Complete Bear Creek and Bear Bluff Box Sets: Including brand new exclusive book Best Man Bear

by Harmony Raines

  “I don’t need a dating agency, and I don’t need a mate.”

  “We all think that until we find the right one,” Drew assured her.

  Alli smiled. She had become so close to Drew in the last couple of months. Mainly because Drew’s dad had spent a lot of time up at the farmhouse. He got on well with Kian, so well that they had gone into business together. With some persuasion, Kian had finally accepted Alli’s help and between them, they had bought another of the farmhouses, which was now halfway through being renovated.

  The profit they made from it, when it was sold, would be enough for them to invest in another property and repeat the process. She smiled; it was strange how these things worked out. As the stylist finished curling her hair, she glanced up at Melanie. The young woman who had come into her store only a few months ago was also transformed. Confident in her abilities now, she worked quickly and accurately. Meaning Alli had been able to increase the number of clients they took on. And, although Melanie didn’t know it yet, Alli intended to ask her soon-to-be sister-in-law if she would become partners in Bear Brides.

  It was a big step, but it would mean that when Alli had a baby, a thing Kian was becoming increasingly excited about, she would be able to take a back seat for a few months. Then they could transform one of the storerooms into a playroom and Alli would come back to work. Although if Kian had his way, the baby would spend its days strapped to his back in a papoose. Alli had never known a man be quite so broody.

  “There,” Jeannie, the best hairdresser in Bear Creek, said, making the final touches to Alli’s hair. “Beautiful.”

  The silver tiara sat on top of Alli head, reminding her of the comb that Kian had come into her store to collect on the day they met. She had chosen it specially. Jeannie had threaded Alli’s hair through it, and then created a mass of curls to frame her face. With her make-up professionally applied by Marjorie—Alli had found her own hands were shaking too much to do it herself—she had to admit she was pleased.

  OK. More than pleased. “Thank you all, so much,” Alli said.

  “You are beautiful,” Melanie said. Her eyes filled with tears. “Kian is so lucky.”

  “I think it’s me who is the lucky one.”

  “No time to argue. My dad is waiting for us. We need to go,” Drew helped Alli up, adjusting her dress and scooping up the long silk train for Alli to loop over her arm.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind loaning me your dad?” Alli asked. One of her greatest fears had been that she had no one to give her away. It was the only reason they had delayed the wedding. But one night, Vic Stanton, Drew’s dad, had found her in tears. When she had explained her problem, he said he would be honoured to give her away. And so it was settled.

  Walking out into the sunshine, Alli felt much better. A big smile spread across her face. “I’m getting married.”

  “Yes, you are,” Drew said, pressing a button on her phone and slipping it into the small clutch bag. “Kian is waiting for you. I think it’s time to go.”

  They somehow squeezed into two cars. Alli and Vic in one car, train safely tucked in, and the others in a second car. When they arrived, Marjorie would quickly jump out and take her seat inside. That would be the signal for everyone to know the bride had arrived. It was all going according to plan.

  “So many people,” she breathed as the car wound its way up to the now-complete farmhouse. They had decided it was the most fitting place for them to marry, since so many of their guests today were the same people who had helped them repair the damage Graham had done to it out of spite.

  Luckily, he had since left town, so there would be no repeat of him trying to sabotage their happiness.

  “You’ll do fine,” Vic said, patting her hand. When the car stopped, he came around and helped her out. Melanie and Drew, her bridesmaids, spread her train out and smoothed down the simple white silk of her skirt. Only the bodice of Alli’s dress gave way to lace and pearls. Alli always liked to be understated, but she had learned why a bride always insisted on a little something to make her day special. In fact, the whole wedding had opened her eyes to so much; she knew it would make her even more conscientious in her role of advising other brides.

  But today was for her and Kian. And when she walked down the aisle, past people smiling at her, wishing her happiness and joy, she felt confident. She felt right. Walking towards Kian made her heart lift and her spirit soar. He was her man; he was her bear.

  When he smiled and took her hand, she knew they were already joined in ways that bound them more than a wedding certificate ever could. Yet she was pleased to be standing here in front of all of her friends and declaring her intention of being with him for the rest of their days.

  When the ceremony was over, he kissed her, pulling her close to him, his body pressed against hers. “I can’t wait to make love to you tonight, my wife.”

  She smiled, “Does that mean we are not going to sneak away from this wedding?”

  “No. This day is for us to enjoy, here with our friends, before we spend the rest of our lives together.”

  “I’m so glad. I have waited so long for my own wedding day. And I know I will never experience another one again,” she said, looking at her perfect husband and feeling a rush of love.

  “That’s right, my love. We are joined forever.” Kian’s happiness was overwhelming, and her heart swelled to contain the love she had for him in return.

  She kissed him again, thankful that she had chosen the right man to marry. For she was always meant to be a bride of the bear.

  The End

  Stranded With Her Bear

  Trent Savage has everything going for him, and all the women of Bear Bluff know it. And he enjoys the attention, what red-blooded male bear wouldn’t? After all, what’s the point in having the looks and physique of a God and not use it to your advantage. Until he finds Willow in the back of his truck.

