They pulled up the circular drive of Villa Venezia where a valet whisked Becca’s car away. Zane took Becca’s hand and they hurried through the snow and into a foyer so large everything echoed.
“Wow.” Becca looked up at a ceiling hung with twinkling white lights. An enormous Christmas tree decorated with blue and silver globes stood in one corner, while a string quartet played in the other. People filled the ballroom straight ahead. Wait staff circled with trays of appetizers—to Becca’s relief, because she’d realized about halfway here that she was starving.
Coming on the kitchen counter can do that to you.
Her cheeks flushed as they walked through the crowd. Zane wore a dark suit, a black button-down shirt and a tie with some kind of crazy Christmas pattern on it. The entire look combined in a mass of raw sexuality the way it always did with him, but all she could look at were his hands and his lips and recall what he’d done with them less than an hour ago. Forget what I said earlier, she almost said. Let’s go back to your place and finish what we started. She wanted to be naked in bed with that man again as soon as possible.
Becca took a bacon-wrapped scallop to give herself something to do other than drool over her date.
“Champagne?” he asked, taking two glasses from rows sitting on a damask-covered table along the wall.
She nodded. She supposed one glass wouldn’t hurt. Zane had said something about his truck being in the shop, which was how she’d ended up driving, but she didn’t mind. The bubbly liquor tickled her nose and added to everything else making her smile—the man, the party, the way things inside her melted when she dared to think about where the night might go.
Becca recognized a few faces, but most of the guests seemed middle-aged, if not significantly older. She found a corner to stand in while Zane greeted a group of men by the bar. He laughed, shook hands, ran his fingers through his hair and mussed it up. Becca took another scallop, then two skewers of sesame steak. More guests arrived, and the band started to play doo-wop from the fifties and sixties. Becca tapped the toe of her boot. The next time she looked at the bar, two women had sidled up to Zane, one blonde and one red-haired—both gray underneath, Becca guessed—and it wasn’t hard to read their body language and surmise that they knew Zane—probably from Mountain Glen—and they wouldn’t mind knowing him a lot better. Preferably naked. And preferably in their beds while their husbands were at work.
But just as Becca was finishing her champagne and wondering if it was worth it to work up a jealous snit, Zane slipped from their manicured clutches and rejoined her.
“What’s a woman like you doing all alone tonight?” he said with a wink. He bent down and ran his lips along her neck.
“Hoping you’d walk across the room and ask me that,” she answered.
His arm went around her waist, tight and possessive, and he settled his palm onto the curve of her ass. All her nerve endings went hot. “Want to dance?” he murmured into her ear.
She managed to nod, hoping she wouldn’t find herself in the throes of another orgasm on the dance floor. In the next second, she thought she wouldn’t mind another orgasm in the least.
“Run-Around Sue” changed into “Unchained Melody”, and Zane took her in his arms. Becca closed her eyes. His muscles tightened under her touch, and as they turned in a slow circle, she could feel him against her, rising with every movement, turning her wet. He ran his hands up and down her back, tousling her loose hair, until she felt as though every inch of her was spinning out of control.
If a single dance can do this to me, I’m done for when he gets me into bed.
The song ended much too soon, and she loosened her arms around his neck. “How much longer do we have to stay here?”
He gave her a teasing smile. “How about until after dinner? We can skip dessert.”
Becca nodded, trying to keep the words, “You can be my dessert,” from coming out and making her sound like an idiot extraordinaire.
One of the women from the bar waved them over. “Join us,” she said too brightly. She gave Becca a dismissive glance and patted the chair beside her. “We have room.” She wiggled and shook out Zane’s napkin, making a show of smoothing it in his lap. The woman’s husband, deep in conversation with the man beside him, barely looked over.
Another round of champagne arrived, followed by glasses of wine for the women and beers for the men. Becca pushed hers aside.
