by Marie Harte
Shit.
“The property, however…” Gerald paused, and Burke wanted to punch him for drawing this out. “The property is divided between you and the Chastells.” Gerald turned to Burke. “You’ve been wanting to buy from Charlotte forever. Well, Burke, now’s your chance. If Rachel decides to sell, everything on the property, to include the house and the material within it, becomes yours.” The totem, he meant but didn’t say. With the totem back in the hands of protectors who both understood and respected the ancient relic, peace would surely return to Cougar Falls. No more clan wars, and no more threats of strangers having a hold on something as valuable as the totem.
Rachel stared at Gerald, her gaze narrowing with suspicion as it lit on Burke. “Are you saying Mr. Chastell wants my aunt’s property? And that she steadily refused to sell it?”
Burke had a sudden ache in the pit of his belly, a feeling that often preceded something bad about to happen.
“That’s what I’m saying.” Gerald stacked his papers and squared them. “Charlotte’s property and the Chastells’ border one another. They’ve always been friendly, don’t get me wrong. But it’s no secret Burke and his brothers want to reclaim the land that their great-great grandfather gave to one of your relatives so many years ago.”
“I see.” She glared at Burke, and he stared back, confused.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she snapped. Turning back to Gerald, she pasted a sugary-sweet smile on her face. “So the house is mine, and the property is split how?”
“It’s a bit complicated. I’ll drive you out to the property so I can show you both. Charlotte was very clear about this.” Gerald turned sharp eyes on Burke, as if willing him to listen.
Burke, however, didn’t understand what the hell had crawled up Rachel’s ass. He couldn’t deny her fury made him hot, but he didn’t understand what he’d done wrong. Was she suddenly blaming him for their time together in the alley? It wasn’t as if he’d staged that fight with those knuckle-dragging wolf Shifters. And he sure as hell hadn’t planned to come in his jeans while dry-fucking her against a dirty brick wall.
“Burke, I said I’ll drive Rachel out to the property now. Perhaps you’d care to follow, so I only have to do this once?”
Burke nodded. “Fine, sure. Look, why don’t you go file your papers or something? I need a word with Rachel.”
“Yes, Mr. Winter. I’d like a word with Mr. Chastell as well.” Rachel’s glare could have cut steel.
Gerald glanced from Rachel to Burke and unsuccessfully masked a grin. “Fine. I’ll be waiting outside when you’re through.” Grabbing his papers and shoving them in his briefcase, he left the room, closing the door behind him.
The minute he left, Rachel stood ramrod straight and glared down her sexy little nose at Burke. “You arrogant asshole.”
“What’s your problem?” Burke honestly had no idea why she’d grown so upset.
“You thought screwing me would sway me into selling my aunt’s place to you?”
Burke scowled. “Now wait a minute, Rachel. I—”
She leaned down and poked him in the chest, hard, stirring his instincts to fight back. Or perhaps, to turn their tussle into something more…intimate. “You wait a minute, Chastell. If you wanted to buy the place, all you had to do was ask. That scene in the alley was totally unnecessary. And not that good to boot.”
He launched himself out of his chair to glare down at her. “Not that good, Miss Penny? First of all, that ‘scene’ in the alley, as you put it, was not staged. Second, that was anything but a real fuck. We had all our clothes on, for Christ’s sake. And third.” He paused to close what little distance remained between them. Staring directly into her eyes, nose to nose, he growled his last words. “The orgasm we shared was more than good, it was explosive. Lie to yourself if you want to, but you came hard, like a shot.” He licked his lips, unable to help how turned on she made him in her anger. “And I can still smell your come creaming your panties. Hell, right now you want nothing more than a hard fuck right on Gerald’s desk, isn’t that right?”
Her pupils dilated with lust, and her scent filled the room. Pure, unadulterated sex.
“Fuck. You.”
“Sure thing, honey. You just name the time and place.”
He watched in amazement as her pupils began to elongate. He could smell the familiar scent of feline musk flooding the room and waited, his breath held, as Rachel amazingly began to turn.
