“Good girl.” Ronni picked up one of the kittens and handed it to Sian. “Here, have a cuddle.”
Sian hugged the small kitten close. “You’ll be home with us by Christmas.” Possibly. Hopefully. If their rented house was fit for them to live in.
“Maybe you could ask Matthew if you can move in with him.” Ronni’s suggestion was met by a shocked face from Sian.
“I couldn’t do that!”
“Why not? You are just putting off the inevitable,” Ronni sounded too rational.
“It’s not inevitable. I’m not going to go along with this mating bond thing just because I’m supposed to. I have a life of my own. I have free will. I’m not simply going to roll over and do as I’m told.”
“Are you talking about Matthew or Peter?” Ronni asked.
“Both.” She held up the kitten and gazed at it. “I came to Bear Creek with the intention of never dating again. If things don’t work out, I’ll go back to that plan.”
“But you are going to give Matthew a chance?” Ronni asked with concern.
“Sure, he’s coming over for dinner tonight,” Sian smiled suddenly. “I should have told him to wear something warm.”
“I think he’s hot enough,” Ronni joked. “Anyway, he has bear shifter blood, he doesn’t feel the cold. Maybe he could stay over and warm your bed up for you.”
Sian giggled nervously. “You don’t think that’s what he’s expecting, do you?”
“Staying over?” Ronni asked. “No, I think he realizes he has to take it slow.”
“Good. Because I am not ready for anything more than dinner.” Sian put the kitten back with its brothers and sisters. “Let’s get the kennels cleaned out. I have to go to the store on the way home and figure out what I’m going to feed him.”
“Come on then. I need to get my chores done and then head over to my lawyer’s office.” An edge of nervousness tinged Ronni’s words.
“Today’s the day you buy the shelter.” Sian hugged Ronni. “It’ll be fine.”
“It’s going to take a few days to go through. But, yes, today is the day I sign the contracts. It’s been a long journey, but it finally feels as if it’s coming to an end.” Ronni hugged Sian tightly. “And your job is to keep that man of yours busy, so he doesn’t suddenly decide he wants to make trouble for the shelter. I’m not sure I’m willing to trust him a hundred percent yet.”
Sian pulled away from Ronni, wanting to reassure her. “I believe he has changed. I don’t think he’d go back on what he’s said.”
Ronni grinned at Sian. “So does this mean you are willing to give him a chance?”
“I suppose it must.” Sian didn’t sound certain and she didn’t feel certain, but who did when it came to love?
Unless you were a shifter, of course.
Chapter Six – Matthew
After his meeting with Sian, Matthew headed back to the house he’d purchased from Kevin Jones. He itched to shift and head into the mountains to work off some of his pent-up stress.
It was difficult to step into a new skin and be the benevolent one instead of the malevolent one.
He smiled to himself. Love and the mating bond were going to have to carry some pretty heavy juju if he was going to permanently change. But permanent change was what he needed to do if he was going to win Sian’s heart and make her happy. She was right, he hadn’t bought her mind, body, and spirit, he’d simply bought her for an afternoon.
Which gave him an idea.
He’d bought a pet pampering afternoon. But what if he turned it on its head and pampered Sian for the afternoon? With maybe an evening tagged on.
Time to make a plan.
At this point, planning an afternoon was easier than planning the rest of his life. Which was going to need a complete overhaul. Could he be the man Sian deserved, the man she needed?
Matthew turned off the narrow back road that wound its way along the foot of the mountains and drove along the pitted gravel driveway to what once must have been a welcoming timber-framed farmhouse. It needed a lot of work to get it back to its former glory. Work he never intended to do when he agreed on the purchase, since his goal on buying it was to rip it down and build two stunning houses that would appeal to shifters seeking an escape to the country.
However, the more time he spent here, the more he felt at home. And for a man who had never had a home before, that was something...special.
It would be even more special if eventually Sian and her daughters came to call the old house a home, too.
