Heart of Winter: Anchorage Seasons Book Four

Book 4: Anchorage Seasons

by Cherime MacFarlane, C. MacFarlane

Synopsis

Is his father the reason Ruby won't trust him? Teller is desperate to find out why she moved.
Ruby moved out because of him. His new client wants answers and the only way Teller can think to get them is by using Barbara Jean's maid. She's cute. Will the girl be easier to get along with than Ruby?
The answer he finds to Hoyton's question does nothing for Teller. He has a choice to make. Whose son is he? Drake's or Lily Raven's?
Seeing Teller with the woman increases her doubts. Ruby fears he'll leave when the cold comes. Teller has no choice. The only way he can prove himself to the woman is to stick out the first winter and show her he's there to stay.

Release date: October 7, 2020

Publisher: Paper Gold Publishing

Print pages: 232

Content advisory: steamy

Sample

 

With a chuckle, Teller shook his head. “Okay. You win. I get it. Maybe next time I’ll go out alone.”

She didn’t want that. “It’s fine. I don’t mind eating light once in a while. I could have tried the pork chops, I guess.”

“Then you’ll keep me company?”

His grin and those brown eyes drew her in. Ruby leaned back into the booth. His mischievous grin faded, and Teller lifted his head to glance around the place. He understood why she moved as far away from him as she could get in the booth.

“Yes, I will.” She leaned forward. “I have a hard time dragging myself out. When I was in school in Washington, I damn near kept my stuff in a suitcase. I went through rooms like going through socks. Something always happened.”

Teller’s grin returned. “The military kept me moving from one posting to another. Same thing, I couldn’t catch a break. Drake didn’t help much either. We stayed in Vegas, mostly. He liked being close to the action. I translated that into close to Destry in case he needed to borrow a few bucks.”

“That must have been hard.”

The waiter brought their food. Ruby took a bite of salad and watched Teller cover his meat in sauce. “Mom and Dad live in the same cabin Grandma lived in as a girl. It’s small. Dad added on a room for Saul, Jon, and me. It had a full-size bed for the boys under my loft. The boys always bitched because I got the loft and they had the bed beneath it.”

“So they were jealous?”

“Yeah. But Mom and Dad could have taken it for a little privacy. The other room is open. They slept on one side of the stove and Grandma took the other.”

He swallowed a bite and she could see he had a question. “What? Ask it.” A hint of color slid up his neck. Ruby waited.

“Didn’t that make, ah… marital relations a little difficult?”

“Oh, well. Some families are more relaxed about that, although ours wasn’t as lax. Grandma was a good Catholic. She always slept on her left side turned away from them. I know because every time she went to bed early, she always laid on her left side. When I changed the bedding for her, there was an indent in the mattress. She ignored what she had to.”

The expression on his face thoughtful, Teller ate more of his meal. He sipped at the beer the waiter had brought and stared into the glass. “I guess life is like that. Sometimes you have to ignore shit and do the best you can.”

He didn’t say much afterward. Neither of them did. They finished their meal and went home. Ruby escaped to her room and Teller to his.