Night of the Billionaire Wolf

by Terry Spear

  Lexi shook her head. “No one else can know what this is about.”

  “Okay.” But he didn’t like it. He was used to using muscle to take care of a situation, and if someone was causing problems for her, he wanted to help her in any way he could. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Move rocks over there. Then we dig.”

  “For buried treasure?”

  She gave him a look to be serious. He was serious.

  “We’re looking for a message. That’s all Kate knows. That’s all you need to know.”

  “All right.” It wasn’t, but once they found the message, maybe he’d learn what this was all about.

  They moved the rocks, then when they reached soil, Lexi began to dig.

  “I smelled an old scent of a male wolf,” he said, helping her to dig.

  Lexi didn’t respond.

  “Did he leave the message?” Ryder suspected so.

  “No questions.”

  “Okay, no more questions about that, but how do you know something is buried here as opposed to somewhere else?” He asked because they weren’t getting anywhere with this, and he wondered if she didn’t remember where the message was buried.

  She pulled off her backpack, dug around in it, brought out a hand-drawn map, and pointed at a spot on it. “Right there where the circle is. That’s where it’s supposed to be.”

  “That’s the waterfall by the creek where we rescued the bear cubs.”

  She stared at the map. He turned it around for her. “You’re looking at it upside down.”

  “No.” Frowning, she peered at it.

  “Yeah. Here’s a faded compass symbol. If you hold it up to the filtered sunlight, you can see it a little better. That’s the creek that passes by where the cubs’ den was.”

  “But the ‘N’ for north is here.” She pointed to a large N in one corner of the map.

  “It’s a red herring. It shows the faded Rose of the Winds on the map. That’s the compass rose.” Ryder again pointed at the faded compass symbol.

  “Oh, right. My dad had talked to me about that as a kid. I’d forgotten. A compass rose was also called a wind rose or Rose of the Winds.”

  “The bear and her cubs won’t return there.”

  “Yeah, but what if the location is flooded?”

  “It hasn’t rained since yesterday afternoon. Come on. We can use the footbridge this time, instead of trying to break our necks climbing down the cliff.”

  Lexi turned the map this way and that. “Okay.” She folded up the map and tucked it in the pocket of her backpack. “You’d better be right.”

  “I am.” He smiled at her. At least he hoped he was right.

  “You’d better be right,” Kate echoed Lexi’s sentiment.

  “Do you want me to get your backpack?” he asked Kate. It shouldn’t be that much of a problem for her, except if she needed to grab it with her injured hand, but he had to ask.

  “No. Thanks for asking though. I’m good.”

  “Everyone needs to keep a lookout for you-know-who,” Lexi warned.

  “Eyes peeled,” Kate assured her.

  They climbed down the steps, Kate leading the way, Lexi in between, and Ryder bringing up the rear. He was watching for any signs of Don, but he couldn’t help but think of Lexi at the same time, wondering what kind of a date he could ask her out on to really impress her. What could he give the woman who must have everything?

  When they reached the bottom of the steps, they continued the long hike down the hill toward the cabins, and then in the direction of the footbridge. The whole time, they were keeping a lookout for any sign of Don. Ryder didn’t think the guy would give up that easily. But maybe he did have to return to the city to get more camera equipment. Ryder had thought of just suggesting the ladies leave here and go someplace Don wouldn’t know about, but if they were here because of some message, he guessed that wasn’t a viable option. And he guessed that’s what was so important to keep secret from the paparazzo.

  He just hoped they’d find the message where he thought it would be. If it was where they had just been, but in a slightly different spot, he could imagine how annoyed she’d be with him. Forget third dates.

  Chapter 7

  Lexi, Kate, and Ryder finally reached the footbridge and hurried across it. But when they hiked to the area where Ryder thought the message should be, Lexi saw everything was underwater. “Just great.” Why hadn’t her dad left the message at the last location where they’d been? If he’d left it way above at the upper falls, the message wouldn’t be underwater.

  “It should be just past the cubs’ den, if the map is accurate,” Ryder assured her.

  “Underwater,” she said.

  “We can do this,” Kate said. “We’ll find it.”

  Lexi loved that Kate was always the optimist. Lexi was usually one too. That made the two of them dangerous at times.

  “The weather app said we’re not going to have any rain for three days,” Ryder assured her. “The water levels will be going down. If you don’t have to do this right away, we can wait a bit. But if not, let me try to find it for you.”

  “You are a real Boy Scout,” Lexi said, meaning it in a good way. “But we do have to find it soon.”

  He gave her a little smirk. “Okay. I’m just trying to do my good deed for today.”

  “You seem to be doing a lot of good deeds. Do you often do this on your vacation?” Lexi asked.

