Heart of the Wolf

by Lindsay McKenna

  Staring at the phone, Sarah knew she should call him. She didn’t want Wolf to worry. Perhaps she’d wait another half hour…She dreaded calling him—dreaded his reaction. The cabin needed to be dusted and mopped. She noticed that Wolf had all the lapidary equipment back in place after Summers’s henchmen had tried to steal it. One chair—her rocker—was broken. Moving over to it, sadness stole through Sarah as she gently touched the back of it.

  Forcing herself to get to work as the evening light began to steal through the cabin windows, Sarah tried to focus her energy on housecleaning. She should be happy to be home, but somehow she wasn’t. The vacuum cleaner was a noisy old machine, and Sarah ran it over the burnished cedar floor. Brushing strands of damp hair off her brow, she finally finished cleaning the living room and shut it off.

  A car door slammed in the driveway. Sarah jerked up, her heart pounding. Summers? Or Wolf? She froze, the vacuum in hand. She saw the shadow of a man pass the kitchen window, heading for the door. Gulping, Sarah dropped the vacuum handle. Sharp banging on the door made her jump.

  “Sarah?”

  Her mouth dropped open. Wolf stood at the kitchen door.

  Crushing her hand against her breast in relief, she hurried as fast as her healing feet would take her to the back door. She saw the agitation on Wolf’s face and tried to emotionally prepare for his righteous anger. Opening the door, she muttered, “How did you know I came home?”

  Wolf held onto his anger as he moved into the kitchen. He deliberately shut the door softly behind him. Sarah’s face was riddled with guilt. “I got worried,” he said, “and I called the nursing home. They said you left with Pepper. When you didn’t come to my house, I figured you came up here.”

  “I—I’m sorry, Wolf.”

  “You didn’t have to lie to me, Sarah,” he said sadly.

  “Yes, I did!” she cried, moving into the living room.

  Wolf followed. “Don’t you realize you’re at risk?” he demanded hoarsely, stalking up to her until mere inches separated them.

  Belligerently, Sarah raised her chin and met the fierce thunderstorm of his eyes. “Risk?” she cracked. “Being with you is the biggest risk of all, Wolf! Don’t you realize that? I tried to tell you earlier…I tried…” And she took a step back, choking on the words.

  Blindly Wolf made a grab for Sarah. He thought she was going to run from him—again. His hands closed around her upper arms, and he drew her against him. “No,” he rasped. “Don’t run, Sarah. You make yourself a target, and I can’t…I can’t let you be killed!”

  With a whimper, Sarah tried to pull away. Wolf was too close, too overpowering, and his masculinity was undoing her in every way. Raw emotions flowed through her, ribbons of need entwining with heat and longing. Tears stung her eyes as she lifted her hands to push at him.

  It was impossible!

  Instinctively Wolf cupped Sarah’s face with his hands. There was such love radiating from her eyes—mixed with her fear of her feelings for him—that he couldn’t stop himself. His breathing suspended as he barely grazed Sarah’s parted, waiting lips. A soft moan came from her. His hands tightened imperceptibly on her face, and he made contact with her again, feeling her lips move shyly beneath his. There was such uncertainty coupled with the need in her kiss. Her mouth opened as a flower opens to the sun’s rays, lush and questing. This time, Wolf’s control disintegrated, and he met and melded hotly with her lips. A groan reverberated through him like thunder. Sarah’s returning kiss was hungry, inciting a fire within him. Despite her awkwardness, her shyness, Wolf drowned in the heat and fire of her offering. The spicy scent of her hair and velvety feel of her skin filled his senses, dizzying him.

  Sarah drowned in the splendor of Wolf’s fiery kiss. His mouth was strong and coaxing. Her nostrils flaring, she drank in the scent of Wolf, a combination of pine and fresh air and pure male. Her fingers tensed against his barrel chest, and she felt one of his hands slide down the length of her spine and tightly capture her hips against his. The contact was shocking, pleasurable. Gasping, Sarah broke the kiss, gulping for air.

  Instantly Wolf released her. She swayed. He caught her gently by the arm and allowed her to lean against him. They were both trembling.