Her hair began to rise as her body was covered in a field of static energy, and her teeth grew sharp as she hissed at him in anger. God, she made him burn. The mixture of mountain lion and woman was almost more than he could take. Glancing at Gerald’s desk, Burke figured he could have it cleared in one swipe of his arm. He’d bend her over the solid oak on her belly and yank those jeans and panties off her legs. Within seconds he’d lower his own clothes, just enough to spring his cock free before he’d shove it hard and deep into that honeyed, wet pussy.
Rachel’s hands fisted into paws as she raised one arm as if to strike.
Do it. Please, touch me and I swear I’ll mark you as one of mine in a heartbeat. The choice, even unknowingly made, had to be hers.
Gerald, damn his ass, chose that minute to knock at the door. “Hey, is everything all right in there?”
Son of a bitch. Burke knew Gerald could smell the passion raging in the room, the scent of a female in heat overpowering enough to easily reach the lawyer outside the office.
Rachel blinked, and that suddenly her shift vanished as if it had never been. She swayed and righted herself, still miffed enough not to want Burke’s touch. “Come near me again and I’ll geld you.” Sniffing, she turned on her heel and stalked out the door, nearly knocking over Gerald, who waited impatiently on the other side.
Gerald watched Rachel go with amusement, his lips quirked in an aggravating smirk.
“Not one word.” Burke stormed through the door, knocking Gerald into the wall as he passed, heading for the bathroom to finally clean up. “Not one fucking word.”
Rachel was so mad she wanted to cry. Frustrated anger that had no outlet, not to mention the absurd hurt, lingered in her battered heart. When would she learn? Jesse, apparently, hadn’t been enough of a fiasco to teach her abject lessons about the male of the species. Men weren’t loyal, they weren’t honest, and they certainly weren’t worth a single tear.
Wiping her cheeks with a rough jerk, she stalked outside to the only car in the lot and waited. Why couldn’t she have seen this earlier? Men like Burke Chastell had one thing on their minds and one thing only: screwing over women to get whatever they wanted. Hadn’t she caught him verbally abusing that poor waitress this morning? And the entire diner had overheard Rachel state her name as Rachel Penny, not to mention her connection to Charlotte. Why then hadn’t he mentioned he wanted her land? That he and her aunt were neighbors, at least?
No. It was so much easier, and probably more fun, to fuck with Rachel’s body and mind. The dishonesty of it all made her want to puke. It was so…so Jesse all over again. And then to stir her to horny madness in Gerald’s office? What was wrong with him?
Shit. What was wrong with her?
Because as much as she’d hated him at that moment, her body had been readying for his penetration. Her clit ached at his nearness, moisture pooling between her thighs as if he’d had his large hand rubbing her, prepping her for his thick, juicy cock. She’d felt an almost animal hunger and a hazy sense of desire, both foreign feelings that scared her and aroused her all over again.
She groaned, clenching the hair by her temples. She swore she could smell him, even here. That caramel, sticky-sweet scent drenched in sex that made her want to spread her thighs and beg for him. Beg? The only dumbass who should be begging is the jerk in that office. Creaming for him. Ha.
Lie, lie, lie, her inner self urged her. At least preserve your self-respect.
Inhaling deeply, Rachel strove to work her temper under contro
l. She refused to surrender to her body’s foolish demands. Head over heart, mind over matter, and reason over orgasm should have been her steadfast mantra. Instead, she battled her desires as she waited for Burke the Jerk and Gerald to join her. But surprisingly, after just a few minutes, her raging need settled as if it had never been, making her more confused than ever.
When Gerald arrived a few moments later, he smiled and opened the passenger door of his Range Rover, waiting for her to enter. It felt strange to have a man behave like such a gentleman after Burke’s aggressiveness and her ex-husband’s perfidy.
Gerald, however, behaved with a gentle assertiveness she found comforting. He drove slowly through the town, commenting here and there on Cougar Falls’ history. And she breathed easily, relaxed around him. Though attractive and with that same, earthy scent all the men around this town seemed to possess, he didn’t make her crazed with lust. She had no urges to strip him naked or nuzzle his neck to inhale his scent. Thank God.
