by Marie Harte
“That was incredible.”
“And something that’s going to be happening a lot in the near and far future,” Ty murmured with contentment. “You’re finally mine.”
“Yours,” she repeated softly, thinking how wonderful that sounded. Fox to fox, woman to man… “Holy crap!”
“And there you are. I was wondering where the real Julia had gone.” Ty chuckled.
She glanced at him and saw his canines flash sharp and white in the dark. “I, ah, that is, I didn’t mean to—”
“To wave that pretty tail at me? To get me so worked up I couldn’t think past the need to fuck that sweet pussy?” His crude words aroused her, and he seemed to know it. “So many secrets. Prim and proper Julia likes it rough, and she likes it dirty. If you hadn’t already wrung me dry, I’d do you all over again.”
Her face felt hot enough to melt the sun. “Ty.”
“It’s true. And I came hard inside you, baby. Too late to stop that now, but next time we’ll use protection. Maybe.”
She couldn’t miss the odd look on his face, nor could she mistake his intention when he rubbed her belly.
“Wh— I didn’t— I can’t—” She couldn’t breathe. What if she had kits? What if her babes came out…different? Oh my God. What a mess.
“Julia?” Ty frowned and withdrew. “It’ll be all right. No matter what, I’ll take care of you.”
She started hyperventilating, and he shushed her and rocked her in his arms.
“I know neither of us planned this, but you have to admit it’s been building for a while. How about we let this relationship run its course? You and me, what’s not to like? Even your aunt can’t say I’m not good enough for you.”
“True,” she agreed, still blindsided from her stupidity. How could she have let him come inside her?
“We could get married to seal the deal,” he teased. “Want to hang around until Saturday and let Ned walk you down the aisle to me?” The sudden passion in his bright eyes blinded her. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t marry you.” Her sisters would be disowned and cast out. Ty would hate her as soon as he learned what she really was. The good girl she’d strived to be her whole life would no longer matter once she lost what meant so much to her. Acceptance, a place in society. Her home. Ty’s love.
He paused and glanced away. “I was just teasing, Julia. Relax.”
Her face flamed. Of course Ty wasn’t asking her to marry him. The most eligible bachelor in town didn’t want Julia. Though an Easton, she was little more than an orphaned fox with little standing in the community.
“Question number one, why wouldn’t you marry me, if I was asking, that is?”
“Are you kidding me? You want to play twenty questions now?” She couldn’t believe she’d acted so uninhibited with him. God, I actually begged him to come in me. I am seriously losing it. Because thoughts of having Ty’s baby pleased the hell out of her.
“You want me to smooth things over with the council, answer my questions. Honestly. I can smell a lie.”
Foxes couldn’t do that, could they? She never had been able to smell with that degree of precision, but Ty was the sheriff. Perhaps his sense of smell accounted for what she’d always attributed to a cunning mind.
“But, Ty—”
“If I have to ask again, I’m going to go back and tell the council Meghan not only left Cougar Falls for a man, but that his family is a bunch of hunters who kill for sport.”
“That’s a lie.”
“It’s true. They hunt for sport. They’re just not Hunters.”
She fumed. “Blackmail?” Before he could open his mouth to retort, she stopped him. “Fine. I wouldn’t marry you because I don’t—” Love you? That would be a lie. She loved him. And that was a big part of the problem.
“You don’t what?”
“I don’t want to get hurt.” There. That was the truth.
He frowned. “I’d never harm you, Julia. I admit, I was a bit rough before, but I’m the one carrying bite marks.” He glanced down at his arms, looking pleased.
“Not physically harmed. Emotionally. You have a lot of girlfriends. I couldn’t marry a man who wouldn’t be loyal.”
“Had a lot of girlfriends, and there weren’t actually that many. Does it bother you I dated women who weren’t fox?”
