Accidental Mountain Man_An Accidental Marriage Romance

  Accidental Mountain Man

  Samantha Leal

  Copyright ©2018 by Samantha Leal. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of 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.

  Please sign up for my newsletter, Samantha’s Super Secret News, and receive this short story, (and prequel) Tanner, as well as notification of my new releases and news!

  Like me, Samantha, on Facebook!

  And if you want to check out some of my other stories…

  Standalone Contemporary Novellas

  Mountain Daddy’s Nanny

  The Baby Offer

  Damaged Alpha

  The Forsaken Riders

  The Forsaken Riders series is a collection of novelette and novella length standalone Bad boy romances that fit together to tell the longer tale of the Forsaken Riders – and the woman they love - as they fight to dominate the town of Slate Springs.

  Tanner (Book 0 Prequel)

  Available HERE

  free when you sign up for my newsletter)

  King (Book 1)

  Lynx (Book 2)

  Steel (Book 3)

  Gunner (Book 4)

  Hawk (Book 5)

  Bull (Book 6)

  Stag (Book 7)

  Stick (Book 8)

  Decker (Book 9)

  Ax (Book 10)

  Hunter (Book 11)

  Rocket (Book 12)

  Diesel (Book 13)

  Breaker (Book 14)

  Flash (Book 15)

  Hammer (Book 16)

  Brick (Book 17)

  Chains (Book 18)

  Ranger (Book 19)

  Snake (Book 20)

  Tank…coming soon…

  The Lost Creek Shifters

  The Lost Creek Shifters series is a collection of novelette length standalone Bad boy romances that fit together to tell the longer story of the ancient tale of the bear and wolf shifters in a small mountain town. Enjoy!

  ARLO (Book 1)

  SCAR (Book 2)

  BLU (Book 3)

  BODHI (Book 4)

  KODHI (Book 5)

  ZEKE (Book 6)

  …and also from Totally Romance…

  STONYBROOKE SHIFTERS

  DADDY SHIFTER’S VIRGIN

  A SECRET BABY FOR THE SHIFTER

  THE SHIFTER’S MAIL ORDER VIRGIN

  DADDY SHIFTER’S FAKE FIANCE

  THE SEAL SHIFTER’S SECRET BABY

  CLAIMED BY THE ALPHA DADDY

  NANNY TO THE SHIFTER

  THE SHIFTER PROTECTOR’S VIRGIN

  SECOND CHANCE WITH THE SHIFTER

  OAK MOUNTAIN SHIFTERS

  HER BILLIONAIRE SHIFTER BOSS

  HER SECRET PROTECTOR BEAR

  A SECRET BABY FOR DADDY BEAR

  THE ALPHA’S MAIL ORDER BRIDE

  THE ALPHA DADDY’S NANNY

  BANISHED DRAGONS

  CAPTIVE TO THE DRAGON

  DESTINED FOR THE DRAGON

  DRAGONS DREAMS

  DRAGON PROTECTOR

  DRAGONS OF KALDERNON

  THE DRAGONS OF KALDERNON COMPLETE SERIES

  And we would also love it if you would

  Like Totally Romance on Facebook!

  Table of Contents

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7.

  8.

  9.

  10.

  11.

  12.

  13.

  14.

  15.

  16.

  Mountain Daddy’s Nanny Preview

  1.

  Monica sighed as she closed the book in front of her and looked around the coffee house. She had spent the past few days in there, frittering away her time, hoping that inspiration would strike, and she would be able to justify the fact that she had quit her job to start a new life. But, so far, nothing was coming to her.

  It appeared as if her muse had well and truly left the building, and now she was alone with no job, a savings account that would no doubt quickly dwindle, and a boat load of anxiety.

  She closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck.

  When she had walked out of her job at the bar in town, she hadn’t truly thought of the consequences. She had been full of excitement and enthusiasm, and she had been certain she was making the right decision.

  For as long as she could remember, Monica had wanted to be her own boss. She wanted to travel the world and work from wherever the mood took her. She had known it would be creative on some level, but she hadn’t really believed she had a calling until her friends had told her how much they loved her beauty and lifestyle blog. Now, she had finally saved up enough money to try and make a go for it for real. But the second she had sat down with her laptop and tried to think of some fun and quirky post ideas, her mind had gone blank.

  And now, she was worried.

  When she had been blogging for a hobby, she was never short of ideas or inspiration. But now that it was serious, and she was trying to make this her career, it suddenly seemed like she was under a whole lot of pressure and she couldn’t string one coherent sentence together.

  She chewed her lip and put her head in her hands.

  Even the book she had been studying for the past week, How-To Turn Your Blog into Your Main Source of Income wasn’t generating any sparks of genius, and the more she stared at the blank page in front of her, the more she was starting to panic.

  “Deep breaths,” she coached herself.