Matthew got out of his car and strode toward the front porch that needed complete replacing. Rot had set in from a leaking roof shingle a few years ago. The shingle had never been fixed and the rot had spread. He was certain there was some kind of analogy there which related to his own life, but he wasn’t in the mood to peruse it. He didn’t need to look inside himself to know there was a part of him that had shriveled up and rotted away enough years ago that it was beyond saving.
He sighed and bent down to examine the porch timbers. Maybe Sian deserved something more than Matthew Lewis, a man of wealth and power, but who was incapable of love.
Hard work had always been his escape and since his drive to build on the land belonging to the house had been put on hold, he might as well wallow in physical labor, just as he had when he started out from nothing.
After half an hour of pulling the timbers up by hand, he decided he needed to go buy some tools. The surge of excitement that bubbled up inside him was just plain sad. But he enjoyed it all the same. He’d gotten out of touch with his feelings. At an early age, he’d learned to squash them down and seal them in a small box, so his uncle could never use them to hurt him.
As he got back into his car and started the engine, he was struck by a sudden thought. If he was going to be the man he needed to be for Sian, he was going to have to find the key for that locked box and open the sucker up.
Driving to town, he focused on the mountain roads and the houses dotted alongside them. The town of Bear Creek had grown over centuries from a small hamlet, where shifters had sought a safe haven, to the thriving town it was today. That much he’d gleaned from the museum displays last night. Not that they had mentioned shifters directly, but he’d read enough between the lines to make his own connections. If he ever was to set down roots, this was the kind of place he’d dreamed of.
“Hi there.” A young woman pushing a baby in a stroller greeted him as he got out of his car outside the hardware store.
“Hi.” He didn’t know her but forced a smile onto his face.
“That was a wonderful gesture.” She touched his arm, her smile broadening.
“It was?” He looked a little dazed.
“Yes, giving the shelter so much money. It was a beautiful gift.” She turned and walked away from him and he swung around to head into the hardware store.
“Hi, Matthew, isn’t it?” The store owner greeted him from behind the counter.
“Yes, it is.” Slightly bemused, he nodded and made his way to the tool section.
The store owner slid out from behind his counter and came to join him. “What do you need?”
“A hammer, maybe a crowbar.” He picked up a hammer and tested the weight of it in his hand.
“What kind of job are you doing?” The guy wiped his hand and then offered it to Matthew. “I’m Gus, by the way. The best hardware store in town.” His smile told Matthew this was the only hardware store in town. But it was well stocked and had everything most people would need.
“It’s a good store.” Matthew liked the feel of the hammer and turned his attention back to what else he might need. “I’m working on a timber porch.”
“Oh, you bought Jeremiah Jones’s old place, didn’t you?” Gus said with a nod.
“Kevin Jones,” Matthew corrected.
“Oh, Kevin was Jeremiah’s son. But he moved away a few years ago. I don’t know why. I don’t know why a man would want to leave here, but to each their own.�
�� Gus rubbed his chin. “A timber porch you say. How much damage is there?”
“A fair bit, the roof leaked and rotted out the boards.” Matthew reached for a saw, but Gus stopped him.
“You want one of these. Cuts wood like a knife through butter.” Gus nodded.
“Thanks.” Matthew let Gus guide him around the store and after an hour he was loading the tools into the trunk of his car.
“You need a work vehicle,” Gus told him bluntly as Matthew closed his trunk. “You’re gonna ruin your car.”
“I’ll manage for now, thanks.”
As Matthew waved goodbye to Gus and got in his car, he realized he no longer cared if he ruined his paintwork or dirtied the trunk. Life was for living, tools were for working and his car might once have been his pride and joy, but it was a status symbol. One he no longer needed.
Rolling down the window despite the cold temperature, Matthew cruised out of town, taking in the color of the landscape around him. Shades of green, the blue of the winter sky and the browns of the naked trees.
His life was in the same dormant phase and he hoped he could find the seed of new life inside himself and let it unfurl and grow. Just as he needed to plant the seed of love in Sian’s heart and nurture it and let it grow. But first, he planned to start rebuilding the house, with the help of his new tools.