“Not at all. I think the clan’s too narrow-minded for their own good.” The one thing she’d always respected about Ty, he didn’t seem to care for outward trappings. Though the women he’d dated were pretty, each had substance. To Julia’s annoyance, she actually liked the women he’d been linked with, silver fox and otherwise. “I think we should be able to date whoever we want, provided they’re Ac-taw.” Visions of her mother dying outside of town never quite left her thoughts, and worry for Meghan returned full force.
“If I was mated, there would never be another for me, or for my wife,” he added in a hard voice.
She thrilled at the possession in his tone and had to push past silly dreams of forever with Ty. “On that I’d agree.”
“Good.”
“Fine. But you’re not looking for a mate, right?”
He didn’t say anything, and his silence bothered her. Granted, she wasn’t offering, but plenty of men in town had thought her pretty enough to at least want to date. Apparently to Ty she was nothing more than an easy lay.
She frowned. “I’m not looking for a man.”
“Too bad you found one.”
Chapter Six
Ty entered the house after Julia, slipping through her opened window into her bedroom. They fell into bed together and slept the minute their heads hit the pillows.
Movement wakened him and he blinked up into the sun peering through the open window. Julia didn’t spare him a glance as she got up, pulled on her robe and headed to the bathroom.
He heard the shower start and sighed. Not that he wanted to talk, but he and Julia had a lot left needing to be said. He shoved his legs through his jeans and buttoned up seconds before Gabby burst through the door.
She stopped upon seeing him and her nostrils flared.
“Well it’s about time.”
When she continued to stand there staring at him, he sank back onto the bed. He’d had a long night. Having sex with Julia hadn’t sated him, though it should have. His animal spirit yapped at him to stop dicking around. He’d had Julia, naked, in bed, all night long, and he’d only come inside her while in the forest—once as a fox and twice as a man.
But he needed to slow down.
The idea he might have already impregnated her freaked him the hell out. On the one hand, he wasn’t ready for kits and family. Single-guy living suited him just fine. On the other hand, he’d made love to Julia. The only woman who’d ever wormed her way under his skin—and dammit, into his heart—didn’t want to mate with him.
He should have been happier about her not wanting any ties. Instead, her independence insulted him. She belonged to him. He could feel it, much as he almost wished he couldn’t. She’d been so tight around him, so new. Not a virgin, but not an experienced woman by any means. He’d never heard of her dating anyone in town, and his curiosity about her past consumed him.
“I’m so happy for you two. I’ve been waiting years for this.” Gabby stunned the hell out of Ty by jumping on top of him, knocking him flat on the bed. “She’s always had a thing for you, you know. Not that she would ever admit it.”
Ty stared at Gabby in fascination. Julia had a thing for him? “What are you talking about?”
“Come on, Ty. When’s the last time you saw Julia drinking at a party?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
Gabby grinned. He’d never seen her so cheery before. It gave her already cute features a beauty all their own. Her golden skin flushed with pleasure as she rolled off him and sat next to him on the bed. “She’s so serious all the time. I didn’t even know what she’d done until she confessed it while drunk at the
last celebration. You dropped her off and I found her slurring her sorrows a few minutes later.”
“Yeah? What’d she say?” He needed to know. Never had anything been more important than hearing Julia might have a thing for him.
Gabby tilted her head. “I don’t know how much I should tell you. I don’t think it’s wise for you alpha types to always have the upper hand.”
Ty smiled wide. “Gabby, honey, do I look alpha to you?”
“Yes.”
The woman wasn’t buying the dimple. “Come on. I’ve wanted her for years. Fool woman never even noticed me. Still wouldn’t have if I hadn’t hightailed it out here to help her.”
“Yes, why did you?”
Ty paused, not sure he wanted to admit any more to Julia’s sister. Then again, Gabby seemed in the mood to reveal her sister’s deep, dark secrets. If he played this right, he could find the information he needed.
“Sarah Duncan told me Julia might be dealing with Hunters.”
“Oh, man. No wonder you followed.”
“I couldn’t bear the thought of Julia in danger.” Truth.
