Montana Rescue (The Wildes of Birch Bay Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

implausibility of simply opening up. Wasn’t likely to happen. And especially not with a near stranger. Even if they had had a moment.
    He thought about that second of time in the helicopter when he’d reached out and touched her shoulder. It had been brief, but as he’d hung suspended toward her and their gazes had connected, he’d felt as if he got her. As if he were more than a stranger.
    Her younger self had flashed through his head, and he’d known that, though she’d changed over the years, though she’d suffered loss, the same person still lived inside her.
    She’d been fearless and tough back then, willing to do anything or go anywhere. The word “independent” hadn’t come close to describing her. Yet as tough as she’d been, as much as she’d had no fear at facing down any perceived threat to her family or friends, she’d also had a gooey-soft center. She’d wanted to save the world.
    And Nick remembered how he’d wanted that heart of gold of hers, and all the feelings it was capable of having, to be directed at him. Even though he’d have had no idea what to do with them if they had been.
    His body grew tight from thinking about her now. He still wanted her attentions directed at him. He still wanted her .
    Only, today he knew completely what to do with her.
    His phone rang, and his pulse spiked with the thought that it could be Harper, but it was only Nate. His twin lived in Alaska these days, a crab fisherman in the Bering Sea in the wintertime, and a man of many other traits in the summer. He’d come home the least over the years, but he had come in for harvest the year before. At least for part of it. He’d also returned for Thanksgiving. It’d been the first time the entire family had been under one roof for a holiday since they’d all scattered to different parts of the country.
    Nate hadn’t made it back for their dad’s Christmas wedding, but he’d promised to try being here for harvest again this year. It was a standing rule that if family members could be home during late July to help, then they would be home. It was the family business—whether they appreciated being saddled with it or not—and they should treat it as such.
    “Well, if it isn’t the prodigal son.” Nick smiled as he answered the phone.
    “And if it isn’t the sucker who got his arm twisted into going home,” Nate replied.
    Nick finally moved from the hallway, heading toward the back of the house. He made his way through the connected kitchen and great room, and as he’d done when he’d first arrived home, he took in the many changes that had happened since his dad and Gloria had moved in. The house had once been the family home, housing his dad and mom, as well as all six kids. It was a huge two-story log home that his parents had built to fill with their many kids. From the outside looking in, they’d seemed like the perfect family. Which had been his mother’s plan. Show the world how great they were . . . then make everyone’s lives miserable at home.
    She’d died when Nick and Nate had been ten, and though everyone had felt huge relief at no longer having to walk on eggshells around their narcissistic mother, nothing had ever really been the same.
    “I don’t actually feel suckered,” Nick admitted now. He picked up a crocheted doily, which he knew to be something his new stepmother had made, and thought of how happy his dad had sounded as he and Gloria had headed out for their cruise. “I’m glad to do it,” Nick confessed. And it was the truth. He was glad to help out. He was also glad to be home.
    Nate chuckled in his ear. “Sure you are. Because it’s such a happening place around there. So tell me about all the exciting things you’ve done today. Ride any bulls? Rope any ladies?”
    Nick pictured Harper and her blue hair. “I don’t have to ride a bull to be satisfied.”
    He continued moving through the room until he reached the wall of windows lining the back of the house.