The Bear's Bride (Mail-Order Mates #3)

Lola Kidd

Copyright 2015 by Lola Kidd

All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the express consent of the author.

Connect with Lola

Mailing List

Facebook

Website

Twitter

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

A Note from Lola

Other Books by Lola Kidd

“These are so good!” Janice Numm said. “Do you ship orders?”

“I’m sorry. My treats don’t have preservatives,” Frank Franklin explained. “They wouldn’t last the trip to New Jersey.”

Janice snapped her fingers. “Damn. I’m going to have to bring my girlfriends here, then.”

“I told you he made the best brownies ever.” Molly Lunar took their boxes and paid Frank. “Thanks again.”

“No problem.” Frank put on a new pot of coffee and then took the next customer in line. He wished he had time to stop and talk with Molly and her mom. The young girl was quickly becoming one of his favorite customers. She stopped by every morning on her way to work. It was nice having someone to talk to when he first opened. Her mom was visiting from out of town and Frank hadn’t had a chance to talk with her yet. He hoped they would stop in when he was a little less busy.

After taking three orders, he stopped to take a break and have a bite to eat. No sooner had he made himself a sandwich than the phone rang. He looked at the roast beef longingly before picking up his cell. “Hello, Frank’s Treats.”

“May I speak with Frank Franklin, please?”

“This is Frank.”

“Mr. Franklin, wonderful to talk with you. I’m Allison with the TV network Cuisine. I’m shooting a special about desserts for the holiday season and I was wondering if you’d like to be a part of it.”

Frank almost dropped the phone. “Of course I would! I’ve watched Cuisine since the beginning and I’ve seen all your specials, Ms. Jensen.”

“Please call me Allison. Thank you for agreeing to take part. I’ll email you all the details.”

The pair exchanged emails and talked a little more about the special before hanging up. Frank pumped his fist in the air once he’d closed his phone. A Cuisine special. This was going to get great publicity for him and the town. He had contacted the network after he saw the first special seven years ago. He knew his shop was a perfect fit for the shows. He’d never heard anything back, but he thought about it every holiday.

He started a quick list of things he could make for the show. He had to showcase some of his customer favorites but he also wanted to try something new.

The phone rang again while he was taking his next customer. He put the person on hold while he counted change.

“Frank’s Treats.”

“Frank? This is Olivia Grey.”

Frank stepped to the back of the shop. “Hi, what’s up?”

“I’m very happy to say that we’ve found a match for you!”

Frank leaned against the wall for support. “You’re kidding!”

“I am not kidding in the slightest.” Olivia laughed, delighted. “This is a good one, too, ninety-nine point five percent.”

“Holy cow. That’s huge.”

“It is. I’m going to speak to the woman in a moment but I had to call and tell you first.”

“Thank you, Liv. This means a lot to me.”

“Happy to help. If all goes well with the lady in question, I’ll send you her information tonight.”

“Perfect.”

“Talk to you soon.”

Frank heard the bell for service ring at the front of the shop, but he couldn’t move. His mate. She had found his mate. Of course he couldn’t be sure yet, but there was a very good chance that it was true. He’d been with the agency for less than a week. They had told him that it could take months for his match to turn up. He’d prepared himself to wait until at least the New Year to find anyone. It wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet and Olivia had already found someone. The woman was amazing. She was clearly good luck for the bachelors of Sunset Falls.

He was so happy he could barely move. A TV special and a mate on the same day? He must have done something right because this was too much. Things were looking up for Frank Franklin.

***

Amy Alma put down the sleeping toddler and crept out of the room. She joined her sister in the kitchen. “He’s so heavy now.”

“I know,” Karen said. “It’s his big head. Sometimes I’m afraid he’s going to fall down when he runs around a corner too fast.”

Amy laughed. “He is a little top-heavy.”

Karen ran her finger around the rim of her coffee cup. “I have something to talk to you about, Amy.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “I’ll watch Max this weekend. You don’t even have to ask. I know you and Tom really need a date night.”

