by Chant, Zoe
She put her bags down on one of the couches, first trying automatically to make them sit up straight, then deliberately letting them slouch.
Living here felt exactly like that—like she was a slouching bag in a perfect apartment.
Tawny lifted her chin. She was determined not to embarrass Damien that night, and she’d bought the nicest clothing she could afford and even splurged on a new lipstick and hairspray. She would never look young, and she would never look fashionable, but she could at least look like someone who could clean the dirt out from under her fingernails and curl her hair.
She missed having dirt under her fingernails.
She missed...
Tawny shook herself and went to take a shower. A note on the counter indicated that Damien would be working until it was nearly time to go, and implied that he understood she would forget to check her phone for messages.
It was an hour before she had arranged her makeup and curled her hair and put on her new clothes, resisting the urge to tuck the tags in and try to return them the next day.
The effect was not what she had hoped.
She was still herself, just with makeup and nicer clothes. She looked like someone’s grandmother, caught wearing someone else’s jewelry. This was a terrible idea. She was going to make a fool out of both of them. She was going to be the country bumpkin at the ball, and Damien would see her compared to all his high-class friends and socialites and wonder why he was wasting time with her.
“Tawny?”
Tawny frowned at her reflection and then had to laugh as she realized she was making the same face that Damien did when he didn’t want someone to guess what he was feeling.
She was still laughing as she opened the bathroom door and found Damien, already dressed for dinner.
He was breathtaking.
It was evening, and amber light streamed in through the ridiculously large windows and turned everything to gold and glitter. He was dressed in a suit that made Tawny recognize that all of his other suits had been casual, and he filled it up like no one that Tawny had ever known, all broad shoulders and a graceful strength that Tawny would have called lion-like even if she hadn’t known about his other form.
He was a king.
He was a king, and for some absurd reason, he was looking at her like she was a queen, and her laughter stilled on her lips as she blushed and her heart hammered in her chest.
“Will it do?” she asked anxiously, spreading her arms and turning in a circle.
Damien was quiet so long that Tawny began to worry she’d picked the wrong things. “I could... maybe not wear the scarf. Is it too loud?”
“No,” Damien said swiftly. “It’s perfect. It’s exactly right.”
Tawny sagged against the doorframe with relief. “Oh thank goodness. I was second guessing my taste, and my budget, and my size, and these shoes, and look!” She held up her wrist, where she was wearing the diamond bracelet that Damien had given her a lifetime ago in Green Valley. “I have somewhere to wear it!”
His look of delight was worth every anxiety putting the bracelet on had caused Tawny as she thought about how much it must have cost.
“Perfect,” Damien repeated. “Tawny, may I kiss you?”
“I’ll muss you!” Tawny objected, as Damien leaned to kiss her. “Your tie is so tidy!”
“It can be fixed,” Damien growled, claiming his kiss swiftly when she smiled at him and tipped her head up.
How did he manage to make everything better? Every time he looked at her, she felt like she was just where she belonged, even if nothing around her felt right.
Tawny smiled at him, and stroked his perfect beard.
“I got you something,” Damien said, frowning at her because he didn’t want her to see that he was nervous.
Tawny gave him a skeptical look. “Should I be afraid?”
“It might be cool when we come home,” he said. There was a large box on the bed and Tawny went to open it cautiously.
“Oh,” she said in awe. “It’s beautiful.”
It was a light wrap in fine golden wool, trimmed in pearls and embroidered with... Tawny bent to look closer. “Are those dandelions?”
“And a bee,” Damien pointed out.
Tawny leaned against Damien and laughed, forgetting to be careful of their clothes and hair. “Where did you find this?” she demanded.
“I had it made,” Damien said, sounding smug.
“Did they laugh when you asked for it?”
Damien snorted. “They would not dare.”
“I love it,” Tawny said, lifting it from the box and pulling it over her shoulders. It was deliciously soft, and light, and warmer than she expected.
“Silk and cashmere,” Damien told her. The phone in his pocket buzzed and he checked the screen. “Our car is ready downstairs.”
Tawny patted her hair. “Well, I’m as ready as I’m going to get.”
Chapter 31
Damien could not help but gaze at Tawny as they went to the elevator.
She dressed up as well as she dressed down, and was the perfect picture of understated taste in a subtle, pearl-gray pantsuit with a pair of low dress shoes and a splash of color at her neck on a watercolor silk scarf.
And she was wearing the diamond bracelet he’d given her what felt like months ago, self-consciously twisting it on her wrist.
“You look beautiful,” he finally told her, as the elevator descended.
Tawny beamed at him gratefully, and the compliment was immediately worth the effort. Damien vowed to use them more frequently.
“Thank you!” She smoothed the wrap on her shoulders. “I confess, I feel a little foolish, and I’m nervous about this dinner. I hope I don’t sneeze on someone important or insult the wrong person.”
“You’ll do fine,” Damien assured her. “And if anyone is mean to you, I will shift into a lion and eat them.”
Tawny laughed and hugged his arm.
