He wanted to touch so much more of her, but he didn’t want to disturb her. He yearned to grab her, sling her over his shoulder, and carry her off to his room, but he didn’t want to push her. He would hate to do anything to make her uncomfortable or nervous.
He summoned all his resolve to take his hand off her arm. Even then, her skin left its imprint on his cells. He could never tear himself away from her until he joined with her for life.
He drew back. “Thank you. I appreciate that. I know how important your brothers are to you. I won’t let Rhys come between us, either.”
A happy smile spread over her face, and her bright white teeth shone between her crimson lips. Man, he wanted to kiss her right now! His whole being screamed for her, but he had to take his time. He had to give her the space to come to this on her own.
To his amazement, she followed him. She took a step toward him, and this time, she touched the stiff cotton of his shirt where it grazed against his sleeve. “You’re a good man, Silas. You’re gonna be a great Alpha when your pop dies.”
He cocked his head to one side. “I won’t be a great Alpha until I find my mate.”
She studied him closer. “Yeah? And where do you think you’re gonna find her?”
His heart thudded so loud he barely heard his own voice. “What I mean is, I’ll be a great Alpha when I get married.”
She smiled again, and his whole world lit up. He would do anything to make her smile, and she understood exactly what he meant to say. He’d already found his mate. He just had to marry her, to make her his own. Everything else would fall into place after that.
He took a deep breath. “Natalie?”
She tried to speak, but it came out as a whisper. “Yes?”
“Do you think…?”
Her breath stuck in her throat. She didn’t blink while she waited for him to continue, but he couldn’t get the words out. He couldn’t say it—not here, not now.
She looked down at his mouth. A squirt of saliva jetted across his tongue. He hungered for her. He ached to kiss her. Did he dare? Would she run away if he tried it?
She stood so close. He caught a whiff of her scent, that Bruin scent that made his head spin. How could he ever get excited about Penny when he never smelled that scent from her? He would never smell her scent, and he didn’t want to. Natalie filled his head full of wild thoughts he couldn’t control.
Impulse and instinct burst out of him. Before he could give himself time to hesitate, he darted forward and kissed her. His lips stuck to her mouth. Her eyes shot open as big as saucers beyond his nose, but he didn’t withdraw. He kissed her until her lips responded. He nibbled once. He prodded her mouth open, and their tongues met.
Dear God, that kiss spoke to his deepest longing. He wanted her like he couldn’t believe. He wanted all of her, right there on the forest floor. He couldn’t get her dirty, though. He wanted to worship her. He wanted to keep her clean and unsullied. He wanted to preserve her for all time.
As soon as he kissed her, all doubt evaporated from his mind. He didn’t have to hold himself back from her. She was his mate. He knew it looking into her eyes, and everything she did, every glance told him she knew it, too. He didn’t have to wonder. He didn’t have to hesitate or fidget around in search of something to say.
He plucked his lips away, and she smiled that glowing smile of hers. He had to smile back. This was only the first kiss of many, many more to come. They both knew it.
He turned sideways and took her hand. “We better get back.”
She said nothing, but fell in step at his side all the way back to MacAllister Homestead. They walked through the door, and into the rest of their lives together.
84. Chapter 9
The Silas and Natalie walked in the door, Grace barreled out of Don and Iris’s room. She ran straight to Natalie. “Mommy says you’ll read a book to me.”
Natalie laughed. That’s what she came here for, so she might as well do it. “All right, Pumpkin. Your grandparents don’t have any books, so I’ll read you something on my tablet.”
Grace hopped up onto the couch, and Natalie sat next to her. She picked up the tablet and set it on her knees. She opened her Kindle reader. She could only pray to God Max didn’t contact her while she read to Grace.
She selected one of many kids’ books from her library, but Grace pointed to a different one. “I want that one.”
“Again?” Natalie groaned.
Grace held her ground. “I like that one.”