Matthew parked his car in front of the house and emptied the trunk of all the tools. They were all too new and shiny and he planned to put that right straight away. Without grabbing a cup of coffee first, he set to work prying the old wooden planks up and setting them aside. He worked hard, spurred on by the need to prove to Sian he was husband material. Even though she wasn’t here and had no idea of the work he was doing.
You are building them a home, his bear chimed in.
Matthew lifted his head and thought about that for a moment. That’s true. I’m trying to build a home, a den for Sian and her daughters. And any children we might have of our own. Was that a thing Sian might agree to? He would love to go through a pregnancy with her and watch her belly swell as their child grew inside her.
But that was thinking too far ahead. He’d known Sian for less than a day and it might need a little more time before he started talking about babies.
Once he’d assessed the timber boards, he concentrated on the supporting beams. They appeared sound and so he noted down the amount of new lumber he needed to buy before putting his tools away and going inside for a much-needed mug of coffee and some lunch.
Kevin Jones had left most of the contents of the house behind when he sold up. All he’d packed were the photographs off the wall and some personal items that belonged to his father. Everything else he had no need for, his words as he handed over the keys were, “What you don’t want, take to a thrift store or throw in the trash.”
Kevin’s relationship with his late father was strained, Matthew didn’t need to be a relationship counselor to see that. Was this how Sian’s kids would wind up thinking about their dad when he died? Damn, that man had no idea of what he was missing out on. Two beautiful, smart daughters, and their equally beautiful and smart mom. If ever a man had made a mistake in life, Peter took the prize.
But Peter’s loss was Matthew’s gain and he was going to step in and help Sian’s kids in any way he could.
After eating his lunch, he washed up and then set about catching up on his business via his phone in the makeshift office he’d set up in one of the upstairs rooms. It had a great view across the mountains and the internet reception on his phone was good. He might never go to his small suite of offices again. He only kept them for a postal address. Up until now, Matthew had lived out of hotel rooms up and down the country as he built his business.
Settling down and putting down roots was a good move. One he was ready for.
More than ready for.
And his bear agreed. It was time for them to open up to all of life’s true potential.
Chapter Seven – Sian
Sian stared at the boiler as if she could use her mental powers to make it work.
“It’s fine, we can light the fire in the sitting room and the kitchen will warm up once the oven is on.” Ella’s words were met by a look of horror from her mom.
“Matthew is coming for dinner, he’ll be here at six.” She closed the door on the boiler and pulled her coat back on. At least bear shifters had warm blood, from what she’d learned from Ronni. Hopefully, Matthew wouldn’t even notice the chilled air.
“I’ll help.” Ella went to the kitchen and glanced at the items on the counter. “You’re making your special pasta sauce.”
Sian picked up the tomatoes and inhaled their fresh tangy aroma. “So?”
“So nothing. I’m just saying.” Ella smiled secretly to herself and filled a pan of water and set it to boil.
“I just want it to be nice. Matthew donated a large amount of money to the animal shelter and this is my way of saying thank you.” Sian looked up as Rachel entered the kitchen.
“Inviting someone to dinner in a freezing cold house, that’s some way to say thank you.” She pulled her sweater tighter around her neck and stood in front of the old stove to get warm.
“Ronni said she’d try to get hold of some portable heaters for us.” Guilt swept over Sian. “I’m sorry about the heat.”
Rachel snorted. “It’s not your fault, is it? If Dad wasn’t being such an asshole, we’d have a decent place to live.”
Sian and Ella exchanged glances. It had been an unspoken rule that none of them spoke ill of Peter. But it was proving next to impossible as their circumstances deteriorated.
“Tomorrow, I’ll go and find a better-paying job.” Sian put the tomatoes in the pan. “I can still volunteer a few hours a week at the shelter. The pet grooming business can wait until we’re settled.”
“No, Mom, that isn’t what I meant.” Rachel hugged Sian and Ella joined her mother and sister, too.
