"Oh, sweetheart," Elle said. "If that's really the reason she broke up with you, then you're better off without her."
And she meant it, despite her personal disappointment.
Veronica "Nika" Medved had sounded like such a sweet girl, as well as being the daughter of an old and established bear shifter family. And Ash had fallen hard and quickly for her.
Elle had been so excited when Ash had signed up for ShiftMatch, the online matchmaking service for shifters, and so happy on her son's behalf when he confided that he thought Nika might be his mate.
Elle had secretly cherished the hope of getting a bear shifter daughter-in-law at last.
Her son's shock and heartbreak when Nika abruptly ended their relationship had stabbed Elle to her core.
One of her children was hurting, and badly, and there wasn't a damned thing she could do to fix it.
In the aftermath, her introvert youngest son had withdrawn even further into his shell. Only his duties in helping his oldest brother Dane with chores on the family ranch had gotten Ash to leave his house at all as he threw himself feverishly into his work.
Ash shook his head at his mother's comment.
"I'm thinking of deleting my ShiftMatch account," he said. "I don't think I'm ready to date anyone else right now."
But how are you ever going to meet an eligible bear shifter if you do that? Elle drew breath to say exactly that, then reconsidered.
Instead, she said as mildly as she could, "I understand. But maybe you should just go inactive for now and give it a little time…?"
"Maybe," he said, but his tone wasn't hopeful.
The song ended, and she saw her second-oldest son Mark heading purposefully across the dance floor towards them.
But before he reached them, she saw Ash's hazel eyes widen in surprise an instant before she felt a light touch on her shoulder.
"Ma'am…Mrs. Swanson, may I have this dance?" Justin Long asked in his slow, sexy Texas drawl.
Elle's instinctive reaction was to smile in delight.
She saw Ash's dark brows go up in inquiry as he released her and stepped back.
"She's all yours," he announced, with a sideways glance at his approaching older brother.
Elle made an effort to compose her features before turning to Justin. She wasn't a giddy sixteen-year-old, after all.
And no matter how handsome he was, Justin was a sabertooth shifter, she reminded herself. Worse yet, a short time ago, he had questioned her son Thor's ability to care for his new mate.
So why was her heart beating faster as she turned to face Justin, and why did her chest feel so tight?
"Please call me Elle," she reminded him, desperately hoping that she didn't sound as breathless as she felt.
He held his hand out to her, and she took it without hesitation. An electric jolt ran up her arm, and her pulse fluttered.
She felt her smile return, defeating her efforts to control her expression. Justin just smelled so appealing…and looked so very sexy in his Texas finery.
It had been years since she had reacted to any man like this. Years.
Why now? She thought about making an excuse and withdrawing gracefully to the sidelines, as befit the mother of the groom.
Then she caught sight of the scowl on Mark's face as he neared them and knew he was about to lecture her…yet again…about hosting a sabertooth shifter in one of her guest bedrooms.
Mark had finally softened his anti-sabertooth stance in regards to his new sister-in-law Cassie, but Elle knew he still harbored deep resentment about what had almost happened to his mate Caitlyn.
"And yes, I'd love to dance with you, Justin," Elle said defiantly.
Justin's smile creased the crow's-feet around his brilliant sea-colored eyes and transformed his face from handsome to something altogether more dangerous…and appealing.
When the music started up again, it was a recent cover to a classic Beatles song, You've Got to Hide Your Love Away.
Justin moved in, and she felt his hand come to rest lightly on the small of her back.
He drew her close, but not too close. Their bodies remained a tantalizing distance apart as they moved together in a slow, effortless waltz. She was hyper-aware of the heat from his palm pressing against the waist of her dress and of the strong fingers wrapped around her right hand.
Her free hand rose to rest on his shoulder. He was a couple of inches taller than she was, and she had always been tall for a woman.
She looked up at his face, trying to come up with something innocuous to say.
All words fled from her brain as he smiled down at her, his striking blue-green eyes bright with mischief.
Ever since his arrival at the Grizzly Creek Ranch, Elle had been fighting the realization that he was the sexiest man she had met in a long time—and that he was unmistakably flirting with her.
It was deeply flattering. And it was hard not to feel like a teenaged girl dancing with her first crush when she was surrounded by the intoxicating scent of a man who not only smelled good but who wanted her.
But did he, really? She had already figured out that Justin Long had a cat's taste for mischief and that his soft drawl and low-key personality hid the claws of a disturbingly sharp wit.
Maybe he was attracted to her, just a little, but she had to wonder how much of his current behavior was designed to provoke a reaction from one of her disapproving sons.
Her suspicions increased with Justin's next words.
"Mark looks like he's ready to shift and swipe me to Kingdom Come with his claws," he murmured, bending to speak into her ear, his voice barely audible over the music.
His warm breath sent a shiver of pleasure down her spine, but Elle saw the quick sideways flick of Justin's eyes and realized he had indeed asked her to dance as an act of subtle provocation against Mark.
She wasn't sure if she was disappointed that her sabertooth shifter guest was just playing games after all, or relieved that his attraction wasn't serious.