Then she looked up at him curiously. “Wait, are these people shifters, too?”
“There are several shifters in the company,” Damien shared. “But most of them are humans.”
“Do they know about shifters?”
“Some of them, but most do not.”
“It sounds like a minefield,” she observed. “I shall be discrete.”
The rest of the elevator ride, and the car ride to the restaurant, Tawny quizzed him about taboo topics and behavior expectations.
“No one will care if you use the wrong fork or the wrong glass,” Damien promised. “And this isn’t Britain, so you don’t have to worry about titles.”
“Small comfort,” Tawny said wryly.
“You can’t start worse than I did,” Damien teased her, pulling up in front of the restaurant. “The first party I attended with you, I dumped an entire plate of food down your shirt and made a small child cry.”
Tawny chuckled. “Let’s not make it a competition,” she said practically.
The valet opened her door, and Tawny made a little noise of surprise when he offered his hand to help her out, clearly not sure what to do with it.
The valet adapted, and stepped back, letting Tawny scramble out on her own as Damien came around the car to meet her.
“I’m surprised you don’t have a driver,” she said as the valet took the keys and vanished with the car.
“I like to drive,” Damien said. “And if I ever feel like using a driver, I have a service on call.”
The back half of the restaurant, a big, imposing monster called Mel’s, had been reserved for the work party, and Damien led them through the tables to the back.
Tawny did a better job of not gawking than Damien would have, he suspected. She didn’t try to hide her awe, but she didn’t let it intimidate her, either.
“You must be Miss Summers,” Jack said, descending on them once Damien’s coat and Tawny’s wrap had been taken.
“Oh, just Tawny, please,” Tawny said swiftly, accepting Jack’s hand to shak
e.
“I’m Jack Morning, Damien’s counterpart in the design department.”
“I’m afraid I have no idea what that means,” Tawny said frankly. “But it’s lovely to meet you.”
Jack laughed. “My team draws up the plans that Damien’s construction teams completely change in the field.”
“If you’d design them right the first time, they wouldn’t have to,” Damien ribbed him, straight-faced.
“You wound me,” Jack joked. “Let me introduce you to my date, Tawny.”
Tawny at his side was everything Damien could have wished for. She wasn’t the same conversation dominating companion that Linda had been, nor the shy, retiring type that Shaun’s mother Dana had been. She was something else entirely her own: quiet, but not at all withdrawn. She was perfectly willing to admit when she didn’t have any knowledge of a subject, and equally willing to argue her point when she did. She was an attentive listener, never looking bored, and she was kind and polite and unabashedly excited about everything.
Damien kept an eye out for Shelley, hoping to introduce them, but she didn’t arrive until the meal was being served, and she ignored him when he tried to catch her attention.
When dinner was served, Tawny was enthusiastic about the dishes, ate gracefully, and if she was a little cautious about her manners, she picked things up quickly, and was willing to laugh at her own little clumsinesses.
“You’re really taken with her,” Jack observed quietly near his ear, halfway through dessert. “I’ve never seen you like this.”
Damien scowled to cover his surprise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he growled.
“I’ve heard you laugh twice tonight,” Jack pointed out. “And when you look at her, everything about you softens. You were actually charming with that jerk who runs permitting, and I haven’t heard you swear at anyone all evening.”
Damien gave a snort that didn’t qualify as a third laugh. “You’re exaggerating,” he scoffed.
“She’s not much to look at,” Jack said appraisingly.
Damien could feel his lion’s hackles rising. “Watch yourself,” he warned.
“Peace, Damien,” Jack added swiftly. “I can see the appeal. She’s lively and sweet, and she’s watching you the same way you’re watching her. I already like her better than your last wife.”
Damien was saved having to forgive him by the start of the speeches.
The speaker, fortunately, kept it brief and funny, and by the time the desserts were cleared, they were released from the tables to return to mingling.
Damien caught Shelley’s eye at last, and drew Tawny over to meet her.
“Dad,” she said coolly.
“Shelley,” Damien greeted her.
Tawny extended her hand without prompting. “I’m Tawny,” she said warmly. “It’s so nice to meet you, Shelley.”
Shelley shook her hand. “It’s Michelle,” she corrected.
Tawny blushed, and Damien was tempted to kick Shelley in the ankle because she was clearly just being unfriendly. Was she offended that Damien had failed to tell her about Tawny earlier? He remembered belatedly how rattled Tawny had been to find out about Shelley.
Tawny recovered, and gracefully said, “Of course, Michelle.”
“Shelley,” Damien said firmly. “Tawny is from Green Valley, where Shaun has settled down with Trevor.”
“So I’ve heard,” Shelley said shortly, giving Damien an unappreciative look.
“I teach Trevor piano lessons,” Tawny offered. “He’s a sweet boy.”
“I’m sure he is,” Shelley said unhelpfully. Damien suddenly wondered if she’d ever actually met Trevor.
“I taught Shaun’s wife Andrea when she was a little girl, too,” Tawny added nervously. When Shelley didn’t immediately answer, Tawny asked desperately, “Do you work for Damien’s company?”
