Page 4 of Forsaken Mountain Man
CHAPTER THREE
CORA
Bode Hunter’s home smelled of crisp air and pine, as though he had brought the mountain inside along with him. I wandered along the dimly lit hall, having found myself a decent glass of water and the bathroom, thankfully. His house was longer than it appeared from the outside, not the short, squat little building it seemed from the front at all, but lancing back into the cliff face. One wall consisted entirely of granite, leading the length of the hallway and deeper into his home.
That was the path I followed, trailing my fingers along its rough surface as I walked, half expecting to drop off the side of a never ending ledge at any moment. I knew I was being nosy, poking around his house, but I’d walked for three days to get here, been soaked to the skin, dried again, and rolled in dirt when I slipped down a small incline. Yes, I was curious about the man I'd been sent to negotiate with. No part of me felt the least part guilty about learning more about him with every step deeper into his home.
Doorways on the other side of the hallway led to rooms that appeared unused. Spare bedrooms, another bathroom. Theentire place was fitted out for a much bigger family as though he had expected it to be filled by people who never arrived.
Or maybe someone who left.
My heart clenched at the thought as I discovered the final room along the hall where the house stopped at a dead end. Here, the walls were all rock, the last room hewn into the side of the mountain altogether. I peered through the granite arch with no door, knowing I shouldn't. This was his private space, right at the other end of the house. I knew that, but I did it anyway.
Because I wanted to know what sort of a man Bode Hunter was.
And when I stared into his bedroom, I saw… Mountains.
Literal, huge, mountains that stretched on and on through a valley that should rightfully be called a ravine. Each violently dipped side was covered with conifers and steep, unforgiving rockfaces. Above, the edges were tall enough to be ringed with wispy clouds and tipped at the apex with snow caps. I shivered just looking at the vista laid out before me.
It was all too easy to imagine the wind whistling through the cleft in the world that I swore some deity had sliced a finger through the earth’s surface and scraped half of it away.
All this viewed through a giant piece of glass that should never have been possible to haul this far out. Actually, with his strange skill set, I wondered if my artisan hadn’t made it. A bed perched on a hardwood floor, the same color as the frame, and I knew hehadmade that.
Little else sat in his room, personalising it. Apparently, Bode’s inner sanctum was as spartan as the man who protected it. I hadn’t been wrong about my initial assessment of him. Now to get back before he realized I’d gotten ‘lost’ in his one-hallway house and came looking for me.
The concept slapped me with a mini deadline. I blinked and took a step back, right into a warm wall blocking my retreat thatI swore hadn’t been there before. A fresh wash of cold mountain air draped over me.
I swear this man is an obscure deity drawn from the centre of this place itself.
I pivoted around, already knowing what—or who—I ’d find as I backed deeper into Bode’s room, facing the man himself.
“Couldn’t you find the bathroom?” he drawled softly. His voice rasped, as though the short conversation earlier had zapped his vocal strength.
Who knew? It probably had. I doubted he did much in terms of conversation up here, unless it was with the local bear. I figured that was what he decided to take a shot at when I came walking into his personal space.
“Uh huh. Yep. Found the bathroom,” I said brightly. “Then got turned about on my way back to the kitchen. Living area.” I peered around him hopefully and pointed. “That way?”
I mean, it was the only way back from here. It wasn’t like I could really get lost. We both knew that.
“Yep. That way.” Bode repeated softly. Dark cobalt eyes narrowed as I sidled past him, sucking in my tummy since he didn’t help the situation at all by being the literal bear blocking the doorway.
“Oh, look. Found it.” I maintained my cheerful tone as I sauntered away from him, relieved of my new found freedom. Maybe snooping around his house uninvited hadn’t been my best idea. But now I had a clearer plan of how I wanted this afternoon to progress, so I had drawn some inspiration from my investigation of Bode Hunter, on top of what Kyle told me back at Red Hart.
A hand clamped down on my wrist halted my progress and stole the breath from my lungs. A not so courageous squeak evicted from my mouth.
“Maybe you should be careful of what you look for out here. It’s not the same as civilization on the range, Cora Welk.”
I stared at him for a long moment, then my stare became a frown. “You went through my things.”
He inclined his head, neither denying my accusation, nor letting my wrist go. Tiny tingles raced along my bare skin where his rough fingers gripped my arm. “You went through my things. I returned the favor,” he said evenly.
My lips curved into a smile. “Fair enough." I matched his tone. “I came up here to do a job, Mister Hunter. Are you ready to negotiate?”
His fingers flexed enough on my arm for me to slide my wrist free of his grip. I continued my walk along the hall, conscious of his gaze on my back the entire way.
If this was what Bode was like now, what would he say when I asked to buy half his art?
CHAPTER FOUR
