The meeting broke up and as Kyle and Ryan escorted her back to her car, she tried to speak to Kyle. After multiple attempts he turned on her, his face full of anger, his eyes flashing.
“Get one thing straight!” he spat, “We aren’t friends. We aren’t ever going to be friends, Valerie. You killed that when you lied to me! It is my home and my family and my life that you’re thinking of taking away. So don’t think for one second that whatever we were building is going to continue, because it’s dead!” and he stormed off.
She was left stunned and hurt though she reasoned that she shouldn’t be. They’d only met the day before. It wasn’t like they’d slept together, but somehow she knew that a bond that had been growing between them was melting like ice in a glass of whiskey.
Ryan drove up front in her rental with her to Kyle’s truck and then they drove to Grandma’s. It was still early, the sun only now beginning to paint the snowcapped mountains in colors of fire.
Her little room was feeling terribly crowded with the three of them, no one knowing what to say or do.
“We could go across the street to the diner?” Valerie suggested. “My treat.”
Kyle scowled at her but Ryan perked up. “That sounds great, Valerie,” he said kindly. “Get up Kyle, we’re going across the street. This room is like a shoebox and I’m getting claustrophobic, so let’s take this nice lady up on her offer and go to the diner.”
Kyle glowered but stood up and made his away across the street. The breeze from earlier was harder now, dragging ragged patches of high grey cloud across the darkening sky as they ran across the street. Valerie was glad she had brought her leather jacket, and she was quite snuggly in it. But the diner was heated and she soon took it off. They chose a booth in the back and sat down, Ryan next to her and Kyle across.
“Why are you mad at me?” Valerie asked Kyle. “I didn’t choose Sun Valley, my bosses did.”
“I’m mad because you could have told me yesterday that you were planning to steal my home!”
“I’m sorry,” she said as the waitress placed menus in front of them. “I don’t have an excuse, but I’m going to try and help you save your home. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
Kyle glared at her and looked out the window over the heads of other diners.
“Don’t mind him,” Ryan said, leaning back and spreading his arms along the back of the chair. “Kyle is hotheaded and full of crap. He’ll come around eventually.”
“Don’t Ryan!” Kyle muttered.
“Don’t what? Be nice to her? Try to understand this little shit storm from her point of view?” Ryan asked, “She flew in yesterday, Kyle. She didn’t know we existed until now, and now she’s ready to try and help us? Sounds like you’re the one with the problem pal,” Ryan said and stood up. “I’m gonna hit the head.” And he walked up the aisle to the front of the diner.
Valerie and Kyle sat in stunned silence for a while until Kyle finally looked at her.
“Ryan’s a total jerk!” Kyle said, “But he has a point. I’m being a dick and I’m sorry.”
Valerie felt tears prick the back of her eyes. “I’m so sorry all of this is happening,” she said wanting to take Kyle’s hands, but he was still angry with her, she could see it and let it be. Anyway she had bigger problems.
Ryan came back to the table and they ordered burgers which Valerie could hardly eat. Her stomach was a knot at the thought of speaking to the two owners of the conglomerate. But seven PM rolled around and she was back in her room with Kyle and Ryan. She turned on her laptop, and set up her Skype. The thing about the partners was that if they arranged a Skype meeting with you, then you waited for them to be ready for you. You didn’t call them they would call you. She had spent some nights waiting all night only to get a call in the morning from one of the vampire secretaries, to say that they didn’t need to speak to her after all.
She hoped that this wasn’t one of those times.
It wasn’t.
She answered after making sure that Kyle and Ryan were out of sight, and knew that they had to be absolutely quiet. The partners had freaky good hearing.
“Evening, Miss Rousseau,” Mr. Petersen said. He was sitting at a desk with Mr. Snow who was an albino and always wore white standing, behind him. “I trust Colorado is treating you well.”
“Oh yes, sir. Good evening, Mr. Petersen. Mr. Snow. Yes, Colorado is getting a little chilly, but it’s all good.”
“And the acquisition? We trust that you aren’t having any trouble?” Mr. Snow said. He was so pale that Valerie would often stare at him to see the blue veins under his skin. But she resisted the urge now.
“Actually sir it is proving difficult. The local inhabitants are resisting the sale,” Valerie said. Behind her screen Kyle glared at her. She swallowed.
“Nothing but inbred hicks my dear,” Mr. Petersen said. Where his colleague was pale he was grey. Grey suit, grey hair, grey eyes. They were quite dull to look at if you put them side by side. “They may moan but in the end the sale will go through. Just finish up your reports for us and then Calvin will come down and complete the sale. We expect no delays.”
