The Country Gentleman

by Amberlee Day

  The Country Gentleman

  A MyHeartChannel Romance

  Amberlee Day

  Copyright © 2018 by Amberlee Day

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The Country Gentleman

  A passionate crusader, a gentleman lumberjack…can they move past grief and deception to find love?

  Kenzie Vega puts her whole heart into everything she does, from fundraising for a cancer cure to her love of the outdoors. She’s especially passionate about forests, and even produces a MyHeartChannel show encouraging viewers to immerse themselves in nature. But while Kenzie’s days are filled with people, her private life is the opposite, and she’s actually very much alone.

  A second-generation logger, Peter Olson believes in sustainable harvests while he makes his living cutting down trees. However, he keeps his profession a secret from the fascinating woman in his hiking club. Past experience has taught him that people who love the outdoors get upset about trees coming down, and he doesn’t want to blow the relationship before it has a chance to grow. But when he realizes that Kenzie’s favorite forest is slated for clear-cutting, his fear of losing her overshadows his good judgement.

  As Kenzie struggles to save a memory of her mother, will she learn to risk giving someone new a place in her heart?

  Contents

  Invitation

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Also by Amberlee Day

  About the Author

  Invitation

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  Chapter One

  Mackenzie Vega stopped beneath a particularly lovely maple tree and lengthened her body into a deep, cleansing stretch. Finished, she faced the camera directed at her and spoke in a hushed tone, as if she were in church. “I call this an intentional stretch,” she said to the camera. “Try it.”

  Entwining both hands high over her head until she felt it from the tips of her fingers to the depths of her trail shoes, she leaned into it. A relaxed sigh escaped her lips, and she smiled. “Good. Let’s go find some texture.”

  She’d chosen this trail because of the cedar trees mixed in with maple and Douglas fir, and cedar meant fewer prickly blackberry bushes underneath. Her mother taught her to notice that.

  With unhurried steps, Mackenzie strayed from the path and approached a thick maple, placing her hands on the bark. Wordlessly, she fingered the bumps and crevices on the rough surface. Her camera helper for the day, a young woman named Shawna, moved close enough that Mackenzie felt confident the girl would get a nice close-up of just her hands. That was good. Not all her helpers were so intuitive.

  While the camera filmed the experience of bare skin touching the bark, birdsong filled the quiet spaces of the forest. Kenzie smiled.

  Perfect soundtrack for forest bathing.

  After a minute, she turned her hand around and rubbed her fingers together, showing the miniscule bits of wood and soil on them. “Gritty,” she said, as always in her quiet voice. She sniffed her fingers, too. “Smells bitter.”

  She gave the camera space to pan out to her face again, inclining her head to one side to invite the viewers to follow.

  In early June, debris from autumn leaves and winter storms had compacted down to a quiet padding. Their footfalls echoed softly under the tree canopy, and she walked without talking to let the camera filming her from behind pick up those sounds.

  Kenzie suddenly stopped mid-stride, and looked at her watch. “Nuts.” She whirled around to her companion. “Shawna, I’m so sorry. This is all I’m going to have time for today.”

  “That’s okay.” Shawna lowered the camera and rubbed the arm that had been holding it up. “We probably have enough filmed.”

  “What time did we start?”

  “Um, six thirty? Something like that.”

  “Heavens, you must be starved,” Kenzie said. “I know I am. Come on and I’ll feed you breakfast before I send you home.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to do that, Kenzie. I can always stop somewhere before I head to the wedding.”

  Kenzie had turned to go, but pivoted so quickly her pecan-colored ponytail swung over her shoulder. “Wedding?”

  Shawna blushed. “My sister’s wedding. She’s getting married today.”

  “Where? Here on the peninsula?”

  “No, in Seattle.”

  Oh, my word. “What time?”

  “Uh …” Shawna looked at her phone again. “Eleven.”

  Kenzie’s mouth dropped open, and she shook her head to process. “Your sister’s getting married across the ferry in a few hours, and you came to help me shoot today?”

  Shawna shrugged.

  “Why?” Kenzie asked, a little frantic that she’d interfered with family plans. That was never her purpose, and it frustrated her to see people prioritizing wrong, especially if it involved her. When Shawna’s face fell and she looked like she might cry, Kenzie took pity. Teasing might help. She gave Shawna a conspiratorial look. “What’s the matter? Not your favorite sister?”

  To Kenzie’s relief, Shawna laughed. “She’d better be. She’s my only sister.”

  “Okay, then.” Kenzie put a light hand on Shawna’s back to turn her around and get them on the way back to the cabin. “What made you decide to come this morning? You’ve done a wonderful job, but I could have found someone else to help. In fact, I have a whole list of people signed up.”

  “I know! That’s the problem. I’ve been on that list since February. My name finally came up, and I wasn’t going to give up the chance.”

