Lumberjack in Love by Penny Watson Page B

Marcus waited for her response.
    She looked up at him, tears glazing her eyes. “I’m gonna miss him, too. I’m going to miss both of you, dammit. But I have to check this out. It’s a big decision to make, Marcus. I need to look at all my options.” She stood and wiped a tear away from her cheek. “You understand, right? I am not Kate. I’m not running away from you.”
    He glanced heavenward. “I know. You’re doing the right thing. I just…I like you being here. Henry likes you being here. We’re both pulling for the Vermont job, okay?”
    She reached up and ran her fingers over his beard. “What do you say we finish off this bottle of wine before I pack? You don’t know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You’re the best, Marcus Anderson.”
    His stomach knotted, but Marcus ignored the discomfort and leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. “Let’s get working on the sixty minute plan, sweetheart.”
    She smiled. “What’s that?”
    “A first-hand demonstration on how a hairy lumberjack keeps his woman warm.” He winked at her, wishing like hell he could see into the future. Wishing like hell she’d choose him.
    Ami nodded and squeezed his hand. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go.”

Lumberjack In Love

     
 
    Three weeks later
     
 
    It was green. Unbelievable. The last time she’d driven down this dirt road, her car had been flying over frost heaves and slipping on ice patches. And now spring had arrived. Buds burst on the trees, robins flitted around their nests, and tender new grass had replaced the everlasting snow cover. Rachel always said a Vermont spring made you forget the Vermont winter. This was why.
    Ami pulled her car in front of the log cabin and took a deep breath. She never thought the sight of a hand-built rustic cabin would make her heart flutter, but it did. She’d missed the checkerboard curtains. She’d missed Roberta’s nest and the baby chicks. She’d missed the breathtaking mountain views and the big stone fireplace, and even the front porch filled with sexy memories. Mounds of spring bulbs burst through the newly thawed soil. Her heart warmed with the sensation of homecoming.
    She had no idea how Marcus would treat her arrival today. As she stepped out of the car, the whir of power tools buzzed from his studio. Henry’s face was mashed up against the window in the living room. Henry first. Big, sexy lumberjack later.
    Coward .
    She let herself into the log cabin and Henry slid across the floor and smashed into her legs. “Oh! My big, beautiful boy, look at you.” She kneeled down and enjoyed an enthusiastic kiss. Which made her wonder if she’d be getting any enthusiastic kisses from the mountain man. Or just a scowl and an invitation to leave. He probably wasn’t too happy with the fact that she’d been incommunicado for the last three weeks.
    She gave Henry one last scratch behind the ears, then stood and surveyed the house. The plants were gone. Oh, shit . The Larry Bird bobble-head was no longer on the kitchen counter. In fact, there was not one indication that she’d ever been there. Ami hung her head. He’s not going to forgive me. He thinks I’m just like Kate. A city girl who left him in the dust. Dammit.
    Something caught her eye on the refrigerator. A little sketch. She bent over to look at it and couldn’t contain her laugh. It was a family playing on a magnificent tree house, with towers and draw bridges and flowering vines twining over the supports. A big, burly lumberjack stood guard in one tower, and a prissy princess with long flowing blonde hair and a crown of blossoms stood on the other. In between were four little girls of varying heights, all identical to the princess, right down to their billowy tresses. Henry sat in the middle of the bridge with a Celtics bandana around his neck and a crown of flowers on top of his wrinkly head. She pulled the drawing from the refrigerator and held it to her heart. Maybe she had a