“For work.”
“Yes, but why? Was it the only job you could get?”
I felt my temperature rise. “No. I could have had others, but I wanted to get away, and I know Connor, I mean Professor Daniels, well. I already told you.”
“And you’re into land dispute cases?”
“Not necessarily, but it’s interesting enough.” Had I told him what case I was there for? Maybe there weren’t too many other ones that would bring in attorneys from out of town.
“I’d be careful.” He leaned in. “Ok?”
“Careful of what exactly?”
“Everything.” He stepped back.
“Ok?”
“All right. I better get inside before Mrs. Peterson gets suspicious. Have a nice shower.” He smiled before walking away.
12
Ian
“She’s not the kind of girl who’s going to fall to her knees for you, Ian.” Mrs. Peterson rested her hand on the kitchen counter top.
I choked on the sip of lemonade I’d just taken.
“Oh no, don’t you dare. You knew exactly what I meant.” She brought over a pitcher of water to the table.
Somehow Mrs. Peterson explaining herself made it worse. I coughed a few times before I cleared out the tart drink.
“And there’s a history there. A dark one.” Mrs. Peterson frowned. “I can’t put my finger on what it is.”
“Have you met the professor?” I needed any information on the guy I could get.
“I saw him for the briefest of moments. He came by to tell her he was leaving.”
“And when was that?” I set down three fresh glasses on the table cloth covered table. She hadn’t had to ask me to help her set the table for dinner.
“A few hours after Mara arrived.” She opened a cabinet and directed me toward the plates she wanted me to select.
“And he hasn’t been over here again since?” I set the plates on the table and returned to Mrs. Peterson to get the silverware.
“Not that I’ve heard.” She handed me the napkins.
“I don’t like it.” Mara had described him as a family friend. What kind of family friend invited a girl across the country for a job and then took off? Wasn’t he at all worried about her security or well-being? I knew I already was, but then again we had a connection she couldn’t possibly have with this professor.
“You don’t like the idea of a man in her life, or that he left her here?”
“Both.” I saw no reason to hide my intentions from Mrs. Peterson. She’d figure them out anyway, and she was already helping me out. Hopefully she’d continue to help me.
She smiled. “Good.”
“Good?” Was she even more invested than I thought?
“It means you care for all the right reasons.”
“But why would he hire her to come out here and leave? Not to mention why is he here? He’s a professor, not a practicing attorney.” There were so many parts of this situation that didn’t make any sense at all.
“He’s been called in for some sort of council. That’s all I know.”
“Where did he go?” Mrs. Peterson knew everything that was going on. It’s why I knew our Jonovan secret was safe. If she didn’t know, it was unlikely anyone in town would figure it out.
“I don’t know. And I don’t think she does either.” Mrs. Peterson took a seat in her usual seat at the table. “She doesn’t seem particularly happy about her situation here.”
“I don’t like it. I don’t like that he left her here.”
“Me neither. Good thing she’s got you now.” She grinned.
“If she decides to let me stick around.” I’d messed up in the cottage. I’d seen a flicker of fear in her eyes, and I hoped that was something I could get rid of.
“Uh oh.” Mrs. Peterson shook her head. “What did you do?”
“Let her know my intentions weren’t friendly.” Once again I went with honesty. Mrs. Peterson generally gave very good advice.
“You let her know with your words?”
“I may have cornered her against the wall. And kissed her.” Or door, but I didn’t need to emphasize the whole being in Mara’s house thing.
“Ian.” Mrs. Peterson frowned.
“I know. I didn’t hurt her, but she was so big on me only hanging around to be friendly. And that’s not the case.”
Mrs. Peterson leaned back in her chair. “No. I can’t imagine it is.” “How was it?” She grinned.
“The kiss?” I was completely unused to discussing this sort of thing with her.
“Yes. Of course.”
“Better than I could have hoped.”
“Does that mean incredible?”
“Perfect.” There was no reason to hold back the honest truth from her. “But ended too soon.”
“All the best kind of kisses end too soon.” She winked. “It leaves both parties wanting more.”
“Let’s hope you’re right.” I was ready to drop the awkward conversation. “Try to put in a good word for me?”
“I already have. I think you two will make a good match.”
“Any particular reason why?” I already had my reasons, but I wouldn’t mind hearing hers.
“You will balance one another out. You’re alike just enough to make the flames fly but keep them from burning down the house.”
“Interesting description.”
“I know these things.” Mrs. Peterson leaned in. “Take my word for it.”
I nodded. “You don’t need to convince me. I’m interested. And tell me if you hear anything about the professor.” I needed all the information I could get. I barely knew anything about the guy, but I knew I couldn’t trust him.
“I will. You do the same.”
I felt Mara approach before I heard her tentative knock. The fact that I felt her wasn’t a good thing—well, not a good thing for her. It was a perfectly good thing for me.
I headed for the door, but Mrs. Peterson stopped me. She gestured for me to step back and opened the door herself. “Hi, honey.”
