by Mae Clair
She wasn’t certain she wanted to venture in that direction. Moonlight and a handsome man were a notoriously fatal combination. “I’ve always thought full moons were magical.”
He gave a skeptical snort. “It’s not full, it only looks that way. It’s already started to wane. You just can’t tell by the naked eye.” He tugged at his collar. Sweat clung to his cheeks, prompting him to thumb open another button on his shirt.
The inky material gaped on his chest. A traitorous part of her mind wondered what it would be like to free the remaining buttons. She could almost feel the heated touch of his flesh beneath her fingertips as she slowly worked her way to his waist.
Disturbed, she jerked her hand from his. A hot flush crept up her neck.
“You can tell the difference?” She shot a doubtful glance at the moon. It made her think of long-ago legends: fairy glades, nameless winged creatures and werewolves.
“The moon and I are well acquainted.”
He leaned into the banister, his leg casually brushing hers. She tensed at the informal contact, surprised when it streaked through her like a bolt of lightning. Weak-kneed and stunned, she tried to retreat.
“Annie, don’t go–” Caleb caught her hand.
“Don’t call me that.”
“It suits you.” Towering over her, he stepped closer, his eyes mirroring the smoky blue of the night-dusted sky. “I think we were supposed to meet.” His voice grew low and husky, sending a shivery chill up her spine.
She wet her lips, trying to retain her composure. It was impossible to think straight when he stood so near, his presence engulfing her in a sizzling wall of heat. “Caleb…”
He bent closer and threaded his hand into her hair, his fingertips lightly pressing her scalp. A dizzying shiver of sensation cascaded through her. She barely had time to register the feeling before his mouth closed over hers, possessive and eager, leaving her breathless. She hadn’t expected him to kiss so hungrily, his lips heated with the slumbering flush of fever.
In some part of her mind, she understood he’d been trying to hide his condition all evening. The other part rebelled, caught between outrage and surrender. She couldn’t think straight, oblivious to logic. Her body betrayed her, enjoying the sheer hedonistic pressure of his mouth on hers, the faint taste of wine clinging to his lips. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t wanted this, secretly hoping he would try to kiss her. She’d dreamed about it, imagined it more than once.
Emboldened, he wrapped an arm around her waist and deepened the kiss, trapping her against the porch railing. For one blissful moment, she knew only raw heat, the sensual intimacy of his tongue twining with hers, a rush of giddy pleasure that left her senseless, blindly clinging to him. His body was deliciously lean muscle, strength and corded sinew crushed against her softer curves. He made no apology for his boldness, but kept her locked in his embrace.
In a heartbeat, sanity returned.
“Don’t.” She wrenched free. Flustered by her behavior, she raised trembling fingers to her lips, still moist and puffy from his kiss. She’d promised her attraction wouldn’t go this far, yet had tumbled into his arms. She could still feel the searing heat of his mouth on hers, the hungry possessiveness of his tongue sealing them together. He might appear courtly and refined, but his kiss was far from genteel.
“I have to go.” She fumbled for her purse on the settee, her hands shaking as she dug inside for her keys.
“Annie, don’t leave.” Caleb moved behind her, sliding his palms over her arms. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” He turned her around. “I’ll behave myself, I promise. I’m usually better mannered, but…” He faltered, a cocksure smile lifting the corner of his mouth. “Can you blame me for finding you attractive?”
“You need to work on your flattery.” Arianna refused to budge. How could she be sidetracked by his charm? “I didn’t come here for that kind of date, Caleb.”
“I know.” His smile dimmed. “I’m sorry. I don’t want you leaving angry.”
“I’m still leaving.”
“Then let me walk you to your car.”
In control of her traitorous feelings once again, she glared up at him. “Are you going to tell me it’s not safe? That I should be afraid of something…like the wolf I saw before.”
The blood drained from his face. “What?”
His shock was disquieting, but she’d known men to play games when backed into a corner. She wouldn’t put it past him to feign alarm.
