The Cowbear's Mail Order Bride (Curvy Bear Ranch 6) by Liv Brywood

wooden chair with her back to him. She held a metal skewer in one hand with something on the end of it. As he stepped closer, he realized it was a marshmallow. His bear frantically clawed at his belly. The damn thing was always hungry. Having an ultra-high metabolism was great in some ways, but having to eat all the time just to maintain his weight was frustrating.
    “Hi,” he said.
    She jumped and looked over her shoulder.
    “Hi.”
    “I see you found the pit,” he said.
    “Madison told me about it. She was going to come out with me, but she wasn’t feeling very well. She said she’d come out later if she could.”
    He almost asked her if he could join her, but it was his ranch. He could sit wherever he wanted to, so he chose the seat across from her and plunked down.
    “I went to the sheriff,” he said.
    Her eyes went wide. The marshmallow caught on fire. She didn’t notice until it had turned black.
    “Oh, crap.” She pulled the stick out of the fire and waved it through the air until the flames disappeared. She plucked at the charred mess a few times before giving up.
    “There’s more in the bag,” he said.
    “I know. I was just trying to salvage it,” she said.
    He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The guarded expression on her face tore through his anger. He didn’t want to make her feel any worse than she already felt. But he also wasn’t ready to just set his frustrations aside.
    “I spoke with the sheriff. He confirmed your story.”
    She looked up as the last rays of sunlight caught on her hair to cast it in a crown of fire. For a moment, his breath caught. She was so incredibly beautiful. But that wasn’t enough to maintain a relationship. Her hair would gray and her body would lose its voluptuousness to time. His mate would have to be more than just a pretty face. She’d have to be someone he could see himself with for every phase of his life.
    “I don’t know how to move forward from this.” The confession left his mouth before he’d thought it through.
    “Want a marshmallow?” she asked.
    The corner of his mouth tugged. She was obviously trying to break the tension.
    “Sure,” he said.
    He stood and circled around the fire to sit in the chair next to her. She handed him a skewer and a marshmallow. After piercing the fluffy glob, he held it over the flames. He didn’t like burning the outside. A perfect level of crispness could be achieved if you did it right.
    “I don’t know how to move forward either,” she said. “That’s why I keep running.”
    “That’s no way to live,” he said.
    “I know. But how can I stop when I know he’s out there?”
    He twisted the skewer to expose the other side.
    “You could go back. Hire a bodyguard.”
    “I don’t have money for that,” she said.
    “You were a doctor,” he said.
    “Yes. But he had control of the bank account. He took everything the day after I told him I wanted a divorce.”
    “How have you been getting by without money?” he asked.
    “My parents. They’ve been sending money when I need it. But they’re running out too.” She gazed at him with shimmering gray eyes. “I don’t want to run anymore.”
    “I don’t see how it can work between us,” he said. “A relationship can’t be built on lies.”
    “It wouldn’t be,” she said. “Not if we started over together.”
    “And what about your daughter?” he asked.
    “Well, I’d want her to live with me.”
    “You have a life back in LA. Friends, family.”
    “I alienated all of my friends. Now that I look back on it, I realize he manipulated me into cutting ties with everyone.”
    “What about your family?” he asked.
    “My parents will always love me, but I can tell they’re getting sick of dealing with my problems. My mom warned me about Liam. She said something wasn’t right with him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. I should have listened to her.”
    He withdrew the marshmallow from the fire. He waited a few seconds before