Daring the Mountain Man (Mountain Man Mail Order Bride #8)

CHAPTER ONE

Thorne

The leather chair in my sister’s office squeaked—a high-pitched, irritating sound that matched the grating sensation in my chest. I’d been sitting here for twenty minutes while Kate explained why our grandfather—a man who’d taught me to fish and mind my own damn business—was currently meddling in my life from six feet under.

“So, let me get this straight.” I leaned forward, my elbows digging into my knees. “I can have the land—”

“All two hundred acres, plus the cabin,” Kate confirmed, her lawyer-voice smooth and entirely too satisfied for some reason.

“—but only if I get married. Within six months.”

“Yes.”

I wanted to punch something. Preferably the mahogany desk between us, though Kate would probably bill me for the property damage and emotional distress. “It’s been six months already, Kat. The clock’s ready to run out. Why wait until now to tell me this?”

“Technically only five and a half,” she corrected, tapping the will with a manicured nail. “And I didn’t tell you because I thought maybe you’d get your head out of your ass and join the land of the living.”

I ignored her while I tried to wrap my head around the bombshell she’d just dropped.

I needed to get married.

Which was going to be hard as hell because I hadn’t been on a date in over a year. Hell, I hadn’t had sex in over two years.

As if she read my thoughts, Kate continued. “Granddad didn’t want you becoming a literal hermit, Thorne. He worried you were rotting away up there.”

“I wasn’t rotting. I was healing.” I’d left my old job as a financial manager with a soul made of jagged glass and the knowledge that the zeros in my bank account couldn’t buy back my peace of mind.

The mountain was the only thing keeping me upright.

I’d embraced the life fully, turning into a recluse no one ever saw.

“You were hiding,” Kate countered. She looked me dead in the eye, cutting through my bullshit with the precision of a surgeon. Or a big sister. “The point is you have options. You can walk away—”

“No.” The land was mine. It was the only place where the silence in my head didn’t feel like a threat.

“Then fulfill the terms.”

I let out a harsh, dry laugh. “What am I supposed to do? Post a notice at Mack’s bar? Wanted: Wife. Must tolerate a grumpy prick with no interest in feelings. Sex is optional, but silence is mandatory.”

Kate’s lips twitched. “That’s option two.” She pulled out her phone, tapping the screen with the confidence of someone who’d already committed a felony on my behalf. “Lucky for you, your big sister went with option one.”

“Kate.”

“I set you up on Mountain Mates.”

I stared at her. “You mean that dating app?”

“It’s not just a dating app anymore. It’s a matchmaking service too.

Very exclusive. They cater specifically to rural communities, remote areas, people looking for.

.. unconventional arrangements.” She was using her lawyer voice, which meant she knew I was going to hate this. “I may have filled out your profile.”

“You didn’t.”

“I did.” She smiled, the kind of smile that had built her client base in a very short time because everyone trusted her when she smiled like that. I knew better. “Want to know what your bride looks like?”

“My—” I couldn’t even finish the sentence. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening.

A knock echoed through the office and we both froze.

“Please tell me that’s not—” I started.

The door cracked open, and a woman’s head appeared. Brown hair piled into a messy, I just rolled out of bed and look hot, knot.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was looking for Kate Underwood.”

Kate’s smile went nuclear. “You’ve found me. Please, come in.”

The woman stepped inside, and my heart didn’t just stop—it flatlined.

She was soft in all the ways the world had stopped making women—curves that filled out her jeans, a flowy blouse that skimmed over a body generous enough to make a man forget what he was doing.

Which, apparently, I had. Because I was standing there staring like I’d never seen a woman before in my life.

Her gaze swept the room and then landed on me. Recognition flashed across her face, followed by a slow, mischievous grin.

“Oh,” she said, her smile widening even more. “There you are.”

As if she’d been waiting for me since forever.

I looked at Kate. Kate looked at me. The woman looked between us and her smile grew.

“Am I early?” she said slowly.

“No, no.” Kate stood, extending her hand like this was a normal client meeting and not whatever fresh hell she’d orchestrated. “You must be Maddie.”

Another bright smile. “Yes, Maddie Cooper.” She shook Kate’s hand, then turned to me with a grin that suggested she was enjoying this way too much. “And you must be Thorne. The brooding mountain man.”

I opened my mouth. Closed it. Looked at Kate. “Did you tell her to call me that?”

“Of course not.” Kate waved off my question and turned her attention to Maddie, motioning for her to take a seat. “Thank you so much for coming on short notice. I know the email was a bit… abrupt.”

Maddie’s grin widened. “How could I resist? Broody mountain man needs wife immediately.”

“Kate.” I growled my sister’s name

Kate ignored me. “So are we ready to discuss the arrangement?”

I grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair. “We’re not doing this. Whatever this is.” I gestured between us. “I don’t know what my sister told you, but I’m not interested in—”

“A wife?” Maddie offered. “Yeah, that’s pretty clear from the body language. Way to sweep me off my feet, mountain man.”

“I’m not—”

Kate made a noise that might have been a laugh or a cough.

I turned to Maddie fully. Up close, she was worse. Better. Whatever.

