Wild Bear by Terry Bolryder

see him showing up with two horses, leading them by the reins with one hand and holding a basket in the other.
    He looked gorgeous as usual, in a well-fitted country-style button-up, and jeans that were stonewashed to be soft but fitted. His tall, buff body looked like perfection to her. His handsome, chiseled face was outwardly calm but held a hint of excitement in the eyes.
    Excitement she shared.
    If she were honest, she was probably falling in love with him. She’d tried to stay distant while making love, tried to keep it about the physical heat, but it was hard when looking up into those dark, soulful eyes, so intensely focused on her pleasure.
    She flushed as she walked forward. She eyed the white horse he’d brought her, the same one she’d ridden the other day.
    “Marshmallow,” he said, helping her up into the saddle before mounting his black horse. It had a white stripe down the middle of its forehead and seemed high-spirited, much like Maverick himself. “And this is Cornflake.”
    “Why Cornflake?” she asked, biting back a laugh.
    Mav laughed himself as he moved the reins and started forward, Marshmallow obediently following close. Close enough they could actually talk this time.
    He looked at her over his shoulder.
    “I wanted to go on a ride alone with you,” he said. “Be able to see you. Talk to you.”
    She bristled slightly. Why would he care if it was just about sex for him, not love?
    But she forced herself to relax. The situation between her and Maverick was a complicated one, and she had the feeling she shouldn’t rush him.
    “So Cornflake?” she asked as he led them into the shade of the trees, the opposite direction of the trail they’d gone on the other day with the men from New York.
    She’d heard Maverick insisted they be transferred to another ranch first thing in the morning, and that seemed to have happened, because she hadn’t seen them around.
    Good riddance.
    “Cornflake,” Maverick said, a wistful look on his handsome face. “Well, when they first found me and brought me back to the ranch, my favorite food was cornflakes.”
    A twinge of pain touched her heart. Did she know so little about this man? “What do you mean found you?”
    “Well, my mother had left me in the woods.”
    Harmony raised an eyebrow, and Maverick bit his lip like he’d decided they shouldn’t be talking about it.
    “I mean, well, it’s hard to explain. She brought me to my dad, just not quite all the way.”
    “That sounds traumatic.” Harmony gasped, looking around her at the twinkling shadows of aspen leaves all around them as they walked, thinking of both their beauty and the danger that could be hidden there.
    He shrugged. “I was fine.” He let out a long breath, enjoying the nature views around them as much as she did. Maybe more. “Anyway, I was really difficult for my brothers and my dad, but they gave me cornflakes and I calmed right down.”
    She laughed. “That’s kind of cute.”
    He shrugged. “And then, as I got older, I was still having trouble, and some therapist doctor said I should try working with horses.”
    “Ah,” she said. “I heard that works.”
    “I don’t know if it worked like they thought. Anyway, my dad had just bought a new colt, this guy.” Maverick patted his horse’s flank. “And they thought he was too wild. But I felt he was just like me. When I was around him, I was calm. When he was around me, he was calm. Because I liked him so much, I called him Cornflake.”
    Harmony put up a hand to her chest, as if she could use it to rub away the ache everything he was telling her had put there.
    She’d only seen the tough, tall man who didn’t know how to follow rules. She’d never thought about what kind of childhood would make a man like this. A man who liked to get into trouble, liked to do things his own way.
    And didn’t really understand things most people did.
    Her heart ached inside her, and she knew for sure. She was falling in love with