“I suppose you’re going to tell me you didn’t know anything about it. Some wolf-like creature outside my window? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you and Lucas Drake were cohorts. He shows up the next morning talking about a rabid dog and I–”
“Annie.” In the amber glow of the porch lights, Caleb’s face was drawn, damp with sweat over the cheekbones. “Did you see him–it,” he corrected with an irritated shake of his head. “The night you were here? Did you see it?”
Her animosity wavered. She wasn’t certain what she’d seen, but there was no doubt his interest was genuine. He seemed unnerved by her revelation.
“I saw a dog. Outside of my window, silhouetted against the sky. Just for a second.”
Caleb swore and turned away.
“I should have probably told Lucas the next morning,” she continued. “But–”
“It wasn’t a dog.”
His certainty disturbed her. “You know that for a fact?”
“I do.”
Arianna let her mind revert to that night. The animal had been far too large and bulky for a dog, but was distinctly canine. “So if it wasn’t a dog, what was it?” An unexplainable chill swept over her. The whole thing was silly. Of course it had been a dog.
Caleb frowned. “It doesn’t matter.” He compressed his mouth in a tight line and lifted a bitter glance to the moon. Silver flared on the surface of his eyes. “I wouldn’t mention the animal to your boyfriend. It would only send him on a false trail.”
“Excuse me? Lucas is not my boyfriend.”
“Good. Then perhaps you’d allow me to see you again.” Taking her arm, Caleb guided her into the house and through the rear hallway. “I could accompany you and your students when you visit Gettysburg.”
The suggestion caught her off guard. Inside, away from the jeweled glow of amber-tinted porch lights, it was easy to detect the flush of fever on his cheeks. “I don’t know, Caleb.” She should have pointed out the obvious. That he was sick, that she couldn’t afford for him to be incapacitated by a headache or any other ailment with her students along.
“I promise to behave.” He grinned faintly, misinterpreting her hesitation. “You couldn’t ask for a safer date than to be chaperoned by a group of twelve-year-olds.” They’d reached the front door, and he held it open.
She was silent, digesting the idea as they walked toward her car. She did want to see him again, but was afraid where the attraction might lead. The memory of his kiss sent a tingle of excitement down her spine. Could she afford to become involved with such a complex man? He’d volunteered little of himself and his background over dinner, dodging the subject whenever she’d asked anything remotely personal.
“We’ll see.” When they reached her car, she thanked him for dinner, then moved to open the door. He gripped the handle before she could touch it, holding it locked firmly in place.
“I’m serious, Arianna. I want to see you again.”
“Maybe.” She knew she’d lost the battle. A man who kissed the way he did had already won the war.
* * * *
Seth Reilly watched from the shadows as she drove away. If Caleb hadn’t been incapacitated from last night’s transformation, the bastard would have sensed him. It was nearly impossible for a beta wolf not to sense the presence of his alpha, but the fool had gotten tangled up with the girl–something he hadn’t expected of DeCardian. Seth had been ready to ditch Daphne Hart, the clingy bitch he’d gotten involved with, but now saw enormous benefit in the ch
ance connection. He watched as the taillights of Arianna’s car veered down the driveway with Caleb staring after it, his blond hair silver in the moonlight.
Like a damn Scandinavian prince.
Seth’s lips drew back in a soundless snarl. Maybe he wasn’t some fucking pious officer, but he had power beyond anything a menial dog like DeCardian could imagine. In time–when he willed it–he’d crush Caleb and the woman.
Aroused by the thought, he inched deeper into the shadows and watched as Arianna’s car vanished from sight.
Chapter 9
Arianna didn’t see Caleb again for another week. She kept busy by helping Lauren with party preparations, and squeezed in a lunch date with Daphne. Her sister talked of little except Seth Reilly, and how well connected he was. It made Arianna realize that although Caleb was given to moments of male ego, he was far from pretentious. She decided Gettysburg was her safest bet for seeing him again, and invited him on the field trip.
