Mountain Man's Proposal

by Lauren Wood

  I had gotten so hot from working that I was sweaty, even though I had my shirt off most of the day. I had caught her eyes on me a couple of times and I wanted to see if I could get her attention more. The young woman made me think about women more than I had in a long time. I was drawn to her and it wasn’t just because of her beauty. She had been so naughty last night and I wanted more. I wanted to see how far she would go.

  I needed a haircut to clean up a bit, but at the very least I figure that I should trim my beard just a touch. Once again, I was worried about my appearance when I was almost never too worried about it before. Now that she was there though and I had seen the way that the other men were looking at her, I knew that I was going to have to stake my claim now before it was too late. Charles was trying hard to get her attention and I had seen her touch his arm and laugh at something he had said. It bothered me more than I cared to mention and I wasn’t going to lose such a find because I was too lazy to try. I had to try and with her staying with me, it was easy to see how it could all work out.

  Going into the small bathroom with the tub, I turned on the water heater and waited for it to heat up for a minute before I ran some bath water. It didn’t take long to get enough water, but I was still trimming my beard when I heard a knock at the door. Ayla needed help finding something and instead of just telling her, I wrapped the towel around my waist and made my way into the main room.

  Her eyes were on me and it made another part of me stand up and take notice a lot quicker than I would have liked. This woman was driving me damn near crazy is what she was doing and I had to wonder if she knew that or not. It was maddening and I couldn’t help but do my best to hide the needs I had. I caught her eyes wandering down to my waist and I knew that I was out and she was able to see me. I almost covered up, but since she was interested and I wanted her in that train of thought, I tried my best to fight that urge. It was the only way I was going to get what I wanted. I wanted to ask her if she liked what she saw, but I thought that would be too much, so I refrained. Ayla seemed delicate and I didn’t want to scare her off.

  I found her what she needed for gravy and I had to admit that it smelled good in there when I was checking. Ayla was paying attention to my face as well, telling me that I looked different with less beard on my face. She even touched it out of the blue and rubbed her fingers on the smooth skin. “You look so different Bill.

  I had a feeling that she liked it and it made the effort all worth it. I knew I was going to get ribbed about it tomorrow by the guys, but I hoped that it was well worth it in the end. If it got me the attention I needed, I was convinced that it was going to be worth it. She was already eying me in a new way. She had been eying me all day while we worked on the cabin, but now it was something more that she had in her bright depths that made me a little harder than before.

  When I came out, the whole cabin smelled good and I hoped that the food was half as good as the smell was. It would have just been another bonus, though I would rather have a hot girlfriend than a cook. I can cook well enough, but Ayla never ceased to amaze me it seemed like and I liked the idea that she did well in the kitchen too. Maybe she really was made tough enough for Alaska. She seemed like a city girl, but she had worked just as hard as everyone else today without a break and I was starting to think that I had underestimated her more than I had thought.

  “Smells great Ayla.”

  “Well I hope you like it. You guys helped out so much today. I think I should make the rest of the guys some cookies. Do you think that they would like that?”

  I didn’t want to lie to her, but at the same time, I didn’t like the idea of her dropping off cookies up the mountain to the other guys, not until it was established that she was mine. They had behaved themselves before when we were all at the cabin, but one on one, I don’t think they would have been quite so gentleman like. They were animals, we all were and I know Charles in particular would be a lot more forward. I could still feel jealousy rising up in my throat with the idea of it all and I didn’t like the idea of it one bit.

  “I’m not sure. We can always go hunting and bring them all some meat as pay back if you like. Do you hunt?”

  She scrunched her nose up. “Not really, but I can butcher and cook it. It’s the killing part that I don’t like.”

  I chuckled at her. Yea, she wasn’t as tough as she looked. Ayla was far more delicate than I was used to and I hated to think of her getting all upset about killing Bambi. She was going to have to learn a few things if she was going to stay up here and I was more determined than ever to make sure that she did.

  “Well like I said before, you don’t have to thank them. They are doing it for me because I asked them to. You don’t owe anyone Ayla. We like to help each other out here in Alaska.”

  She was quiet for a time and I wondered what was on her mind.

  “You sure are quiet tonight.”

  “I know, sorry. I just… I don’t know. This is not how I envisioned at all coming to Alaska. I came here to get away from men and to find myself.”

  Her voice trailed off and I waited for her to say something else.

  “Why would you come here to get away from men?” It seemed silly when I am sure that anywhere she went she was going to be admired by a slew of them.

  “Because I just had a bad break up a while back and I have been single for a while. No one has really enticed me, so I thought that if I came here, out in the middle of nowhere, I wouldn’t really be tempted.”

