Page 2 of Mountain Man's Bride
A little information about me: I’m thirty-six years old, and I live in Montana. My four brothers and I inherited the ranch we live and work on from our parents. One of us has to be wed for the inheritance to be unlocked and given to us, so I’m biting the bullet for all of us, so to speak.
Between the money I have now and the inheritance from my parents, I’d have more than enough to help you with whatever you may need. I know you have medical expenses, and I can definitely help with that.
We can discuss paying off rent, moving expenses, etc., if we happen to be compatible and we would both like to move forward.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Tripp Walker
Holy crap. A rancher—and a wealthy one at that—had emailed me about the application Charlie had submitted! I almost couldn’t believe it. It really almost felt too good to be true.
I drew in a shaky breath. Part of me wanted to delete his email and never think about it again. Part of me just wanted to try to figure this out on my own. But I knew I needed help. I had the kind of problems that money could solve most of.
I blew out a soft breath, and with my phone in my hand, I took a seat on my bed and began to respond to his email, hoping I wasn’t making a grave mistake as I did so.
CHAPTER 1
Tripp
Icouldn’t believe I was doing this. What in the world was wrong with me? I had to be out of my mind to even consider this. Was I seriously picking up a potential bride from the airport, a woman I’d never met before in my life? For all I knew, she could be a serial killer.
Even my brothers thought I was out of my mind for doing this when there were any number of decent women in our small town, but I couldn’t picture my life with any of them. I needed to at least click with someone, and I didn’t click with any of them. Sure, they were pretty enough. Sweet enough. Would probably make really good wives for a rancher like me. But I at least wanted someone I might be able to fall in love with.
I silently cursed my parents—rest their souls—for this stupid marriage clause. I understood that they were hopeless romantics, but my brothers and I were not. We were just happy being single and working the ranch.
“Hope you’re rolling over in your grave for this, Dad,” I muttered as I glanced in my mirror to switch lanes. I was getting close to the airport, and it seemed like the traffic was getting worse, along with the drivers. Seriously, where in the world did people learn to drive? And who the hell let some of these people get their licenses? I hit the brake and laid on my horn when someone cut me off, almost making me rear-end them.
This was why I stayed in my small town, up on my mountain. No traffic. No dumb drivers to worry about. I wasn’t built for the city.
Finally, I was in the parking garage, luckily unscathed. I put my truck into park and killed the engine before getting out, beeping my truck locked before I headed across the small bridge that led into the airport. After riding down an escalator, I scanned the baggage claim area before finally finding the board that would tell me where Everlee’s flight’s luggage would be. We’d agreed to meet there so we both felt safe for our first meeting.
Our emails back and forth led me to believe she was a sweet woman in need of some financial help. Nothing about her had been alarming, though I could tell she was just a little bit cautious about this whole thing.
Still, emails could be deceiving, so I was on guard.
After scanning the board, I found her flight, and beside it in a little blue box was the number eight. I headed in that direction and scanned the small crowd around the luggage carousel for the dark-haired woman. She’d sent me a picture of herself, and I was a bit ashamed to admit how often I’d stared at it.
She was beautiful, really. I imaged in person, she’d probably take my breath away. Her dark hair was naturally wavy, and there was a tiredness in her dark eyes that was soul-deep—a tiredness I could relate to. It came from hard work and little rest. Freckles lined her cheekbones, and her nose was small and slightly turned up at the end.
My heart skipped a beat in my chest when I landed my eyes on her. She was clutching a small blanket in her hands, watching the luggage nervously for her own. I made my way to her, keeping my steps casual. She looked at me as I neared her, her eyes widening in surprise, her light pink lips parting the tiniest bit.
“Everlee?” I asked.
She smiled then, and it almost brought me to my knees. This woman was straight trouble, and I didn’t even care. She could be a serial killer, and I’d probably willingly lie at her feet.
She quickly held her hand out to me. “Hi. Yes. Everlee. I’m Everlee.” Her cheeks darkened with a blush when I chuckled at her cute rambling and shook her hand. “I, um, thank you for coming to get me.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Everlee. I’m Tripp.” Reluctantly, I dropped her smaller hand. It’d been a little cool, and I so badly wanted to warm her up. “You seen your luggage yet?”
She frowned and shook her head. “I was so nervous about missing my flight that I was the first person for my flight at the gate.” Her cheeks colored a little more. “It’ll probably take it a minute to get around to us.”
I stuffed my hands in my pockets. “You hungry?” I asked her as I settled in beside her to wait. “We can grab some lunch and talk before I drive you out to the ranch.”
She nodded. “I need to eat, so yeah. Food sounds nice.” She smiled, glancing up at me from beneath thick lashes, her dark eyes still seeming tired, even though they twinkled with happiness. “Thanks, Tripp.”
I shrugged. “Of course.”
“Oh, there’s my bag!” she exclaimed, pointing at it. I quickly moved forward and lifted the small, plain gray suitcase. It was light, so I guess she hadn’t packed much.