When the day arrived, she met him at the school parking lot, the same rendezvous point for parents who were dropping off their children. The group was small, three girls and five boys. She’d made arrangements for a school-sized van and had lined up her regular driver. Caleb was already there when she arrived, waiting with Wyn, chatting with a handful of parents and students.
“Good morning.” She hoped her voice masked the tingle she felt. It was difficult remaining neutral when her last memory of Caleb involved being held in his arms, his lips crushed to hers. Recalling how easily she’d melted into his embrace brought a heated flush to her cheeks, but thankfully, no one noticed.
Caleb met her eyes, then glanced down, fixating on her outfit. She’d dressed in belted white shorts, a turquoise tank top and sneakers. The temperature was predicted to climb into the low eighties and she intended to be comfortable. There was nothing out of place with her attire, but the heat in his gaze made her feel like she’d chosen something risque.
“I thought I’d play chauffeur,” Wyn explained, breaking the awkward moment. “I was headed this way, and–”
“Caleb doesn’t drive,” Arianna finished, remembering his preference for horses. It was hard to overlook, considering she’d almost run him down on Ranger the night they’d met.
Wyn hedged and cleared his throat, uncertain if she was teasing or being sarcastic. Deciding to put him out of his misery, she smiled. She couldn’t continue to fault him for what he’d done to her tire, when she’d made amends with Caleb.
Some of the boys had broken off, chasing each other through the parking lot, anxious to be on their way. Arianna exchanged a few pleasantries with several of the parents, and then with Caleb’s aid, ushered everyone into the van.
Caleb hesitated, unsure where he should sit, then took the seat behind her. Arianna wasn’t certain if she was grateful or disappointed he hadn’t chosen to sit with her. After a quick visual check to ensure all of her charges were settled in their seats, she gave her driver the green light to go.
At first there was plenty of excitement, the kids wound up, chattering back and forth across the aisle. Eventually, they settled down, talking in quieter groups as the drive progressed. Caleb had turned sideways, his back to the window so he could view the children. One or two had already grown attached to him. Lisa Gaines and Trudy Walker, caught at that awkward stage of tween-to-teen, alternated between asking him questions and giggling behind their hands, caught up in a harmless crush. Arianna eventually saved him from constant attention by suggesting the girls “give Mr. DeCardian a break.”
She turned in her seat, facing the window to converse with him. “I’m sorry,” she said as afterthought. “You’re probably used to being addressed as Colonel DeCardian.”
“I haven’t been ‘Colonel’ for several years. I’m retired.”
“Yes.” She was struck again by his young age in comparison to his rank. “You must have joined the Army right out of high school.”
“College. I attended West Point.”
The prestige struck her silent. Behind her, she could hear Danny Tusoni complaining to Scott Albright about the awful taste of the new Monster drink at the Quik Mart. The lament droned into a din and became white noise in the background, snarled with the hum of the van’s fat tires. Caleb was watching her in that manner that made her uncomfortable. She realized there was something magnetic between them, that–God help her–he was magnetic.
“I make you uncomfortable,” he said, and then changed the subject in an effort to ease the tension. “How long have you been doing these trips to Gettysburg?”
After that, they talked easily. She told him about her interest in the Civil War and he listened politely. Sometimes it was hard explaining her connection to a war that had happened over a century before her birth, how she admired the strength and fortitude of the men and women who had lived through such madness, suffering dreadful loss and hardship, emerging to put a nation back together. Self-conscious, she laughed, only then realizing she’d been monopolizing the conversation. It was easy to get carried away discussing something that inspired her.
“I’m sorry. You must think I’m silly.”
“Not at all. You view history with passion.”
“Don’t you do the same?”
He gave a bitter snort. “I have a more fatalistic viewpoint.”
“I’m not romanticizing tragedy,” she protested.
“I know that. That’s why I admire your passion. It’s easy to forget people like Lee, Longstreet and Chamberlain.” His voice grew soft and distant. “Or Hipplewhite.”
“Who?”
He shook his head. “No one.” He glanced around the bus. “I wonder how much they know of history?” He nodded toward the children.
