Page 4 of Adrian

“Yes, princess. Several inches of rain. When that happens, the roads sometimes get washed out and become impassible. I was just heading into town to grab a few last-minute supplies in case we get stuck up here for a few days.”

Her eyes widen. “You get stuck up here?” she shrieks.

I’m trying not to laugh. I’m not even exaggerating. This woman did no research before she bought the property. She doesn’t know enough about the area. It shocks me that she thought she was going to live here alone. And why? Who does that?

Well, me. And my entire family. We love living out of the public eye and slightly off-grid. Technically, Gallant Mountain is not off-grid because we have every modern convenience we want. That’s because we can afford it. But we’re living in a territory where everyone else around us is either intentionally or unintentionally separated from society.

Some people choose to live around the mountains because they like fresh air and abhor modern conveniences. Other people live here because they can’t afford anything closer to the city. And many of the locals have simply been here all their lives. The mountains are what they know. Their ancestors came here three or four generations ago.

My story isn’t really that complicated. What’s Blair’s story? When I leave here, I’m going to dig around and find out. I have access to all information. Whatever her secrets are, I will know them by the end of the day.

“Yes, princess, we get stuck up here. This is a mountain. It’s unpredictable. If you bought this land because you thought it would be beautiful, you were right. It is stunning. The views are amazing. But it’s hard work, and it’s going to take years to get this property in a livable condition. You aren’t going to accomplish that today.”

She rolls her eyes. “I never thought I was, Mr. Fancy Jeans.”

I chuckle. Her nickname is absurd, but I don’t care what she calls me. She’s cute—in an innocent, city-girl kind of way. But I don’t like the idea of her being unsafe. It’s making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Fine,” she barks. “You don’t have to continue to lecture me. I get it. I’ll assess the land and then go to the city for the night.”

“Good.” I hope she’s not blowing smoke at me. I’m going to worry. It’s in my nature. I nod in the direction of Gallant Mountain. “My family’s homestead is over there. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” I point above the trees. “See that cell tower?”

She shields her eyes from the sun as she tips her head back. “Yeah.”

“That’s ours. It’s in the middle of the property between all the cabins and next to the main house.”

She gasps. “You have multiple homes?”

“Yep. I have five brothers. All of them are married. We each have our own homes, which surround the main house.”

“Oh.”

I point toward the entrance to a walking path. “If you ever happen to be on foot, you can follow this path to our land. If you’re in your SUV, you’ll have to drive around the edge to get to the road. The path isn’t wide enough for a vehicle.”

“Got it. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

Yep, she’s stubborn. “Okay, well, please be careful.”

“I will. I’m a big girl. I can handle a little rain. I’m not afraid to get dirty.”

“Princess, you’ll be a lot more than dirty if the roof collapses on you,” I warn.

She cocks her head. “Thank you for the advice, Mr. Fancy Jeans.”

Shaking my head, I hop down from the porch. “See ya around, princess.”

It pains me to drive away, but I don’t have a choice. As she pointed out, Blair is a grown woman. All I can do is make suggestions and give my advice. If she chooses to ignore me, it’s out of my control.

Except, I have a bad feeling about this situation. I don’t think she’s going to get into her SUV and drive away. She was obviously expecting to move into the dilapidated house, throw down a rug, and hang curtains today.

Stubborn woman.

I won’t be able to see her property on any of my security cameras. The coverage doesn’t extend to other people’s homesteads. The cameras keep strangers from wandering onto our land either on foot or by car without us knowing, but we can’t see this old piece-of-shit house from even the farthest camera.

After heading down the mountain, I quickly run my errands and return to the main house. I left Asher in charge of security while I was gone. He isn’t fond of spending much time around too many people—even though we’re all family—so he gets grouchy when I leave him to watch the cameras while I’m away.

The only thing Asher hates more than monitoring security is strangers wandering onto our property, so he does it. Plus, given the choice, he’d rather man the ship than be sent into town for supplies.

We probably could have done without the list of items I picked up. Lord knows we’re survivalists. We have enough food to last several months. But some of the wives planned to spend today baking, and they were lacking some specific ingredients, so I agreed to go pick up their requests.