“And there’s Millie’s ice cream parlor.” Gerald pointed her toward an attractive little shop. “The woman’s nearing seventy-four and still opens the shop every morning and closes it every evening. That’s what I love about this place. The sense of pride in ownership and the family traditions.”
Rachel nodded, taken with the charming town. The brick-and-log buildings showed their age and their character, all of them carefully preserved and well tended. She didn’t see a speck of litter anywhere, just clusters of bright multicolored flowers in window boxes and barrels. As they neared the center of town, she saw groups of smiling and laughing couples with children dancing near what appeared to be an open park. In the park’s center stood a large white gazebo peopled with musicians and surrounded by food booths.
“The Totem Festival’s today. That’s what has all those people out here so early on a Saturday.”
“Totem Festival?”
Gerald smiled and kept his eyes on the paved road that gradually turned into a dirt road a mile outside of town. “A long time ago this used to be Salish land, though a lot of the history books show the Salish Indians farther west, thanks to our unscrupulous Uncle Sam.” He grimaced and continued. “Well, a few Salish ran into a mysterious, small group of people inhabiting the region we now live in.”
Rachel listened, curious and caught by Gerald’s rhythmic words. She had a feeling the story was important, but couldn’t have said why. When he’d mentioned the Totem Festival, her entire body tensed on alert. Like everything else that had happened to her since stepping foot in Cougar Falls, this made no sense either.
Instead of dwelling on it, she said to hell with worry and latched onto his story. “So the root of this festival isn’t the Salish, but the people they ran into.”
“Right, the Shifters.” Gerald flashed her a smile and turned down another dirt road, taking them deeper into the mountains. “The Salish called them Ac-taw, which in the Shifters’ language meant animal souls. According to legend, the Ac-taw could transform into the beasts that dwelt within their souls.”
“What, like werewolves and cat people?” Funny, she’d heard the same tales from Aunt Charlotte growing up. But her aunt had never given the Shifters a name. She’d just laughed and teased Rachel with fanciful stories.
“I guess you could call them that. But the Indians believed more in a transmutation of souls into living form. Not so much monsters as people who could live as either animal or human, a beautiful combination of both spirits in one flesh.” Gerald’s words took on a dreamy tone, and Rachel had to force herself to recall he was telling a story and not some personal history.
“So where does this totem come in?”
“The Ac-taw supposedly worshipped a living stalk of wood that brought good health, long life and protection to those under its spell. And that living stalk of wood is the totem we celebrate on festival days.”
“Days?”
“Four times a year the town celebrates the Totem Festival. It’s fun, a way of ushering in the seasons. We have a carnival of sorts, nothing weird. The kids have a blast, and it’s an excuse for the town’s citizens to get together and have a big party.
“The totem’s a beautiful antique, a large timber maybe twenty feet high and three feet wide. Animal carvings painted in rich, vibrant color decorate the thing. You can almost believe the legends about the Ac-taw having imbued the wood with their power. It feels incredibly alive. Once you’ve seen it, you’ll understand what I mean.”
“Wow. I’d like to see this thing. A magical totem pole and Shifters, huh? Cougar Falls has an entertaining history, I’ll give you that.”
Gerald grinned. “As do our inhabitants. You’ve met a few this morning, I gather.”
Apparently, news traveled fast in a town this size. She wasn’t surprised. “Yeah. I walked into the Fox’s Henhouse ready for a big plate of pancakes only to hear Burke Chastell growling at some woman to keep her hands off. God’s gift to women,” she muttered, realizing how much she’d liked Burke’s hands on her and wishing she didn’t.
“Well, don’t judge Burke too harshly concerning Sarah.” Gerald continued to maneuver through a cropping of woods, confusing Rachel with the many twists and turns onto expansive dirt roads that looked no better than well-worn trails. “Sarah Duncan is not what you’d call a one-man woman.”
“So it’s okay to treat her like crap because she likes men?” Gerald wasn’t looking so charming now.
