by Lola Kidd
Surrendering to the Stag
Lola Kidd
Copyright 2015 by Lola Kidd
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the express consent of the author.
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Mail-Order Mates Reading Order
Loving the Lion (Owen and Erin)
Wolf Seeks Wife (Kellan and Molly)
The Bear’s Bride (Frank and Amy)
Taming the Tiger (Dominic and Gwen)
A Wife for the Wolves (Matt, Mark, and Jackie)
Surrendering to the Stag (Clint and Rachel)
About this Book
Rachel Drummond has spent her entire life in Sunset Falls. The hardworking waitress has longed for a family of her own for years. Seeing her friends find love with a mail-order bride service. Rachel decides to give the agency a chance.
Stag-shifter Clint Preacher has had his eye on Rachel since they were teenagers. The beautiful curvy waitress has never batted an eye in Clint’s direction. To his surprise, the two are matched via Lovely and Kind Brides. Clint is eager to get their romance underway but Rachel is holding back. She has a secret that could tear them apart. Will these longtime friends find romance or will they part ways for good? Find out in book six of the Mail-Order Mates series.
Table of Contents
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
A Note from Lola
Other Books by Lola Kidd
One
“They’re sending a small group here in one month!” Owen Brooks said. He handed Clint Preacher his morning coffee. “I can’t believe it. I really thought it would take us years to get to this point.”
“Don’t get too excited,” Clint cautioned. “It’s great they’re sending people out so early. That doesn’t mean we’ll get it.”
Owen nodded. “I know, but this is huge, man. I wonder if we can have the greenhouse up by next week. I’d love to have the thing filled with flowers by the time they come.”
“I’ve rushed the orders already.” Clint knew his friend too well. Owen wasn’t a very patient alpha. Once he got an idea, he had to start on it right away. As soon as he’d heard about plans for a greenhouse at Brooks Farm, Clint had started researching. Naturally, he’d lend a hand to the Pride. He was the best handyman in all of Sunset Falls. Even though he’d owned his own hardware store for the last fifteen years, he still liked to do a few jobs a year. They kept him feeling fresh and in touch with his customers.
“Thanks, Clint.” Owen’s phone buzzed. He finished his coffee and ran for the door. “Call me as soon as that stuff comes in. I’ll have Steve and Rusty come and pick it all up.”
Clint chuckled as Owen ran out of the store. He had a new cub at home and was eager to be home most of his time. His sisters and mother had complained that they never got to hold the new cub, because Owen was a total baby hog. He would hold his new son all day and all night given the chance. Now that the baby was a month old, his wife Erin had started making Owen leave the house for one hour each day. So now, Clint and Owen had a standing coffee date three mornings a week.
Clint could only imagine the lion shifter’s joy. The stag wasn’t a father himself, and he dreamed of the day he too could start a family.
Owen had found his bride through a mail-order bride company that catered to shifters, Lovely and Kind Brides. Like most of the single men in town, Clint had signed up with the service after seeing many of the men in town find mates. There had been a rash of weddings lately. Five members of the Lunar Pack had found mates the month before and had had a group wedding.
Even though he hadn’t been matched yet, Clint was happy that the town was finally starting to see a turnaround. It had all started with Owen wanting to get a spot on a national shifter magazine’s list of the best small towns in America. Honestly, Clint had expected it to take at least five years before Sunset Falls could even think about making the list. Lo and behold, after Owen got the idea in his head, the town was getting a chance at the list only eight months later. It was pretty incredible.
Clint had been largely supporting the town from the sidelines. He’d gotten an idea while he was closing the store two weeks earlier. He had a lot of time on his hands and wanted something to keep him busy. There were many nice houses in town, but there were also houses that needed a little TLC. Clint had come up with an idea that would give him something to do, help improve the town, and might help them get on that American Shifters Weekly list.
After he finished his coffee, he left his cashier in charge of the store and went to the mayor’s office. James Durant was a good mayor, but he didn’t have many innovative ideas for the town. They’d only gotten a slick website thanks to Owen’s wife. Clint wanted to run his idea by James before he went full steam ahead.
“Afternoon, Clint.” James shook his hand. “Please sit down.”
“Thanks.” Clint took a seat on one of the old chairs. The mayor’s office was really only two rooms in the small city hall. The décor looked like it hadn’t been updated since the late seventies. If Clint noticed, it had to be bad. He hadn’t bought new furniture himself since the early nineties.
“What can I do for you?” the mayor asked.
“I have an idea to fix up the town,” Clint started. “We have some old houses around town that could use a little care. Nothing major. Painting exteriors, light landscaping, fixing fences. I’ll donate my time and some supplies from my store. Maybe you could get a volunteer thing going for it, too.”
“That’s a great idea!” James got out of his chair. “Maria! You’ve got a new project.”
“Really?” Clint hadn’t thought it would be that easy to get the support of the city.
“We’ve got the magazine people coming. Anything you can do to make this place nicer, I would really appreciate. I think we already have something started that’s really similar, too. It’s been at a standstill because we couldn’t find anyone to lead it. Sunset First Initiative?”