“She’s in finances and contracts,” Damien said for her.
“That sounds fascinating,” Tawny said too enthusiastically. Then she laughed at herself, and added, “But then, I found sorting mail satisfying work, so my bar is pretty low.”
“It’s interesting work,” Shelley said, but Damien thought she said a little more warmly, her expression softening. “Never a dull moment.”
No one could resist Tawny’s genuine sweetness for long, he thought triumphantly.
“Tawny hasn’t been here long, maybe you could show her around a little, meet her for lunch?” Damien said innocently, as if he hadn’t already suggested it to Shelley.
Tawny smiled. “I’d really like that,” she agreed.
Shelley’s face was unreadable, but Damien thought she seemed confused. She didn’t have many friends, he realized.
Or at least, not many that he knew about. But how well did he really know her?
“I’d like that, too,” Shelley finally said. “I’ll give you a call this week and arrange something.”
“I have a phone number! I have no idea what it is!” Tawny fished her phone from her purse and gave Shelley her contact information, laughing over her confusion with the device.
They parted amicably, and Shelley even smiled.
Damien frowned back thoughtfully as he led Tawny to the coat check for their outerwear. “I never had a good relationship with my kids,” he confessed, equally quiet. “But I’ve been getting to know Shaun and Trevor, and I’m realizing how much I’ve missed.” He hesitated as he helped Tawny adjust her wrap, wondering how much to put into words about how he wanted to mend his broken family, and how it was Tawny who had opened his heart.
“And you’d like me to smooth the way,” Tawny guessed.
“Am I that easy to read now?”
“I’m starting to figure you out,” Tawny said cheerfully. “And her expressions are just like yours. She’s not sure about having lunch with your country mistress, and you’re too afraid to have lunch with her yourself. Is she a lion shifter like you?”
Damien was so surprised by her self-depreciating title and the accusation that he was afraid that he didn’t have a chance to answer before she was waving at the traffic. “Oh, there’s your car!”
He took the keys from the valet numbly as Tawny scrambled into her side of the car. They had never talked about what they were. Girlfriend didn’t seem quite right, and he’d never put a name to what more they were.
She is our mate, his lion said, perfectly content.
Country mistress, she’d said, like she was some paid companion. Did she know what she meant to him? Did she believe what he’d told her about mates? She didn’t really think that he was buying her company, did she? She had certainly been reluctant to accept his gifts at first.
Tawny sighed as he settled into the driver’s seat beside her. “That was a lovely dinner,” she said cheerfully. “But absolutely exhausting. I feel like I’ve had to be switched on to eleven all night just trying to keep up, and these may not be heels, but my feet are still killing me. Do you think this outfit would look alright with sneakers next time?”
Damien let her chatter on as he pulled out into the familiar city traffic towards his apartment building. She was still winding down as they took the long elevator ride up, and she kicked off the detested shoes as Damien unlocked the door for her.
“I am taking the world’s shortest shower so that I don’t get makeup all over the sheets, and then nothing is going to keep me from straight to sleep and staying in bed until noon,” Tawny said.
“Tawny,” Damien said, catching her hand.
She smiled up at him, so warm and happy that it did something deep in his chest and temporarily washed away his doubts.
“Tawny, are you having fun here?”
She hesitated just a moment, and the doubts all came surging back.
“I am having fun,” she said firmly. “I... miss Green Valley, and my cats, and my neighbors. But I am having fun.” She said it as if she were having fun by sheer force of will, then her face softened. “And you are here,” she added gent
ly.
Damien cupped her face, her dear, sweet face, in both of his hands, and kissed her slowly.
“Mm,” she said, when he released her. “Okay, I can think of one thing that could keep me from going straight to sleep,” she suggested slyly.
Chapter 32
Tawny had all but forgotten about lunch with Shelley when her phone rang a few days later.
“Yes?” she answered, once she’d swiped three time in vain and finally accepted the call. “This is Tawny.”
“This is Shelley Powell.” She sounded like she looked, all business and crisp efficiency.
“Oh, Shelley! How are you?”
“Fine,” Shelley said politely. “I wondered if you’d be free for lunch today. I was thinking The Capital.”
“That sounds lovely,” Tawny said promptly, with no idea what The Capital was.
It proved to be an impressive building that was even more grand on the inside, when Damien’s on-call driver took her to the front steps. Tawny spent several moments feeling small and under-dressed, then lifted her chin and marched to the hostess.
It couldn’t be worse than the city book club.
She was ushered to a table where Shelley was already seated, talking heatedly on her phone. The hostess offered her a menu that puzzled Tawny until she realized that the numbers beside the descriptions were prices without dollar signs. Exorbitant prices. Her credit card, already stretched by frivolous book purchases and the pantsuit she could barely afford for the company dinner, would be weeping this month.
Damien had insisted she take a debit card to his account “for emergencies.”
Tawny wondered if lunch with his daughter counted as an emergency.
A server asked for her drink order as Shelley signed an apology and continued her conversation.