Mountain Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Bear Haven Book 1) (5 page)

Ruby already missed the feel of his wide back behind her. “As you said, there are tradeoffs. Not a lot of shopping and not a lot for you to do here around the ranch. That’s why I waited, you know. I wasn’t sure a woman would be any use around here.”

She harrumphed. “Seriously. Sexist.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But that’s the way it is around here. Fanny’s the only woman we really come into contact with. Most of the guys work out here seasonally and go home to family. Some work the winter, some the summer. It’s not a place most people want to raise kids. Other places of Montana are though. Some of them might even feel a bit like New York.”

“I suppose there are remote places anywhere. There are some parts of upstate New York where there's just land going on for miles.”

“I like the sound of that,” he said gruffly. She loved the deep little rasp on the edge of his voice. Everything about him seemed to have a bit of an edge.

But at the same time, he was simple. Clear. Honest. A straight, tall man facing the world with both feet planted firmly on the ground. The complete opposite of sniveling Bill.

Now she was glad she’d given Bill an ultimatum, although she sort of wished she’d just kicked him aside to begin with. She didn’t need a man who had to be threatened in order to commit to her. She just needed a tall, simple man with green eyes like the pine trees all around him.

Now, how explain to her friends that she was already falling in love and considering giving up everything for a man she barely knew?

“We should go back and have lunch,” he said. “I think Jesse’s bringing your friends up midday if Bonnie is discharged. I know you’ve been worrying about her.”

Ruby nodded. Although, it had helped that no one had told her anything until Bonnie was already improving. She doubted she would have been able to sleep at all if she’d heard Bonnie had to be admitted somewhere. She’d honestly thought it was a simple flu or she’d never have left.

Guilt settled in her uncomfortably, but the thought of seeing her friends lightened her burdens.

“That settles it,” he said. “Let’s go pack up your things at my place and get you over to your new suite you can share with your friends.”

“I’m staying with them?” she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. “Of course. You can stay wherever you like. I’d be honored if you’d come back to my cabin at night though. So I can keep getting to know you.”

“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” she said, body already tingling at the thought of another wild night with her cowboy.

R
uby’s friends
were different than Shane expected. Maybe he’d been thinking they’d all be blondes, like she was, or delicate-looking city girls.

Bonnie, the one who'd been sick, had bright-red hair that was long and straight and was pulled into a loose braid over the front of her white blouse. She had pale, freckled skin and green eyes that were much lighter than his own. She was curvy, like Ruby, and seemed to be the quietest of the bunch, though it could be because she was still recovering.

She was walking arm in arm with Ruby’s other friend, Harmony, who had dark skin and dark curls and a sassy tilt to her mouth and the way she spoke. He could hear her from here as they walked up the hill with Jesse carrying their things and Ruby running forward to meet them.

He worried about her running in those little boots and vowed to get online and order some proper cowboy boots for her to wear around the ranch so he wouldn’t have to worry about her tripping.

“Ruby! Oh my gosh, you’re not dead!” Harmony called out, reaching her arm out for Ruby to run in for a hug. “We heard you got into a bar fight and Prince Charming had to rescue you.”

Shane cocked an eyebrow, a habit that was becoming more common lately. How much had Jesse told them?

“Only the truth,” Jesse called out. “So save the death glare for Maverick when he wakes up. I just said there’d been trouble and you’d taken their friend home for safety.”

Harmony pulled back so she could look at Ruby at arm’s length and noted the different clothing. Today, Ruby was wearing a soft black sweater with a little skull with a bow on the side and dark skinny jeans. Shane loved the way she dressed, with a style all her own, even though it would go mostly lost on the people around these parts.

“Safety, hm?” Harmony teased suspiciously, looking over at Shane. “Dear heavens, what a huge man you are.” She gave him a slow once-over that made him fidget and look to Jesse for help. Jesse only put up his hands and put an arm around Bonnie so Harmony was free to move forward with Ruby.

When Jesse sensed Bonnie was tired, he swept her up into his arms, carrying her easily. However, Shane felt maybe that was his job, since Ruby was his mate after all, and Bonnie was her friend. He quickly moved to Jesse and took Bonnie into his arms.

