“I want you to get a good night’s sleep tonight. We’ve got a lot of work to do in the morning,” he said, tipping his hat with a smile.
“You’re right,” she said, hurt, but understanding what he was doing. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He watched her go in as they said their last goodnights. She stood on the other side of the door, letting out a deep sigh. It was so hard to close the door on him and not pull him into her bedroom. Her body ached with need, throbbing between her legs. Her nipples felt so tight they pressed against the soft fabric of her bra. She turned and looked through the peep hole, hoping that he would still be there. She saw him for a split second before he started to walk away.
She groaned and turned to the bed, trudging over and falling on her back. She groaned and pressed her palms to her eyes. She wanted to understand where Leland was coming from, but it was so damned hard. Why didn’t he come in? They’d already been together, what difference did it make?
But on the other hand, she knew he wanted to marry her and mate with her. They’d already gone over the line on the first night. Suddenly, she understood why Leland didn’t want to push her too far too fast.
She still had a huge job to do with him, and that might not have a happy ending. It certainly wasn’t looking good so far. Maybe it was best not to get too attached to him. That idea hurt her heart. She wanted to be all in with him. But she knew he was right. For both of their sakes. She might have to hurt him and it could be too much for either of them to get over.
Chapter 11
After a day of slogging through paperwork and meeting with the expensive vet, Leland was ready to let off some steam. Holding himself back from making love to Sylvia the night before was still killing him. Whenever he looked at her throughout the day, he had to force his inner grizzly to walk past her without spreading her across the table and messing up all that paperwork.
He walked into the dining room and stood in the doorway from the parlor. She’d worn a form-fitting white button-down shirt with the top three buttons undone. He could see the curve of her cleavage under her shirt as she typed on her computer. She pushed her horn-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose and looked at him, smiling when she met his gaze.
“I’m just about done here,” she said.
Sylvia finished typing into the computer and stood from the table. She’d worn blue jeans and hiking boots with her white shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a French braid. She looked so cute, he had to hold himself back from slapping her round behind as she passed. He was a gentleman, but Sylvia’s curves did things to his inner grizzly that he’d never want to have to admit in public. Maybe he’d show her later, after he’d given her his bite, but not now. Now, he was still trying to win her heart.
She grabbed her purse off the coat rack and pulled on the leather jacket she’d worn that morning. He escorted her out to the truck and helped her inside. Leland drove down the gravel road from Timber Bear Ranch and turned out onto the main highway toward the motocross race track. It was about fifteen miles out of Fate Mountain Village to the west in a large staging area with a wide parking lot, already full of trucks and trailers.
Leland could hear the buzz of dirt bike motors before he even parked his car. They stopped beside Jessie's old Ford pickup, and Leland helped Sylvia out onto the gravel parking lot.
The sky was overcast, but there were still several hours of light left in the day. She slid her arm through his and looked up at him with a soft smile. The feeling of her little hand in the crook of his elbow sent a shiver of desire and protectiveness through his body. Sylvia was everything to him. She had brought more meaning into his life in just a few days than he had felt in all the years since he had left his family’s farm. Somehow, she filled all the empty places in his heart and soothed his deepest wounds.
He patted her hand and walked with her through the parking lot to the stands near the track. They stopped for a moment to buy cotton candy, corndogs, a soda for Sylvia, and a pint for Leland before climbing the bleachers. They took a seat at the top. Leland could see Jessie gearing up for the next race. He was wearing a formfitting yellow jumpsuit and a dirt bike helmet.
The last time Leland had seen his youngest brother ride it had been right after the war. Jessie had already gotten back into motocross by then. Cyrus had left for the mountains, and Buck was establishing his timber management business on the ranch with the equipment he bought with his veteran’s benefits. Jessie had only been twenty-two back then, having spent his entire adult life in the military and at war.
Leland knew that fighting in the war had done something to his youngest brother. It had knocked around all the dark places he had from when their mother had died. Leland suspected that's why his youngest brother remained so reckless at twenty-nine.
They hadn't had time to have a heart-to-heart since he'd returned to Fate Mountain, but Leland hoped that his youngest brother had let go of the past.
The next group of riders moved their bikes to the starting line. Jessie was among the group as he sat on the back of his dirt bike and revved his motor.
“Which one is Jessie?” she asked.
"That's him in yellow." Leland pointed.
The whistle blew and the riders jetted out over the starting line. Jessie took an early lead, his shifter agility and strength allowing him to dominate the pack. But there were several riders in red right behind him. They seemed to have as much agility and strength as Jesse himself. Leland watched the riders in red gain on Jessie. The longer he watched, the more convinced he became that they were also shifters.
Before shifters had come out of the closet thirty years ago, many of them had participated in sports as humans. But after the Great Shifter Council revealed to the world that shifters existed, there had been new tests developed to keep shifters out of sports leagues. In many fans’ opinions, that had been a serious downturn for all sports. But many had created entire shifter leagues that were beginning to get more viewers than the human sports leagues of today.