  I liked where this was going and I liked that she wasn’t so sure about the temptation part of it. Was I the temptation? It was a damn shame how much I wanted to be. So damn badly I wanted to be the reason that she was having second thoughts.

  “So are you tempted?”

  Ayla smiled at me and nodded her head that she was, but she was too shy to look me in the eye during this time. I found her innocence intriguing and like most men, I wanted to take it away. There was something sweet about her that called to the part of me that wanted to change it.

  “Temptation is a good thing Ayla.”

  “Not when it is a stranger and you don’t know the outcome.”

  She had a point about the stranger thing, but I wasn’t going to voice that out loud. I wanted her to feel safe with me and I asked her some questions throughout the evening so we would be less strangers.

  We sat on the couch together and got cozy, but it was a far cry from what I wanted. I could tell that she was thinking about it too, as I was, but it was hard to gauge what was going on in her mind.

  Ayla told me about her ex and what he was like. I told her that he didn’t deserve her. I talked about the few women I had had since I had been here and it was something that I never really shared with anyone before. Up in Alaska, there wasn’t a lot of conversation about feelings. We talked about hunting, fishing and survival, but emotions and feelings usually took a backburner to all else. It was actually nice to talk about things that didn’t matter so much.

  “You’re unlike anyone that I’ve ever met before Ayla.”

  I noticed that she was closer to me on the couch and I pulled her a little closer so that she was leaning on my shoulder. When she looked up at me, I had this undying urge to kiss her that I didn’t give into. I didn’t want to go too far or too fast. I knew that once I got my hands on her, I wasn’t going to be able to stop myself. I was teetering on the verge of no control as it was. I didn’t want to lose myself. I wanted everything to be perfect because she deserved nothing less.

  “It’s getting late Ayla and we’ve got a long day ahead of us.”

  She looked almost disappointed and I had to ignore the need in her eyes, reminding myself of what would happen if I did what those eyes asked of me. I couldn’t take the chance of losing myself because I might not get another chance.

  **END OF PREVIEW**

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Romance

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  ALL MINE: THE COMPLETE SERIES BOX SET - SNEAK PEAK

  PREVIEWS

  A BAD BOY NEXT DOOR ROMANCE

  BLURB:

  All Mine Series is here, all in one complete set!

  Only Mine: Carlos & Eve

  “From the instant we met, I could see your innocence. You were both shy and bold, all at the same time. I needed to learn more. I need to know all of you.”

  Always Mine: Joel & Cameron

  “I knew once I saw you that I would make you mine. You were pure and a little dirty in the same breath. It was going to take a lifetime to know you, to really know you.”

  You're Mine: David & Carol

  “From the first look, I knew that I wanted you. You were sassy with a little sweetness. Now I have to have you back in my life and in my arms.”

  Forever Mine: Marcus & Angela

  “She was a girl from my past. The girl of my dreams and I wasn’t going to rest until she was in my arms again”

  Be Mine: Lucas & Fran

  “I ran a gang, dealt with life and death every day. She was harder than that. She was the one that made my heartbeat slam in my chest and wonder what if there was more.”

  ***

  **END OF PREVIEW**

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  BE MY FOREVER: THE COMPLETE SERIES BOX SET

  SNEAK PEAK

  PREVIEWS

  A BILLIONAIRE AND VIRGIN ROMANCE

  BLURB:

  Be My Forever Series is here, all in one complete set!

  Be My First

  "My New Employee makes it hard…very hard to ignore.

  Claire makes me want to throw all the rules away."

  Be My Bride

  "I had a decision to make, that would change everything.

  Could I say ‘I’ do for business?

  I had one rule in life, don’t fall in love. Now I have fallen for my wife."

  Be My Princess

  "I needed an assistant like that; hot tempting and willing to please.

  Her innocence was intoxicating and I had to have more.

  I was going to be her first and her last.

  I lived by rules and rule number one was don’t let women get to me. Stacy got to me."

  Be My Daddy

  "I wanted to give her the full service treatment.

  Meri was a client that I wanted to break all the rules with.

  I met her at a wild time, in a wild place.

  One night with Meri changed everything"

  **END OF PREVIEW**

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  RODEO RANCHER

  SNEAK PEAK

  PREVIEWS

  A BAD BOY ROMANCE

  Chapter 1

  Cecelia

  “How is hiring going?”

  I shrugged and made a face at my friend. It had been one of those days and the more I thought about the line of people I had to interview most of the day, it would have just made my head hurt more.

  “I still haven’t found some regular hands. I am short four at the moment and I wish I could find a couple real quick. I am sick of trying to cover everything with less people than I need. It never used to be this hard to keep people. I guess the work is too hard or something.”

  “I don’t know how you do it. I work as a secretary sitting on my butt all day. I get tired just watching you run around here.”

