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  Love Locked

  Britney M. Mills

  Crystal Canyon Press

  Copyright © 2019 by Britney M Mills

  Cover design by Blue Valley Author Services

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Britney M. Mills

  Chapter 1

  Walker McBride hauled in the last of the wood he’d just chopped. He moved over to the wood-burning stove, adding some of the split pieces to the embers inside, causing the red to flame to life once more. The lodge was chilly because he’d let the fire die down, but it was nothing compared to the whipping wind outside.

  Silver Brook Lodge sat next to Coldwater Creek on the western side of Wyoming, and at the end of November, the snow had already built up at least two feet. They were slated to get two more feet within the next few days, and Walker wanted to make sure he was prepared for it. He’d get enough questions from his family tomorrow at Thanksgiving, and he didn’t need any lectures from his mother or his younger two sisters, whom his mother had trained well in the art of questioning.

  His old dog, Bear, was lying on the rug next to the stove, a light snore coming from him. He’d been through a lot with that dog in the past year; there were some moments he wasn’t sure whether he would have made it through all the therapies without the patience of the older animal. It seemed they were going through some of the same pains every once in a while.

  Walker smiled, rubbing his hand between the dog’s ears.

  The phone hooked to his belt rang, and he pulled it from its holder, glancing at the screen to see it was his older brother, Easton.

  “Hey, East. How are things at the ranch?” Walker poked at the new logs a few more times until the fire engulfed them. He shut the door to the stove and sat back in his favorite recliner set in the middle of the great room of the lodge. He knew he’d have to move it when the real furniture came and guests started arriving, but for now, this was his favorite spot in the place.

  “Busy as always. Do you think you can stop by before we shoot tomorrow? I need some help mending that back corner fence. The cows keep getting out, and the twins, well, you know how they are.” The irritation in Easton’s voice caused Walker to smile. The two of them were the oldest of the six McBride siblings, and while they’d all grown up on the ranch, it seemed as though the younger ones had a somewhat different upbringing, especially his twin brothers and two sisters.

  Walker looked around the lodge. “That should work. I’ve got everything buttoned up here for the storm. What time?”

  “Dad wants to leave for shooting at seven. Do you mind coming over around five thirty?”

  Blowing out a breath, Walker finally said, “Yeah, I can do that. Let’s just hope it doesn’t ruin our aim by being out in the cold that early. I’d hate to have one of the twins beat us again this year.”

  “You and me both.” Easton chuckled on the other end. “I don’t know if I can stand another year of them gloating over it.”

  The McBride men had a tradition of shooting clay pigeons every Thanksgiving morning, and the competition was hotter than anything that happened at the local fair. It was about the only time they could get together throughout the year since there was so much to do on the family ranch and several of them had their own lives.

  “I’ll see you early, then. Make sure to have the road cleared for me. I’m not digging out my truck and then helping you with the fence.” Walker paused, waiting for Easton’s reaction.

  “I’ll make sure Colter gets to it. He already owes me.”

  Walker hung up the phone and glanced around the room once more. There were a lot of benefits to living on the ranch, but the thing he loved about this newly built lodge was that it wasn’t something his parents had built from the ground up. It had been his own dream as a kid, one that he’d made a reality after retiring from bull riding. He just hoped the people of Coldwater Creek would support it as much as they’d claimed to when he bought the run-down property.

  It had been sitting with eight cabins for the last fifteen years, the original lodge having burned down before that. In such a small valley, there weren’t many places to eat, let alone a steakhouse, which the old lodge had included.

  With only a few last-minute adjustments and fixes, the new lodge would be ready in two weeks for the chef and several of the local townsfolk he hoped to hire to help him run the restaurant and room rental. The large gathering hall behind the restaurant would be used for events and weddings, and with several more bedrooms on the upper two floors, it allowed for more family to stay in town for those events. He’d left the cabins out back, removing the old wood paneling and freshening them up with new beds and décor.

  The idea to open it before Christmas had been a little crazy, but he knew people could use something different in the long hard Wyoming winters. Maybe this would be it. He’d already received two requests to rent out the large hall for family Christmas activities, and the school wanted to use it for their Christmas ball.

  Looking at the clock, he realized it was nearly eleven, and his body felt it.

  “Come on, boy. Let’s go to bed. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  The dog rose slowly, taking one step after the other. He lumbered along faster after the first few steps as though he had to get his joints working correctly first.

  They walked over to one of the two suites on the first floor, where Bear climbed onto the large four-poster bed and curled up again. He was asleep before Walker had a chance to take off his boots.