  “I got lucky this time.”

  Lexi smiled. She was in the middle of the thigh-high water, trying to search with Ryder while Kate watched out for anyone who might come upon them.

  “It’s no use.” As much as Lexi hated to tell Ryder he was right because she didn’t want to quit, she realized this was futile. Every time she moved rocks under the water, the silt would be stirred up and cloud the clear water. After a half hour, she was done.

  “I’m sorry, Lexi,” Ryder said.

  “It’s not your fault. I’m sure…I’m sure this wasn’t something anyone had planned for. We’ll find it.”

  “So what are you fixing us for lunch?” Kate asked, upbeat as ever.

  Both Lexi and Ryder chuckled.

  “He probably doesn’t have all the ingredients he would need to make us another gourmet meal. But I’m sure whatever he makes for us will be outstanding.” Or he wouldn’t have offered. Lexi knew he was trying to make a winning impression on them. It was nice having a chef here to cook their meals, though she was thinking they’d grill spareribs for him tonight. When had this chance encounter turned into spending all her time with him?

  When the paparazzi became a problem.

  “I’ll fix something I hope you both enjoy,” Ryder said.

  “I’m looking forward to it. We’ll head back to the cabin then. Kate and I are going to do some promotional videos for the company,” Lexi said.

  “All right. When you’re done, you can come over for lunch. If you need me to, I’ll hang around where you’ll be shooting the video and make sure Don, or any other paparazzo, doesn’t show up and cause problems for you.”

  “Thanks. That would be most appreciated.” Lexi was glad he had offered. She hadn’t wanted to ask him to do anything for her unless he volunteered, so she was glad he wanted to help out more.

  * * *

  Before they set up for the video promo, Ryder did some checking into Lexi’s background. Her mother, Adelaide Summerfield, had died in a ferryboat-bridge crash, the ferryboat hitting a pillar and taking a six-hundred-fifty-foot span of the bridge down, causing two cars to fall into the water at the mouth of the Amazon River basin. Lexi’s mother, a pediatrician, had been driving a rental car across the bridge when the accident occurred. Rescuers had never found her body. He imagined Lexi hated not having closure. He certainly would have felt that way. He’d also learned her f
ather was a family physician, Kurt Summerfield, and had witnessed Joe Tremaine—kingpin crime boss, drug trafficker, and arms dealer—kill a district attorney in cold blood in San Antonio, Texas. Then Dr. Kurt Summerfield had died in a fiery car crash.

  Ryder really felt bad for Lexi for the losses she’d suffered. Family meant everything to wolves, and she’d lost both her parents this past year in separate accidents.

  He headed back out to help the ladies with their video. Even though he had planned to guard them, he wanted to watch the filming of their outdoor promotional video too.

  First, though, he helped them build a nice little campfire in the firepit by their cabin to set the outdoor scene, while Kate set up the camera on the tripod to take the video that would showcase the woods in the background, the fire in the foreground, and Lexi sitting on a log where she would be showing off her products. Lexi was busy setting up all the cosmetics she would use in the video.

  With the sound of the fire crackling, birds singing, and a breeze blowing through the trees in the background, Lexi began talking about her products while Kate filmed her.

  Ryder was keeping a lookout, but he kept glancing back at Lexi to see her smiling, showing various cosmetic lines, and explaining how they were good for the outdoors—sunscreen and moisturizer, all dermatologist-approved.

  He could see why she was so successful with her business. It wasn’t that she just worked diligently or might have a really great product; she was also a super-saleswoman. Hell, he wasn’t even in the market for what she was selling, but she had sold him on it.

  He noticed two couples headed their way, wearing shorts, T-shirts, hiking boots, and backpacks. Though they looked like they were just vacationers, not reporters, he didn’t want them messing up Lexi’s video. Like a bouncer at a club, he walked toward them to head them off.

  “That’s Lexi Summerfield,” the blond told him, her voice lowered so as not to mess up Lexi’s video. “We thought we recognized her voice from the videos she makes. We watch all of them. We’re just dying to meet her. Can we? We buy all her products.”

  “Wait until after she’s finished making her video, and I’ll ask her.” Ryder felt like he’d joined Lexi’s staff for good, and he actually liked the notion.

  “Oh, thank you, thank you,” the other woman said, her hands clutched together hopefully.

  Both of the women were smiling and watching Lexi, and he hoped it would be all right with her to meet her fan club. He couldn’t very well shoo them away when they weren’t taking photos of her or causing any disruption of her work.

  “I can’t believe she’s here making the video,” the first woman said as if Lexi were a famous movie star or singer. “It’s like having front-row seats.”