  Kenzie bit her lip and put an arm around the younger girl. “Shawna, I’m really sorry you felt you had to choose. Tell you what. You name the next Saturday morning that’s convenient for you, and I’ll make sure Tammy puts you in for that day. Sound good?”

  Shawna looked like she was going to cry again. “Thanks, Kenzie. You’re the best.”

  “And make sure you don’t pick some big day, like … your parents’ anniversary! Or your annual family Fourth of July picnic, or something like that.”

  Shawna exhaled an awkward laugh. “Fourth of July’s not on a Saturday this year.”

  “Oh, well, that’s good, then.”

  “Could I ask you a question, Kenzie?”

  “Sure.”

  “Why do you call your channel Forest Bathing? I’ve watched every episode, and I know you explain it as ‘immersing yourself in the forest chemistry through mindfulness,’ but it still makes me think of taking a bath outside.”

  Kenzie sighed. She’d faced that question a hundred times. She didn’t like talking too much on her channel, but maybe it was time to do an in-depth episode on the history of forest bathing, instead of the short explanations she’d already given.

  “The thing is, I didn’t invent forest bathing,” she told Shawna. “In Japan it’s called Shinrin-yoku, which interpreted means taking in the forest atmosphere, or forest bathing. By ope
ning all your senses, you experience the healing health benefits of the forest.”

  “But do you think people ever get confused and think they’re going to sheen-yoke-oo without clothes on?”

  Kenzie’s laugh absorbed softly into the greenery around her. “Shinrin-yoku, and I’ve never heard that to be a problem. Are you worried if you show up late to the wedding and tell them you were forest bathing, that you’ll get some funny looks?”

  Shawna shrugged, pink tinting her cheeks. “Maybe a little.”

  Kenzie chuckled. “If you’d like, I could write you a note excusing you for forest bathing, fully clothed.”

  Before Shawna responded, Kenzie suddenly stopped. She cocked her head.

  “What’s wrong?” Shawna asked.

  “Did you hear something?”

  They both listened for a moment. Somewhere very far off, a low, deep engine growled.

  “Sounds like a big truck,” Shawna said. “But it must be really far away.”

  Kenzie listened longer but couldn’t tell anything more. “Hm. It’s probably just a boat out on the Sound. You’re right, though, it could be a truck somewhere.” Though she doubted it. The main road was at least five miles away. She resumed walking at a faster clip. “Anyway, let’s get going. You have a wedding to get to, and I have an hour and a half to get myself to a mountain. I have hiking club today.”

  “That sounds fun,” Shawna said. “Do you have helpers sign up for that too?”

  “Uh, no. Hiking club isn’t about the fundraising world.”

  “Oh. Do you go with a friend? Or maybe a boyfriend?”

  Kenzie huffed a rueful laugh. “None of that. Too busy to date, much less have someone steady.”

  “I’ve never known anybody as busy as you, Kenzie. Besides your MyHeartChannel videos, I follow you on all your social media platforms. You’re always doing something. All the events you organize, and speeches you make. And the races you run and walk. I don’t know when you have time to do anything.”

  “I don’t either.”

  “Don’t you meet anybody to date at those places? Or maybe at your hiking club?”

  Kenzie wrinkled her nose. “Eh. Most of the men I meet are doing the races or walk with a wife or a girlfriend. I don’t meet a lot of single men. Like at hiking club today: there’s one guy there who’s seriously cute, and he seems really nice. Smart, too, and funny.”

  “Perfect! What about him? You could ask him to go out to dinner or something after you hike.”

  Kenzie laughed. “I don’t think his wife would appreciate that.”

  “Oh. That’s too bad.”

  “Yep,” Kenzie sighed, stepping over a log on the trail. “That’s my luck. All the good ones are already taken.”

  Chapter Two

  Beyond her own cabin and forest, Kenzie felt most at home in the Olympic Mountains. She’d joined the hiking club just a few weeks ago with the thought that if she scheduled hikes into her planner, they would happen more often. So far she’d made two hikes out of three.

  At the trailhead, she parked her old Cherokee next to the long line of cars. Her boots were comfortable old friends, and she quickly had them laced up and hurried to join the rest of the group.

  “Hello! Am I the last one?” she asked, still tucking her phone and keys into her daypack.

  The hiking club leader was a tough older man named Burt. She wasn’t sure if it was his first name or his last, but she liked him. He was right down to business, and all about respecting the trail and experiencing the outdoors.

  “You are the last one here, but you’re not late. We’re just leaving.”

  Kenzie quickened her pace to move in front, leading the group with Burt. Maybe she could atone for being the last hiker to arrive by helping set a good pace. Plus, she knew the Lower Lena Lake Trail almost as well as her own woods. It was a popular trail with plenty of weekenders from the Seattle side, but it was beautiful and only seven miles. That was about all she had time for these days.

  She and Burt traveled in companionable silence, though snippets of conversation drifted forward from the group behind them. The uphill exercise and the surrounding forest took all her own attention, and while her pulse and body temperature rose with the exercise, her thoughts and worries floated peacefully up like an offering into the old-growth forest.