“I know it wasn’t. But the business is going to take a while to build up and I don’t think I can rely on the money from the sale of the house.” She kissed both her daughters on the head.
“Why not?” Ella asked as she went back to the stove and placed the pasta in the boiling water. “I thought everything was settled.”
“No.” Sian shook her head and exchanged a quick glance with Rachel.
“What have I missed?” Ella asked.
“Dad was at the museum last night,” Rachel blurted out.
“He couldn’t have been, he would have come and said hello.” The hurt in Ella’s voice pierced Sian’s heart. As much as Rachel was resigned to being let down by her father, Ella was determined to see the best in him, even when there was nothing good to see.
“He’s the jerk who made the low bid before Matthew stepped in.” Rachel ignored the glare from her mom and turned to face Ella. “He did it to embarrass Mom. But I doubt he came all this way just to do that, so he’s going to try to make Mom accept less money in the divorce settlement.”
“We don’t know that,” Sian stated firmly. “Maybe he was just passing through.” She didn’t need this conversation right now. Not when Matthew would be here in fifteen minutes.
“But if he was passing through, why didn’t he come by and say hello?” Rachel persisted.
“I don’t know,” Sian admitted.
“He wouldn’t go back on the settlement, the courts told him he had to give you half the money from the house. And money to support us.” Ella looked from her mom to her sister, imploring them to help her see sense in all this.
“I honestly don’t know,” Sian said gently. “I haven’t seen him since the museum. I haven’t heard from him.” Which didn’t mean he’d walked away. Peter was a control freak who enjoyed making people suffer. This was one of his games, he’d made his presence known and now he was leaving her to stew.
What she found unforgivable was that he was also playing with Ella and Rachel’s emotions, too.
“Maybe he came to town
to give us Christmas gifts,” Ella suggested.
Sian nodded. “Maybe he did.” She stirred the tomatoes and added herbs. “I’m sure he’ll be in touch when he’s ready.”
“When he’s ready...” Rachel left the sentence hanging. They all knew Peter worked on his own agenda and no one else’s.
How had she not seen what kind of a man he was? Sian beat herself up about that every single day. But she couldn’t regret marrying him, not when she had two beautiful children standing in her kitchen that wouldn’t be here if her life had been different.
“Can we not talk about Dad anymore?” Ella asked, the emotion in her voice silencing Rachel.
“Sure, we could talk about the weather.” Rachel raised her eyebrows. “What? I’m not joking, someone in the grocery store reckoned we were going to get a good helping of snow and it was going to be one of the coldest winters for years.”
“Great.” Sian shook her head and wiped her hands on her apron. “I’m going to give Mr. Wendell a call. I don’t usually like to disturb someone in the evening, but the boiler needs fixing.”
She went to her purse and pulled out her cell phone. Scrolling through her contacts list, she found Mr. Wendell’s number. Tapping the screen, she waited for him to answer. He didn’t.
“Maybe he’s screening his calls,” Rachel suggested.
Sian sighed and dialed again. And again, no answer.
“I’ll go over there tomorrow and knock on his door until he answers,” Sian said, her temper rising. Mr. Wendell had promised to get someone in to look at the boiler today. There was no way they could stay in the house with only one fireplace to heat the whole house. Not if the temperature was going to plummet further.
“Maybe we could all camp out in the living room around the fire,” Ella suggested.
“Like when we were kids. We could make a tent out of blankets.” Rachel grinned at the idea.
And no Peter to tell them to put it all away, Sian thought, remembering only too well how he hated messes in the house when he got home from work.
“I like that idea, we can sit and watch old movies all huddled together.” Sian went back to her sauce. The tomatoes were simmering nicely, and the smell of herbs filled the room, reminding her of summer. She had plans to plant an herb garden next year, she wanted to experiment with adding them to creams and lotions for her pet salon.
The Bear Buys a Bride (A Second Chance Christmas in Bear Creek Book 1) Page 5