"We've talked about this, Jacob. I'm not ready to move in together. It's only been seven months."
"That's plenty of time for me to know that I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to live up here with me."
My heart stills and then picks up double time as it always does when he tells me he loves me. It never fails to surprise me.
"I love you, too, you know that."
"Brilliant. I'll arrange for the movers."
"You'll do no such thing!"
"Jesus, Gracie, just bloody marry me so we can move past this ridiculous argument and we can stop hopping from one house to the other every fucking night!"
I stand and stare at him and then laugh myself silly. "And I thought I was the klutz."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"That was the clumsiest marriage proposal I've ever heard!"
He swears under his breath, props his hands on his hips, and hangs his head before looking up at me. "You're a stubborn woman."
"How can you be so sure?" I ask softly.
"Sure about what?" He takes my hand and guides me into the living room, sits in a brown leather overstuffed chair, and tugs me into his lap. "Talk to me, Gracie."
"How do you know for sure that I'm the one you want?"
"I'm not going to get angry about that statement because I know that your parents did a number on you and I love you so much it makes me ache. But I'll not have you ever repeat that again, love. Do you think this happens to me every day?"
"I think that women--"
"Fuck the women, Grace. I haven't looked at another woman since the day you fell at my feet and charmed me off of mine. I don't give two shits about any other woman. It's only you. And I'm telling you, I'm promising you, it will only ever be you."
My eyes fill with tears at the fierce determination in his face, in the way he's holding me so tightly against him, as if I might jump up and run away.
"I love you so much that the thought of ever losing you brings me to my knees," I whisper. "It scares me."
"Ah, darling." He kisses my temple and rests his forehead against my own. "You're not going to lose me. I'm yours until my last breath, I promise you that." He pushes his hand into his pocket and pulls out a ring, not in a box, just an amazing round solitaire the size of my fist. "I was going to do this in a more romantic setting, but it seems this is our moment. Please, Grace Elaine Douglas, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?"
He wipes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs and waits patiently for my answer.
"Of course."
"Thank Christ." He slips the ring on my finger and lifts me off the chair, walking swiftly toward the bedroom.
"Where are you taking me?"
"I'm in the mood to demonstrate how much I love my new fiancee." He grins down at me as he lays me on the bed.
"Jolly good!" I cry and laugh with him as he covers my body with his.
"You'll get it eventually, love."
prologue
Can you believe that Edna took off like that?"
"What do you expect, Bethel? Her grandbaby needed her," Eileen replied.
"I know. I know. But the Christmas pageant is coming and it just won't be the same without her," Bethel said.
"Yes, of course, but don't you see the opportunity this presents?"
Both women turned to look at their friend Maggie, whose grin ran from ear to ear. The three women were thought to be in their sixties, but no one knew for sure--they guarded their age more securely than Fort Knox guarded its gold.
"What do you mean?" they asked in unison.
"We don't get too many new people here in town," Maggie told them. "Hawk's been single for long enough. Now that my boy Bryson has gotten married and settled down, I'm more than ready to see the same happen for Hawk."
"Ooh, I like your thinking, Maggie," Bethel said, her eyes twinkling with understanding.
"So, we just need to find an . . . appropriate teacher," Eileen said with a giggle.
"Yes, yes, yes," Bethel burbled. "I'm so glad to be on the school board, so we have the task of finding Edna's replacement."
"Did they include photographs with the resumes?" Maggie asked.
"Sure did!" Eileen told them as she flipped open her laptop.
"Shouldn't we bring Martin in on this?" Eileen asked quietly, and a slight blush tinged her cheeks.
Bethel and Maggie knew that something was happening between their friend and town businessman Martin Whitman, but they weren't about to call Eileen out on it.
"We will . . . eventually," Bethel said. "But not right now. This girl needs to be for Hawk. Martin would try to steal her away for one of his four boys."
"Well, we need to find some women for those ornery sons of his, too," Maggie chimed in.
"Let's just focus on one kid at a time," said Bethel, always the logical one. "Besides, I already have plans brewing for my granddaughter Sage and one of the Whitman boys. As soon as she's done with medical school . . ."
Maggie's eyes widened. "Oh, do tell."
"Now's not the time." Bethel said, clicking through the resumes. "Girls, I think we have a winner!"
The other two women leaned over, and then all three of them smiled as they read about Natalie Duncan, who was seeking work as an elementary-school teacher.
"I think you might just be right," Maggie said.
Poor Natalie had no idea what she was about to step into . . .
chapter 1
Her heels clicking on the hard tile floor of the airport, Natalie Duncan smiled and popped a Hershey's Kiss into her mouth. Her first teaching job! It was a dream come true. Four years of college, thousands of study hours, even more volunteer hours, a teaching internship at a beautiful elementary school in sunny LA, and she had finally received the call she'd been waiting for.
Sure, it was November, and sure, she'd been called only because another teacher was going through some sort of family emergency and had to leave the state suddenly, but Natalie was still stoked. She'd been the one the school had called. She was the one who would be stepping into her very own classroom come Monday morning.
The small town of Sterling, Montana, wasn't exactly where she'd wanted to begin her career, but it was a job teaching what she loved. This was only a stepping-stone.