“Not a drinker?” the blonde asked. Her slender fingers caressed the stem of her wine glass. The question seemed to be directed at Becca, but the woman’s eyes hadn’t left Zane’s mouth.
“I’m driving tonight,” Becca said. She helped herself to water and a piece of bread.
“Oh. Of course.” The blonde giggled and mouthed something to her friend across the table. “So glad we hired a limo for the night. These parties always end up going late.”
But Becca was more interested in the food than the liquor or how late the party might go. She and Zane wouldn’t be staying much past the entrées. Salads arrived, then choices of chicken, steak or salmon. Conversation at the table swirled between stocks, a legal case and a spa that was opening up downtown.
Only once did the redhead turn to Becca and ask a question. “Do you work? Or…” she trailed off, as if she couldn’t think what the other options might be.
“I’m the temporary manager at Pine Point Paws animal shelter,” Becca answered between mouthfuls of chicken.
“Oh.” The woman nodded. “Well. That seems like a very selfless job.”
“Thankless too, if you ask me,” the blonde interjected.
Zane closed his hand over Becca’s. “She’s amazing. You should see her in action.”
The blonde’s gaze moved over Becca in a flash. “Really?” She turned back to her third glass of wine and the salmon she’d picked a few forkfuls out of. “My son wanted a Labradoodle for his birthday last year. We had to go all the way to Indiana to find a breeder.” She tsk-tsked as if Becca was personally to blame for the inconvenience.
That type of dog is more inbred than any other. And do you know how most breeders treat their animals? Becca pressed her lips together to keep the words from spilling out. Fortunately, her cell phone buzzed. She pulled it from her pocket, but too late to catch the call.
Janet, Vet Tech, read the screen.
Damn. Becca’s fingers grew slick as she waited for a voicemail.
Zane leaned over. “Everything okay?”
“I’m sure it is,” she lied. Janet wouldn’t be calling her, not in the middle of this party, unless something was very much not okay.
He reached under the table and squeezed her thigh. Then he finished his beer and signaled the waiter for another.
Janet didn’t leave a voicemail. A moment later, she called again. This time, Becca punched the answer button and jerked to stand, almost taking the tablecloth with her. “What’s wrong?” For a few seconds, all she could hear were faint voices in the background. Then a car engine. “Janet?”
“Bec? Can you hear me?”
She backed away from the table. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“I didn’t want to call you. I don’t—we’ve got things under control. I hope.”
Becca found her way out of the ballroom and down an empty hall. “Tell me what’s happening,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Helen Kramer’s son got to the house a couple of hours ago. According to one of the neighbors, as soon as he opened the front door, he threw all the cats outside.”
“What?” Becca reached for a wall to steady herself.
“Propped open the front and back doors, left them wide open and went through the house until all the cats were out. Neighbor said he was ranting about the smell, how he’d never sell the house, other crazy stuff.”
“He threw them into the cold? And the snow?”
“I’m here right now, and Julito and Kevin too. We’ve been—” Janet went away from the phone and said something Becca couldn’t make out. “We’ve got a lot of them. I think most of them. It’s a good thing you told me earlier there were twenty-one so we could keep track. They didn’t go too far, mostly under the porch and around by the shed.”
Becca splayed her hand against the wall. Through a window, she could see the snow coming down harder than ever. What kind of person throws helpless animals outside on a night like this? “I can be there in twenty minutes.”
“No, I don’t think—” Janet stopped. “Okay. Maybe you should come. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. You didn’t do this.” Becca took a deep breath and glanced down the hall. Zane was headed her way. “How many do you still need to find?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe five or six? Some headed for the woods. Those are the ones I’m worried about.”
The woods. Helen Kramer’s property bordered Mountain Glen, which backed up to about twenty acres of thick pines. If the cats found their way in there on a night of heavy snow and freezing temperatures, they’d almost certainly die. Becca hung up without saying goodbye.
“You’re leaving,” Zane said as he reached her. “Aren’t you?”