“Yes sir,” Valerie said, “But may I ask what you plan to do with Sun Valley? The inhabitants might be appeased if they know that you’re not going to strip mine the place or something.” Valerie tried a hopeful smile.
Mr. Petersen didn’t even blink, he smiled, and his abnormally long canines became visible. “Just get your reports filed on time, Miss Rousseau,” he said and killed the connection.
The next morning Valerie woke after some of the worst dreams she had ever had, but they faded like mist, leaving only an unsettled feeling. It all stemmed from this problem, but Kyle and Ryan had told her to stay put and wait for them to tell her what to do next. They were going to take this total lack of information to the elders.
The room at Grandma’s Inn was a shoebox. On her way out, Valerie left a message for Kyle or Ryan at reception and got into her rental. This time she drove along a different road, not one that led straight to Sun Valley, but one that took her out passed the local farms. She loved the open air feel of them and with the clouds racing up across the sky, she felt she could finally breathe again.
After a while she pulled over and parked the car. Getting out, the wind whipped her curls in her face but she didn’t care. She zipped up her jacket and leaned against a wooden pole fence, letting the wind blow her care away.
She was standing like that, with her eyes shut when suddenly someone spoke to her.
Valerie opened her eyes and looked into a friendly face. The man was tall, broad shouldered and had hazel eyes, so light that they looked golden. His hair was brown with natural highlights, so Valerie guessed he spent a lot of time in the sun.
“Hi,” he said. “Are you lost?”
“Nope, well maybe a little,” Valerie said. “Sorry is this your fence? I’m not intruding am I? I just couldn’t breathe in the car.”
He shook his head. He had ridden up on a horse that he was still sitting in the saddle of. It scratched the ground with a hoof. “I just thought you might need some help. I’m Wyatt by the way,” he said and offered a hand.
“Valerie,” she said shaking his hand.
“Oh, so you’re the assessor huh?” he asked and then he smiled, “Don’t look so shocked, it’s a small town and news travels like the wind.”
Valerie shivered at the thought of everyone knowing that she was with the big bad corporation.
Wyatt sighed, “Why don’t you come in. Jess, my fiancée, would love to meet you. Besides, she makes the best hot chocolate in the state.” He smiled at her and offered a hand.
“But my car?” Valerie asked.
Wyatt shrugged, “Well, if you’re worried about it you can drive and I’ll ride.”
Following a man on horseback was interesting but it turned out that had she driven just over the rise ahead, she would have come to Wyatt’s gate on the right anyway. He opened it for her an
d she drove in and down to the ranch house.
It was a double story, with a wraparound porch. The place looked lovely, painted a cheery yellow with a deep green roof. Normally she didn’t like colors like that on a house, but it suited this place down to the ground. An old man was sitting on the porch doing something with a piece of wood.
“You brought a stray home?” the old man asked Wyatt.
“Now Charlie, be nice. This is Valerie,” Wyatt said as she got out of the car.
Charlie peered at her with old but bright eyes and shook his white dandelion hair, “Well, it’s your funeral.” And he stood up, making his way down the steps and across the yard with quite a turn of speed.
“Don’t mind him,” Wyatt said, “He doesn’t like strangers is all.”
“Which is going to make turning this place into a B&B interesting in the spring.”
Valerie turned and saw a short, curvy woman with her dark hair tied up on her head in a bun, standing in the doorway. She had clear blue eyes and the same kind of olive skin that Valerie had herself. She smiled broadly.
“You’re Valerie?” she asked, “I’m Jess. It is so good to meet you.” And she pulled Valerie into the house and straight through into the living room.
Valerie found herself deposited on a candy-striped sofa, a mug of hot chocolate pressed into her hand and Jess seated in front of her in a red velvet wingback chair. She was also holding a mug. Marshmellows bobbed in the chocolate.
“So it’s a pity your bosses didn’t say anything interesting last night. Did you get a mail or something perhaps with more details of what they want to do with Sun Valley?” Jess asked conversationally.
Valerie was shocked. How did everyone in this place know everything?
Jess smiled, “Wyatt and Kyle have been best friends forever. He was here last night, moaning about you. So I’m thrilled to finally be able to put a face to the name. You’ve made a lasting impression on him.”
“Oh. Good,” Valerie said weakly.
“It’s not all bad,” Jess said, “For him to be this angry he must really like you.”
“What? Kyle doesn’t like me,” Valerie said shaking her head. “He hates my guts. All because I answered an ad in the paper two years ago. And I only took the job because I love houses and buildings and travelling. Well I did, right up to this trip.”
“Please don’t judge us all on Kyle’s example. I know what it’s like to answer to a boss, I used to be in advertising,” Jess said smiling. “Which firm do you work for?”