  Karen took another drink of her cold coffee and I just shook my head again. I had tried before to get her to work with me on my family’s ranch, but she wasn’t going for it. There were a lot of reasons why not, even though I would pay double what she makes now. Karen just didn’t want to do this kind of work and some days I can honestly say that I don’t blame her. There were days that I didn’t even want to get up, but I loved my job, no matter how difficult it was or how sore my muscles were at the end of the day.

  “I think a lot of people are on the same page Karen. You would think that I was suggesting that they eat a rat. I had a guy today that told me there was no way that one person could do everything I wanted. I think I am just going to have to give up on it all. I wish I could find more people like Dante and Carl. If I had a couple more of them, I wouldn’t have to look anymore.”

  “How is Dante?”

  I sighed and just shrugged a little, not wanting to have this conversation again with her. “The same as always. I don’t know why you bother worrying about him. He is bad news and a heartbreaker.”

  “No he isn’t. He is just looking for one thing and there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes a girl isn’t looking for a happily ever after, just a good night.”

  I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore her implication. Dante was handsome, very much so, but he knew it and that was always a problem. He had hit on me a couple of times when he first started last year, but I wasn’t biting. I knew all about men like him and though Karen thought she just wanted a good night, it would be painful in the end. She would fall, like a woman always does for that type and then be crushed when he doesn’t change his ways. It’s madness.

  “Well, don’t hold back on my account.”

  She crinkled her nose. “No, I don’t think I am his type. You are more the kind of girl I see him at the bar with, then me.”

  “You never know. But I am not getting into it between you two. He is a good employee and I don’t want it getting complicated. He is a wonder with the horses.”

  Karen pouted for a moment and then brightened back up. “If you aren’t going to hook me up, you could at least find out if he has a girlfriend or anything.”

  I could have reminded her that he didn’t date, he brought back random women to the hand house all of the time. They were always different, never introduced and never brought to the main house for dinner. It was rather clear to me what Dante was looking for. Instead of arguing, I just went with it though. She didn’t want to hear my real opinion.

  “I will see what I can do. I don’t know if he is seeing anyone right now, but next time I see Dante around I will ask him.” I just didn’t want him to think that it was because of me and some interest that I had in him. I would have to be clear that I was asking for Karen.

  She thanked me and had this beaming smile on her face. I didn’t get it with Dante. The man was sexy, sure, but how did he get grown women to lose their minds a little bit. It just didn’t make sense and though it was entertaining to see, I didn’t want Karen to go down the same path. She had a tender heart and didn’t need to get it broken because of some pheromone that Dante was letting off. I knew better myself than to get involved with it.

  Karen left a little while later, complaining about the lack of air conditioning in the office. My father never liked A/C, so when the house was modernized, he had worried very little about upgrading the heating and cooling. Over the years I had gotten used to it and rather enjoyed the slight breeze on another hot day in Texas.

  I sat back in my chair and tried to figure out what I was going to do for next week’s schedule. It was one of those weeks where I was already short, something that was normal at the Barclay’s Horse Ranch, but now there was another rodeo in town and several of the horses were going to have to be transported to the location. That meant I was going to lose Dante on the ranch, which meant chaos. He did a lot when he wasn’t a womanizer and I was going to miss him. I knew I was going to be the one that picked up the slack if I didn’t get in gear and hire someone else immediately.

  “Speaking of the devil.”

  “Huh?”

  “I was just thinking about you. What are you doing this Friday night?”

  “Seeing if you had any hires for me to train b
efore I leave for Houston.”

  “Not at the moment. You have any friends that I can hire on?”

  Dante sat down on the other side of the desk and smiled at me with that boyish look. “What are you looking for?”

  “Hands mainly.”

  “I know a few people. I will make some calls. Those flyers didn’t work?”

  I sighed and blew out a deep breath. “No, they didn’t. I wanted to go to the rodeo next weekend, but I don’t know if I am going to be able to. Hell, I don’t know what I am going to do when you are gone Dante.”

  “Aww, are you going to miss me?”

  He was up again and walking behind me. He was being patronizing, but I didn’t care. I knew what he was going to do next and usually I would shrug him off, but right now I needed it. Dante was always on and the charm was something that he couldn’t turn off or he just refused to. It was hard to deny what Karen and many others seen in him, but I knew him too well to ever consider him a romantic option.

  But his hands were amazing and I was going to allow it. “You have a lot of tension in your neck Cece.”

  I agreed but didn’t say anything. It was best just to let him work. Dante had first rubbed my shoulders after a long ride where it was killing me. I had learned then that he had magic fingers, but I also learned quickly that his tongue was too honeyed for me. I had to be careful to not get sucked into his vortex.