Gabby softened. “So you rushed out here to save her. That is so sweet. No one ever saves Julia.”
“That’s because the stubborn woman is too busy always trying to save herself and others.”
“Julia’s had to be independent most of her life. It’s not like she could count on Uncle Harry or Aunt Lynn for help.”
“I get that.” He could. He’d never liked the social climbers.
“To be honest, Julia refuses to ask for help because of my mother.”
“Oh hell, was she as bad as Harry and Lynn?”
“She wasn’t cruel, no. But she was self-involved. A lot of drama in the Easton household,” Gabby said with a bitter twist to her lips. “She and my father were not on good terms.”
“I’m sorry. I know he died a little after Meghan was born.”
Gabby raised her brows. “You know what? I don’t care anymore.”
“Huh?”
“I need you to promise me something.”
Every instinct in his body warned him to pay very careful attention to Gabby. “What?”
“Promise me that no matter what, Julia and Meghan will always have a place in Cougar Falls.”
Ty didn’t like that Gabby didn’t include herself in that promise. “And you?”
“I can fend for myself. Meghan’s stubborn, but she’ll want to keep ties to the family even after she marries Jason. And she will marry him. Julia’s too dense to see it, but Meghan really loves him.”
“Shit.”
“Yep. Julia needs Cougar Falls, Ty. She always has to have a home there. And I want you to promise she’ll be okay.”
“Gabby, just tell me what you’re hinting at and stop dancing around it,” he growled.
“Sorry, Sheriff. I know you’re used to being in charge, but this is too important for rules and regulations. I need your promise. Consider it blind faith in my sister.”
“I won’t let anyone harm Julia, ever.” And he meant that with every breath in his body.
He must have sounded convincing, because Gabby sighed with relief. “Good. Fact is, our dad didn’t die right after Meghan’s birth. The fox everyone thinks fathered us never existed. My real dad and mom married in secret. He was never good enough for the family. Aunt Lynn hated him, and Uncle Harry made his life miserable whenever Dad would see Mom. Eventually he stopped coming around.”
Ty blinked in astonishment. Of all the things Gabby might have told him, he hadn’t expected this. “A secret mating? How did they keep that quiet?”
“According to Julia, they would meet outside of town. That way no one could track Dad by scent.”
“That’s crazy, not to mention dangerous.” Anger on Julia’s behalf struck him. “If something had happened to your mother, with your dad outcast, who would have been left to raise you three? Lynn and Harry,” he answered with disgust. Then what she’d said made a sick kind of sense. “Hell. Is that why your mother died? She’d gone to meet your father?”
Gabby nodded, her eyes sad. “Julia refuses to talk about it, but I once heard Aunt Lynn talking to Uncle Harry. After Dad left, Mom was really depressed. It was hard on all of us, but especially on Julia. Dad loved her a lot, and Mom needed someone to talk to about her misery.”
“So she shared her concerns with her what, ten-year-old daughter?”
“Yep. Good old Mom cried herself to sleep after every one of Dad’s visits. Mom wouldn’t move from Cougar Falls. I like to think she wouldn’t leave us, but who knows? Dad got sick of having to hide all the time and just left. Mom followed him and…”
“That explains a lot.” Like why Julia had such an aversion to dating. Why she had looked horrified at thoughts of mating. Relieved it wasn’t because of him, he had a sudden urge to shake her, to tell her that not everyone was like her parents.
“Gabby, tell me something. Why didn’t your father just claim your mother in public? Why did he agree to so much secrecy?”
“Because Dad wasn’t a silver fox.”
“What?”
“And he wasn’t an outsider.”
Ty didn’t understand. “Then what was he?”
“Cat.”
“But, that… Clans intermarry, it happens. But they don’t breed.”
“Normally, I’d agree with you. But Julia, Meghan and I are proof they sometimes do.”
Ty whistled, shocked and somehow not surprised. “If word got out you three were part cat, some in the clan might strike to have you removed. Wouldn’t want to taint our pure lines, now would we?” he asked with sarcasm.