Jess was so friendly, and genuinely hospitable, so Valerie told her. “It’s a conglomerate Petersen-Snow,” she said.
Valerie had heard of people going pale, but she’d never actually seen the color drain out of someone’s face, until now. Jess dropped her mug and pushed her chair back. It clattered on the floor, spilling the last of her hot chocolate on the wood.
“Oh, no,” she said backing away.
Valerie stood up. “What did I say? Jess, are you okay?”
Wyatt came into the room then and seeing Jess’s face he rushed to her. Jess grabbed his arm and with obvious terror on her face, she turned to him and said, “It’s all my fault.”
Valerie’s head was swimming. Jess had calmed down and then the phone calls started, and people arrived. Soon Ryan and Kyle strode into the living room, followed by Marcus, Paul and the woman with the braids from the meeting in the woods. They all sat around in Jess and Wyatt’s living room, while Jess sipped a whiskey and spoke.
It was a story that Valerie could hardly believe, but it was real. The story of a possessive, manipulative, ex-husband who had chased Jess across the country just to make her life hell. How he had attacked her and she had killed him in self-defense. Everyone in the room, bar Valerie had been there that night, and so that part of the story was just for her.
“What I didn’t tell you,” Jess said,” Is that Conrad’s father is part owner of the firm Petersen-Snow. It owns the ad agency we worked for. And it’s the company now looking to buy up Sun Valley.”
“Coincidence?” Ryan asked.
Wyatt shook his head. “Not likely.”
“No, Sun Valley’s been targeted and it’s all because of me. Old man Petersen wants my blood, he wants revenge for Conrad,” Jess said. “I don’t think there’s a way to stop them from taking your home.”
She looked so sad, so defeated. The happiness that had been bubbling out of her when Valerie had met her only a few short hours earlier, had all drained away.
“It’s all my fault,” Jess said and dissolved into tears on Wyatt’s shoulder.
Valerie looked away, feeling hollow and like an intruder in the room. Her eyes fell on Kyle and he looked at her and smiled. It was a small smile, just a little lift of the corners of his mouth, but it was enough. Valerie sighed and felt her own tears recede.
“Those blasted wolves will stop at nothing,” the braided woman said. Valerie thought she’d heard someone call her Eugenie.
“They need taking down a few pegs,” Paul said hotly. “A taste of claw and teeth.”
“That’s what got us into this mess,” Marcus said shaking his head. “We need a smart plan.” He looked at the assembled faces. “Anyone have one?”
“But we can’t let those stupid werewolf boys walk all over us, we should have a good honest battle, like in the old days,” Paul said.
“You are a daft old man!” Eugenie said angrily. “You would have us all dead at the bottom of a ditch!”
“They’re no match for bears, and you know it!” Paul bellowed.
“Excuse me,” Valerie said putting her hand up like she was in school. “Werewolves? Bears?”
“Yeah, what did you think we were talking about all this time?” Paul blustered at her.
“Well, I don’t know, maybe you were being figurative?” Valerie asked with a huge amount of hope in her heart. And slowly a memory trickled back of her Granny Fifi saying, “Don’t play there child, it’s wolf territory.”
She looked at the faces and now she could see it. The eyes, the broad shoulders, the way their hair was so thick and glossy… “Just like a fur coat,” she said in the smallest voice. “Oh. God!”
“Well maybe there’s hope for this one yet,” Paul said and actually smiled at her.
Valerie felt sick. The world was upside down and she was dangling from a very thin thread. Suddenly someone had her by the arm and she looked up into Kyle’s gorgeous face.
“You’re a bear,” she said and her knees gave way.
Valerie woke to the sound of snoring. She was in her tiny room at Grandma’s Inn and seated in the armchair in the corner near the bathroom, was Kyle. His head had slipped back, his mouth hung open and he breathed in and out in a ragged, sawing grate. Valerie sighed.
He was a bear. But she realized that he was also a man. A passionate man, one who loved his little slice of the world and wanted to protect it. She also realized, watching him sleep, that she very much wanted to help him. So she got up, noticed she was still fully dressed. Even her shoes were still on her feet. Well no one could accuse Kyle of inappropriate behavior.
Funny now that she was thinking about it, she couldn’t remember getting home. She couldn’t remember much passed the four whiskeys she’d downed out of Jess’s glass. Oh God, what must they think of her?
Changed into her pajamas, Valerie woke Kyle. His head shot back up with a “snark” sound and he looked at her with bloodshot eyes.
“Come on, I won’t bite,” she said and opened the covers. “It’s a double, there’s enough room for both of us.”
Colby (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 3) Page 143