Raising The Stakes (Heartwarming Romance) by Karen Rock

occurred than she passed him a water bottle.
    “Filled it up at Cold Creek spring on my way over here.”
    He closed his eyes in appreciation as the pure, icy liquid splashed down his throat. It was better than any manufactured drink. No matter how much man imitated, Mother Nature had the best recipe.
    “How’s the cub doing?” he asked after another bite. The tart pickle and crispy bacon woke up his taste buds.
    Vivie pushed back a stray piece of hair, the faintest gleam of moisture on her forehead. For late May, it was already hot.
    “Saw the Reeds before I went in this morning and they let me feed Button,” she said. “She’s still drinking the formula since her jaw’s not right yet.”
    He frowned. With the bear struggling to eat, he understood human contact was needed. Still, that would only make Vivie more attached. Given the light in her eyes, this seemed like a lost battle—not that he’d quit trying to make her see sense.
    “Once she’s in the pen, you’ll feed her through a chute. Don’t let her get used to humans. If she does, a successful release will be impossible.”
    She nodded automatically, her eyes roaming the green mountain peaks in the distance. “Do we have to board up all sides? She should be able to see nature, especially if she’s going to return to it, so it doesn’t seem totally foreign.”
    “Sounds good as long as it’s facing away from you and the house. This—” Liam gestured to the partial construction “—is only a temporary home.” He pointed to a patch of berry bushes bordering the forest that ringed her property. “That is her real habitat. Never forget it.”
    “How could I?” she asked drily. “You never let up on it.”
    “You wanted this.” He crumpled his napkin and closed the now-empty container. “If it was up to me—”
    “Button wouldn’t have had a second chance,” she muttered so quietly he had to lean close to catch it. Her light floral scent reminded him of their wild surroundings. For a moment, he closed his eyes and breathed her in.
    “Unfair, Vivie.” He stood and brushed a maple seedpod from his pants. “I’ve worked here every day to make this possible.”
    She scrambled to her feet, her expression earnest. The gold flecks in her light brown eyes gleamed. “I know. And I’m grateful every time I wake up and hear you outside. But I wish you wouldn’t be so hard on me. And Button.”
    “I’m doing what’s right. Not what’s easy.” He watched a couple of rabbits grazing on white-topped clover. That was the future he wanted for the cub. He glanced back at the lumber pile. Not one that stole her freedom.
    Vivie nodded and picked up another hammer. “What can I do?”
    He blinked in surprise. In her blue sundress, the short hem fluttering around her legs, she resembled a princess. Not a construction worker.
    “Know anything about carpentry work?” Since it was a rhetorical question, her nod caught him off guard.
    “One of my stepdads had a contracting business. I can even do roofing.”
    “Roofing...” he repeated, imagining her slipping on an angled roof and breaking something. He shook off the image.
    “You had more than one stepfather?” he asked once he’d passed her some nails and they’d begun hammering.
    “Six,” she mumbled around a mouthful of nails. Did the woman have no concern for her safety?
    He unbuckled his tool belt and wrapped it around her narrow hips, his fingers a little unsteady when they grazed her. “You’re going to choke if you keep them in your mouth. Put them in the pouch.”
    She spit the nails into her hand and dropped them into the pocket. “Okay, Mr. Doom and Gloom.”
    “I’d rather be Sir Reality Check, if you don’t mind.”
    Her eye roll said it all. “Your reality, I guess.” She resumed hammering. “Sir.”
    He picked up more nails and stuffed them into his jeans pockets. “So, six stepfathers, huh? Sounds rough.” He couldn’t deny his curiosity about Vivie. She’d