  Willow is trying to escape her past, but with no money, her plan to get far away from home are thwarted, until she sneaks into a truck when the driver isn’t looking. Risky, but what can go wrong? If he finds her, the worst he will do is throw her out, and at least she will be somewhere different.

  What Willow doesn’t know is that she is Trent Savage’s mate. So when he does discover his stowaway, there is no way she is going to run any further than his bed!

  Chapter One - Trent

  A good dusting of snow covered the ground as Trent Savage expertly steered his truck along the mountain roads. Visibility was getting worse, but he had every hope he would be able to deliver the goods he was carrying. If not, the people of Cougar Ridge, a small town high up in the mountains, were going to go hungry during this blizzard.

  He cursed his driver for not turning up for work. If things had gone to schedule, this delivery would have been made hours ago and the truck safely parked back in Bear Bluff to wait out the storm. However, the driver, a young man named Taylor, had chosen last night as the night to claim his mate. He was MIA, probably in the bed of his new woman.

  Trent tried not to let his anger bubble over. He knew his mood was all wrapped in the fact that a young cub like Taylor had found his mate, whilst Trent had been searching for his own elusive bonded mate for years. Not that Trent ever lacked female company; no, he never had a shortage of women vying to sleep with him. The big, handsome bear never had to worry about climbing into a cold, lonely bed, not unless he chose to.

  He smiled ironically, as that was becoming more and more frequent these days. Finally, the thrill of being one of the most sought-after bachelors in town was wearing thin. Maybe it was due to seeing his competition, Dr. Ben, finally walk up the aisle with his sweet mate, Nurse Beth.

  Now, she was a woman he would willingly have shacked up with. Trent tried to raise his spirits—he was getting too old for no-strings sex, he wanted to be married. He laughed at himself; he still needed to grow up a bit if he wanted a mate to settle down with him.

  Young at heart, that’s me, he t
hought. Trent was still inclined to play practical jokes on people, usually the younger bears. And he did like to flirt with women; he couldn’t help it if they found his boyish charm irresistible.

  A building appeared out of the gloomy light, half hidden in the falling snow. “Great,” he said aloud. “Fuel stop. Last thing I need is to run out of gas up here.”

  There was plenty in the tank, but if the weather made him take a detour, he wanted to be prepared. Trent always liked to be prepared; he was not a man who liked surprises of any kind, unless they were the female-in-his-bed kind. Or at least it was: he now figured he had slept with enough women to last him his long lifetime. He wanted to feel what it was like to be inside his mate, for her to be under him, in his bed. To know what it was, to feel that emotional connection with another person on a deep level.

  But those were not things he would ever admit to anyone. He never wanted people to think he was soft; it would ruin his reputation, and reputation was everything to Trent. Above all his laughing and flirting, he was a businessman in the world of trucks and haulage. Savage Haulage was a business he was proud of and Trent was, perhaps, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Bear Bluff. Yet despite all this success, the need for a mate was the one thing that consumed his thoughts. It was getting seriously distracting and he wanted to change that.

  Back to business. He pulled up in front of the pump, and refuelled, the snow falling around him, dampening his senses. He would love to be free to run in this right now, up on top of Bear Bluff, over the mountains. He bet half of the town, the bear half, had headed up the mountain. Bear Bluff bears loved the first snow of winter.

  Chapter Two – Willow

  Willow waited inside the restroom. It was freezing outside and she didn’t know what to do. There was no way she could stay in here for much longer; she knew the cashier had watched her come in on his surveillance camera. Any minute now, she expected him to knock on the door and tell her to get out.

  Little traffic had driven by the gas station since she had been here. The weather was putting people off venturing this far into the mountains. She didn’t blame them; it was no place to be in the snow, the roads were already becoming dangerously slippy when her last ride dropped her here. As she pulled the door open to take a look, she was surprised to see how much it had built up already; she was also surprised to see a big truck parked in front of the pumps. Maybe this was her chance.

  Shouldering her pack, she made her way over to the truck. It was unattended; the driver must be inside. Willow knew there was a chance she could be seen, but the snow was coming down so thick now, and they might miss her. Taking a chance, not wanting to risk making herself known to the driver in case he said no to a hitchhiker, she tried the back door.

  It wasn’t locked, but it was hard to open, and she had no idea how she was going to close it again once she was inside. Still, she had to do something, or else she would freeze, she was not built for sub-zero temperatures. Jumping up to reach the latch, she managed to grab hold of it on the second try, her feet slipping on the snow. Willow was not wholly a graceful woman, being a little on the short and curvy side, but she was determined to get into the back of the truck.

  With the door half open, she took her pack off and threw it in. Now she had no choice but to get the rest of her in too, or else she would lose all of her worldly belongings. Placing her hands on the floor of the container, she hopped three times and then jumped. Not high enough. Reassessing her options, she backed off a little and this time took a running jump.