“That’s what that was?” Clint groaned. “That was two years ago, James. You should have come to me.”
“I sent you a letter… I think. It doesn’t matter now. We’re back on! This is wonderful, Clint.”
Maria Lunar came into the office. “What did you need?”
“Ah, Maria. We’re starting the Sunset First Initiative back up.”
“We’re changing the name, then,” Maria said. “Nobody even understood what that was all about. When do you want to start?”
James looked at Clint. “What about two weeks?”
“You think you can get people organized that quickly?”
“She’s a very organized young lady,” James said.
Maria waved her hand. “We have some boys in the pack who could use something to do in their spare time. I’ll get all your volunteers if you’ll show them all what to do.”
Clint stood up and shook her hand. “Deal!”
***
Rachel Drummond was in mood for cooking. It had been a busy morning at work. They wer
e training a new waitress and she was a nervous wreck. The girl would get the hang of it eventually, but Rachel had to work at double speed to get her tables taken care of and train. When she got back to her house each evening, she’d promptly fall asleep on her couch.
“Your shift doesn’t start until five in the morning, Rachel. Did you get confused again?” Mark Lunar teased when she walked into Two Wolves Diner.
“My boss is real jerk. He worked me like a dog this morning,” Rachel shot back as she sat at the counter. “Can I get a meatloaf sandwich and two sides of fries?”
A waitress poured Rachel a glass of iced tea and put in her order. Rachel didn’t come into Two Wolves to get food off the clock often. Matt and Mark, her bosses, would never let her pay for her meals. It didn’t feel right to take advantage of their kindness too much. They were great bosses and they paid all their workers way above the industry standard in the area. They’d gotten a boost thanks to a burst of tourists over spring break. The twins had passed much of their windfall onto their employees in the form of bonuses.
Rachel was going to use her bonus to take a long overdue vacation. She was thumbing through a travel magazine to get inspiration when two men sat down next to her.
“Evening, Rachel,” Clint said.
“Fancy seeing you here.” Dom waved from next to Clint.
“Why don’t you two get a booth?” Rachel asked, not looking up from her magazine. “Much easier to talk when you’re looking at each other.”
“I don’t mind the view from where I’m sitting,” Clint said.
When Rachel looked up, he was giving her one of his dazzling smiles. She quickly looked back down at her magazine. Dom reached over and picked up the back of her book. “Looking to travel?”
“I sure am,” she said gleefully.
“Not going to happen.” Mark looked solemn. “No way she’s going to get the time off work.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Matt approved the time off weeks ago.”
Mark scowled. “Damn that brother of mine. We’ll have to start planning now. You know we can’t run this place without you.”
“I know.” She wasn’t being proud. Rachel had been waitressing for her entire adult life. She was very experienced and very good at her job. She was assistant manager of the place in all but name. She did her job well and she knew it.
“When was the last time you went on a vacation?” Clint asked her after he and Dom had put in their order.
She thought back. “I think it might have been ten years ago. I went to Pennsylvania to visit my aunt before she died.”
Dom groaned. “He said vacation, Rachel. You know, something fun and relaxing.”
“I don’t know if I’ve ever done that.”
Clint looked thoughtful. “I don’t think I have as an adult, either. My parents took me on trips almost every summer when I was a kid. But once I started working, I never got around to taking myself anywhere.”
“You know what this means?” Dom asked. “You two need to go on a vacation together. This is the setup of a great buddy movie.”
“Or a romantic comedy,” Clint said.
Rachel’s face burned as she took her plate from Sally. Why did he always have to do that? She liked Clint, but he was always making jokes that bordered on being inappropriate. She didn’t think it was very funny at all.
“What do you think, Rachel?” Dom asked. “If you have a buddy to go with, there’s no way to back out. And we all know there’s a seventy percent chance that you’ll back right out at the last minute.”
“I will now,” she insisted. “I’m going on a vacation this year and it’s going to be very relaxing. Maybe I’ll do one of those luxury spa trips.”
“Don’t tell Gwen,” Dom said. “She’ll die of jealousy if you go to a fancy spa and she has to stay here being all pregnant.”
Rachel laughed. “Gwen loves being pregnant. But maybe I could wait to have a girls’ trip.”
“Gwen loves babies,” Dom corrected. “She does not love being pregnant. She’s been sick the whole time.”
“Wait, that’s a thing?” Mark asked, alarmed. “I thought they were sick for a month and then it was over.”
Dom shook his head. “Not all the time. Some lucky ladies get to stay sick longer.”
“Amy and Molly are fine,” Mark said. “And Erin had it easy. Sounds like this sick thing is rare. Maybe it’s a tiger thing. You two made some kind of fire baby.”
“It isn’t very common,” Dom assured him. “I bet Jackie will waltz through her pregnancy.”
Clint’s and Dom’s food arrived. Clint looked at Rachel as he took his plate. “So you’re replacing me with Gwen? I see how it is. Old Clint can’t get any love.”