  “Sweet,” he breathed against her hair, his arm going around her shoulder as she sank weakly against him, “you make a man tremble like a willow in a thunderstorm.”

  Sarah couldn’t talk, she could only feel. She burrowed her head against his chest, hearing the wild beating of his heart. His arms swept around her, and she surrendered to his superior strength. After a moment, Sarah lifted her head and gazed up into his stormy eyes—and what she saw there was a combination of savage hunger and tenderness.

  The kiss should never have happened, her mind screeched at her. But, somehow, Sarah couldn’t fight herself any longer. Wolf was just as stunned by the kiss as she was, she was sure. It had happened like lightning striking them, leaving them shaken in its wake.

  Wolf gently eased just far enough away from Sarah to see her flushed features. As her lashes lifted to reveal lustrous blue eyes, he groaned silently. Her lips were glistening from the power of his kiss, and he reeled with need of her. Trying to grapple with the situation, he rasped, “I never want to share anything but honesty about how we feel about each other.” His voice was low as he lightly removed strands of golden hair from her cheek. “You give me hope, Sarah. I felt dirtier than hell before meeting you, and you make me feel clean inside.” He continued to stroke the crown of her hair, marveling at the way the light changed and danced across the strands. “I’m still carrying a lot of guilt about Maria, about what happened. When you started living with me, I started feeling differently about myself, maybe about the world in general.” He gave her an embarrassed look. “You have that kind of effect on me, honey. You’re one of a kind, a special woman. Magical.”

  Sarah clung to his words. They were spoken with such reverence. “It shouldn’t have happened, Wolf.”

  “We both wanted it.”

  Wincing, Sarah bowed her head. “I felt so terrible lying to you, Wolf. I’m scared…so scared…”

  The tremor in her voice deeply affected him. “I know, honey. So am I—for different reasons.” He grazed her cheek. “You’re afraid to trust outside yourself, and I’m afraid I can’t protect you well enough to deserve that trust.”

  Sarah nodded, but she knew Wolf was questioning his own ability to love, too. “Let me stay here, Wolf. Give me the time I need,” she pleaded.

  “Sarah—”

  “No, hear me out—I have a gun. I know how to use the thing! I’m a crack shot, and believe me, I’ve shot at Summers’s men before.” She pulled out of his arms, hating herself for it, hating the loss she saw in Wolf’s eyes. “You’ve got to understand, Wolf. Being around you is a special kind of hell for me! I—I can’t keep my mind on Summers while I’m trying to deal with the emotions you pull out of me.” Opening her hands, her voice dropping, she whispered, “Please, let me stay here. I’ll be okay. I know I will.”

  Wolf’s gut warned him that Sarah wasn’t safe at all. But what could he do? He couldn’t kidnap her. He wouldn’t force himself on her in any way. The hot memory of their explosive kiss seared him. Maybe Sarah was right: The emotions that leaped to life between them were too much for either of them to deal with right now. Maybe they needed a cooling-off period.

  “Okay,” he growled, finally. “I’ll go back to the house and pick up your clothes and the faceter.”

  Relief tunneled through Sarah. “I know how hard it is for you to let me go….”

  Grimly Wolf held her tearful gaze. Words choked in his throat, and all he could do was nod.

  Drowning in his lambent gaze, Sarah whispered, “It’s nice having someone in my corner who believes in me.”

  “I’ve got to get going,” Wolf heard himself say. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  Sarah nodded and took a step back from his imposing height. “I have to, Wolf
.”

  “I’ll be back in about two hours,” he promised. Fear for her safety ate away at him. He felt completely helpless. “Be careful,” he warned, and then he left.

  It was almost nine in the evening when Sarah got ready to take her shower. Wolf had been gone almost an hour, and she knew he’d be home by now, packing her clothes. The kiss still hovered hotly on her lips, she caught herself touching them, feeling the power of Wolf’s mouth molding against her own. Never had she been kissed like that. She’d tasted him, felt his heart thudding in unison with her own. Most of all, she’d felt as if she were merged with him, all the way to his tired, wounded soul.