It certainly made things easier, though. Now she knew she shouldn't take him seriously. And that she really needed to rein in her inexplicably reawakened hormones.
But Justin was an extremely sexy man.
Over the years, she had gotten so used to her all-consuming roles of grieving widow, ranch owner, and dedicated mother of five boys that his flirting had really unsettled her. It reminded her that she was still a woman, too, and not too old for a crush on someone.
But no matter how her body—and her inner bear—reacted to his presence, Elle was old enough to know better than to make a fool of herself by reading a deeper meaning into a bit of flirtation.
I'll just take it as a compliment and move on, she told herself, trying to deny her all-too-real sense of disappointment.
"Oh, Mark wouldn't do anything obvious like that," Elle told Justin dryly. "But I should warn you about a bigger threat…he's a lawyer, and a good one, too."
* * *
Justin laughed, something he hadn't done freely in more years than he cared to remember. "So, should I be expecting subpoenas at dawn?"
His mate Liza had made him laugh, once upon a time. But her death had sucked all the humor out of his world, leaving behind only an endless round of hard work and a fierce determination to do right by his only daughter.
He'd managed to screw up that last part, royally.
And Cassie, his sweet, generous-hearted baby girl, had forgiven him all his failures as a father.
Justin knew it would take longer for him to forgive himself, but he had felt part of his burden of guilt fall away on the day that she had phoned him to invite him to her wedding.
Now here he was, in the middle of bear country, dancing at his daughter's wedding, and he was feeling lighter of heart than he had in a long time.
And he was doing his best not to smirk at the overprotective son glaring daggers at him while he danced with a woman who was entirely too appealing for her own good.
Elle was clearly enjoying their dance, e
ven if she had made it abundantly clear earlier that she disapproved of him and all his kind.
His cat wanted her to like them. So did Justin.
It had been years since Justin had reacted to any woman like this. He realized that it would be dangerously easy to overstep, especially when he knew he was deep in hostile territory and only protected by the unspoken rules of hospitality.
But damned if it didn't feel right and very, very good to hold Elle Swanson close while they danced under the critical gazes of her sons.
She smelled clean, healthy, and sweetly feminine under the faint, fascinating scent of her bear half. And she was soft and curvy in all the right places.
Elle chuckled in response to his reply. "Oh, I wouldn't go as far as a subpoena…at least not for a first offense," she assured him. "But if I were you, I wouldn't be asking him for help on any traffic tickets while you're in town."
"I'll keep that in mind and try to be as law-abiding as possible," he assured her.
He fought the urge to draw her in closer and press her against him from knees to chest while he buried his face in her soft, blonde-highlighted hair.
He couldn't resist adding, "Given the proper incentive, I can be a very good boy."
Her smile deepened into dimples, and her brown eyes warmed with a flirtatious spark.
"Oh, that's too bad. I was hoping there might be a bit of wild cowboy hidden somewhere under the responsible father and businessman. Am I right?" she asked teasingly.
He swung her around into a neat turn. To his pleasure, the firm curve of her breasts pressed lightly and momentarily against his chest.
You have a beautiful smile, Mrs. Bear, he thought, gazing down at her.
"Well now, ain't every sabertooth shifter mad, bad, and dangerous to know?" he asked, deliberately deepening his drawl.
"Why, Lord Byron, I wouldn't know," she responded coyly, delighting him by catching his reference. Then her look shifted from amused to assessing. "You're the first sabertooth I've ever met who wasn't issuing threats," she continued frankly.
"I'll keep that in mind, ma'am, and do my best to convince you that I'm at least halfway civilized." Justin tried to keep his tone joking, but he couldn't quite keep the edge out of his voice.
To her credit, Elle winced at her rudeness.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I've often found civilized a bit overrated." She squeezed his shoulder, and he accepted the unspoken apology with a slight nod.
She continued, "I don't know what I'd do if I had to live in a city. Out here, it's just a short drive to the wilderness where I can let my bear stretch her legs. Heck, on the days when there aren't any B&B guests or ranch hands around, I take my daily walk around my property in bear-shape. I can't imagine living anywhere else."
"It is beautiful country up here," Justin agreed. "Especially the mountains."
"The Salmon-Challis National Forest is just on the other side of the river. We should go for a hike and a picnic while you're here. I could show you the most beautiful little lake," Elle offered, and Justin's throat went dry.
Elle Swanson, all to himself for a private picnic in the woods. He liked that idea an awful lot.
"Why, I'd love it if you showed me around…Elle," he said, and felt her pulse accelerate under his fingers.
While they continued to dance, Justin was acutely aware that only two thin layers of chiffon separated his hand from Elle's bare skin. He could feel her welcoming warmth seeping into his skin through their contact.
He couldn't help fantasizing about how it would feel to stroke the length of that long, elegant spine with her skin bared to his touch. He was sure that every inch of her would be silky-soft and sensitive to his caresses…
All too soon, the song drew to a close. And Mark moved in with a determined expression.
Regretfully, Justin withdrew his hand from Elle's waist and stepped back.
He kept hold of her hand, though.
"Thank you for the dance, Elle," he said, gazing down at her with a smile calculated to infuriate Mark.