  “Some company you are,” Walker said, laughing a bit, the sound hollow.

  As much as he claimed to people that he didn’t need anyone but his dog, during a cold winter like this, he realized how much he missed having someone to talk to, someone to bounce ideas off of. Not that his former girlfriend had been all that good at the last part, but at least it wasn’t silent all the time.

  Pushing Cara out of his brain, he focused on brushing his teeth and changing for the night. It didn’t take much as his mind went through everything that needed to be finished or fixed before guests started coming in.

  Stretching out next to Bear, his mind went blank, and he was out.

  Chapter 2

  So many feelings welled up inside Lauren Burke as she got ready for the day. She wasn’t sure whether to scream with excitement or cry from nerves. Today was the day. The one every little girl dreamed of, where the guy would get down on one knee and ask her to be his forever no matter what.

  Well, she wasn’t exactly sure of that, but one of her friends had seen her longtime boyfriend, Cory Turner, walking out of a jewelry store the day
before, and with everyone gathered at his parents’ home for Thanksgiving, she wondered and hoped that today would be the day.

  The two of them had begun dating after she’d graduated from college three and a half years ago, and when she couldn’t find a job using her art history degree, he’d offered for her to help work at his family’s insurance company. It wasn’t her dream job by any means, but she got to hang out with her boyfriend at work every day, or the days when he actually decided to show up before noon.

  The doorbell rang, and Lauren swiped the last bit of makeup across her cheek. Straightening her shimmering gold blouse, she grabbed her heels out of the closet and walked to the door with a broad grin.

  “Let me just grab my purse and coat, and I’ll be ready to go.”

  He grunted something, glancing back down at the phone in his hand.

  She made her way back to the door a few moments later and closed and locked up before she turned back to him. She buttoned her coat and waited for him to glance up. “Oh, I almost forgot,” she said. “I have the stuff your mom asked me to bring. Let me run and get it.”

  Her boyfriend grunted again, and Lauren wondered what was up with him. He’d been really busy lately, and she hadn’t been able to sit him down and ask how things were going, even though a bit of tension had settled in her stomach. But her friend’s words came back to her, and she smiled, wondering if she’d be finishing the day with a call to her father to tell him she was finally engaged.

  A small knot twisted inside her chest. She’d just be calling her father about one of the most important decisions of her life. Her heart ached daily to have her mother back with them again, even after four years, but it was a time like this where all she could hope for was a little reassurance that her life was finally on the right track.

  She had been charged with bringing a pie to the dinner, and since she wasn’t much of a cook, she’d bought and cooked one of the Marie Callender’s frozen pies from the grocery store. At least no one would chip a tooth from eating it.

  Balancing the pie on her hand, she moved through the door again and locked it.

  Cory finally glanced up at her. He reached out to help steady her as they walked down the slippery few steps from her porch to the drive, and her worries dissipated.

  Once in the car, she positioned the pie on her lap and buckled her seat belt. Cory did the same before starting the engine and pulling out of the driveway of her small townhome.

  “How are things today?” she asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

  He finally smiled. “It’s Thanksgiving. One of my favorite holidays ever because I get all the turkey and mashed potatoes I can eat.” His enthusiasm caused her to giggle.

  Cory leaned forward and turned up the song on the radio, one of the first Christmas songs of the season.

  “I made an apple pie for you. I hope you like it.” Lauren beamed, hoping to find some line of conversation that wouldn’t be over in one sentence.

  Cory turned and looked down at the pie for the first time, his eyebrows mashing together in a frown. “Thanks. I’ve actually been craving a cherry pie for a while, though.”

  Cherry pie? Since when did he like cherry? He’d always liked the Dutch Apple kind with the streusel topping. It was one of her favorites as well, and the idea that he’d all of a sudden changed his mind caused a rift to split within her chest.

  “I’m sure one of your sisters made one. I think your brother-in-law likes cherry, doesn’t he?”

  Cory grinned again. “I think you’re right.” He tapped along to the song on the steering wheel and asked, “Are you ready for a holiday with my family?”

  Lauren sucked in a deep breath, so many emotions racing through her. “As ready as I’m going to be.”

  Even though they’d dated for about three and a half years, this was the first holiday they were spending together. Lauren’s family thought it was crazy that they’d never met Cory in person, but it was hard to get away from the office for a drive from Colorado up to Wyoming, and his family was always on some cruise or on a beach somewhere for the holidays. This was the first time he’d asked her to come with him, and she hoped it would be the change in their relationship that would result in a forever relationship rather than the same plateau they’d been on for longer than she cared to admit.