“Actually, this is about you needing a date night.”

“Oh, no. Not another setup, Karen. No way. I told you I’m done with those.”

“This isn’t a setup, though! Well, not exactly, anyway.”

Amy shook her head empathically. “No. N-O. I can’t. Not again.”

“This is a dating agency. It’s not the same as a setup.”

“I tried a dating agency. Don’t you remember Kevin?”

Karen shivered. “Ex-psycho number two. No, I couldn’t forget about Kevin.”

“So then you know why I’m not doing dating agencies.”

“That’s good.” Karen circled the rim of her coffee cup again. “This isn’t a dating agency. It’s a mail-order bride company. And they found you a match.”

“How could they find me a match if I’ve never even applied?” Amy said smugly. “Wait. Karen, what did you do?”

“Do you remember that survey I had you take? The funny personality test from the Internet?”

Amy slumped in her chair. “Oh, no.”

“It
was
a personality test.” Karen held up her hand. “So, technically, I didn’t lie to you.”

“That was only last night. How could they find me a match already?”

Karen shrugged. “I don’t know. The guy must have already been in the system. As soon as I submitted your profile, I got a match. It was a ninety-nine point five percent match. The woman called me today.”

Amy was curious, not that she’d tell Karen that. A match right away? That had to be some luck. She’d tried online dating a decade ago and it had taken months for her to find someone she liked. She wanted to know who this guy was. Even if he had a great personality and looked good on paper, he was probably a troll. No normal guy would be using an agency.

“A mail-order bride agency,” Amy said suspiciously. “There’s only one reputable agency I can think of.”

Karen nodded. “You know it’s Lovely and Kind Brides. I wouldn’t trust anyone else.”

“Dammit, Karen!”

Karen looked up sharply. “You said you were going to sign up one of these days.”

“One day. That meant I was going to check them out and then decide.”

“I’m worried about you, Amy.” Karen sighed. “You’re becoming a bitter old cat lady. Don’t you remember when we used to read Mom’s romance paperbacks to each other? What happened to that little girl? She believed in finding her true love.”

“That little girl got three divorces.” Amy pushed her red hair back from her forehead. “I’m sorry, Karen. I can’t get into it with another man. I just got a divorce.”

“But this won’t be just any other man! This could be your life mate. LK has a ridiculously high success rate. They don’t make mistakes. You should at least see this guy. He’s so handsome, and just your type.”

Amy considered it for a moment and decided it was too risky. If she saw the guy and he was wicked hot, she wouldn’t be able to resist talking with him. She had a weak spot for men, especially the ones who were no good for her. Experience told her that if a man was interested in her, he was going to be no good. A woman with a track record like hers had to take the hint eventually. She wasn’t cut out for dating or marriage. The best she could hope for was finding the perfect best friend she could spend her days with. Love was out of the question and marriage was laughable.

She shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t do this all again. I know you’re worried, but I’m okay. I have a very full life. I don’t need to go chasing love again at my age.”

“You’re thirty-four, Amy, not ninety-four. There are a lot of women your age who are pregnant for the first time. It isn’t too late for you.”

Leave it to Karen to remind her about her ticking biological clock. It was true that she wanted children of her own. Amy had resigned herself to a childless life when she got her second divorce. She’d been stupid enough to hope that she still had a chance when she got married a third time. Idiot. She was okay with it now, though. She had Max and was sure she’d have more nieces and nephews. She could come and play with them whenever she got lonely.

“I’m just starting to see success in my career. I have social engagements regularly. I just started working out again. I mean, I’ve got a lot of things going on. I don’t need to have a baby right now.”

Karen rolled her eyes. “When was the last time you got laid?”

Amy pushed her older sister lightly. “I’m not telling you that. You’re my sister, for goodness’ sake.”