The bear shifter took himself way too seriously, and Justin couldn't help but want to rile him up a little.
Mischief was part of the reason—but not all—of why Justin yielded to his sudden impulse. He raised Elle's hand to his lips and pressed a lingering kiss to her knuckles.
He was prepared for Mark's indrawn breath of outrage.
But the hot spark of desire arcing from his lips straight down to his groin took Justin entirely by surprise.
Elle's hand jerked in his grasp, and an instant later, he smelled the faint perfume of her arousal.
She feels it, too! Justin thought, astonished.
Throughout their dance, he had been aware that his interest in her was returned to some degree. But nothing had prepared him for this.
He thought he'd never feel this particular burn again.
When his gaze flew up to Elle's gob-smacked expression, he suspected that she felt the same shock he did.
"Mom, can I have this dance?" Mark asked.
His brusque tone broke the spell.
Justin reluctantly released Elle's hand and turned to Mark. "She'll all yours, son."
Then he turned and strode out of the tent, suddenly desperate to escape the music and dense cluster of scents.
Every part of his body was throbbing, and his heart was pounding as if he'd just run straight up the side of one of those steep mountains ringing the valley.
Justin found himself standing in the meadow, some distance from the tents, facing the river. He gulped in drafts of fresh, clean summer air and tried to let the scent of green and growing things calm him.
God damn, he thought, squinting into the warm afternoon sunlight. Now what am I going to do?
A sensible sabertooth shifter would look around at the sheer concentration of wolf and bear shifters at this party, all of whom were naturally hostile to sabertooth shifters, and turn tail before daring to court one, no matter how attractive.
Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on whose point of view you were considering—sabertooth shifters were not generally known for their calm, sensible temperaments.
If they saw something they wanted, they pursued it, consequences be damned.
That was the kind of thinking that had doomed his own pride's First just a couple of days ago.
Justin wanted Elle. His inner cat was going nuts right now, doing the internal equivalent of frustrated pacing and snarling because he had walked away from her just as things were getting really interesting.
But he needed to think. The spark between them, though completely unexpected, had been real. And he was 90% sure she'd felt it too. That gave him hope.
Maybe I don't have a snowball's chance in hell, but I'm going for it, anyway, he decided.
Justin was only scheduled to stay in Bearpaw Ridge for a few days. But a shifter, sufficiently determined, could accomplish a lot in those few days.
Elle Swanson, you don't know it yet, but you're mine. Now I just have to convince you to see it, too.
Chapter 3
The wedding reception showed no signs of winding down as noon eased into a long summer afternoon.
Under the beat of the music, Elle could hear the growl and rumble of the two large generators that were powering Ash's speakers and DJ setup as well as the lights and the bartender's blender.
She was standing at the bar, getting a glass of chilled white wine, when she heard a familiar voice behind her and suppressed a groan.
"Elle, I gotta say, you Swansons really know how to put on a great party."
She turned to see Andy Schlumbacher sidling up to her, and sighed quietly.
"Why thank you," she said politely. "That's kind of you to say."
And braced herself for his next words. Andy was nothing if not persistent.
Sure enough, he continued, "There's a real need for a weddings and graduations venue. If you ever take me up on my offer, I'll build a real conference center here, and y
ou could move to town and retire. The new hotel should be finished anytime now, and since those idiots in Planning and Zoning stopped me adding a conference center like I wanted, it would be nice to have a sister venue out here, maybe with a big golf course." His grin widened. "My grandmother, rest her soul, would have loved the new place."
"I'm sure she would have," Elle agreed, though she thought nothing of the sort.
Old Elsa Schlumbacher had been very attached to the old Bearpaw Ridge Inn. Under her management, it had been a popular and well-liked tourist spot for decades.
She had passed away shortly after the catastrophic fire two years ago that had destroyed the original inn. Elsa had left everything to her grandson Andy, who had served as the hotel's manager and handyman when Elsa grew too old to manage everything herself anymore.
Andy, who up to this point had been considered a ne'er-do-well reliant on his grandmother, began throwing his newly wealthy weight around.
In between harassing the city council about his grandiose plans for rebuilding the inn, he had taken to aggressively trying to date all of the eligible women in the area, always making sure to mention that he was an actual millionaire.
He'd even asked Elle out, an offer she'd declined as politely as she could. She'd known Andy for most of her life and didn't like him very much.
It had taken a major effort of will, though, to bite her tongue when Andy began bloviating about how wealthy he was, and not to tell him that her son Ash was a millionaire many times over at this point.
Ash, naturally reticent, didn't want their friends and neighbors to know how successful his Grizzly Creek Games Company was. He thought it might, in his words, "make things weird" in their small town.
And the ranch was doing well all on its own, thanks to Margaret's brilliant plan to add vacation rentals and a bed-and-breakfast business to the existing beef cattle operations.
The bartender handed Elle her glass of wine, but before she could move away, Andy put his arm around her waist. He reeked of alcohol.
She wrinkled her nose and tried to move away, not wanting to cause a scene at her son's wedding.
"C'mon, Elle," Andy said in a wheedling tone. "Since we're both here, why don't you give me a private tour of the ranch?"
Burn (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 5) Page 2