  Absently Sarah touched the broken rocking chair, caught up in her escaped feelings for Wolf. The kiss had ripped away her pretenses, her lies to herself about not trusting Wolf. Standing there, she shut her eyes and felt a new kind of pain drift through her vulnerable heart. Did she know what real love was? She wished she could talk to her mother about the wildly fluctuating feelings she had for Wolf. In comparison, the relationship she’d had with Philip had been tame.

  Opening her eyes, Sarah chastised herself for thinking too much. Her mother had always told her to flow with her feelings and not let her head interfere. But if she allowed her feelings to flow, they would wrap around Wolf in every way. It wasn’t that she couldn’t live her life without Wolf’s presence; it was simply that her life was better with him around. He somehow enhanced her, and it made her feel awakened as a woman, made her feel that she possessed sensual longings she hadn’t known existed.

  As she walked across the living room toward the bathroom, Sarah glanced up. She jerked to a halt, thinking she must be imagining things. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shadow of a man cross the darkened window. Her heart started a slow, uneven pounding. Was it her overactive imagination playing tricks on her? Ever since Wolf had left, she’d felt nervous and vulnerable.

  Licking her lower lip, Sarah stared hard at the curtained window. There! Another shadow! A small cry broke from her. It wasn’t her imagination. It was Summers’s men! Because her feet were healing, Sarah couldn’t turn quickly. Awkward in her movements, she lurched toward the bedroom to get the rifle that sat in the corner. Hurry! The door in the kitchen was being jimmied. Her throat constricted.

  A cry broke from Sarah as she saw three men with bandaged faces rush through the door into the cabin. The cedar floor was highly polished, and she was in her stocking feet. Rattled, she slipped in the hallway and fell. She heard one man grunt as he came closer to her. Sarah scrambled to her knees. Forgetting the rifle, she lunged to her feet and ran toward the front door of the cabin. Jamming her hand around the doorknob, she tried to pull the door open. Escape! She had to escape!

  “Hold it!” a man snarled, settling his hand on her shoulder and gripping her hard.

  Blindly Sarah lashed out with her elbow as she was dragged backward. Pain and light exploded along the side of her face and jaw. She slammed against the door and crumpled to the floor.

  “Don’t move.”

  Gulping for breath, Sarah opened her eyes. Three men dressed in cowboy shirts, jeans and boots were hunkered over her. They moved aside when a fourth man entered the cabin.

  “Summers,” Sarah hissed.

  Chapter Eleven

  Shakily Sarah pressed her hand against her smarting cheek. It was bloody. Trying to steady her breathing, she glared up at Summers as he approached. He wore a suit, and, as always, he appeared freshly groomed. In his hand he held a sheaf of papers.

  “Sign this.”

  “Like hell I will.”

  Summers’s mouth curled. “It’s an agreement, Sarah, that you’re turning over the mine to me for the tidy sum of fifty thousand dollars. Now, that’s not a bad profit for a quarter of this mountain, is it?”

  Sarah pushed herself to her feet, using the door as a support because her knees were wobbly. Looking around at the hardened faces of Summers’s men, she realized that two of them were the same men who’d attacked her before. One grinned at her. She shrank back against the door.

  “You can kill me, Summers, but I’ll never turn this place over to you. Never!” she cried.

  Summers gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Billy here said he owes you for cold-cocking him with that prospector’s hammer.” Summers smiled evenly. “You’ve always been wild, Sarah. Your reputation precedes you. Billy, wouldn’t you like to even the score?” He turned to the man, who nodded, his angry gaze riveted on Sarah. Summers smiled a little more. “If you sign, we’ll leave right now, Sarah.”

  Her heart pounding in her chest, Sarah crouched, fear overcoming her. Billy’s large nose was bandaged. Wolf must have broken it the day before.

  “What if I don’t sign?”

  “Well, first I’ll let Billy even the score with you, and then we’ll leave. But we’ll be back tomorrow night. The boys might get bored fighting you and want some other kind of fun.” Summers looked around the cabin. “Be a shame if this place went up in smoke…”

  “No!” Sarah’s voice cracked with fury and disbelief.

  He lost his smile. “And if you refuse even after you’ve got cinders at your feet, Sarah, we’ll keep harassing you until you do sign. Understand?” He held out the paper and pen once more. “Make it easy on yourself. Sign now.”