Honestly, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been pleased by anyone other than her Mr. Rabbit. Not that any man was ever as good as Mr. Rabbit was at pleasing her. She would keep that one to herself, though. Amy might have been married a few times but that didn’t mean she’d ever had mind-blowing sex. Whatever that was. She didn’t even see what the big deal about sex was. Her theory was that since it was taboo, people liked talking about it. It was just a man jerking around on top of you for a few minutes and then you could get to sleep.

“So, probably not since Brandon left.”

“Since I kicked Brandon out on his sorry ass,” Amy corrected and then blushed. Now Karen knew that it had been three years since she’d been with a man.

“You know what they say about shifters, don’t you?” Karen smirked. “I know you have to be a tiny bit curious to find out if the rumors are true.”

“Not in the least.” Of course she was. In college, the shifters were the most popular guys on campus. Amy had been married at the time but that hadn’t stopped her classmates from telling her in detail why they were never going to sleep with human men again. She’d always wondered if what the girls had said was true. She was way too chicken to ever find out for herself. Shifter men were supposed to be the best lovers and the best husbands. They mated for life and were extremely loyal. Their divorce rate was less than 0.01 percent, a statistic that interested Amy greatly.

“What if I told you this guy was smart, successful, incredibly handsome, wanted to start a family ASAP, and wanted to get married even sooner?”

“I would ask you if he lives in his mom’s basement. Or how many kids he has. Or how many felonies he’s committed.”

Karen snorted. “See. Bitter cat lady.”

“I don’t have a cat,” Amy said.

“Yet. You don’t have a cat yet. We can all see where this is going.”

Amy held up her hand. “Enough. I get it. But I’m not doing this. I don’t need to talk to some crazy man on the Internet and get my hopes up again. I’ve tried my hand at love more times than I care to admit, and I’ve failed every time. And that’s okay. I guess white picket fences, two point four kids, and a sweet husband aren’t in my future. And that’s okay! I’m happy with my life just the way it is. Thanks for trying, but no thanks. I’m not doing this again.”

“Owen couldn’t make it tonight,” Clint Preacher said, starting the discussion. Frank was hanging out with his friends Clint and Ben at Ben’s ranch. They had put off discussing their annual camping trip for as long as they could.

“Kellan is out,” Frank told the two men.

Ben nodded. “We knew that was going to happen. He’s not going to leave his new little wifey at home for us.”

“Have you seen his wife?” Clint asked.

“Have I seen her?” Ben whistled. “That girl is smoking hot. Kellan is one lucky man.”

“Owen too,” Frank added. “Those LK people don’t mess around when it comes to picking women.”

“It’s making me want to sign up,” Ben admitted. “I gotta say, I made some rude comments about Owen when I heard he was doing it. He shut me right up when Erin turned up. Damn. I mean, where are they finding these women?”

“They’ll never tell.” Clint sighed. “I’ve been dating for damn near thirty years and I’ve never met women like them who want to settle down and start a family.”

Frank took another beer. “It’s true. The beautiful ones always pass me by for human men too.”

“That’s the good thing about using LK Brides,” Ben said. “You know the women want shifter men. There’s no sweating it out until you reveal what you really are.”

“I think we’ve all been there,” Clint said. “I can count on one hand how many women were happy to hear I was a shifter. It’s gotten better the older I’ve gotten, but man, it’s hard out here! I’m thinking of signing up too.”

The two men looked at Frank expectantly. “I did talk to Olivia Grey at the party for Kellan and Molly. She’s the agent who worked with both Kellan and Owen. She’s really nice.”

Ben clapped Frank on the back. “Alright, Frank! We’d better have a wild time in Wisconsin this year. You’re probably not going to come next year. Olivia works fast.”

“How much you want to bet Owen drops out this year too?” Frank asked. “He’s never missed a planning meeting before.”

Clint rubbed his chin. “I think we’re going to be putting this men’s weekend on pause the next few years.”

Frank nodded. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that. I don’t want to cancel it, though. The wives may have something different to say. What wife wouldn’t love to get rid of her husband for a weekend?”