Mara was dressed in a pale pink dress that hugged each and every one of her curves. Technically it covered everything it should have, but that only made it harder. She was torturing me pure and simple, especially since the heeled sandals she was wearing made her legs that much more tempting.
“Hi, sorry I took a while.” Her voice was sweet yet nervous. That nervousness hadn’t been there before.
“You’re right on time,” Mrs. Peterson reassured her. I watched Mara, letting my eyes roam over every inch of her body.
“Ian, aren’t you going to say hello?”
I’d sunken into my thoughts of how I’d like to remove the dress—either slowly or by ripping it off of her, but Mrs. Peterson’s voice brought me back to reality. We most definitely weren’t alone. I belatedly composed myself. “Hi, Mara. You look lovely.”
“Thanks.” Mara blushed, making everything worse for me.
Mrs. Peterson smiled. “Oh, darn it.”
“What? What’s wrong?” Mara asked with alarm.
“I forgot I have my bridge club tonight. Glad I have enough food to feed them, but you two are going to have to find your own meal.” She beamed and all but winked at me.
“Oh.” Mara nodded. “That’s fine. I can make my own dinner.”
“Not unless you’re also going to cook for Ian.” Mrs. Peterson shook her head. “I can’t leave that poor boy to eat alone.”
Mara wrinkled her nose. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“But we’ve both cleaned up nice.” I had to think of something. If Mrs. Peterson was giving me this opportunity, I wasn’t going to waste it. “Why not go out to eat?”
Mara looked away. “You won’t waste it if you go into town. I am sure you can find someone to join you for dinner.”
I felt a growl rise in me. There was only one woman I planned to have dinner with. I knew what game Mrs. Peterson was playing, but it was about to backfire.
“
My bridge club gets loud, honey. You’re going to want to be scarce for a few hours.”
“I think I can handle the noise.” Mara frowned. “But thank you for the warning.”
“Does my company displease you that much?” I reached for any tools I could. It was a low blow, but I’d do whatever I needed to do. “Because it’s hard to read your reaction right now as anything but you trying to get out of spending time with me.”
“No. But you’ve helped me out enough already today.” She clasped her hands in front of her.
“No, I haven’t.” I held out my arm to her. “What kind of food are you in the mood for?”
“Take her to Anderson’s steakhouse.” Mrs. Peterson chimed in. “You can’t beat the steaks.”
It was where I’d already been planning to take her once I made sure she ate meat.
“Oh, anything is fine with me.” Mara looked away. “I’m not picky at all.”
“Perfect. Get going then you two. I have to get ready.” Mrs. Peterson pushed us out the door.
“She did that on purpose,” Mara mumbled under her breath as she descended the front porch steps.
“Of course she did.” I tried to keep the glee from my voice, but I didn’t try all that hard.
“And you don’t seem surprised.”
I opened her side of the truck, and she let me help her up. I didn’t bother trying to keep my eyes off of her ass as she stepped into the cab. I only had so much willpower, and I was going to save it for when we were in public. I closed the door and walked around to my side. “She seems interested in playing matchmaker.”
“You don’t seem like the type to let someone else dictate your life.” She buckled her seatbelt.
“I don’t mind it this time.” I started the truck.
“Why?” Her eyes seemed innocent as if she actually didn’t know.
I backed out of the driveway before replying. I didn’t want to give her a chance to run off. “Because I want exactly what she wants.”
Mara shifted in her seat. “Why?”
“Why what?” I couldn’t ignore that her shifting had revealed more of her legs.
“Why are you interested in me?”
“How could I not be?” It would have been impossible.
“I saw the way you looked at me this morning. That wasn’t interest.”
I pulled over to the side of the road and put the car in park. I turned to look right at her. “I was surprised you were at that burial. If you looked at me a few seconds later you would have seen a different expression.”
“Did you know I lived at Mrs. Peterson’s?”
“Before today?” I asked.
She nodded.
“No. I just got back into town last night.”
“Ok.” She nodded as if to herself. “Now I feel stupid.”
“Why?”
“Because I pretty much accused you of stalking me or something, which you obviously weren’t doing.” She looked away.
I captured her chin with my hand and turned her face toward me. “I’m not stalking you. I don’t stalk. But I do go after what I want.”
“Even if what you want doesn’t want you back?”
“Is that what you think?” I stroked her cheek with my finger. “That this is one-sided?”
“I don’t know you.” She returned my eye contact. There was more than a little bit of hesitation and doubt in her eyes. I needed to wipe all of that away.
“But you want me. I know it as well as you do.” I took her hand in mine, wanting more contact. “You want me, and eventually you’re going to admit it to yourself.”
“Eventually?” She shook her head. “You act as though we’ve know each other for years. We met this morning.”
“And now it’s evening.” I stroked her hand with my fingers. “What’s your point?”
She laughed. It was a gorgeous laugh that made me want her even more. “You’re crazy.”
“Will you at least admit you’re attracted to me?”
She blushed. “Why do you care? Are you on some sort of ego trip?”
