Read Online The Accidental Mrs. Mackenzie by Bonnie K. Winn - Free Book Online Page B

art school, got an internship with Marvel, then got a break being a colorist for an established cartoonist.”
    “And how was Stephanie born?”
    She tilted her head. “Funny you should phrase it like that. Most people think it’s just an impersonal drawing. Stick figures with bubbles for thoughts—characters with no more spirit than pieces of fruit in a still life.”
    Matt studied the waifish sprite next to him. “But Stephanie’s more to you than that?”
    She nodded. “The day she popped into my brain, she was doing something outrageous—and there she was—full-blown, bursting to get on the paper.”
    “And she’s been doing the outrageous ever since.”
    Brynn looked at him in surprise. “You read the strip?”
    “Who doesn’t?”
    Again she looked shy, embarrassed. “Oh, well, I wouldn’t say—”
    “You know it’s a successful cartoon?”
    “It does okay.”
    He couldn’t help raising his eyebrows. Okay ? It was a nationally syndicated comic strip, one that had its own line of merchandise. Yet, she seemed uncomfortable with the praise, or possibly her success.
    Since he wasn’t comfortable with people probing at his motives or feelings, either, to change the subject he pointed at the mountains she’d admired. “These are the Wellsvilles—the steepest mountains in America.”
    Properly impressed, she gazed upward. “They all seem overwhelming. But I thought these were the Rockies.”
    “The Wellsvilles are part of the Rockies.” The truck navigated a sharp turn and Brym stared downward at a sheer cliff that plunged from the narrow precipice into a canyon that looked as though it was miles wide and equally deep.
    “They’re certainly something,” she commented in an unnaturally high voice, her eyes wide as she calculated the small distance between the truck and the yawning depths of the canyon.
    “In the next valley there’s a turquoise gem filled with water—Bear Lake. In the summer when you crest the summit before the valley, and the sun hits the water, you’d swear something that clear and pure aqua has to be fake. You look for the chlorine and the pumps.”
    “How does it stay like that?”
    “It’s a prehistoric formation. Beneath the surfaced are the peaks of an ancient mountain range, so it’s incredibly deep.”
    “And incredibly clear,” Brynn murmured. “I’d love to see it some time.”
    The truck easily took the next precarious turn. “Until then you can see the Bear River. It runs through our property.”
    “I love all the icy mountain streams,” she confessed. “They’re so pristine they don’t look real Just like the first time I saw a mountain sunset. It looked like something a painter or postcard artist dreamed up—so beautiful it wasn’t believable.”
    Matt felt admiration flare. “I guess I don’t think about how people not living here see it for the first time.” He laughed wryly. “Even though we put out brochures describing it in great detail.”
    “It’s not always easy to see something you’re so close to.”
    His gaze flickered to one side. “You’re right about that.” Seeing the cutoff on the road, he turned, gravel crunching beneath the truck’s wide tires. “This is where we get out.”
    He’d barely spoken when the alarm on her watch buzzed.
    “Bus to catch?” he questioned, his brow raised in surprise.
    Embarrassed, she quickly turned off the alarm. “I set alarms to remind myself when I need to do something.”
    “Forgetful, are you?”
    “Guess you could say that. I set alarms so I’ll look at the notes I’ve written to remind myself to do certain things.”
    He glanced over her thoroughly. “I don’t see any notes.”
    Warmed beneath his scrutiny, she had to clear her throat. “I didn’t bring the note.”
    “Anything important?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “You don’t think so?”
    She shrugged, knowing other people found her forgetfulness and disorganization hard to understand. “It was probably to remind