“I wouldn’t unless it was an emergency.”
He clutched a glass of beer, half-full. A tiny muscle worked in the side of his jaw. “Seems like it’s always an emergency.”
“Don’t say that. Please don’t be mad.”
He took a long swallow of beer. “I’m not mad. Christ, how can I be mad? You’re running out into a goddamn blizzard to rescue…what is it this time? A pair of goats? A blind horse? You’re Mother Theresa of the animal world, Bec. There’s no way I could be mad.”
Her face flushed. “Okay, then. You’re being a jackass.”
His expression softened. “I’m not. Or maybe I am. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be. I just thought we could enjoy this night all the way through.” He ran the back of his hand over her cheek. “I’m crazy about you, doll. And, yes, I guess that makes me a little jealous sometimes.”
“It’s just work. It’s…” But she didn’t know how to explain in a way that would make him understand. “You know Helen Kramer? Lives in one of those old homes behind the Glen?”
“Sure. Her son went to school with me. Good guy.”
“A good guy? No. He’s not anything close to that. He went over to her house tonight, opened all the doors and threw her cats outside.”
He frowned. “Why?”
Tears of frustration rose in her eyes. “I don’t know. Because he’s a heartless asshole?”
Zane rubbed his thumb along his glass. “I remember him being a decent guy. Maybe there’s something you don’t know. Maybe he had a reason.”
“A reason to toss twenty-one cats outside on the coldest night of the year?”
His eyes widened. “Twenty-one? Well, shit. That’s a hell of a lot of animals to be living in someone’s house.”
“So it’s okay, what he did?”
“Hey, I didn’t say that. I only meant—”
“I know what you meant.” It took all her strength to focus on the words. “Animals can take care of themselves, right? They’ll be fine. They have intuition.” She lifted a palm. “You’ve made yourself clear. Many times.”
His expression hardened.
She pushed away all her feelings, every last little part of her that had fallen for Zane Andrews over the last three weeks. “You can get a ride home?”
“I’m sure I can.”
Probably with one of those women sitting at his table. She nodded and walked by him without another word. Five minutes later, with tears stinging her eyes and the wind swirling around her, Becca slid into the driver’s seat of her car and headed into the storm.
Chapter Eighteen
Zane stormed to the bar. She knew what he meant? She didn’t have a damn idea what was going through his mind. You’re leaving me again. This time, he didn’t even try to pretend it didn’t hurt, didn’t remind him of his father walking out with Christmas carols still playing in the goddamn living room and Goldie whimpering as dear old dad dragged her out the door.
Yes, animals have intuition. Yes, twenty-one cats is about twenty too many to be living in a house. And why do you have to be the one to save them?
But the more Zane turned over the thoughts in his head, the more it all came back to the ache behind his breastbone. I like you. A lot. And you walked out on me without even saying goodbye.
“Everything okay?” Belinda Zimmerman sidled up to the bar. “Looks like you need another drink.”
But he pushed the empty glass across the bar and shook his head.
“What happened to your date?”
“She had to leave.”
“Why?”
“Emergency at work.” Suddenly, Zane felt like the world’s biggest loser. Here he stood, a grown man sulking because his girlfriend—and, yes, he had grown used to calling her that in his head and in his heart—was putting in unpaid overtime to rescue animals in a snowstorm. He wondered if Becca would even stop to change her clothes or just barrel into the drifts in her impractical leather boots.
“What about you?” Belinda asked as she trailed a finger down his sleeve. “Do you have to leave?’
“Actually, I do.” He pushed back his stool. He’d already wasted too much time feeling sorry for himself. But he didn’t have a damn set of wheels, plus, he’d had a couple beers too many over the last hour. His gaze fastened on Belinda’s huge, false-lashed eyes. Idea. “Can I ask you a huge favor?”
She rested both elbows on the bar and batted those lashes. “Anything you want.”