“Tainted lines, hmm?” Trust Julia to return to the room and interpret his words in the worst possible way. She stared in shocked dismay from him to Gabby.
Gabby shook her head. “Oh, Julia. It’s not what you think. Ty wasn’t saying—”
“He’s just like the others. I told you that. But you just had to push it. You and your silly notions that love conquers all. You know better, Gabby.” Julia whipped her gaze to his and tilted her chin at a stubborn angle.
The heartbreak in her soulful eyes tore at him. “Julia, you don’t understand. I wasn’t—”
“I knew you’d react this way. The high-and-mighty sheriff who enforces all the rules.”
“Now hold on—”
“And you,” she said to Gabby, who now looked shamefaced. “You just had to tell him. Now you’ve compromised not just yourself, but Meghan too. Where’s she going to go when she realizes her infatuation with Jason won’t last?”
“Julia, Ty won’t tell anyone.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’re going home. Or at least, we’re going to the place we used to call home.” She stormed out of the room, but not before Ty saw a tear slide down her cheek.
In the state she appeared, nothing Ty said would get through to her. Tension, fury and fear radiated in her brown eyes, a storm brewing and ready to rain all over their tentative relationship. But it was her hurt that knotted him from the inside out.
“Gabby, go help her. Fuck,” he swore and left the room, wishing Gabby had never opened her mouth. How the hell was he supposed to work around this huge revelation?
Earlier, when he’d teased Julia about marrying him, he’d wanted to see her reaction. He’d been hoping for a surprised yes, not a horrified no. Burying the ache when she’d rejected him, he’d pretended not to care. But the fox inside him demanded he strengthen his ties to the vixen.
Ty had an uneasy feeling he’d scent-marked her as more than just his latest girlfriend, but as something much more permanent. She had a right to her worry. Though his parents weren’t purists by any means, he knew they expected him to mate with a silver fox. As town sheriff, his position relied on his ability to keep the peace, as well as the respect afforded him by the Ac-taw he protected. A fierce fighter and strong Shifter, he’d never before had a problem with support. Would he now?
Thoroughly disgusted
with himself for even thinking of distancing himself from Julia’s plight, he reminded himself that the woman he still burned for was Julia. Bear, fox, raptor or cat, she commanded his affections because of who not what she was.
He’d have a hard enough time convincing her to put aside her prejudices and take a chance on him. In the meantime, he’d have to work his way around the clan council.
Well, he did love a challenge. Time to put his intelligence to the test. So thinking, he made a phone call to Gerald. If anyone could weasel Julia out of possible trouble, it was his friend, Mr. Lawyer extraordinaire.
After an eye-opening conversation and a shower, Ty changed into the clothes he’d brought with him and sat at the kitchen table across from Gabby, hoping someone in this cabin could cook. Julia glared at him from her position at the stove but didn’t speak. Gabby refused to meet his gaze, chastised and looking depressed. Gabby didn’t wear a frown well. The expression didn’t fit with her sunny disposition.
Julia looked tense and angry. He didn’t like it.
“Question number two, Julia.”
She flinched but didn’t turn around to face him. She slammed a skillet on the stove and tossed some strips of bacon down. His stomach rumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.
Gabby smothered a smile.
One down, one to go.
“Did you hear me?”
“I heard you,” she growled at him. Growled.
Not cool, not aloof. She sounded mad. Her passion he could handle, but not her wounded, distanced behavior. The way she’d treated him this past month had driven him insane.
“Question number two, and this has several parts. When was the last time you saw your father?”
“As a cat or a man?” she asked nastily.
“Either. I’m not picky.”
She stabbed into the bacon with a fork and muttered under her breath. Grease spattered, the heavenly sound of frying pork mingling with a woman’s anger. “I saw him the day before he left us all for good.”
“Do you miss him?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Meghan and Jason,” he reminded her in a sing-song voice.