  They’d reached a picturesque bridge and waterfall when Burt called for a water break. Kenzie climbed up onto a rock for a better view. The previous week had brought a lot of rain, and the water rushed more effulgent than she’d seen it for a long time. Even from her spot on the rock, she could feel the mist rising up and cooling her warm face. She didn’t waste the moment, but let the peaceful setting, roaring creek, and comforting scents of pine and water seep into her soul. It had been an especially busy week and would be followed by an even busier one. She needed to absorb peace when she could.

  “I told you that was too little time to wear them in,” a woman nearby said. “Serves you right if it’s rubbing.”

  “Thank you for the sweet sympathy, Paige,” a man replied.

  “Do you want to head back?”

  “No, I’m tough. I’ll push through.”

  Kenzie broke free from her meditation moment and hopped down from her rock. The couple talking was that good-looking guy and his pretty wife, Peter and Paige. They sat on separate rocks, and although Paige had given him a hard time, their expressions were agreeable.

  Kenzie opened her daypack. “Do you need moleskin? I have plenty.”

  “Oh, no,” Paige teased him. “Didn’t you hear? Peter’s tough.”

  One of Peter’s feet was bare, and he tossed the sock at Paige.

  “Gross!” she laughed. When she pretended to throw his sock in the water, he offered an appropriately humble apology until she gave it back.

  Kenzie, meanwhile, was already digging around looking for moleskin. “You guys are adorable. Hashtag, relationship goals.”

  She ignored their laughter and teasing for a moment. Where did she put that? And she’d need her tiny scissors, too. The necklace she always wore hung down in her way, so she tossed it over her shoulder to see easier. She hadn’t checked the pack since her last hike two weeks ago. It was always in her trunk ready to go, so all she had to add were fresh water and snacks.

  “Aha! Here it is.” She put the pack down and went to help Peter. The fairly large sheet of moleskin would have to be cut, and as she liked to get the most out of it, she wanted to cut only what was needed. Kneeling in front of Peter, she inspected his foot. “Where are you having problems?”

  When there wasn’t an answer, she looked up to two pairs of surprised eyes.

  “Sorry,” she said, realizing her mistake. “I spend so much time around people with sore feet, I tend to just jump in and help. Is that okay, or do you two want to do this yourselves?”

  It took a moment before they blinked, both at the same time. Kenzie suppressed a giggle. Peter and Paige couldn’t have been married for very long, since they were about her age, but they were already starting to have that look-alike quality old married people sometimes get.

  “No, absolutely,” Peter said. “You appear to know what you’re doing more than I do. And I know more than she does.” He jabbed a thumb at Paige.

  “Har, har.” Paige shook her head. “But yes, if we could watch you, we’ll know what to do next time. I can’t remember your name, though …”

  “Mackenzie.” She stuck out her hand to Paige, then Peter. “Or, Kenzie is fine. Kenzie Vega. Is it this red area on your foot where it’s bothering you?”

  Peter pointed out the hot spots, and Kenzie went to work with her moleskin.

  Paige frowned. “Kenzie Vega. Why does that sound familiar?”

  Kenzie shrugged. “Have you ever participated in a half-marathon across the water? Or a three-day walk?”

  “Sure,” Paige said. “I did a half last year. It was by a river, a really beautiful run.”

  “The River Loop Half.” />
  “Yes, that’s the one,” Paige said. “Did you run it?”

  “I did,” Kenzie said lightly. “I run a lot of those sorts of races.” When she’d finished, she told Peter, “How about we peek at your other foot? If this one’s hurting, I bet the other one’s not going to be far behind.”

  “Now that you mention it,” Peter answered sheepishly, untying his other shoe.

  While Kenzie worked her moleskin magic, she asked Paige and Peter how long they’d been into hiking and found out they were indeed newbies. She told them a little about their destination, Lower Lena Lake, and about a higher second destination, Upper Lena Lake.

  “You sound like you’re pretty familiar with the area,” Peter said. “What made you join a hiking club?”

  Kenzie fingered the necklace she wore, and the gold band that hung from it. “I wanted to get back into it. I lost my hiking partner a while back, and it gets lonely going by myself.”

  Peter’s gaze caught her attention. She’d been so busy taking care of his feet, she’d forgotten that he was—as she told her camera helper Shawna earlier—a good-looking man, and struck her as a kind one from the little bit she’d seen him. He had hazel eyes and light brown hair, the same as his wife.

  “Time to get going,” Burt called to the scattered group.

  Kenzie smiled at the nice couple and rose to turn her attention back to her daypack. Something glittery caught her eye, though, and she raised an eyebrow at Paige. “What a gorgeous ring.”

  Paige held up her hand, inspecting it herself. “Isn’t it? I love it.”

  Peter snorted. “Of course you do. Got the biggest and shiniest one out there.”