Page 8 of Taken Home By the Grizzly

“I-I was taking care of them,” I stutter. Right now, I don’t have the words to explain that I was trying to take care of them, while all three of them were doing their best to take themselves out. “They’re very lively kids,” I say instead. “What happened?”

“She went for a dip in the river, that’s what,” he grunts, looking at me like I’m the worst carer in the world.

“I wanted to swim!” Mari says in her shrill voice.

“You weren’t even supposed to be outside the gate, never mind swimming,” I say. “But come on, let’s get you dried off and warmed up.”

I go to take her from the scary mountain man, but he holds her away from me.

“Don’t know if you’re fit to be looking after her,” he grunts.

I open my mouth to tell him it’s none of his business. Then I stop. Recalibrate.

“Look, I’m the new nanny. I just got here?—”

“And the parents just left,” he butts in.

“Yeah, they’ve gone on vacation or something.”

“You weren’t expecting that, huh?”

I blink. He’s sure perceptive for a crazy mountain man. “No, I wasn’t. And it’s gonna take me a while to get used to these kids and their routines,” I say. “But I promise you, I’m gonna do the darn best job I can take care of them. So can you please give Mari to me?”

His eyes—his weirdly gorgeous eyes—narrow as they lock onto mine in a cool, assessing look. He looks, and looks, and gooseflesh breaks out on my skin. It makes no sense at all, but I feel like he’s seeing me. Seeing past all my issues and neuroses and hurt, and glimpsing the heart of who I really am.

Then he gives a deep nod and hands her over. “Sorry if I judged you prematurely and all.”

I nod. “It’s okay. Guess I can see where you’re coming from.” I take a breath, realizing, amid all of this craziness, that he actually saved Mari’s life. “And thank youso muchfor saving her.”

“You’re welcome. Good thing I heard the splash.”

Mari is trembling like crazy, her teeth chattering.

“I’d better get her indoors,” I tell him, and I turn and run back to the house, as fast as I can go with a sixty-pound weight in my arms.

“You can’t go doing things like that, Mari. You’ll get yourself into a lot of danger,” I scold.

She looks up at me earnestly. “I like him. Can we go stay with him?”

“What? No! He’s a mountain man. He likes being all alone and stuff. And your parents have hired me to look after you.”

“I think you should marry him.”

“W-why do you say that?”

“He likes you. He thinks you’re pretty.”

My heart gives a weird little jump. “That’s not true,” I mumble. Then I remember the look he was giving me—beneath all that hostility and confusion.

Intense, unwavering. Like he could hardly tear his eyes away from me. Running over my features like he wanted to memorize them. Even as I turned away, I felt his burning gaze on my body. I’m not pretty. I’m average, kinda dumpy. But for the first time in my life, I felt like a queen.

And, gosh, he’s good looking, too. Those green eyes blazing below straight, dark brows. A flash of nice, white teeth behind his dark beard. Messy, dark hair. Man, I wouldn’t mind finger-combing the tangles out of that. And what a body. After he handed Mari to me, his bare torso was exposed in all its muscly glory. Huge pecs and biceps. Rippling abs.

Far hotter than any crazy mountain man has the right to be.

I’m at the gate now, puffing out white clouds of breath like a steam engine. My legs are about ready to give way as I stumble across the yard in a half-run, Mari wrapped around me like a marmoset.

At last, I’m through the door.

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