“My mom loved it.” Ben smiled. “We would have our own little camping trip the first night Dad was gone. She’d set up sleeping bags in the living room and we’d watch movies all night.”

Frank laughed. “My mom and I did picnics all week. We wouldn’t eat any vegetables or any well-rounded, healthy meals. It was all junk, all week.”

Clint nodded. “Same here. This camping trip is going to live on. Once everyone is settled with their new families, we can start it back up again.”

“Thank god.” Ben breathed a sigh of relief. “I have no idea what I’d do with that property if it wasn’t for the men’s weekend. There’s nothing else to do at the lake.”

“We looking to head out the same time?” Clint asked.

Frank cleared his throat. “Actually, I was thinking we could go a little later this year. Maybe the first or second week of December?”

Ben and Clint looked at their phones. Ben shrugged. “I’m free.”

“The first week would be better for me. People always come in for last-minute Christmas stuff the second week of December,” Clint said.

“The first week?” Frank looked at Ben.

“Sounds good to me. I’ll text Owen.” Ben’s fingers moved on his keypad. “Why do you want to wait this year?”

Frank cracked a small smile. “I’m going to be filming a special with Allison Jensen for Cuisine right after Thanksgiving.”

Clint almost spit out his beer. “No way! Congratulations, Frank. That’s so great. This is going to put you in the spotlight.”

“Probably going to bring in plenty of tourists.” Ben’s blue eyes crinkled up as he laughed. “Owen’s going to owe you big time. You’re helping his little cause out.”

“I didn’t even think about that. But it couldn’t hurt to have one of the best pastry shops in the state.”

“How many shifter bakeries do you think there are?” Clint asked, suddenly serious. “Really, I think this could be a big selling point for us. Aren’t we focusing on how we have successful business owners?”

Ben nodded, getting into it. “You’re right. This is going to be huge for Sunset Falls.”

“Really, we need both,” Frank said, trying to tamp down his friends’ excitement. “It’s great we have successful business owners, but we need more family-friendly stuff.”

“I think we’re getting there. Your shop is as family friendly as they come.” Ben waved off the criticism easily. “This is a great start to our offensive. I think we could really have a shot at this thing in a year or two.”

“It only takes a few weddings to change our demographics,” Clint pointed out. “It’s not a big town. A handful of marriages will put us over fifty percent married couples. That’s all we need. A nice mix of marrieds and singles.”

Frank wanted to tell his friends about his potential match but he kept his mouth shut. He still hadn’t heard back from Olivia. It had been over twenty-four hours and Frank was getting worried. Maybe the woman had seen his picture and had turned him down. He knew he was a little past his prime but he still had a head full of golden-brown hair. He kept in good shape running around in the desert too. He might not be a spring chicken anymore but he still had a lot going for him.

He hoped he would hear back from Olivia soon. His heart couldn’t take the anticipation much longer. Either way, he wanted to know.

***

There was a knock at Amy’s door. She was tempted to ignore it but the visitor was persistent. She hoped it was her landlord coming to fix her oven. It had broken three days earlier and the man had said he was on the way to fix it. She couldn’t wait until she got the payment for her latest manuscript. She was going to find a better rental and forget all about the dump she was in. It would be a fresh start to move into a new place. She was counting down the days.

She peered through the peephole and rolled her green eyes. “Karen, go home. It’s late.”

“Open the door, Amy.” Karen tapped her foot on the other side. “I do have a key.”

Amy opened the door a crack. “What do you want?”

“I want to talk. That Lovely and Kind Brides agent called again.”

“Did you tell her you were a big liar and that I wasn’t going to meet this psychopath?”

“I did.”

Amy closed the door and slipped the chain off. “You did not.”

Karen nodded. “I had to. She was so keen on getting ‘me’ to talk with this guy. She sounded so happy that I felt awful deceiving her.”

“Serves you right.” Amy felt a teeny bit bad for her sister. She’d only been trying to help. She couldn’t let Karen see that or it would be an invitation for her to meddle again, and Amy didn’t need that.

