Page 1 of Protected by the Mountain Man (Grizzly Ridge: Protectors #3)

ELIAS

T he knock on my door comes at midnight.

I already know who it is before I look through the peephole. Riley Hart stands on my porch, soaked to the bone from the storm raging across Grizzly Ridge. Her tank top clings to every curve, and those green eyes that have haunted my dreams for five years are wide with desperation.

"Elias." Her voice cracks when I open the door. "I didn't know where else to go."

I should tell her to leave. Should remind her that I'm twice her age. That I'm her father's best friend. That I was, until cancer took him last year. That every protective instinct I have is screaming at me to keep my distance from this woman who's become pure temptation wrapped in forbidden skin.

Instead, I step aside and let her in.

"What happened?" My voice comes out rougher than intended as I grab a towel from the linen closet.

She's shivering, arms wrapped around herself. "Brad kicked me out. Said he was tired of supporting a 'worthless dreamer.'" The way she says it, like she's repeating his exact words, makes my hands clench into fists.

I drape the towel around her shoulders, and when my fingers brush her neck, she sucks in a sharp breath. The same electric shock runs through me, the one I've been fighting for years.

"He put his hands on you." It's not a question. I can see the beginning of a bruise forming on her wrist.

Riley's eyes flash with something dangerous. "Once. But I handled it."

"Riley—"

"I kneed him in the balls and told him if he ever touched me again, my dad's best friend would bury him in the mountains where no one would ever find him." She meets my gaze steadily. "I might have oversold your murderous tendencies."

"Did you?" I step closer, and she tilts her chin up defiantly. "Because right now, I'm thinking about driving back to town and showing him exactly what happens to men who hurt you."

"Elias..." The way she says my name, soft and breathless, undoes something inside my chest.

"You can stay here." The words are out before I can stop them. "Until you figure things out."

Relief floods her features, but something else flickers there too. Something that makes my blood run hot and my resolve crumble.

"Thank you." She steps closer, close enough that I can smell her shampoo, see the flecks of gold in her eyes. "I know this is... complicated."

Complicated. That's one word for the way I've wanted her since she returned last year and I realized the little girl I'd watched grow up had become a woman who could bring me to my knees with a single look.

"Riley." My voice is a warning.

She reaches up, her fingers barely brushing my jaw where an old scar cuts through my beard. "I'm not a kid anymore, Elias."

No. She's not. She's twenty-three and looking at me like I'm something she wants to devour. Like she's been thinking about me the same way I've been thinking about her, late at night, when honor and promises and age gaps don't matter.

"Go to bed, Riley." I catch her wrist gently, pulling her hand away before I do something we'll both regret. "Guest room's upstairs, first door on the right."

She nods slowly, but doesn't move away. "What if I don't want to go to bed alone?"

Lightning illuminates the window, throwing shadows across her face. In the dark of my cabin, with the storm raging outside and five years of want burning between us, she looks like a siren calling me to shipwreck.

"Then you're going to anyway," I say. "Because I made a promise to your father. And because you deserve better than a broken-down mountain man who's old enough to be..."

"My what?" She steps even closer, her hand flat against my chest. "My father? You're not him. You're Elias McKenna. The man who taught me to shoot. Who carried me inside when I broke my ankle at sixteen. Who's been looking at me like you want to devour me since I came home from college."

Every word rings true. "Riley?—"

"I'll go upstairs," she says softly. "But not because you're too old or too broken. I'll go because when I come to you, and I will come to you, I want you to want me back. Not just as the girl you promised to protect, but as the woman I've become."

She rises up on her toes, presses a soft kiss to my cheek, and then she's gone, leaving me standing in my living room with my heart pounding and my control hanging by a thread.

Through the ceiling, I hear the guest room door close. Then the soft sound of footsteps. A drawer opening. Water running in the bathroom.

I pour myself three fingers of whiskey and settle into my chair by the window, staring out at the storm.

I'm in trouble.

Deep, dangerous, beautiful trouble.

And for the first time in years, I'm not sure I want to fight my way out.

I wake before dawn, my body on military time even twenty years after leaving the service. The storm has passed, leaving the mountain air crisp and clean. I pull on jeans and a flannel shirt, padding barefoot to the kitchen to start coffee.

