Page 7 of His to Defend

Ryker couldn’t answer that. Not to himself and not to his cousin. Not in any way that would make sense.

“None,” he lied. “I just thought maybe…”

Axel looked as if he were going to say something more, but after a moment, he simply shook his head. “Come on.”

“Ryker!” Kira tried to wiggle her way up out of the couch as soon as she spotted him, but her growing stomach made the effort challenging.

“Stay put, little cuz.” Ryker couldn’t help but smile as he bent down to embrace his cousin. She may be heavy with the half breed twins of a dog but she was still his little Kira, and the moment he saw her, the only thing he wanted to say to her was how much he’d missed her. Which was exactly what he did.

“I missed you, too.” Kira wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “So much. How have you been?”

Ryker moved to sit down and noticed that Nina was no longer there. He scanned the room and found her by the kitchen, talking with some of the other ladies. It was probably for the best. Something about that woman was going to get him into trouble. He just knew it.

A moment later, he was able to push thoughts of Nina out of his mind—mostly—and focus on his cousin and catching up with her.

CHAPTER FOUR

The next morning, Nina woke up to the chirping of birds outside of her window. Birds. She couldn’t remember the last time the sounds of nature had woken her instead of the bleating of an alarm clock.

What time was it?

She reached for her phone and almost jumped right out of bed when she saw it was already after nine. She hadn’t slept in so late in years. She’d made it a habit of getting up before six every morning. At first it was because it was the only chance she had to get some words written on her own personal projects instead of whatever article it was that she’d been contracted to write. But eventually, her own projects were pushed to the side in favor for her contracted jobs. The time may have vanished, but her desire to write just for her, certainly hadn’t.

Nina stretched her arms over her head and relished in the laziness of the morning. After all, there was no reason to rush. She had the whole day ahead of her, with no plans at all. Hell, she could even work on her novel in the middle of the day if she wanted.

The luxuriousness of the idea filled her with unexpected joy. She wasn’t naive enough to think that it was a situation that would last for long. After all, she would have to get a job sooner or later. But for the moment, she was going to enjoy all aspects of her little vacation.

Including Ryker.

The thought slammed into her and sparked a fire in her core. It was probably a good thing she’d made a quiet exit the night before instead of sticking around the party in the Den. From the moment Ryker had walked in, she’d felt his gaze on her and it was hot.

Probably not as hot as his touch would be.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to find out for herself; she did. But Nina also had enough self-control to know that it would probably not reflect well on her, or even Harper, if she jumped into bed with one of the Jackson cousins only hours after arriving at the ridge.

No. She could wait.

Hell, she had all week.

After a few more minutes of luxuriating in her bed, Nina finally grew restless enough to get up, shower, and head down to the main room. She’d been given a guest room in the Den. In the upstairs hallway, there were half a dozen or so private guest rooms, all of a good size with private bathrooms. Some, like hers, had little balconies off them that looked out to the mountains. Nina fully intended to take advantage of that balcony later to get some writing done.

But first, breakfast.

Nina followed her nose to the kitchen, where the mouthwatering aroma of fresh bread filled the room. “It smells so good in here,” she all but groaned as her stomach rumbled. “I’m so hungry.”

“Good.” Kade turned away from the oven with a hot bread pan. “Because this bread isn’t going to eat itself.” He grinned as he set it down. “But this one’s still pretty hot. I’ll cut you a few slices of a different one. Can I get you anything else? Some eggs? Fruit?”

“I can’t remember the last time I had fresh bread. That will be perfect. Unless, of course, you have some fresh coffee to go with it?” Nina glanced around the kitchen, but Ella had beat her to it.

“Good morning, mi amiga.” She set the mug down in front of her and went back around the massive counter to continue whatever preparations she and Kade were working on.

Harper had filled her in that although they’d initially hired Ella to be the head chef at the ridge so Kade would be free to work on other projects or help with the guests, the two of them worked so well together, that they were now both head chefs. She sat back and sipped her coffee while she watched the two of them work. Their easy love and affection for each other made her smile.

She’d never thought much about having a partner, or falling in love. But if she ever did, Grizzly Ridge was full of perfect examples of what she’d want that love to look like.

“So, what are you going to do today, Nina?” Kade put the bread down, a small plate with fresh butter and a small jar of preserves next to it, and Nina’s mouth watered.

“Harper said something about going into town to try on dresses.”