  Not that dating wasn’t good, but at twenty-five years old, she was ready for the next step, for the commitment that a ring would entail. And tonight was quite possibly the beginning of that next journey.

  They arrived at his parents’ home, where a few inches of snow covering the front yard and the roof made it already feel like Christmas. Cory helped her out of the car, and they walked into the house, the warmth hitting Lauren like a wall. She stepped behind Cory, who walked over to kiss his mother on the cheek as she stirred something on the stove.

  “Happy Thanksgiving!” he said.

  His mother turned and embraced him. “You too! I’ve made all your favorites. We should be ready to start in about thirty minutes, so make yourself comfortable.” She shooed him away, and Lauren took a step forward, holding the pie in front of her.

  “Where can I put this, Sharlene?” she asked with a smile.

  His mother gave her a forced smile, but that was relatively normal for their relationship. Cory was the only boy in the family, and as such, it was hard to get into his mother’s good graces. Lauren often thought it strange that she wouldn’t want her nearly thirty-year-old son to get married and settle down, but then again, there were a lot of things about Denver and Fort Collins that were different than where she grew up.

  “The pies and desserts are on the counter in the mudroom. Just put it there if you don’t mind.” She turned quickly, stirring what looked like gravy in the pan. It was a bit lumpy, and the first pang of homesickness hit Lauren.

  Her mother had been the best cook ever, but since her passing, the Burkes had been eating their holiday meals with their close family friends, the McBrides. Not that Lauren had actually been home much since her mother’s funeral during her senior year. She’d come home for a week or two when her father had suffered a major stroke, helping to nurse him back—but her brothers all applauded Tonya McBride’s cooking.

  If she wanted a future with Cory, she needed to take this step and get used to dealing with his family outside the office. That’s what married couples did, and she may as well come around to the idea.

  After placing the pie next to the others, she went back into the kitchen. “What can I do to help? Do you need me to prepare anything or set the table?”

  Sharlene turned, her eyes batting several times, making Lauren wonder if something was in them. “I think we’ll be okay, Lauren. Go relax somewhere until dinner is ready.”

  Lauren nodded, feeling as if she’d been dismissed. It was a bit odd to not be helping out for dinner, as everyone was expected to do so in her own family.

  She wandered into the living room, glancing at the large-screen television hung above the fireplace. The room was decorated with modern touches, a stark contrast to the log feel of her childhood home. Cory sat on the large couch with his sisters, all four of them lying on top of each other, staring at the TV.

  Gritting her teeth, she settled into one of the chairs near the large front window. This wasn’t what she’d had in mind at all.

  Chapter 3

  Walker could see his breath in a large cloud as he stood behind the pulling machine and loaded it with clay discs. The chill of the air was enough to make him want a hot shower and a gallon of hot chocolate. Blowing into his hands did nothing to ease the numbness, but as he listened to his brothers and dad banter back and forth, he could only smile, knowing there was nowhere else he’d rather be. Even while he’d been on the rodeo circuit, there was something about a friendly family competition that seemed to ready him for whatever came next.

  Their father won for the first time in several years, and Walker had to hide a smile as he’d missed the last two targets o
n purpose for that reason. The man looked as though he were walking on a cloud as they trudged through the deep snow of the field back to the house.

  “I saw that,” Easton said a few inches from Walker’s ear.

  With a quick shrug, Walker smirked. “It’s been a while. He needed a win.”

  “Well, just don’t tell him that. At least not for the next ten years.”

  The two of them chuckled, stomping off their boots on the back porch. They took off all their snow clothes and hung them in the mudroom. It had been one of Walker’s mother’s biggest requests when the family had designed the house some twenty years ago. Working on a ranch meant family members coming in covered in all sorts of outdoor elements, and as a woman who liked to keep a clean house, this surely added to that order.

  “Walk, will you grab me an onion from the storage room? I forgot to grab one when I went down just now.” His mother squeezed his upper arm and gave him a smile.

  He nodded and moved in that direction. The warmth of the house was easing into his joints and warming his fingers, causing them to sting a bit at the direct change in temperature. It didn’t take long to locate the onions in his mother’s labeled storage room, and he was up in the kitchen within a few minutes.

  “Thank you so much, dear. How are things going with the lodge?” His mother pulled out a large knife and started slicing the onion, the smell of it hitting Walker within seconds.