“Don’t you think you might want to try something different for a change? You always choose that one.”
Grace shook her head. “I like the witch.”
Laughter interrupted them. Natalie looked up to find Silas grinning on the couch across the room.
Natalie narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you have some work to do instead of laughing at me?”
He shook his head and turned away, but he wouldn’t stop smiling. “You two sound like a pair of old ladies.”
Natalie bent over her tablet. “All right. If that’s the one you want, I guess we can have it.”
She started reading, but she couldn’t help glancing up every now and then. Silas still sat there on the couch, but he didn’t get on his phone the way he did before. He watched them with his hands in his lap.
While she read about the witch that used her magic potion to turn children into mice for her cat to eat, Natalie floundered in confusion. What should she do if Max sent her a message now? Should she stop what she was doing to answer it? Should she ignore it?
If she answered it, he would send another one. He would keep sending them as long as she talked to him, and Silas would notice. If she ignored it, Max might take offense. He might get his feelings hurt, and…
And what? If he got his feelings hurt, he would stop messaging. That was what she wanted, wasn’t it? She didn’t want him to message.
Fortunately, he didn’t. He didn’t send her one message, during that book or any of the other three Grace asked her to read. In fact, he didn’t send her one message all day. That was strange.
Max made a lame excuse to get out of meeting her in Ross Cove after he suggested it in the first place. He also showed no sign of surprise when she let him go so easily at the end of their last conversation. Maybe he wanted to break it off, too. Maybe that’s what he was trying to tell her all this time.
Heaven knew this ill-fated romance wasted more valuable time she couldn’t get back. She would be glad when it ended and she went on with her life—her life with Silas.
After she read four books and Grace got bored with spending a bright summer day in the house, Silas got up. He dusted his hands together. “Come on, Grace. You and Natalie are coming outside with me.”
Grace rocketed to the door. “Yippee! Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you down to the milking sheds. You can see the cows.”
The little girl shrieked with delight. She exploded out of the house and left all the shadows of gloom and decay behind. The sun blinded Natalie. She murmured in Silas’s ear, “Thank you.”
They walked side by side, but she didn’t take his hand and he never touched her. Grace frisked over the grass and down the path. Silas and Natalie followed at a steady pace.
When they arrived at the sheds, Grace climbed up on the fence. She called to the cows lumbering onto the milking turntable. She shouted at the men working around them and shrieked over every new revelation.
Natalie and Silas hung back. Natalie took in every detail from a safe distance. “This is a much bigger operation than I expected. How long have you been doing this?”
“Do you mean how long have I been involved in the family business, or how long have I been running things?”
“Both,” she replied. “I never knew the MacAllister tribe had this going on.”
“We didn’t. I started milking in the shed when I was about seven. We only had a hundred cows then, and my pop ran everything. When I got to be about ten, I saw a few things that
could be improved, and I got the idea to upgrade our equipment so we could run about a thousand head on all our land. I told my pop about it, and he told me to do it.”
Natalie’s eyes flew open. “He what?”
Silas laughed. “That’s exactly what I said. He told me to go ahead and do it. He told me to upgrade the equipment, to replace it with what I thought we ought to use instead, and to purchase the cows, improve the pastures, start running them on our land, and to expand our operation.”
Natalie opened her mouth and closed it again. “He told you to do all that when you were ten years old?”
“Yep,” Silas replied. “I didn’t think I could do it, but I didn’t tell him that. I just went ahead and did it. I got on the internet and started learning. I learned everything I needed to, and I did it. I’ve basically been running things ever since, but hardly anybody knew that. Shaw never knew, and none of my cousins knew, either. My pop shielded me so no one challenged me. He did me the biggest favor anybody could do for me. He gave me a huge opportunity. He believed in me, and he never let anybody question me while I accomplished what I set out to accomplish. Then about five years ago, he started stepping back. I guess he realized he was on the way out, so he started handing over the reins to me.”
