Thanksgiving Groom

“It wasn’t a cub,” she whispered. “Besides that, you have a gun.”

It was over his other shoulder, pointing at the sky. It was a reminder of why he’d come out here today. He’d been hunting for food, not for silly heiresses.

And what was he coming home with? The heiress.

“Are you Tucker Lawson?” She kept talking, and his regrets kept growing. It was probably too late to take her back to the ravine.

“Back to that silence clause in our rescue agreement.” He shifted her weight in his arms and she grabbed at his shoulders.

“I don’t think I agreed to silence. I’m just asking if you’re Tucker Lawson.”

“Yes, I’m Tucker Lawson.” He glanced down at her, and then glued his eyes back on the trail and the long walk ahead of them.

“They’re looking for you.”

“What does that mean?” Of course he’d been gone awhile, but he’d mentioned when he bought supplies, before he’d started out, that he planned on being gone a good long while. He’d told his office to give his cases to his partner.

“You disappeared, and a lot of people are worried.”

“I didn’t realize.”

Another ten minutes of this and he was sure he’d want to give her back to the bear.

“They’ve been searching for you. Especially your friends, Jake and Gage.”

“How are they?” It wasn’t as if he’d been out here all these months without thinking about his friend, or what everyone back in Treasure Creek thought about his disappearance.

“I’ve only been in town about a week, but from what I’ve seen, they’re doing really great. Worrying about you hasn’t stopped them from falling in love.”

“Falling in what?”

“Don’t make it sound like they fell in a pile of something nasty. They’ve fallen in love. Millions of people do so every day.”

“In love with whom?”

“Well, I don’t know Jake that well, or Casey…”

“Don’t tell me he’s dating Casey Donner.”

“I think it’s more like engaged and planning a wedding. There’s talk around town that he’s waiting to find you, wanting you to be his best man.”

“What else has happened?”

“Romance, I guess. Dr. Havens and his nurse. I really believe Joleen and Harry Peters will get married. Won’t that be a sight, to have Joleen stay in Treasure Creek?” She rambled on and he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. He kept going back to the idea of his childhood friends in love. “Anyway, they’re all really worried about you.”

He’d tuned out her chatter and missed most of what she said until she got to the last part, about people worrying about him. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought of that, that people would be searching. He’d just hoped they found the note and realized he was safe.

“As you can see, I’m fine. If I wasn’t, you would still be back there with that bear cub.”

“The bear wasn’t a cub.” Penelope knew when to change the subject. She looked up, studying his face—the sandy brown hair that was a little on the long side, and hazel eyes that glinted with flecks of gold. He didn’t look like this in the pictures they put up in town. Those were pictures of a lawyer lost in the woods. In the photos plastered in the paper and all over town, he was slick, with short hair, expensive suits and a cynical expression. The type of man her father would have on his team.

The type of man her father would probably love to have for a son-in-law. The type of man she detested.

Instead of being the man on the poster, Tucker Lawson was capable and strong. He looked like most of the men in Treasure Creek, dressed in jeans and a heavy jacket. He was broad shouldered and rugged. He was so handsome he made her mouth water a little. The way it watered when she looked at a yummy dessert.

“He was this year’s cub.” His words were clipped, short. “You could have run at him and he would have been scared to death.” He huffed as he walked. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re doing out here, miles from town?”

“Hiking. What else?”

“Alone?”

The word alone bounced around inside her mind.

She glanced away from him, at the looming shadows as dark fell. She had been about to stay the night in the Alaskan wilderness, alone. And now she was in the arms of a stranger who had saved her from a bear. She really felt like crying.

What kind of man stayed out here, though? How in shock had she been that she hadn’t immediately thought about that, about him and how unsafe she was at that moment in his arms?

“I had problems with my Jeep.” She blinked furiously. “I can walk. I shouldn’t really go any farther. Someone will come looking for me.”

He grunted and kept walking.

“Listen, I can take care of myself.”

“I think you’ve proven that point.”

“My backpack. My stuff. I need my cell phone.”

“Honey, you don’t need your cell phone, not out here. Who are you going to call, Smokey the Bear?”

“It might work. There might be a signal they can follow.”

“Who, Smokey the Bear?”

“Rangers, police, people who rescue other people.”

“They’ll follow you to a ravine in the middle of nowhere. Now please, stop talking.”

“I can’t.” She started to shake—uncontrollable shaking—and her breath came in short gulps. “Please, just let me go.”

A million thoughts whirled through her mind. She was miles from anywhere. She was alone with a man who had disappeared into the woods. She had walked hours after ditching the Jeep. No one would know where to look for her. She didn’t even know if she was going south. She struggled, thinking if she could get away. If she could get down and run.

He stopped walking and peered down at her and then he shook his head. His arms tightened around her trembling body. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Right, of course you’re not.” She wanted to stop holding his shoulders, but she couldn’t convince her hands to cooperate. She needed to wipe away the tears. Common sense told her to be brave, to show him he couldn’t hurt her. “I know karate.”

He laughed. “That’s great to know. You could have used it on the bear.”

“You think I’m joking. I took a class in self-defense.”