“No, no.” He frowned at her before turning his attention back to the road. “Sarah’s a wonderful woman, though she’s not really selective about who she sleeps with. But that’s her business and no one else’s. My point is, she’s been all over Burke for years. No matter how many times, and nicely I might add, he’s said no, she just won’t leave him alone. And I don’t know if you noticed, but he doesn’t like to be touched.”
That she hadn’t noticed—at all. But maybe his reaction to Sarah had been justified, if what Gerald said was the truth. Which still didn’t excuse Burke from screwing around with her to get at Charlotte’s property.
“What about Burke? What’s his deal?” She clenched her jaw at Gerald’s knowing look. “I just want to know about my aunt’s neighbor, that’s all. She never mentioned him and I find that curious.”
“Did she tell you a lot about us, about the town I mean?”
“Not really.” The more Rachel thought about that, the more her aunt’s omission struck her. “She used to tell me stories about what you called Ac-taw, or Shifters. Interesting fantasy, and it made our visits a lot of fun. I didn’t see her all that much, but we kept in touch through other means.”
Gerald nodded and pulled into a sudden grassy flatland surrounded by mountains and a stretch of valley. “She was a friendly woman. Charlotte never had a bad word to say about anyone, at least not to me. Now she liked things done her way, but she was extremely giving. She’d loan you the shoes off her feet if you needed them.” He cleared his throat and gave her a side glance. “Charlotte got on well with the Chastells, despite their contrary natures. And they loved your aunt. Burke and his brothers were always helping her with one thing or another.”
“Really?” To ingratiate themselves with the old woman so she’d sell them her property?
Gerald chuckled. “Such suspicion in those pretty eyes. Really, Rachel, Charlotte loved those ‘lost boys,’ as she liked to call them. Yes, Burke and his brothers want the land back that once belonged to them, but they never pressured Charlotte to sell. She told me that Burke had asked once, and only once. She said no, and he accepted her decision. He still put new shingles on her roof when the old ones wore down. And Grady and Dean still mow her lawn and help with odds and ends when she needs, ah, needed it.”
“Grady and Dean?”
“Burke’s brothers. The Chastells are three confirmed bachelors living on a large spread out here. Catamount Ranch isn’t that big by ranch standards, a few hundred acres at most. And much of their land is hilly, being so near the mountains. Bu
t it’s pure and clear. And it’s theirs.”
Like this place is now mine. Rachel rolled down her window as they pulled onto a long drive. Over a small hill a two-story, cream-colored house came into view. Warmth settled in her belly, the possibility of a new beginning taking root. Any unpleasant feeling vanished as she caught sight of her new home.
And then Burke arrived in his pick-up, kicking up dust, and shattered her peace.
Chapter Three
Burke slammed the door to his truck and ignored Rachel, scanning the surrounding forest for the uninvited signs of life he’d sensed as soon as he’d stopped the truck and took a sniff. Someone was out there, but he couldn’t determine friend or foe. Too many other scents clouded the wind, though once again, Rachel’s wasn’t one of them. No womanly smell, no sexual need, nothing.
“Burke?”
“Why don’t you show Rachel the house, Gerald? I just remembered something I forgot to take care of the last time I was here.”
Gerald shot a sharp look at the woods directly beyond Burke and nodded, his nose twitching. “Good idea. Come on, Rachel. Let me show you the box Charlotte left for you. It’s inside.”
Rachel glanced from Gerald to Burke and nodded. To Burke’s relief, she filed inside the house without a murmur of protest. His skin itching to make the change and investigate his source of unease, he walked quickly into the treeline a few hundred feet from the house and began shedding his clothing. In less than a minute, he’d stashed his clothes behind a massive boulder and shifted into his inner beast—a large mountain lion.
Breathing deep, he closed his eyes to focus, and headed west. A short distance from his starting point he saw an equally large catamount facing off against a trio of gray wolves. Didn’t those bastards ever travel anywhere solo?
“How long have they been here?” he sent his brother Grady.
“Too long.” Grady hissed, scratching at the ground in front of him. One of the wolves growled, but the bigger ones by his side held him back with a small sound. The wolves eyed both cats and slowly backed away, their eyes locked until a reasonable distance had been asserted. Then they turned tail and raced into the woods.