Consumed By The Grumpy Mountain Man
(2026)(A book in the Mountain Man Summer series)
A novel by Deidre-Ann Anderson
I came to the mountains to disappear. To chop wood and drink coffee in silence and not speak to another human being until the anger that lives behind my ribs finally burns itself out.
That plan lasted exactly six days.
Because on day seven, a woman in hiking boots and a sundress knocked on my cabin door, announced that her GPS had betrayed her, asked to use my phone, and then had the audacity to tell me my porch needed sanding.
I don't want company. I especially don't want company that smells like sunscreen and wildflowers and talks to my dog like he's a person. My dog, who has never liked a stranger in his life, is currently on his back getting belly rubs from this woman while she tells him about her "soul-cleansing summer road trip."
She's too cheerful. Too loud. Too alive for the quiet, empty life I built on purpose.
She's also out of gas, forty minutes from the nearest station, and it's about to storm.
I tell myself I'm letting her stay one night because I'm not an animal.
One night turns into a week. A week turns into something I can't name without admitting that the anger I've been carrying isn't anger at all. It's loneliness wearing a disguise.
And this woman, this ridiculous, sunlit, fearless woman, just ripped the mask right off.
Consumed By The Grumpy Mountain Man is a summer sizzler featuring a reclusive hero who forgot how to want things, a road-trip heroine who refuses to let him sulk in peace, grumpy/sunshine perfection, forced proximity, "I don't like people" to "I don't like people except you" energy, one very good dog, and enough heat to light up a mountainside. Steamy. Spicy. Guaranteed HEA.
Genre: Romance
That plan lasted exactly six days.
Because on day seven, a woman in hiking boots and a sundress knocked on my cabin door, announced that her GPS had betrayed her, asked to use my phone, and then had the audacity to tell me my porch needed sanding.
I don't want company. I especially don't want company that smells like sunscreen and wildflowers and talks to my dog like he's a person. My dog, who has never liked a stranger in his life, is currently on his back getting belly rubs from this woman while she tells him about her "soul-cleansing summer road trip."
She's too cheerful. Too loud. Too alive for the quiet, empty life I built on purpose.
She's also out of gas, forty minutes from the nearest station, and it's about to storm.
I tell myself I'm letting her stay one night because I'm not an animal.
One night turns into a week. A week turns into something I can't name without admitting that the anger I've been carrying isn't anger at all. It's loneliness wearing a disguise.
And this woman, this ridiculous, sunlit, fearless woman, just ripped the mask right off.
Consumed By The Grumpy Mountain Man is a summer sizzler featuring a reclusive hero who forgot how to want things, a road-trip heroine who refuses to let him sulk in peace, grumpy/sunshine perfection, forced proximity, "I don't like people" to "I don't like people except you" energy, one very good dog, and enough heat to light up a mountainside. Steamy. Spicy. Guaranteed HEA.
Genre: Romance