  At the same time, the barista wandered past her and slowed when she approached her table. Casey was young and bright eyed, and she had the enthusiasm that Monica had had once when she had started working at the bar.

  “You look depressed,” she said matter-of-factly to Monica. “Come on, spill it. I can tell when a girl is in need.”

  Monica smiled at her warmly and felt a reassurance roll through her. All she had to do was get back whatever it was that Casey was fueled on. She was raring to go, and she was still working for someone else. Monica was going to have to try and recapture how she had felt when she first started working at eighteen.

  “I’m okay, honestly,” she smiled. “I just, well, I can’t seem to find any inspiration.”

  “For your blog?” Casey asked as she peered over Monica’s shoulder and at the blank page on the screen.

  Monica nodded her head and tried not to let herself blush a deep shade of crimson.

  “I left the bar,” she said in a hushed voice to Casey. “I walked out last week, and now I’m starting to panic.”

  Casey looked momentarily stunned, as if the news was unbelievable, and Monica could hardly blame her. She had literally worked there since she had left high school, and now, as she was nearing twenty-five, she had quit with nothing to truly fall back on.

  “Wow,” Casey said. “That’s a big move.”

  “It is,” Monica admitted. “And now I have bad feelings with Reggie too. He’s saying I’ve left him in the lurch even though I didn’t have a notice period. But he’s super mad, and I guess I can’t blame him.”

  Reggie was the owner of the bar and he had always been a bit of a jerk. So now that he had a reason to be annoyed at Monica, she was worried he was going to make her life a living hell.

  “You know what I would do?” Casey said as she sat on the side of the table and smiled down at Monica. “I would get the hell out of town for a while. Go on an adventure and find some insp
iration elsewhere. What has this place got going for it that’s going to suddenly give you a spark of creativity?”

  Monica smiled and nodded her head.

  For someone so young, Casey really did know the right things to say.

  “I guess I could,” Monica pondered as she looked out the window and onto the dirty streets of her town beyond.

  “Of course, you could,” Casey said as she got to her feet and started to walk back toward the counter. “Do it and I’ll even give you this next Caramel Latte for free.”

  Monica laughed and thought on it for a moment. There was nothing stopping her from skipping town for a couple of weeks, and for all she knew, it could be exactly the thing she needed to kickstart her blogging career and bring back her muse.

  She nodded her head.

  “Okay,” Monica said with a cheeky smile. “You’re on.”

  “Woo!” Casey said as she clapped her hands above her head and moved toward the coffee machine. “And I insist you keep me updated, every step of the way.”

  “Most certainly,” Monica laughed. “And not only that, but if it works, then I’ll even do a special message of thanks to you online.”

  Casey held her hands to her chest in jest, as if she were clutching an imaginary reward.

  “That would be just perfect,” she said as she jokingly wiped away a fake tear.

  Monica looked wistfully out of the window whilst Casey steamed up her coffee and brought it over to her. When she set it down on the table, Monica thanked her and then turned to her and smiled again.

  “I knew coming in here would finally churn up some good ideas,” she joked.

  “Well, I am glad to be of service,” Casey laughed. “Maybe I am the muse and you should take me with you.”

  “Hey, if you fancy a vacation then you are more than welcome,” Monica said genuinely.

  “I wish,” Casey frowned. “I think I’ll be tied to the machines in here until Christmas at this rate.”

  She wandered back over to the counter and began to serve the waiting customers, and Monica picked up her coffee and took a deeply satisfying sip.

  It had been a long, rather stressful week, but finally, she felt as if things were coming together.

  She had a plan, and she was going to throw it into action.

  It was time for her to head off into the world alone and have an adventure.

  It was time for her to discover who she truly was and make her dreams become a reality.

  2.

  Ever since she was a kid, Monica had always been the type of girl to act before she had thought things through.

  As she sat on the end of her bed and packed her suitcase for her trip out of town, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at herself and her reckless behavior.

  “You do get yourself into some situations,” she whispered to herself as she looked down at the laptop that was open on her bed, the screen shining brightly across the piles of clothes she was loading into her case.

  On display, was an email from Reggie. And it wasn’t a good one.

  When she had walked out of the bar, she had expected him to be pleased for her, but it appeared that her ex-employer was suffering with her departure and he wasn’t going to let her walk away that easily.

  She tried not to focus on the details of the email, but they had ranged from pleading to being downright nasty, and now she felt the urgency creeping up on her that she had to get out of town, and fast.

  Reggie had always been a bit unpredictable, but she had managed to work alongside him for almost seven years without any major incidents. Monica hadn’t been totally naive, and she did have the feeling that he had maybe harbored a secret crush on her, but he had never acted on it and he had never made her feel uncomfortable.

  Now that she had left, it seemed as if he was going to be the complete opposite and make a fuss until she caved and did exactly what he wanted her to do, which was go back to work. But her mind was already made up.