Wholly unaware of the masculine eyes that were following her in her sharp blue pencil skirt and four-inch heels, Natalie pressed forward. With her slim five-foot-three-inch frame and her fiery red hair, green eyes, and full lips, she was made to turn heads. The thing was, Natalie wasn't looking for male attention. She had plans. She had goals. And men were far down on her list of priorities. After all, she was only twenty-three. Work first. Marriage and family later.
A smile flitted across her lips as she thought about her life fifteen years down the road. She'd have a white picket fence and one girl and one boy running through the sprinkler on a nice, hot day while she sat next to her husband and enjoyed the successes of her life.
Wrapped up in her fantasy future, Natalie stepped through the airport doors buzzing with excitement and a huge smile plastered on her face, which vanished in an instant when the biting Montana wind slapped her in the face.
"What the hell?"
Her voice came out choked as she struggled to regain the breath that had been sucked from her.
She'd been born and raised in Southern California, and was in no way ready for this sort of weather. She'd been so excited over receiving the job she hadn't even thought to research what climate she was stepping into. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Running back inside she gulped warm air into her frozen lungs.
"Okay. You can do this," she told herself as she looked down scathingly at her completely inefficient shoes. "Heels? What was I thinking?" Heels and sexy lingerie were her concessions to blatant femininity. Otherwise she wore beige and dark colors, and downplayed what she'd been blessed with.
Raising her head, she studied the people passing her by. None of
them were wearing heels and a skirt. No. They were clad in warm boots, thick coats, and trousers. She threw her suitcases a disgusted look as it dawned on her that she'd have little choice but to spend some of her precious savings on warmer clothing.
Reaching into her carry-on bag, she pulled out her warmest jacket, which wasn't going to do much, but it was better than nothing. She was wishing she'd done a lot more research on the weather in Montana before her arrival. Making her way back to the doors, Natalie glared at them as if they were the gates to hell, and took a deep breath before moving forward again.
As she stepped outside, tears sprang instantly to her eyes, and her entire body shook, but she forced herself to trudge to the curb. Thankfully, there was a cab waiting. Fearing she'd never feel warmth fully return to her body again, she huddled in the backseat after giving the driver the address for the little furnished house the school district had set up for her.
The people of Sterling had been unbelievably kind. One woman--her name was Bethel--had even sold Natalie a small Toyota sedan, dirt cheap. That was one less thing she had to worry about. The vehicle should be parked in her driveway already.
First she'd get settled in, and then she'd drive around town. She hoped they kept the roads plowed, because her little car wasn't going to make her feel particularly safe, and she couldn't fork out the money needed for a truck or SUV. Her mind drifted as the miles passed and she gazed out absently at an endless expanse of white.
"Looks like Hawk's here to show you the place."
Startled, Natalie looked up to see the cabbie peering at her through the rearview mirror. "What?"
One of Natalie's worst faults, or at least what she felt was one of her worst faults, was that she'd get so lost in her own head she'd tune out the rest of the world.
A vivid imagination was great when you were teaching young children, but not so great when trying to hold normal conversations with other adults. How pathetic. Her life was so dull that she spent most of her time in a fantasy world.
That was going to change, though. She was a teacher now. A professional. Pulling a little notebook out of her purse, she turned to the list of goals she'd written out in clear, even handwriting. With pure delight, she checked off Get first teaching job. Of course, not everything on that list would be crossed off so easily.
"Hey, Mickey. How was the drive?" asked a husky male voice.
Whoa. When Natalie looked up and saw the man leaning against the side of the cab, she felt frozen to her seat. And it had nothing to do with the cold air drifting through the now open window. A pair of linebacker shoulders completely swallowed up the open space. He was wearing a thick coat, sporting dark and slightly unruly hair, with piercing brown eyes with lashes that seemed to go on forever.
And those lips. They were full and turned up in an electrifying smile as he bantered with the cabbie. Natalie had no idea what the two men were saying, because the deep timbre of this man's voice enveloped her. It seemed to be sending all sorts of wrong signals to her stomach, which was fluttering.
Suddenly, her side door flung open and the man stood there with his hand out while saying something to her, but all she could hear was buzzing in her ears.
Nonsense!
This was total and utter nonsense. She didn't believe in love at first sight, or even lust at first sight. So to be looking at this man as if he were a piece of her favorite chocolate was freaking ridiculous.
She was a professional woman who'd just had a weak moment. He was holding out a hand to help her from the taxi. That was all. She could do this. She'd reach out casually, take his hand, say a polite thank-you, and make her way into the house. Easy-peasy.
But when she did reach out, the sensation of his gloved fingers gripping her bare ones sent tingles through her body. She somehow managed to climb gracefully from the vehicle. But as their eyes met for the first time, she felt as if she were being sucked into another dimension.
"Hawk Winchester."
It took her a moment to realize he was introducing himself. It took her another moment to notice the narrowing of his eyes, the slight pursing of his lips. His smile had vanished, and it seemed she wasn't the only one confused by this instant attraction.
