist with is eating the cookies as they come out of the oven.”

“I won’t eat them all. Just taste test each batch.”

Laughing, she shoos us out.

Taking my hand, he leads me up a path behind his cabin. We climb for several minutes until the ground levels out and the view takes my breath away.

“Gray, this is gorgeous.”

He smiles, “I love sundown at this spot. Somehow, it’s grounding. We can’t stay tonight. But soon, we’ll bring a picnic blanket and dinner up here. Full moon is my next favorite time.” We stand enjoying the view for several silent moments before heading back.

At the cabin he leads me to the porch and the rocking chairs instead of going inside.

“There’re a couple things I need to tell you. Joey is in the hospital.”

“What? No! Where? I need to go to him.”

“He’s been hiding since the night Chris tried to rape you. The night you escaped, he fought with Chris. He’s pretty beat up. He’s been hiding out in town and saw you and I together. He approached me at the grocery parking lot. He wanted to make sure you were okay. Clay got him to a hospital and has a guard on him. He’s going to be fine, but he’s got some healing to do. He’s under a fake name for now. He’s willing to testify against your stepfamily.

“Can I talk to him?” He gives my hand a squeeze.

“Yes, but he may be sedated. We’ll try in a few minutes. I know you’re close. When he’s healed enough so he can be released, he can stay with us. He’ll always have a place to stay.”

“You said a couple things.”

“I ran into Millard today. True to form he tried to threaten and intimidate me. I taped his conversation and Clay has that as well.”

He pauses and glances around. “This land belonged to my mother’s parents. After my father took off, my mom starteddrinking and trying to hook another husband. We had a house in town, but she quit making payments and we lost it.

“My Pops gave her the cabin. He taught me to fish and clean my catch. He taught me to hunt and do the same. I was proficient at both by ten. He and I use to hike, and he’d talk about his time in the military and what it was to be a real man. He gave me values and beliefs I still hold to today.

“Mom hated being so far out of town. As a parent she was neglectful, but I’ve always been independent, so it didn’t bother me that much. She’d go to town and party and leave me alone for days.

“Sometimes she’d bring men home. Sometimes they’d just show up. I was eleven, the last time she brought someone to the cabin. I recognized him. He’d been here before.

“Usually, I’d go for a night hike when she had company, but that night I stayed in the yard for some reason.

“She started screaming and there was a thumping sound. I ran inside. She was being brutally sodomized, and the man was pounding her head against the headboard.

“I was big for my age. He and I fought. He threatened to rape me, too. I pulled my knife on him. He left, but I kept evidence of what he’d done. The man was Millard Stump.”

I gasp. The same bastard whose caused me so much pain.

“I’m telling you because I don’t want you to ever think that my past with him has anything to do with you. Or that you should doubt my desire for you or my willingness to protect you.

“I’m telling you because I’m in love with you and want us to have a real marriage. And a lifetime together.