He’d never seen such red hair.

“I can walk,” Bonnie said weakly. “I’m fine now, really.”

“Nonsense,” Shane said. “We aren’t about to let a female tire herself out on the way up to our ranch.”

“Yeah,” Jesse said sardonically, rolling his eyes. “We have plenty of ways to tire them out once they get there.”

“Oh?” Harmony said, a playful tone in her voice. “You get tired out at all last night, Ruby?”

His mate flushed a bright red, and Shane looked forward, saying nothing. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass her. But he was zero ashamed of what they’d done. It had been only natural, and as soon as he was sure she was on board with him, he’d take the next step and the next, 'til she was all his.

It didn’t have anything to do with the contract anymore. That was just a benefit. She was his mate, and he intended to follow through until it was final. That was all. The will be damned. If he’d found her and the will had never existed, he’d still be acting the exact same way he was now.

Still, a part of him wondered if and when he should tell her. But he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea and run away. Best to wait. At least he hoped that was the case. He wasn’t ready to risk it, not after only a day together. Not when every moment spent in her presence seemed better than the last.

Except for last night. Being with her, being inside her, making love to her… that was a pinnacle that could only be reached when they were alone in private once again.

He’d never looked forward more to the night than he was now.

When they reached the lodge, they walked straight for the cafe, listening to Harmony and Ruby banter while Jesse sighed in mock frustration. Truthfully, if Jesse were really bothered, he’d have excused himself already to go tend to something around the ranch. But he seemed intrigued by the women, and Shane couldn’t blame him.

And as long as he kept his eyes off Shane’s mate, they were good. So long as Maverick stayed away.

They introduced the girls to Fanny, who wiped her hands on her apron, brushed her graying black hair into a bun, and shook all their hands vigorously while looking at Shane and Jesse in approval.

Shane sighed in relief. He’d been wondering how Fanny would react to women who were from the city, but she just seemed happy to have them around and was already joking with Harmony about putting some meat on their bones.

Fanny knew curvaceous women were the mode of choice around here.

Luckily, Ruby was just as curvy as he liked, though he’d never mind if she got a bit rounder as the years went on. Especially with his cubs. An image of that filled his mind, and he sighed as he thought of it. How cute she’d be, how beautiful.

“You stop sighing and come help me in the kitchen. I need to feed these three young ladies, and the typical ranch hand slop isn’t going to do it.” She pointed at Jesse. “You stay there and make sure no one comes in to bother them.”

“Who would bother us?” he heard Ruby ask.

“No one, I would think. The guys are all working, and lunch isn’t for another hour or so,” Jesse replied.

Fanny stopped just outside the door, folded her arms, and looked Shane over. “All right now, exactly what are your plans for the little blond one out there?” she asked tensely.

“You mean Ruby?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

“The one that looks at you like the stars begin and end in your eyes,” Fanny snapped. “Of course Ruby, if that’s her name.” She swatted at him and he grinned, rubbing the back of his head and straightening to tower over Fanny, who was much shorter.

“My intentions are purely honorable,” he said, suppressing a grin at her overprotectiveness.

“Good, because I like those women. Especially her. I don’t want to see you boys ruining anything with your sexist behavior. Heaven knows I put up with it because I’m used to it, but the women out there, they won’t put up with that kind of thing.”

As if timed, Shane heard a couple feminine gasps and a loud clatter of stools falling over. Fanny looked at him with wide eyes as he walked back into the dinning hall and saw Jesse standing over Maverick, having laid him out with one punch.

H
armony had
her hand over her mouth, looking angry, and Bonnie was ghost white, looking between her friends and over to Shane like she didn’t know what to make of it.

Ruby, however, stood angrily, walking around the bench to glare down at Maverick, who stayed where Jesse had put him.

“How dare you lay a hand on my friend!” Ruby said. She turned to Shane, eyes glaring. “Your brother has no manners! I can’t stay here if he’s going to act like this.”

Shane stormed over to Maverick and held out a hand to help his brother to his feet.

