His Mail Order Bride (Alpha Men 1)

“I don’t have any hiking gear, I didn’t bother packing any,” I respond, not adding I didn’t have any gear to pack.

“You have your hiking boots though, right?”

I think over what I brought. There’s a pair of comfortable boots. They look really good with my jeans and I suppose they are okay for hiking. They’re warm, so I shrug.

“Yeah.”

“Then I got the rest covered. You’re going to love it, Carly,” he says enthusiastically. I’m pretty sure I’m going to hate it, but in the face of his excitement, I’m not going to argue.

Chapter Sixteen

Stone

“You okay, Carly?” I ask her, for maybe the tenth time.

“I’m fine,” she says, but her voice is tight. She’s keeping up with me, but I don’t think it’s my imagination that something is off.

“Do you want me to carry your pack?” I ask her when I see her shifting it again on her shoulders.

“I’m fine,” she says tightly, which indicates she’s anything but.

I’m not that worried about her backpack. It’s not heavy. I’ve made sure that I have the majority of the items, but I did put the lighter ones in her pack. She’s an experienced hiker, so I didn’t think it would be a problem. Now I’m starting to wonder. I look at my watch. We have another hour to go before we make it to our destination, at best. I watch Carly closely for a few minutes. She’s walking, but I can see a limp that wasn’t there before. I frown.

“Did you hurt your leg?”

“Stone, I told you I was—”

“Yeah, you’re fine. I heard that. I just don’t believe it.”

“Then you can… Stone! What are you doing?” she screeches as I wrap my arms around her. I twist so her back is to my front and then I put a hand behind me to help catch myself and bring us both to the ground, my body cushioning her.

“I’m sitting your ass down and checking your foot out before you truly hurt yourself,” I grumble, upset that she’s trying to hide something so important from me.

“I told you I’m—”

“Fine. Yeah, I got that one, baby, but I’m not buying it. So save it for someone who will listen.”

I pull her from my lap and set her on the ground.

“I don’t think I like the way you pack me around and—Ow! Stone, that hurts!”

“I’m sorry, baby,” I tell her, and for some reason I do it smiling. Even when she growls at me, I find her adorable. I finish untying her boot. These aren’t the best hiking boots to wear. They’re at least waterproof, but she needs something a little more rugged for the Alaskan terrain. I’ll have to find her a pair. The soles are good though. Once I get it undone, I carefully take it off her foot. If she’s sprained her ankle I don’t want to take a chance that I’m making it worse. Her soft hiss makes me feel like shit, but nothing could make me feel worse than what I see once I get the boot removed.

Son of a bitch!

She wore little thin nylon socks. Holes have been worn through them while we walked and she’s bloody on the backs of her heel and her toes. Hell, her whole foot is a damn mess.

“You lied to me, didn’t you, Carly?” I growl. The anger in my voice is thick and I feel her jump beneath my touch, but I can’t stifle it.

“Stone,” she murmurs and her voice sounds so lost I look at her. She’s scared and I hate that I’m the one scaring her, but I’m so fucking mad. She’s put herself in danger. I silently take her other boot off and, just as I feared, this foot is as bad as the other one.

“Why in the hell did you lie to me?” I growl, hating that I hurt her as I do my best to tear away the blood-soaked sock from her poor foot.

“I wanted to,” she answers. “I was scared.”

I curse under my breath. If she never uses that word again, I’ll be happy. Scared? What have I ever done to make her afraid of me?

“So you lied?”

“Kind of, I guess. Listen, Stone—”

“Why didn’t you just tell me that you lied about hiking?”

“I wanted you to like me… and I was scared that…”

“You lied about something so fucking stupid as telling me you hiked? Jesus, Carly. You could have been seriously injured on that last mountain we climbed. Lying like that was just plain stupid,” I growl.

The minute I say the words, I regret them. Especially when she jerks away from me. Fuck, I’ve been on my own so long I’ve forgotten how to be soft with a woman. I’m just so damn upset. What would have happened if she had fallen on that mountain? I made her go in front of me, but she could have fallen and I might not have reached her in time. She would have rolled to the bottom and broken her damn neck. Just the thought of it scares the hell out of me.