  She was leaving town and she was going to give the blog writing a shot. She had things she wanted to do with her life, and that didn’t necessarily mean serving people drinks and listening to drunks bemoan everything that had gone wrong in theirs at two in the morning.

  She closed the lid of the laptop and rubbed her temples.

  When was she ever going to learn that her quick acting and little thinking attitude was a nonstop source of headaches?

  She had been making decisions without thinking things through her entire life, but now, as she was getting older and finding out more about who she was, the decisions were bigger and the timings were much faster. She had gone into work that day with no intention of quitting. And then, as she watched the same people filter into the bar, order the same drinks, and start to tell the same stories, it was just as if a light had been switched on right in the center of her mind.

  She was awake, she was alert, and she was done.

  She wanted out.

  “And now you have to deal with the consequences,” she whispered to herself. “Now you’ve got to work damned hard and make this a success, because the savings you’ve spent seven years collecting will not last forever… And you don’t want to blow them all on a pipe dream.”

  She threw in the last few items of clothing and slammed the top of the case closed.

  She had finished packing, and now she just had to choose where the hell she was going to go.

  She wandered over to her wall and stared at the country map pinned up there in all its glory. Her incredible country was so big and vast, and she could literally go anywhere, but she made the conscious decision that she should restrict it to somewhere she could travel to within a day.

  She closed her eyes and let her finger trace along the map, she swirled it around and out from her starting point which was her hometown, and when she felt as if she had moved it enough, she stopped and opened her eyes.

  Her jaw almost hit the floor when she realized she had stopped in amongst some mountain ranges, but there were plenty of town names and she was sure she had even heard of some of them.

  “Well,” she laughed. “You’re going to the mountains, Monica… I guess you better pack your walking boots…”

  She lay back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.

  What had she gotten herself into?

  As she disembarked the train at Grey Mountain, Monica looked back over her shoulder and suddenly felt a rush of panic. She had really done it. She had packed her bags, she had jumped on a train, and she had left town.

  Now, she was five hours away in the little town of Grey Mountain, and she had no clue what she was doing. She pulled her case along beside her and hitched her purse onto her shoulder. She had been one of only a handful of people to climb off at this stop, and she was starting to feel as if she had maybe made yet another mistake. The town was clearly very small and quiet, but as she wandered down the platform and the incredible views of the landscape beyond came into focus, she couldn’t help but stop and smile.

  “This is beautiful,” she whispered to herself as she looked out across the mountain and the clear blue sky that was letting the sun shine bright and down onto the snow-capped tips of the hills.

  It may be scary, but she was going to have to roll with it. And it was becoming clear that she couldn’t have picked a more picturesque place to visit.

  She wandered into the office at the station and looked around. It was classic small town, with a few rows of benches, only one old man sat on them who was half asleep with his head rolled back, and then a lady serving behind the counter in a booth.

  Monica approached with a nervous smile and the woman turned to look back at her.

  “Hi there,” she smiled brightly, “Can I help you?”

  “Hi,” Monica said quietly, aware that she didn’t want to speak too loudly and wake the sleeping man on the benches behind them.

  “Oh, don’t worry about him,” the woman said with a friendly eyeroll as she caught on to why Monica was keeping her
voice low. “He can sleep through anything, trust me.”

  She laughed and leaned forward on the counter, so it was easier for them to talk.

  “New in town?” she asked.

  “Erm, yes,” Monica replied. “I was just wondering if you could help me with a few recommendations, where is the best place to stay?”

  The lady paused and looked as if she were considering her answer for a moment and then she nodded her head and wagged her finger.

  “There are quite a few little B&B’s in town with this being a touristy area, a lot of people like to come walking up here,” she began. “But if you’re looking for something a little more alive and bustling then I would suggest our only hotel. It’s at the base of the mountain and aimed at the skiing crew, but it’s nestled amongst some bars and restaurants and there’s a few shops down there as well.”

  “That sounds great!” she smiled.

  “Unless you want to be completely off the grid, of course, and go for a cabin,” the woman continued. “We have plenty of those, but they are a little isolating.”

  Monica thought for a moment and considered her options. The sound of the hotel in the bustling part of town sounded like so much fun, but it was sure to include a hundred distractions within that. She had come away to reconnect and to try and work, would she be self-sabotaging if she booked herself into the most happening hotel in town?

  “Do you have any literature about any of the cabins?” she asked as she placed her bag down and shifted uncomfortably to her other foot.

  “Sure,” the woman smiled. She was chewing gum and she kept letting it snap between her lips. She reached down into a drawer that Monica couldn’t see, and pulled out a couple of advertisements.

  “If you like the look of either of them, just give the number along the bottom a call,” she said as she passed them across the counter.

  Monica took them in her hands and smiled. Behind her, she heard as elaborate snore escape from the old man’s lips and nose, and the two women both smirked at each other.