Never before had she felt any sort of zing with a stranger. Never before had she stood in front of someone and wanted to tear off her clothes without any preliminaries, civilized or not. She was Natalie Duncan, innocent and repressed schoolteacher. She'd been the one in the library while her peers were out partying. She'd never had lustful thoughts about any man, any man at all.
Yes, she'd fumbled through sex during college, but that was just going through the motions. She'd never before experienced the intensity she was feeling at this moment, looking at Hawk. As this stranger held her gaze, she couldn't seem to shake the irrational vision of the two of them entwined together in reckless passion. Oh, this was bad. So very bad.
It didn't have to be. The man was just being neighborly. Helping her into her new house. After this moment passed, she wouldn't see him again. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
Right.
"Natalie Duncan."
She'd finally found her voice. Pulling her hand away, she began walking up the cleared path to the front steps. Let the men handle her bags. There was no possible way she'd be able to get her fingers to quit shaking long enough to actually lift one of those suitcases.
Suddenly the heels she was wearing didn't make firm contact with the slick path, and she felt herself slipping slightly.
"Wait!" Hawk's low voice called.
Too late. Her heel caught in a gap between the front porch boards. Her hands flew up, imitating a windmill, and she felt herself falling backward.
Closing her eyes, she prepared for a nasty fall into that wretched snow, but instead she landed in solid arms and against an even more solid chest. Afraid to open her eyes, she peeked up from under her thick lashes.
She should have kept her eyes closed, because the smoldering fire burning in Hawk's eyes was enough to make her feel faint. He didn't move, just looked at her as if she were the main course for dinner. Yeah, she'd have to avoid this man at all cost! Because she found herself wanting desperately to close the minuscule gap between them, and that just wasn't in her plans.
She just had to think of her list. Her life was mapped out--school, check; career, check; ten years of hard work, not checked. Nowhere on that map was the gorgeous man now holding her in his arms.
"Well, Natalie, I always do enjoy it when a beautiful woman falls right into my arms," he said, his eyes bright, his lips set in a smoldering, confident grin.
Womanizer! That's what this man was. He figured he was cute enough that he could say a few words and she'd simply invite him in. Natalie hadn't fallen under a man's spell before, and she certainly wasn't going to do it while she was frozen, grumpy, and more than irritated to be caught in such a vulnerable position.
"I'm grateful you didn't let me hit the ground, but you can wipe that look off your face and let me go." Her voice stern, her eyes anything but receptive, she was satisfied when his expression changed to one of confusion.
But he quickly regained his composure. "Hmm, not the usual reaction I get when I have a beautiful woman in my arms."
"I'm not a usual woman."
Just as quickly as he'd caught her, he let her go, nearly making Natalie tumble backward again. Barely catching herself, she grabbed the ice-covered rail and climbed the couple of steps just as the cabdriver set her bags by the front door.
Thanking the man, she paid him, then turned back to Hawk, who for some reason was holding her house key in his hand.
"As I said, Hawk Winchester," he said smoothly. "Local fire chief, and . . . your landlord."
Crap.
Putting away her anxiety, she held out her hand, hoping like hell he would just drop the key into it without any further physical contact. Of course, that wasn't going to happen. He gripped her fingers and wrapped them around the key, his eyes once again sm
oldering as he captured her gaze. "I'll be seeing you again real soon," he said, and then turned away, leaving her shivering by the front door.
She watched him leave, his stride smooth, his movements confident. Before he reached the sidewalk, she shook her head and turned back to her door, her fingers shaking so hard it took a few tries before she was able to unlock it. Natalie had a feeling her time in Montana wasn't going to be quite as easy-peasy as she'd thought it would be.
chapter 2
Something was wrong. As she started to come out of a deep slumber, Natalie realized her nose was frozen. After pulling the covers over her head with one hand, she let the other hand crawl up her body until it reached her face. Dammit. Her nose felt like a Popsicle. What was the matter with this place?
No way could she crawl from this stupid bed. Even beneath five blankets, she was fighting not to shiver. What was wrong? The old furnace had been working when she went to sleep.
And how long had she slept, anyway? Groping the nightstand for her watch, she was shocked to discover it was already nearly eleven o'clock. She'd been exhausted, true, but she had too much to do to lie here any longer.
Deciding to test the temperature again, she slid the blankets down. Sheesh. Frigid air assailed her body and made every hair stand on end atop giant goose bumps. Yanking the covers back into place, she curled into a ball and fought tears.
Unfortunately, her bladder was screaming at her.
It took her another five minutes, but she finally talked herself into making a run for the bathroom. Throwing off the covers, she leapt from the bed and sprinted through the small house to its lone bathroom. She cranked up the shower to the hottest setting to try to build up steam, and dashed through her morning routine despite the shivers wracking her body. When the water in the shower finally reached a reasonable temperature, she jumped beneath the spray.
It took a full two minutes before she felt heat return to her beleaguered limbs. And when she stepped out of the shower, she gloried in the steam that filled the small bathroom. Mostly dry, she gazed at the door leading to the rest of the house.
"It's like I know there are a thousand snakes on the other side of it, yet I have no choice but to go out there," she muttered before laughing at herself. "This is ridiculous!"