“Look,” I said. “I’m sure you’re... nice. But this isn’t going to work.”

“You don’t even know what this is, apparently.” There was a sharp note of snark in her voice now. “Maybe before you storm out, we could skip the part where you pretend this is about romance and get to the part where we talk like adults.”

Silence.

Kate was grinning behind her desk like she’d just won a case.

Maddie was staring at me with an expression that clearly said your move, Mountain Man.

And I was standing there, jacket in hand, with absolutely no idea what to do next.

Because she was right. This wasn’t about romance. This was about the land. About keeping the one place that felt like mine.

And apparently, the price of solitude was wearing fitted jeans and calling my bluff. “Fine,” I said. “We’ll talk.”

Maddie’s eyebrow arched. “Wow. Don’t overwhelm me with enthusiasm.”

I dropped back into the other chair, gripping my jacket like a lifeline. “You’ve got ten minutes.”

“How generous.” Maddie crossed her legs.

She had nice, thick thighs, the kind a man could think about entirely too long.

Again, another wave of thoughts rushed through me.

What the hell was happening? I hadn’t reacted to a woman like this since…

well, never, if I were honest. The description she had of me was accurate.

I was a broody mountain man with no interest in interacting with people.

Even those with full, pouty lips and generous curves.

“Let’s start with the basics. You need a wife for an inheritance.

We play house for six months. Go our separate ways.

I need... well, we’ll get to what I need.

The app apparently thinks we’re compatible. ”

“I didn’t fill out a questionnaire,” I grumbled.

“I did it for you,” Kate said cheerfully.

“You’re a terrible lawyer,” I told my sister.

“I’m an excellent lawyer.” She slid a folder across the desk to Maddie. “Everything you need to know about the inheritance terms, the timeline, and what marriage would entail from a legal standpoint.”

Maddie opened it and started reading. I watched as she read and frowned at the small crease that formed between her eyebrows. She closed the folder and looked at me. “Now we’re supposed to... what? Shake hands and schedule a wedding?”

When she put it like that, it sounded insane.

“That’s about the size of it,” Kate answered for me.

Maddie sat back, studying me. Not judgment, exactly. Then she said something I hadn’t expected to hear. “Okay.”

“Okay? Just like that?”

Maddie nodded. “Just like that.”

“What do you get out of this?” I asked her, my eyes narrowing.

She blinked. “What?”

“You said you need something. What is it?”

For the first time since she’d walked in, Maddie looked uncertain. She glanced at Kate, who nodded encouragingly, then back at me.

“I need a fresh start,” she said quietly. “Somewhere nobody knows me. Somewhere I can just... breathe.”

I knew that feeling. Knew it too well. It was the same hunger for peace that had driven me to Lone Mountain.

“So you signed up for a matchmaking service that specializes in remote areas,” I said.

“I signed up because I’m tired of being who everyone expects me to be.” Her chin lifted. “And if that means marrying a grumpy mountain man, at least it’s honest about what it is.”

“And what’s that?”

“An escape.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Same as you.”

Kate cleared her throat. “So. Should I start drafting a prenup, or are we all going to keep pretending this isn’t the perfect solution?”

I looked at Maddie. Maddie looked at me.

“This is crazy,” I said.

“Completely,” she agreed.

“We don’t know each other.”

“Not even a little bit.”

“It probably won’t work.”

“Almost definitely won’t work.”

Kate sighed. “Are you two done?”

Maddie’s lips twitched. Just slightly. Just enough for me to catch it. She stood up and held out her hand. “Should we shake on it?”

I honestly didn’t know why I did it. Was it the thought of losing the cabin and the land? No. I had enough money to start over wherever I wanted to. Maybe the look in her eyes that said she might need this as much as I did, for whatever reason.

I took her hand. Her fingers were warm, her grip surprisingly firm, and I was aware—too aware—of the softness of her palm against my rougher one. I let go faster than I should have and she noticed that too. “Thank you for agreeing to be my wife.”

She laughed. A soft sound that told me more about her than she probably thought.

“Thank you for needing a wife, mountain man. Let me know when I need to be here for the wedding. And... Thorne.” She paused at the door, glancing back.

“For what it’s worth, you’re broodier in person than in the profile photo. ”

She winked and walked out, her hips swaying in a way that made my teeth ache. She was gone before I could figure out whether I wanted her to stay or leave.

The office felt too quiet without her.

“Well,” Kate said smugly. “That went well.”

“Don’t,” I warned.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re thinking it.”

“I’m thinking she’s perfect for you.”

“She’s—” I stopped. What was she? Pushy. Direct. Funny in a way that caught me off guard. Completely unimpressed by my silence or my general unwillingness to engage.

“I hate you,” I muttered, but couldn’t stop looking at the door.

“You love me. And you’re welcome.” She handed me the folder I’d refused earlier. “Her full profile. You might want to actually read it.”

I took it, but I didn’t open it. Not yet.

Because something told me that once I did, once I knew more about Maddie Cooper than just her smart mouth and her surprising directness, I was going to do something stupid.

Like actually think this insane plan might just work.