  Rage exploded violently within Sarah. Without thinking, she pushed away from the door and lunged for Summers. He barely dodged her flailing fists, knocking over the other man as he stumbled backward to dodge her attack.

  “Get her!” Summers roared as he fell to the floor.

  Sarah scrambled toward the kitchen. Throwing herself out the back door, she dug her toes into the pine needles and dry soil, disappearing into the darkness. Pain shot through her feet and ankles, but she ignored it as she raced away from the cabin. No one knew this mountain more intimately than she did. Two of the men were coming after her. The night was bathed in black. Sarah swerved to the left. There was a ten-foot drop-off just ahead. If she could make it without breaking an ankle or her leg, she could lose her pursuers.

  Wind tore past her as she stretched her stride to the maximum. Both men were bearing down upon her, and she heard them cursing and gasping for air. Just a few more feet! The edge of the rock ledge was coming up fast. Sarah threw herself off it, bending her knees to take the impact of landing.

  She hit the ground hard, automatically flexing and rolling to absorb the jarring shock. Quickly she scrambled to her hands and knees, then pushed to a standing position. A scream lurched from one of the men above her. There was no time to take satisfaction in the thought of the two men falling over the cliff. Sarah ran to the right and crouched down, pushing through several bushes. Behind the shrubbery was a small cranny in the rock, a cavelike depression.

  Sarah pressed her hands across her nose and mouth to try to soften the sound of her breathing. She heard both men strike the forest floor, one groaning loudly. The other cursed. She sat very still, her knees jammed against her chest and chin. Rock wall bit into her back, but she ignored the discomfort. Anything was better than being beaten or raped. Anything. Shaky with adrenaline, Sarah concentrated on trying to breathe quietly.

  The cursing grew louder. Sarah hunched down as one of the shadowy figures came close to her hiding spot.

  “Son of a bitch!” Billy yelled. “She got away!”

  “Screw the bitch,” the other one groaned. “Come back here and help me. I think I busted my ankle, Billy. Dammit to hell!”

  Sarah’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and she saw Billy hesitate near the bushes where she hid, then turn back to help the other man. Burying her head in her arms, Sarah breathed through her mouth, trying to stay quiet. Both men hobbled off, and in a few minutes the forest had grown quiet again.

  How long Sarah waited, she didn’t know. Finally, the urgent need to warn Wolf that Summers and his men were at the cabin got the better of her. Disregarding her painful feet, she slowly extricated herself from the depression and care
fully moved along the cliff wall. A deer path led back toward the cabin and the road, she knew. She had to warn Wolf before he ran into Summers and his gang!

  By the time Sarah made it back to her cabin, Summers and his men were gone. She stood just inside the tree line, wondering if it was a trick. No trucks were in her driveway. It was quiet. Deathly quiet. Beginning to tremble in earnest, Sarah wrapped her arms around herself. The summer nights were always cool in the mountains, and sometimes chilly. Her keen hearing picked up the sound of a truck being driven at high speed down the dirt road toward her cabin. Was it Wolf, or was it Summers returning?

  Sarah waited, positioning herself so that the headlights wouldn’t flash over her and give away her position. As the truck drove into the driveway and braked to a halt next to the cabin, she realized it was Wolf.

  With a little cry, Sarah lurched out of the forest. Sobbing Wolf’s name, she ran toward him, her arms open.

  Wolf emerged from the pickup and heard Sarah’s cry. Startled, he jerked around toward the sound. His eyes widened enormously. Sarah’s shadowed features were twisted with fear, and blood was smeared along her cheek. Wolf grabbed his rifle off the rack and loaded a round in the chamber. Skeet leaped down, remaining at his side. His breathing was strangled, and his heart was beating hard in fear. Terrible flashbacks of finding the Peruvian villagers slaughtered slammed into Wolf as he stood frozen for that moment.

  “Sarah!”

  A cry broke from her as she staggered into his arms. Instantly she was surrounded by Wolf’s strength, by the protection of his arms and massive body.

  “Summers was here!” she sobbed.

  Wolf’s senses were screamingly alive. He held Sarah as she collapsed against him, but his gaze never stopped roving around the area.