“That must have been good for you, too.”
“It was good for me, but it made Shaw mad. We spent a lot of years hating each other. We worked it out, though.”
Natalie listened in rapt attention. “I never knew you were so close to your father. It must be hard to watch him die now, after he did so much for you.”
“I guess he didn’t do any more for me than any other Bruin father does, and it’s not hard to watch him die. I know he wants to die. He’s tired. These last years have been difficult for him. He’s ready to go, and he can go knowing I’m in charge. That’s all he really wanted. He told Arryn Stark he was just waiting for me to come into my power. Now, he can rest.”
Natalie lowered her voice. “What about your ma?”
He gazed across the sheds. “She’s going, too. It’s her time. It will be easier for everyone, including her, when she actually does. It’s the waiting around that’s hard.”
Natalie touched his hand. “I know. It was the same when my parents died. I’m just glad we had Briar and Riskin in place. That’s the main thing a tribe needs when the old Alpha dies. We need a strong Alpha and his mate to fill the gap and keep things moving.”
Silas eyes migrated to her face. “I was thinking the same thing.”
Natalie gasped. She hadn’t meant to turn the conversation to that, but now it stared her straight in the face. If she mated with Silas, she would be the Alpha’s wife. She and Silas would take this tribe through to the next generation.
Grace still studied the cattle getting milked. She kept her back to Silas and Natalie. She didn’t notice anything they did or said.
Silas’s fingers trailed against Natalie’s palm. His hand laced into hers, and he gave her a squeeze. He murmured so low she almost didn’t hear. “We don’t have to stay here. I know this doesn’t interest you.”
“It does interest me,” she replied. “Everything about your tribe interests me. I mean, this is your business. You spend your days doing this.”
“Well, not entirely. I have a few other businesses going.”
“What are they?”
“They’re internet businesses. I have websites, and I consult with clients. I make a lot more money doing that than I ever made with dairy, but don’t tell anybody I said so.”
Natalie laughed. “Is it a secret?”
He beamed at her. “They wouldn’t believe you. They think the internet stuff is my hobby. Hardly anybody understands you can make money at it.”
“I know what you mean. I…I work online, too…sometimes.”
He cocked his head. “Yeah? What do you do?”
She waved her hand. “I just tootle around here and there—nothing serious. I would love to see your websites sometime. What do you do for graphic design? Do you outsource that?”
He looked away. “Yeah. I have a freelancer who takes care of it. She’s really good. She’s on the other side of the country.”
“I’d love to see them.”
“Okay. I’ll show you when we get back to the house.”
At that moment, Grace jumped off the fence. She set off running around the shed, screaming, “Come on, Natalie! Come on, Uncle Silas! I’m going to see the cows going out the other side.”
Silas inclined his head. “We better follow her. I wouldn’t want her getting under the fence when we aren’t there.”
They hurried around the shed to find Grace running back and forth along the fence where the cows exited the turntable on their way back to the pastures. She exclaimed over every cow. She never noticed Silas and Natalie still holding hands behind her back.
She rushed so far down the runway she ran out into the fields. The fence ended at the tree line where the dense woods extended up to Bruins’ Peak. Before they could stop her, she plunged into the thicket.
Natalie glanced back over her shoulder. “We should probably head back. I’m sure you want to be near your parents.”
“Actually, I’m enjoying being out here. I was turning into a vampire, staying inside all the time. I need some sun.”
Natalie smiled as bright as sunshine. “I’m enjoying this, too, but I wouldn’t want to leave Briar alone.”
He pressed her hand ever so slightly. “Aren’t you here to take care of Grace and keep her occupied while Briar does…. whatever? You’re doing that.”
She turned bright red. “I’m doing that, and I’m also distracting you when you’re supposed to be with your parents.”
He shook his head. “I can’t do anything for my parents now. My job is taking over as Alpha, and the only thing I really need to do to make that happen is get married.”