“She was really nice about it, actually.” Karen waved a packet of paper. “I printed off all the stuff she emailed over. She says if you’re still interested, you can talk with her yourself.”

“Impossible.” Amy shook her head in disbelief. “You were impersonating me! They must be desperate for brides if they’re still going to take me.”

“They are not. I just filled out the paperwork. You took all the tests yourself. The answers were true. This guy is your match. I know you’re dying to look at this.”

“I am not.” She was. Oh, was she curious. Amy had thought about it all the night before. It was why she was still up writing. If she tried to sleep, she would think about this mysterious match again. What did the man look like? What kind of shifter was he? Where did he live? She could spend all day thinking up new questions.

Karen pulled a bakery box from her tote bag. “If you look at just the first page, I’ll let you have this brownie. I picked it up on the way home.”

Amy eyed the box hungrily. She’d been so busy typing she’d forgotten to have lunch. “Fine. Just one page.”

Karen handed Amy the box and came inside. “I can always count on your sweet tooth.”

They sat at Amy’s small kitchen table. Amy slowly bit into the brownie and savored the rich dark chocolate. Karen opened her manila folder. “Just the one sheet. If you don’t want to look at any more, that’s fine. I’ll respect your wishes and I’ll tell Olivia that you’re not interested.”

Karen passed the colorful print across the table. Amy slowed her chewing. There were no words on the sheet of paper. It was a printed picture of the man who was her supposed match. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Karen hadn’t been lying when she said the guy was handsome. He was so sexy Amy felt a jolt go straight between her legs. This man could be her husband. They could get married and have babies and a white picket fence. And he was hot. And a shifter. And he was supposed to be her match.

She took another small bite and chewed slowly. She couldn’t think straight looking at this guy. He was standing behind a counter in the picture and he towered over it. The guy had to be at least 6'3" if not taller, and he had deliciously wide shoulders. His hair was golden brown and his brown eyes crinkled at the sides when he smiled. He looked so kind. It was difficult to tell that from a picture but he did.

Karen reached to take the paper back and Amy slapped her hand. “I’m still looking.”

“Uh-uh.” Karen smiled knowingly. She opened the manila envelope again. “Want to know more?”

“Maybe.” Amy swallowed the brownie. “This is really good. Loraine really outdid herself this time. Is this new? I’m going to have to go in and order some for my writers’ meeting at the end of the month.”

Karen smiled smugly. “That isn’t from Loraine’s. That’s from Frank’s Treats.”

Amy clapped her hands. “A new bakery! Oh, that’s so great. You’re going to have to tell me where it is after you tell me more about this guy.”

“I just did tell you more.” Karen closed the folder and put it in her bag. “You’re not interested, though, so I guess I’ll just go home.”

Karen stood up and Amy jumped out of her seat. “Okay. Okay! Jeez. I want to hear more about this guy. You were right. Is that what you want to hear?”

“That’s good.” Karen sat back down and gave Amy the folder. “He lives less than an hour away. Isn’t that wild? He’s been this close the whole time. I bet we ran into him when we partied at the falls as teenagers.”

“I can’t believe this,” Amy murmured as she read the pages. He was older than she was and owned his own bakery in Sunset Falls. That was only forty minutes north of where she lived. She had heard of the town but had never visited. Why would she? It was a small town and not much happened there. The only thing of interest was the falls themselves. You didn’t need to even drive through the town to get to the falls.

“Olivia drove down on her way to the airport and dropped off the brownie and printout herself. There are directions to his shop on the back too.”

Amy nodded and looked at the picture again. It wasn’t like she had anything to do but write. She could drive down for a day trip and then drive home. If the guy was a total creep she could come home without introducing herself.

“His parents even gave him a name just like you have. Frank Franklin and Amy Alma. Come on, that sounds so perfect. You two are so meant to be.”

Amy licked her lips and finally tore her eyes from Frank’s picture. “Maybe I’ll go get another of these delicious brownies this weekend.”