“After people hear about this initiative you’re doing, I think Old Clint is going to be getting a whole truckload of love,” Dom said, saving Rachel from having to answer.
“What are you up to?” she asked.
Clint gave her the rundown of his plan to take care of the small projects in town.
“And the best part is, I think we can get some federal money,” Dom said. “I’m going to fill out some grant forms and see what I can do for next year. You’re doing a great thing, man.”
“It really is great,” Rachel said.
Clint beamed. “Thanks. I’m just doing what I can to help out the cause.”
It was just like Clint to do something so wonderful. He was one of the sweetest men in town. Rachel knew that he had signed up for the mail-order bride service that was so popular among the shifters in town. She was surprised he hadn’t been matched yet. A great guy like Clint shouldn’t be waiting around for a wife.
The service was helping a lot of people. Her own bosses had found love that way. Rachel’s friends had encouraged her to join, but so far she’d refused. She knew there were going to be some special circumstances for her match if she could get one, but it couldn’t hurt to try. She’d sign up that night and see what happened. It wasn’t like she had a line of suitors in town.
Two
Clint waited as the phone rang. He liked to call his LK agent once a month and have a little checkin. He’d missed her at all the weddings somehow. She was always busy talking to people and he didn’t want to interrupt her while she was talking to potential new clients.
“Olivia Grey,” she answered.
“Liv, it’s Clint.”
“Wonderful to hear from you, Clint! How’s your month going?”
Clint told her all about his plan to spruce up the town and ASW sending a group to check out the town.
“Oh! That’s so good to hear. It sounds like you’ll be getting another influx of tourists soon.”
“Sounds like it. I might have to look into starting a new business to take advantage of all the traffic.”
“I guess a hardware store isn’t very tourist friendly, is it? Maybe you could sell the other business owners bags to carry all their tourist dollars in?”
Clint chuckled. “That’s a great idea. And the only way I’ll be getting in on the influx of money.”
“From what I can see, you’re doing very well for yourself, plus there’s your inheritance. You could close the shop now and start something new if you really wanted to.”
“You know I don’t.” Clint had gotten a considerable life insurance payout when his mother died. It had been very unexpected and he hadn’t touched the money yet. His friend Ben had helped him get in touch with financial people and Clint was now making enough money from the interest on his investments to live on that alone. He’d told Olivia about it when he’d signed up with the company. He hadn’t dated a woman seriously since getting the windfall, and Olivia had suggested that he keep his financial information to himself until he had dated a woman for a considerable amount of time. Clint was going to take her advice.
“Well, then, enjoy all the new faces in town. But I bet that isn’t why you’re calling.”
“Just wanted to check in and see how things are
going on your end.”
“Same as last time, unfortunately. Nothing new to report on your profile. We’ve had a few hits with eighty percent compatibility, but I want to hold out for something better.”
“Sounds great. I’ll see you soon, I’m sure.”
“Maybe. Be sure to come and say hello in person this time!”
“I’ll try.”
Clint sighed after he hung up. He had a lot of money, a good job, and wanted to start a family. But he couldn’t get a match to save his life. Sometimes it all got to be too much. Mark and Matt Lunar were fifteen years his junior and had already found a match. Clint couldn’t help but compare himself to the other men who’d been matched and wonder where he’d gone wrong. Had he filled out the surveys wrong? Was he going to be very difficult to match?
It didn’t help when he spent time with Rachel at Two Wolves. The waitress got under his skin and his stag had noticed. Clint had been flirting with her for years, but he still hadn’t worked up the nerve to ask her out on a date. She didn’t seem to like him at all. On the other hand, her prickly demeanor didn’t match her warm eyes or the bright smile whenever he came into the restaurant. Clint’s stag never failed to notice those things or anything else that she did.
She was hard to miss. It was amusing that Rachel was good friends with Dom’s wife Gwen. The two had similar shapes but were so different. Gwen dressed to play up her curves. She had a big, loud personality and was always the life of the party. Rachel was much more understated and modest. She had a body every bit as curvy as Gwen’s but she always hid it under her clothes. Clint appreciated that, since he was a quiet man himself. He didn’t like calling attention to himself without a good reason.
He could only imagine what it would be like having a body like Rachel’s. If she dressed like Gwen, she’d have men beating a path to her door too, but she didn’t. As far as he could tell, Rachel hadn’t dated anyone in almost twenty years. He only remembered her having one boyfriend in high school, and he wasn’t even a serious one. She’d gone with a human boy to all the dances. The guy had left for college after senior year and Clint hadn’t been sad to see him go.
Since then, he’d had his eye on Rachel but it was a useless pining. She didn’t want anything to do with him. He’d never even confided in anyone that he had a thing for her. A tiny part of him had been excited when Dom and Gwen got together because it meant there was still hope for him and Rachel. Dom and Gwen had known each other for years. They’d even dated when Dom first came to town. Still, they hadn’t gotten together as mates until LK Brides hooked them up. Clint had dreams about getting matched with Rachel and getting to spend the rest of their lives together.