Small town dirt bike racing had always been dominated by shifters on Fate Mountain. There were two human riders bringing up the rear of the pack. One of them gained on one of the shifters in red and took the lead. The shifter in red charged over a jump and cut off the human rider, causing the human to smash right into a barrier. The dirt bike went flying into the air and landed on the human’s leg. A scream went out from the crowd and the rider wailed. People ran to his assistance. Sylvia shot to her feet in the stands and gasped as she covered her mouth with both hands, dropping her soda between the slats in the bleachers. Jessie continued down the track and crossed the finish line in first place.
The human was lifted onto a gurney and carried off to a waiting ambulance that quickly departed for the hospital. The crushed bike and the broken barrier were swiftly removed and replaced before the next race started.
Jessie road again and narrowly won the second match. The top-ranked riders for the day were all in the final match. It was Jessie, the shifters in red, and two other humans.
“I think I’ve seen those riders in red before,” Sylvia whispered into Leland’s ear.
“Really? When?”
“When I first got to Fate Mountain. They tore down the highway like demons out of hell, screaming, ‘Hyenas rule this town’.”
“Hyenas? This is a bear town.”
Leland watched in anticipation, his heart pounding. Sylvia sat beside him, her little hand crushing his. The hyenas in red played dirty and didn't seem to care who they hurt. They didn’t seem to mind getting hurt themselves, either, if it meant keeping someone else from coming in ahead of them.
Leland's inner grizzly growled as he gritted his flat human teeth together. He watched his brother maneuver around the hyenas’ dirty tricks all the way around the racetrack. When Jessie finally came out at the finish line as the winner, one of the shifters in red smashed right into his back wheel. It was hard enough to jostle Jessie’s dirt bike and topple him on his ass
, right as the announcer moved toward him to declare him the winner.
Down in the pit with the other racers, Jessie stood at the center of a circle of reporters and fans. The winning trophy was handed to Jessie, and Leland slapped his youngest brother on the back. Just then, the two shifters in red strutted toward them, crossing their arms and sneering.
"Leland Kincaid," one of them spat out.
It was then that Leland recognized them. Brandon and Chuck: the overly-privileged hyena shifter brothers from the Updike family. Their father had owned Fate Mountain Lodge before Levi Buckthorn had taken over the place at the end of the war. The family had been nothing but trouble for as long as Leland had known them. Although the brothers had gone to private schools, the families had a long history of bad blood. Leland had heard a while back that their father had gone to prison.
"I barely recognized you," Leland said. “Is it true what they say about hyena shifters?"
He wasn't trying to start anything, but somehow, he couldn't help it.
"Hyena shifters lead the pack," Chuck, the older one, said. "The Updikes still own a thousand acres of the mountain, free and clear."
"That's right," said Brandon. "How is Timber Bear Ranch doing these days? Have you had any luck with keeping your fences repaired and your cattle healthy?" The both snickered as if sharing an inside joke.
The scent of anxiety mixed with amusement wafted through the air. It gave Leland a sense of disorientation. How would the Updike brothers know anything about his fence lines or his cattle? It was too big a coincidence. Leland's grizzly growled inside his mind.
"What about our cattle?" Leland asked.
"You’ll never pay off your debts with them,” Chuck said.
"You have no idea what’s under your own nose,” Brandon added.
“Shut up, Brandon!”
"What would you know about my cattle or my debts?" Leland asked.
“You’ll never know.”
They both snickered and rode off on their bikes into the crowd. People spread away from them, yelling at their backs.
"What was that about?" Leland asked Jessie.
"I have no idea. Those assholes are always getting into a fight with someone. I try to ignore them. It’s hard sometimes with them cutting me off at every turn."
"Do you think they had anything to do with the fence lines?" Leland asked.
"They don't care about our land. Those two spoiled brats have all the money they need. Their father went to jail for fraud, but somehow they’re still rolling in it."
"Why do they know about our debts?"
"How the hell should I know?" Jessie said.
Jessie looked around the crowd and spotted whoever he was searching for. His eyes brightened and then a smile curved on his lips.
"There is a blonde human coming my way, and I'm going to need you two to disappear.”
"Is that your fated mate?" Leland asked, craning his neck to get a better look.
"No," Jessie said.
"Right." Leland shook his head.
He took Sylvia's hand and escorted her away from the confusion. He threw the cotton candy stick in the trashcan and led her back to the truck where he helped her inside.
“What a strange day,” Sylvia said.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
On the way back to Sylvia's hotel, he couldn't help but feel as if there was something going on that he couldn't put his finger on.
"Maybe you should talk to your brother Cyrus about your father's debts," Sylvia said in the silence of the car. "In these situations, often someone holds the missing piece of the puzzle."
"Cyrus is miles up the mountain, through some of the most treacherous terrain in the territory."
"But you're a grizzly shifter," she reminded him as he parked in front of her hotel room.