Ruby gasped in offense, but the minute Maverick was up, Shane laid him out with a powerful punch that made him spin before he hit the ground with a thud.

He was out cold, and Shane merely shook off his hand and sat on the bench across from Ruby, hoping she’d sit down too. When things had calmed and everyone was seated and Fanny went back into the kitchen, saying lunch would be done momentarily, Shane spoke up, hoping someone could fill him in on what happened.

“So. Anyone want to tell me how hell broke loose in the thirty seconds I was gone?”

Jesse was shaking his head, and Harmony still looked both angry and dazed, eyes flicking to Maverick like she didn’t know if she wanted to kill him or not.

“Your friend,” Bonnie said, the first to pipe up, which was surprising, given her so-far quiet demeanor. “Your friend there was rude enough to walk right in and accost us. He stared right down at the three of us, like an animal, and started saying some nonsense about there being three of us and three of you and Harmony being his, and then he…”

Bonnie went bright red as Shane waited for her to finish. “He…” For a city girl, she seemed almost too shy to say anything about what Mav had done. “He took liberties.”

“Where are you from, the nineteenth century?” Jesse asked, eyes wide.

Bonnie shot him a glare, folding her arms. “I’m from a place where men don’t just
claim
women like cavemen and start trying to kiss them. And if they do, that’s called assault.”

Jesse scratched the back of his head. “It was just a kiss. Mav didn’t mean any harm.”

“It’s not nothing,” Bonnie said, slamming her small hands on the wood table.

Shane sighed and put a hand between the two who were quarrelling. “Look, Jesse didn’t think what Mav did was right or he wouldn’t have laid him out. Mav’s our brother, and Jesse tends to defend him, but he’d never have let him offend your friend further and was probably just as surprised as you, considering Maverick’s never shown any real interest in a woman before.”

Jesse harrumphed and went back to sitting quietly, and Bonnie shot him a cross look but then sighed and looked mollified.

Shane looked at Harmony repentantly. “I apologize for my brother. I don’t know what got into him. It’s true he’s unpredictable, but accosting ladies isn’t like him. He’s more likely to protect a female than assault one.”

Jessie let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry for defending him. You’re right. What he did was wrong. But he’s my brother.”

Bonnie shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. And we can’t stay here if we aren’t safe.”

Ruby rummaged in her purse and handed Harmony the Taser. “Here, take this back. Zap him if he misbehaves.”

Bonnie nodded, and Harmony seemed to finally snap out of her daze as she looked at the Taser in her hand. She laughed out loud and then put it in her purse, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. “Well, kissed and defended by a hot guy in one day. Not bad.”

Mav groaned and stirred on the ground, then pushed himself to his feet, swaying. He was as scruffy-looking as he’d been the night he’d met Ruby, and Shane itched to hit him again for what he’d done.

Unfortunately, before he had a chance, Mav went back to his inane rambling. He pointed at Harmony. “I like that one.” He pointed at Bonnie. “Jesse can have that one. Three for three. It’s all good. We’re set,” he said, leaning against the wall and holding his head.

Shane gritted his teeth together, hoping his brother didn’t say anything else that would give more away than he wanted to.

Jesse stood abruptly, sensing the awkward atmosphere. “I’m sorry, ladies. Looks like my brother came back a bit drunk and has forgotten his manners. I’m gonna go get him cleaned up and I’ll be back later. Why don’t you let Shane show you to your room? And when you’re back, lunch will be ready.”

Shane nodded gratefully at Jesse for intervening as he "escorted" Mav out of the cabin, with him still raving about mates and fate on the way out.

Shane didn’t know what had gotten into his youngest brother, but if he wanted to win over an elegant, civilized woman like one of Ruby’s friends, he was gonna have to try and be a little less of a bear.

“All right, let’s go get you settled. That’s a good idea,” Shane said. “Then while you unpack, I’ll come down and help Fanny.” And think about when he was going to tell his new mate just who he was and what being with him really meant.

And when he should tell her about the three of them needing mates just to keep the land they were on.

He sighed and led the way out to the front hall.