Rescued by the Silent Mountain Man

Morgan never turns down a shift or a favor at Sugar Moon Bakery, because being needed is the only way she knows how to matter.

Elias Riggs, the town firefighter and mountain recluse, comes in every morning for black coffee and a blueberry muffin, then leaves with little more than a nod.

She has no idea he has loved her for six months until a twisted ankle and falling temperatures strand her on a dark trail, and he is the one who finds her.

He wraps his flannel around her, walks her to his cabin, and tends her injury with a care no one has ever shown her, yet she still reports for work the next day.

After that, the man who barely spoke begins lingering at the counter, then takes her to a lookout above the valley and tells her about the fire call that left a man burned and four years of guilt in its wake.

For the first time, Morgan wants something of her own, and when his hand finds hers on the rock between them, he does not pull away.