"Touché," he said. "If I do go, I'm going to need to go soon.”
"I had a really good time today," Sylvia said, leaning in to offer her lips for kissing.
Leland accepted the invitation and kissed her hard. She slipped away and out the door with a soft goodbye, and was up the stairs at the door of her hotel room before he had a chance to even get out of the car.
He shook his head, thinking about how cute, spunky and independent she was. He wanted to hold on to her and protect her and see her blossom into the full potential of her womanhood. That was everything to him.
But the debt and the nagging sense of mystery around it all left him feeling unsettled. He could never start his life with Sylvia like this, and he could never ask her to accept him as her husband with no real home and no real foundation.
This whole thing had to be put to rest before he could give her his mark or his name. Leland backed out of the parking lot in front of the hotel and turned out onto the highway, determined to put the mystery to rest so he could give his woman everything she deserved.
Chapter 12
Sylvia woke, looking forward to seeing Leland. Before she could make it out the door to his house, her cell phone rang with the number from her boss back at the office.
She answered the phone and greeted him with a cheerful good morning.
"How is your audit going, Sylvia?" he asked.
"I've sorted through several years, and it's slowly but surely getting sorted out."
"I'm going to need you to come back to the office and continue working on the case here."
"I'm only halfway done."
"Gather up your paperwork and come back to the office. This field audit is over. It's taking too long, and I want you back at headquarters. The debt is too high for you to work on the case alone. This may take a turn for the worse."
"What are you talking about?"
"We'll discuss this all when you are back to the office later today. Gather up whatever documentation you have and bring it with you."
"Okay," Sylvia said.
Mr. Stands hung up the phone. She was left standing in front of the door of her hotel room, wondering what had just happened.
She hadn't told Mr. Stands that she had begun a romantic relationship with Leland Kincaid. She knew it was a terrible conflict of interest and that Mr. Stands would've taken her off the case immediately.
She had hoped she'd have time to sort through all Leland’s dad’s documents before returning to the office. She'd hoped she could somehow buffer the worst of it. Now his documents would be poured over by a team of agents, and she would not be able to control the process. She squeezed her eyes closed and put her palm to her forehead, shaking it slowly from side to side.
She grabbed her purse, jacket and briefcase before leaving the hotel. She hurried down the stairs to her car. She had to get to Leland's house to pick up the paperwork.
And she had to tell him goodbye.
She couldn't believe that this was all happening so fast. She would have bet anything that they would have more time together, but she'd been wrong. Now she would have to go back to Portland and continue the audit with impartial parties, possibly never seeing Leland again, except in court. The idea caused a tear to stream down her eye. She didn't want to tell him.
She didn't want to come out of the fantasy they'd been weaving together, where they could somehow have a relationship and everything worked out happily in the end. She shook her head, trying to keep the tears inside.
She worked as an auditor. She was supposed to be above feelings like this. But she definitely was not. Leland was everything she'd ever wanted in a man, and the thought of losing him made a cold stone sink into the pit of her stomach.
When she parked in front of his house, she could barely bring herself to get out of the car. She didn't open her door until he stepped out onto the porch and gave her a questioning look. She grabbed her briefcase and slid out of her car, approaching him slowly across the gravel.
"Good morning, sweetheart," he said, holding a mug of coffee in his hand.
He was wearing a flannel shirt and a puffy gray vest. He had a day of stubble still on his chin. When
he leaned in to kiss her softly on the lips, she could smell the musky scent of his cologne and the bitter sweet smell of coffee. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
"Can I get you a cup of coffee?"
"I'd love that, but I can't stay," she said, stepping back.
He looked at her with a questioning expression. "You can't stay? There's still so much work to be done."
"I've been called back to headquarters. I need to take the documents with me."
Her heart sank even further. She couldn't even meet his eyes.
"You’re leaving?" he said slowly.
"I have to. I have no other choice."
"Well, it doesn't seem as if it can be helped. If your boss wants you to come back to the office, then you need to go back to the office, right?"
He stood back and invited her inside. She let out a deep breath as she walked into the dining room where the paperwork was still spread across the table.
"You're going to need some boxes," he said, setting his coffee down.
She couldn't believe how calm he was being about all this. She could have sworn he would be worried about her going back with his documents. But when he came back in the room, his eyes were clear and he had a smile on his face. He set several empty plastic bins on the table and started loading them with papers.
"You're being so understanding," Sylvia said. "But I’m afraid."
"Why, babe?" he said, stepping toward her. "What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid of what will happen back at headquarters. I wasn't going to cheat or anything like that. But I was going to be as gentle as humanly possible," she said, still looking down at the table.
He lifted her chin to force her to look at him.
"Whatever happens happens. This ranch...of course it matters to me. But ever since the first moment I laid eyes on you, Sylvia Becker, you've been everything to me, and you always will be. After this is all over, if you still want me, we'll figure out where to go. No matter what. Understand?"
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