He smiled and tapped the enormous diamond ring on her left finger. “Maybe if you were single…”
She lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “Ah. Morals. Just what I don’t like in a guy.” She glanced at the table where her husband still sat. “Fine.” She sighed. “So I don’t get alone time with you. You’re a decent guy, Zane. What do you need? A ride?”
“If you can spare the car.”
“We’ve got it for the whole night. The driver’s probably outside playing games on his phone to pass the time. Lord knows, we won’t be leaving this place anytime soon. Just send him back when you’re done.”
On impulse, Zane leaned over and kissed her cheek, coming away with a mouthful of makeup. “Thanks a million.”
Belinda fluttered her fingers in the direction of the door. “Better hurry. She’s got a good ten minutes on you, and that snow doesn’t look like it’s letting up.”
With the words sparking fear into his veins, Zane grabbed his coat, waved goodbye and hopped into the backseat of a stretch limo for the ride back over the mountain to Pine Point.
Becca stopped at the shelter long enough to change into a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and a spare pair of Julito’s work boots. She only had thin black stockings underneath, but they’d have to do. She didn’t have time to run home for anything else. She grabbed a pilled black woolen hat and wrapped her long red coat around herself. Then she headed straight for the Kramer house.
A plow passed her on Main Street, scraping the latest coating of snow from the road. She slowed, fishtailed a little and then righted the car in time to slide though the yellow light by the diner. She forced herself to take a breath and uncurl her fingers from their death grip on the steering wheel. The drive over the mountain had been treacherous enough. She didn’t need to end up in a ditch less than a mile from where she needed to go.
He didn’t even try to stop me. Or offer to come with me. The thoughts bounced around her head as she turned the wipers to high. Maybe she’d misread their night together. Maybe she really was just another warm body to Zane, a way for him to avoid loneliness around the holidays. In that case, she’d be smart to keep
her distance. Maybe this call was a blessing in disguise after all. Up ahead, the Methodist Church cast light onto the pavement, and bells played faintly. The week leading up to Christmas, the church played carols every night from seven to twelve. She’d always liked that tradition, the idea that Christmas should last longer than a brief twenty-four hours at the end of December.
She said a quick prayer to the tune of “What Child Is This?” and then turned and followed County Route 78 out of town. Just past the Pine Point limits, the road worsened. She cut her speed to twenty. No moon, no stars, just snow falling from what seemed like every direction. She stopped thinking about Zane and focused on the cats.
“Just another half-mile,” she said aloud. She squinted into the distance. When the lights for Mountain Glen appeared, she’d know to look for the narrow road on her right.
Mountain Glen. Zane. The women from the party. So much for not thinking about him.
An SUV passed her in the opposite direction, spraying up snow. She braked and slid to the left. “Hang on,” she willed her tires. There. Faint glimmers up ahead. That meant the road to Helen’s would be about another hundred yards on her right.
Becca almost missed it. At the last minute, she swung the wheel hard to the right and swerved across both lanes into Diamond Road. “Shit!” Her SUV slid wide, heading for the ditch. Becca held her breath. Somehow, she stayed on the road. Creeping along at ten miles an hour now, she nosed the vehicle forward. In a few minutes, she spied figures standing along the drifted shoulder, and as soon as she rounded the curve, the Kramer house came into full view, lit up like the Fourth of July.
“Oh, thank God.” She pulled into the unplowed driveway and hauled herself out into the storm. Wind nearly took her breath away, and she buttoned her coat all the way to her chin.
“Bec?” Janet emerged from the dark, covered in snow from head to foot. Her cheeks were bright red, her nose running furiously. “We’ve got eighteen of them.” She motioned to the front porch, where Becca could make out the shapes of Julito and Kevin and cat carriers of various sizes.
She looked around, trying to get her bearings. “Do you have any idea where the others are?”
Winter's Wonder: Pine Point, Book 2 Page 10