Natalie’s mind whirled, but the blood burned her cheeks. Every time she looked at him, her eyelids fluttered. She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. “Listen, Silas…”
He laid his finger on her lips, and he whispered so Grace couldn’t hear, “I’m gonna marry you, Natalie Dodd. I’m gonna talk to Riskin, and I’m gonna marry you.”
Her breath stuck in her throat. He overpowered her with his presence. Uncontrollable heat blazed up her arm through his hand, and his lips drew her closer to kiss him. He wanted to marry her. He said so out loud, even if he did whisper it.
She didn’t want to pull away. She didn’t want to make excuses to go back to the house. She wanted to marry him. She wanted to spend her life with him.
Just then, Grace came racing back along the path. She ran right past them and out into the sunlit fields. Her rapid flight startled Natalie out of her reverie. “We better go.”
Silas released her hand, but when she walked away, he murmured in her ear, “Just so you know, I’m not letting you go.”
She hurried up the path into the fields, but she couldn’t forget his words. They were going to get married. It was only a matter of time.
His presence burned behind her on the way back to the house. She couldn’t shake him off. He filled her whole life now. She hadn’t thought about Max once since she came outside, and she left her tablet behind. She hadn’t done that in months.
The closer they came to the house, the slower she walked. She didn’t want to go inside, either. Why did she suggest it? She should have stayed in the woods with Silas. They could go rambling together, but not with Grace around.
The little girl trotted up the porch steps and burst into the house, full of fresh air and sunshine. She called at the top of her voice. “Mommy! Guess what I saw? I saw all the cows getting milked, and the turntable going around, and I saw them all going out to the fields again, and…”
Briar hurried out of her parents’ bedroom and scooped up her daughter. She whispered under her breath. “Okay, Pumpkin. I understand you’re excited about seeing the cows, but Grandma and Grandpa are sleepi
ng, so let’s keep our voices down so we don’t disturb them”
She carried Grace to the living room, where mother and daughter occupied themselves on the couch. Natalie and Silas exchanged a knowing glance. So, that’s how it was having children. Kids filled a house with noise and laughter. They would drive away all the old silence left behind when Dana and Silas and Briar and May grew up.
Children’s voices hadn’t echoed off these walls in years, but all that would change when Silas and Natalie got married. Their children would tumble and scrap with Shaw and Dana’s kids. They would learn the ways of bears in the forest, and they would rise to take over Bruins’ Peak, just like all the rest of the kids on the mountain.
Briar pushed Natalie’s tablet aside to make room for Grace on the couch at her side. That tablet lay silent and asleep and forgotten. It didn’t even tempt Natalie anymore. She didn’t want Max. She wanted Silas. She wanted to talk to him and learn every detail of his life.
He inclined his head to one side. His black eyes spoke volumes only Natalie could understand. “Do you want to have a look at my websites now?”
She brightened up. “Sure. I’d love to.
He pulled out his phone and turned it on when a loud rap rattled the front door. He slipped the phone back into his pocket. “Excuse me. Just wait a sec.”
He opened the door to find Aurora Cunningham and Austin Farrell standing on the porch. Aurora shoved a covered baking dish into his hands. “We’re not here to visit. We just heard, so we brought this over. Here, take it. Let us know if there’s anything you need.”
Silas took the dish. “Thank you. I will.”
Aurora sailed off the porch and waved over her shoulder. “Take care. See you in a few days.”
She didn’t say, “See you at the funeral.” She didn’t have to. The whole Peak would be thinking it.
Silas closed the door and set the dish on the kitchen counter. “I guess no one will have to make dinner tonight.” He took out his phone again. “Now, where were we?”
He punched in the code to unlock his screen when another loud knock shook the house. He opened the door again. Lyric Mackenzie pushed a glass bowl of salad at him. “Just brought you something over for dinner. Everything all right? I thought so. Give us a ring if you need anything. See ya!”
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