My mind replays last night's encounter with Riley. The way water had plastered her clothes to her body. The defiance in her eyes when she told me what she'd done to that bastard Brad. The feel of her lips on my cheek, a whisper of what could be if I were a younger man. A better man.

A man who hadn't promised her dying father I'd look after her.

Bill Hart had been more than my best friend. He'd been my brother in every way that mattered. We'd served together, survived together, and when I left the Rangers to come home to Grizzly Ridge, he'd followed. Built a life here, raised his daughter here after his wife died.

And last year, when cancer ate him alive from the inside out, he'd asked one thing of me.

"Take care of my little girl, Elias. She's all that matters."

I'd promised. And a McKenna's word is his bond.

But Bill couldn't have known how she'd look at me when she came back from college. Couldn't have imagined the woman his little girl would become, or how she'd haunt my dreams.

The coffee finishes brewing as sunlight begins to spill over the mountains. I pour a cup and step onto the back porch, letting the morning chill clear my head.

My cabin sits on a ridge overlooking the McKenna family ranch below.

From here, I can see my brother Sawyer's house at the edge of town, the lights just coming on as the sheriff of Grizzly Ridge prepares for his day.

Further up the mountain, smoke curls from Cade's chimney where he and his wife Harper have built their life.

The McKennas have always been fixtures in this town. Protectors. Providers. Men who stand between their loved ones and harm.

Men who keep their promises.

I drain my coffee and head to the shower, needing the sting of cold water to wash away thoughts of Riley's rain-soaked clothes and challenging eyes. I've got work to do. The spring wildlife count starts today, and as game warden, I need to be in the field before the hunters start their day.

When I emerge from the bathroom, towel wrapped around my waist, I nearly collide with her in the hallway.

"Morning," Riley says, her voice sleep-rough and sexy as hell. She's wearing an oversized t-shirt that barely reaches mid-thigh, revealing long, tanned legs that make my mouth go dry.

"Morning," I manage, suddenly aware of water droplets sliding down my bare chest. Her eyes track one as it disappears into the towel, and the air between us turns electric.

"You're up early," she says, gaze lingering on my chest before rising to meet mine.

"Work." I sound like I've been gargling gravel. "Wildlife count. I'll be gone most of the day."

She nods, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Mind if I stick around? I need to figure out what I'm doing next."

What she's doing is testing my control, standing there with those long legs and sleep-mussed hair, looking like every fantasy I've denied myself.

"Stay as long as you need." I step around her, careful not to touch. "Coffee's made. Food in the fridge. Make yourself at home."

"Thanks." She watches me retreat toward my bedroom. "For everything, Elias."

I nod without turning. If I look at her again, standing in my hallway looking soft and warm from sleep, I might forget every promise I've ever made.

In my room, I dress quickly. Worn jeans, thermal shirt, flannel, boots. The uniform of a man who lives in the wilderness by choice. A man who prefers the company of trees and mountain lions to people.

A man who's about to share his space with the one person who makes him question that choice.

When I emerge, she's in the kitchen, mug in hand, staring out the window at the mountains. The morning light catches in her dark hair, illuminating strands of copper and gold.

"I'm heading out," I say, grabbing my rifle from the rack by the door. "Spare key's in the drawer by the sink if you need to go into town."

Riley turns, her expression serious. "Will Brad be a problem? If he sees my car here..."

The thought of that punk coming anywhere near my property makes something primitive rise in my chest. "Let him try."

A smile curves her lips. "There he is. The Elias McKenna my father always talked about."

"And who's that?"

"The most dangerous man in Grizzly Ridge." She steps closer, and I catch the scent of her, rain and something floral, mixed with my soap. "The one who doesn't need to make threats because everyone knows exactly what he's capable of."

The description isn't far off. There's a reason the McKenna brothers have a reputation in this town.

Why even the rowdiest hunters think twice before breaking game laws on my watch.

Why Sawyer's never had to fire his service weapon as sheriff.

Why Cade lived like a hermit on the mountain until Harper crashed into his life.

We protect what's ours. By any means necessary.

And that's the problem. Riley Hart isn't mine to protect. Not in the way my body is screaming for.

"I'll be back before dark," I say, forcing myself to turn away. "Lock the door behind me."

I feel her eyes on my back as I walk to my truck, the weight of her gaze heavy. As I drive down the mountain, I know with absolute certainty that having Riley in my home is going to test every ounce of control I possess.

God help us both.