  With a lot of huffing and pulling, she managed to get most of her upper body inside, and then she tried to gasp hold of the first thing her fingers touched, in the hope of pulling herself in further. It wasn’t sturdy enough, and in the gloom of the truck’s interior, she could just make out a large shape slipping through her fingers, as it slid way from her across the floor. Half in and half out; if he drove off now, she would end up splattered all over the road.

  With a great effort, she swung her legs, twice, three times and then she went for it. Wriggling for all she was worth, until she reached a tipping point and dragged the rest of her body into the truck container. For a moment she just lay there, catching her breath, which came out in thick clouds from her mouth. Finally pulling herself to a sitting position, she tried to make out what she was about to travel with. All she could see were boxes, safe enough. Maybe there was even some food in one. She was starving, and with no money to her name, she doubted that was going to change anytime soon. If she wanted to eat, she would have to steal some food.

  That bit into her conscience. Stealing was not something she had ever believed she would be forced to do. However, things had changed in her life so rapidly; she was on the verge of being desperate enough to do anything—well, nearly anything.

  “OK, let’s get these doors shut,” she said, pulling herself up to a kneeling position, feeling the intense cold coming in from outside. She was still going to freeze in here unless she found something warm to wrap herself in. “Doors first.”

  Somehow, she managed to pull them to without falling back out herself. The latch was a problem, but she found if she pulled the doors quite hard, they clicked on something and stayed put, that would have to do. They would only be travelling slowly in this weather, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

  But what if there was? Oh, she hated this. It was all so deceitful. What if she caused the container to open up and spill its contents out on the road? She had no choice, that was what she told herself over and over. Willow needed to get far away, and when the engine rumbled into life, she knew that her decision had been made for her. For good or bad, she was now stuck in here. She only hoped that she was still alive at the end of it. Because for all she knew, this truck could be going on a very long-distance journey. By the time the doors were opened again, and she had realised they could only now be opened from the outside; she might be dead of starvation, or dehydration. She had one bottle of water, which she had refilled in the restroom, but it wouldn’t last her for days.

  Willow began looking at the boxes. Using the light from her flashlight, she carefully checked the sides of boxes for labels. All she wanted was some food, and she would try to do as little damage as possible. As she carefully tried to keep her balance, the truck made its slow progress away from the danger that pursued her.

  Chapter Three – Trent

  Trent wasn’t sure, if it was the degree of concentration he needed to watch the road or if he had eaten something bad from the gas station, but he felt odd. Not your usual odd, no stomach ache, or nausea; this was different from anything he had ever experienced before. The sensations in his body were probably similar to if he had eaten an aphrodisiac; it resulted in an uncomfortable hardness in his pants.

  Adjusting his position, he tried to think of something other than sex. But it was hard; his whole body seemed to be in a heightened state of arousal. Turning the radio up, he stared at the road, or what he could see of it, and blocked everything out. It worked for two minutes, and then he was back to thinking about sex.

  Damn, if this wasn’t the weirdest trip he had been on.

  Almost missing his turn-off, he had to slow right down to swing his truck onto the steep road, which would take him up to the cougars. He knew he had to keep moving. If he didn’t, then he would be stranded on the road, not something he had any desire to be. Not when his cock refused to calm down. Maybe if he made it to Cougar Ridge he might have to find a little female company to make him feel better.

  That thought seemed so wrong somehow, as if he cheating on his mate. I haven’t found her yet, he thought. Damn it; don’t say he was going to have to abstain from sex because he was in love with his mate. A woman he didn’t know yet! This mated bond thing was going to drive him to an early grave.

  Still distracted, he missed the bank of snow that had collapsed onto the road. His front wheel hit it, making the truck judder, and behind him he heard some of the boxes fall. Managing to maintain
control, he guided the truck to a stop, luckily on the brow of a small dip in the road. It gave him a chance of gaining forward momentum when he tried to drive off again. His experience told him a hill start would be impossible with the amount of snow covering the roads.

  He would need to quickly check everything was OK in the back and then push on. It was only about five more miles; if he was lucky, he would still be able to make the delivery before night fell completely. He grabbed his flashlight and jacket before he got out into the cold, wet snow. Walking around the front of the truck, he saw the problem, so first he went about clearing the snow from around his wheels, making sure he would be able to pull off again. Then he went around to the back of the truck.

  The odd feelings persisted, getting worse as he made it further back along the length of his truck. In fact, there was a point about five feet from the back when the sensation got so intense, he struggled to breathe. Forcing himself to walk on, he found it got a little easier. Strange.

  Rubbing his hands together for warmth, he prepared to open up the back, knowing the cold metal would burn his hands. But as he reached up, he paused. The lock was open. Now, if one of his men had been responsible for securing it, he might have blamed them, but he had locked this himself. He knew someone had tampered with it.

  Deep inside his mind, his bear awoke. If he had to, if he was confronted by trouble, he would have no choice but to free his bear. But Trent was a hard man; chances were, it was just kids and he would be able to handle himself. Still, his bear made himself known, making Trent feel off-kilter again. His bear was normally easy to keep under control, but right now, he was on the prowl. Something was definitely up, and it wasn’t just the snow that was making his bear roar.