Most did fine in other subjects, but struggled with history. “I think they enjoy running around the battlefield more than listening to facts about dead men.”
Caleb grinned, an amused gleam in his eye. “Then we need to make it interesting for them.”
She’d never had the benefit of a co-tour guide, which was how she came to think of Caleb throughout the day. He added interesting facts and anecdotes about various parts of the battlefield, the men who’d fought there and the Civil War in general. He brought a fresh perspective that kept even her students intrigued, his view of the conflict unlike any she’d encountered. After a while she abandoned her preset curriculum in favor of spontaneity.
Caleb talked about things she’d never stopped to consider: how the temperature had climbed to nearly ninety degrees on July third, the last day of battle, the sweltering intensity of the sun bronzing the sky like brass. The leaves on the trees had crumbled into ash, scorched by the belching black smoke of cannon and musket fire.
Danny Tusoni, who Arianna had expected to be restless and bored, listened raptly as Caleb pointed out the infamous Wheatfield, relaying how a man could walk across the twenty-three-acre plot by stepping on the bodies of the dead at the end of the day, his feet never touching the earth. He spoke of such things as if he’d seen them, lived them. The faint melancholy in his voice left Arianna unbalanced.
“You’ve obviously done a lot of research on Gettysburg.”
Caleb shrugged. “Like you said, it was a tumultuous time.”
In history, she mentally added, disturbed it seemed so real for him. Ten minutes later, the girls were getting hungry as the clock inched closer to noon.
“Ms. Hart, when are we going to stop for lunch?” Beth Regal asked, joined in a chorus of whiney fidgeting by Lisa and Trudy.
“Soon,” Arianna promised. There was a picnic area a short distance down the road. After that, she could let everyone burn off excess energy by hiking up Little Round Top. “I hope everyone packed a good lunch. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m hungry.”
“I brought a sandwich, soda and chips,” Beth piped up. “And I have oatmeal cookies for desert.”
“What about Slim Jims?” Danny wanted to know. “Lunch ain’t squat without a Slim Jim.”
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“Don’t say ain’t, Danny,” Arianna corrected. “And I think you need more than a Slim Jim for lunch.”
Caleb looked puzzled. “It’s got to be better than hardtack.”
“What’s that?” Scott Albright asked.
“A type of food soldiers ate during the Civil War. It was made of flour, water and salt. Sort of like a hard cracker. Not very appetizing, especially when weevils laid their larvae inside. Most of the men took to calling them ‘worm castles.’”
“Ewww!” Trudy proclaimed.
Caleb chuckled. “If you think that’s bad…” And he went on to relay how as the war progressed and times grew worse–especially in the South where hardships were more severe–people were sometimes reduced to eating things like snakes, rats, locusts, cats and dogs. The girls shrilled their revulsion while the boys found this new information worthy of intense examination.
“You mean like real rats?” Danny was incredulous.
“You could buy a dressed one in a butcher shop in some cities for about two dollars and fifty cents,” Caleb confirmed.
Arianna shook her head. “Caleb. You could have picked a better topic before lunch.” But she couldn’t stop smiling at how animated the group had become, the boys exuberantly discussing rats hanging in shop windows, the girls indignant that anyone would consider eating a cat or a dog. Somehow, despite the subject matter, everyone managed to down a sandwich when they stopped at a shaded picnic area.
Several times Arianna caught Caleb staring at her bare legs when he thought she wasn’t aware. It brought back the memory of his kiss and the tantalizing heat she’d felt wrapped in his arms. Each time, he averted his eyes, wisely downplaying his attraction with the children so near.
A few hours later, they made their last stop of the day at the Pennsylvania Monument, the largest memorial on the battlefield. For once Caleb was quiet and introspective, lingering at the base where bronze statues of Meade and other Federal commanders flanked the entrance. Arianna strayed to the interior while her students raced up a set of stairs to an upper level balcony with a view of the battlefield. The interior bore massive engraved plaques listing troops from her home state–regiment commanders, company commanders, officers and soldiers.