“I’m happy to admit I’m attracted to you.” I rested our joined hands on her leg. “Incredibly attracted to you.”
“And that was the reason for the kiss?”
“Maybe we should do it again.”
“Kiss?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. I think you’ve forgotten how it made you feel.”
“Are you always this arrogant?” She shook her head. “Maybe we should go back.”
“Why?” I released her chin, but she didn’t turn her head.
“Because I’m not looking for whatever it is you’re expecting.”
“What am I expecting?” I waited eagerly for her answer. It would give me a better sense of what thoughts were actually going through her mind.
“Sex. What else do men ever want?”
“It’s going to be more than sex.” But sex would be part of it. I’d be making sure of that.
“Going to be? Isn’t that a little over confident?” She tried to pull her hand away, but I squeezed it in mine and she quickly stopped.
I bit back a smile. “You stopped asking me to take you home.”
“I could say it again.”
“But you don’t want to.” She didn’t. I could tell. She was also more relaxed, which said more than her words were saying.
She shrugged. “I’m hungry.”
“Are you sure that’s for food?” I put the car back in drive even though I didn’t want to. I wanted to pull her onto my lap and remind her of our connection.
“What happened to you being a gentleman?” She slumped down slightly in her seat.
“I tried. It didn’t work.” I smiled. I was barely keeping my hands to myself. She wanted me, and that made it harder to resist her.
“So you’re giving up on it?”
“Not entirely.” I was being as much of a gentleman as I could be, but my bear wasn’t good at playing that game. It knew what it wanted.
“Just to make this clear, the only thing we’re doing tonight is having dinner.”
“No.” I shook my head.
“Uh, then turn around.”
“I don’t mean sex. Ok? Why don’t we just establish that so you can relax? But we’re doing something other than dinner.”
“What?” She shifted in her seat again. This time she tugged down on her dress.
“It’s a surprise.”
“What if I don’t like surprises?” she challenged.
“You’re going to learn.” I planned to surprise her over and over again.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to be surprising you a lot.”
“You won’t even remember me in a few months when I leave.” She didn’t sound particularly excited about that.
“I can promise you that I’ll remember you.” And she wasn’t leaving at the end of a few months. I’d make sure of it. “And a few months is a long time.”
“I might not even make it a few months. If Connor doesn’t get back soon, there’s no point in me being here.” She turned to the window.
“Sure there’s a point.”
“What?” She turned back to me.
“Getting to know me, and if you’re bored I can find you plenty of jobs to do.”
“That had better not mean what it sounds like.”
“Hey, I run a ranch. I can always use extra hands.”
“I’m a law student, not a ranch hand.”
“A law student that grew up on a dairy farm. You’ve already told me, you know all you need to know about cattle.” I wondered how well that would translate to life on my land.
“Connor will be back. I’m going to call him tonight.”
“Tonight?” I wasn’t planning on giving her much time to make phone calls.
“Whenever I get home.”
“That might be late.”
“But it will be sometime.”
I laughed. “Sometime is a broad window of ti
me.”
“Not as broad as you think.”
13
Mara
I waited impatiently while the hostess gathered our menus. The impatience had nothing to do with my being hungry. It had everything to do with wanting to sit down so people would stop staring at us.
I checked my dress half-a dozen times to make sure there was nothing on it until I realized they weren’t staring at me exactly; they were staring at me with Ian.
Unfortunately the staring didn’t stop once we reached our table. All eyes were on us as Ian pulled out my chair, and they remained there once we were seated across from each other.
I’d only just opened a menu when a couple walked over. The woman smiled at us. “Hello, Ian, is this your Mara everyone’s been talking about?”
His Mara? I waited for him to explain we were only friends.
He didn’t. “Yes, this is Mara. Mara, this is Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell.”
“Nice to meet you,” I muttered. I tried to come up with a way to politely explain that I wasn’t really with Ian, but they walked away before I could.
“Your Mara?” I narrowed my eyes at him as soon as the couple walked off.
He grinned. “I don’t mind the sound of that.”
“I’m not your Mara. You know that.”
“Come on, they were only making conversation.”
I managed to read one section of the menu before a woman walked over. “Hi you two!”
“Hello, Ms. Tanner. How are you this evening?” Ian laid on all the charm.
“I am just fine. I wanted to make sure I had the opportunity to introduce myself to Mara.” She held out a hand to me. “I’m Evelyn. Welcome to Crestview.”
“Thank you.”
“It didn’t take you long to settle on Ian, did it?” Her voice lost a little bit of its chirpiness, and I thought about what Mrs. Peterson had said about not everyone liking Ian.
“I haven’t settled on anything. I am in town for the summer, and Ian has been nice enough to show me around.”
“I have a son who wouldn’t mind showing you around.” She opened her purse. “Would you like me to have Mitch call you?”
“Oh no. That won’t be necessary.” Maybe I should have gone along with the charade after all.
Hunt (The Grizzly Brothers Chronicles Book 1) Page 6