  Ryder was used to seeing fan interest in Rafe, because he was much more of a public figure as a real estate mogul and hosted a lot of charity functions; not so much with Aidan because he isolated himself to continue his medical research.

  For now, Ryder felt swept up in the enthusiasm for what Lexi represented, and he was proud of her.

  When Lexi finished making her video, Ryder joined her. “You have a couple of customers from your fan club over there who want to meet you.”

  Lexi smiled at Ryder, then at the ladies. “Thanks, Ryder.” She waved the women over. “Hi, I’m Lexi Summerfield.”

  The women hurried to meet with her, their boyfriends hanging back while Ryder went over to speak with them.

  “When they heard Lexi speaking and then saw she was doing a video, that’s all our girlfriends could talk about,” the one guy said, smiling, his arms folded across his chest. “I didn’t know she was a celebrity.”

  “Yeah, we were going on a hike. We didn’t expect this,” the other guy said.

  “She’s just up here on vacation like you appear to be.”

  “For a couple more days. This will be the highlight of the trip for our girlfriends,” the first man said.

  Kate carried the camera and tripod into the cabin, then returned with a couple of bags with Lexi’s company’s logo on them: a woman and a wolf, and a bright full moon.

  Ryder smiled. Lexi had perfected her marketing down to a T.

  The women each gave her hugs, taking pictures with their cell phones to commemorate the event, then gave Lexi another hug and thanked her. With their little complimentary gift bags in hand, they hurried to join their boyfriends.

  Lexi had made their day.

  Once the hikers were gone, Ryder asked Lexi, “Are you ready for lunch? I’ll run over there and begin setting everything up.”

  “Yeah, that would be great,” Lexi said. “Thanks for being our guard.”

  “No problem. No one other than the vacationers were here to check things out, and they were well behaved.”

  She laughed. “They’re not always. Maybe having you here helped. So what are you fixing us for lunch?”

  “Flour tortilla wraps—your choice of meat: ham, turkey, beef, or chicken, and toppings. I’ll get it all ready, and everyone can make theirs the way they like it. Sorry it’s not more gourmet.”

  “Oh, that sounds good. I’ll have to try that sometime when I’m having a party.”

  “Yeah, it’s great for parties.” Ryder waited until Lexi was safely inside her cabin, and then he headed over to his place.

  As soon as he began setting out the food, he got a call from Mike.

  “Did you learn what was going on?”

  “The women are Lexi Summerfield and her personal assistant, Kate.”

  “Lexi, the billionaire she-wolf? Hot damn! So I take it she’s had problems with Don Morgan.”

  “Correct.” Because Lexi had taken Ryder into her confidence, he didn’t want to share with Mike that they were hunting for a buried message, unless she said it was okay.

  “Okay, well, I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon, just in case you need some extra help.”

  Ryder put the call on speakerphone and continued to set out the meat and toppings. “Good, you can help make the gourmet meals.”

  Mike laughed. “I knew you’d try to win them over with your cooking.”

  “You would, too, if you were here.”

  Mike paused. “Is there anything you want to tell me? Is there anything serious between you and one of the ladies?”

  “Nah. Just being a good Boy Scout.”

  Mike laughed at that.

  Ryder smiled. “Well, Lexi did say I was dating her, but I’m afraid this is our last date.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, she only dates a wolf three times and then he’s outta her life.”

  “Then I’m coming at the right time.”

  Ryder laughed, but he hoped Mike wasn’t serious. Ryder wasn’t giving up this early in the game.

  * * *

  “How does dinner with Ryder sound to you?” Lexi asked Kate after they cleaned up and got ready to go over to Ryder’s cabin for lunch.

  Kate smiled. “Nothing’s going on between the two of you, right?”

  “He’s assisting us in looking for the message and helping keep Don and others like him away. So no, there’s nothing going on between the two of us. You would know. You’re always with us.”

  “Easily remedied.”

  “No way. I’m not dating him.”

  Kate laughed. “You already told him he’s used up two of his dates. You know, there’s that billionaire friend of Rafe and Aidan who is always trying to meet up with you at one of their shindigs. Derek Spencer. Only you’re not there when he is, and he’s not there when you are, except that one time. He’s sexy and wolfish.”

  “I’m not interested.”

  “Just think, if the two of you got together, you’d double your billionaire status. He wouldn’t be after you just for your money, like the other wolves at your door.”

  “There’s more t
o a courtship between wolves than just money.”

  “Exactly. And you’ve only met him the one time. He has a hot body, keeps in shape, and you know you have to think of how that would affect your offspring. He’s intelligent, kind, protective, and he’s not the kind of guy who’s just territorial.”

  “How do you know so much about him?” Lexi asked, surprised to hear Kate knew him. She hadn’t been with Lexi at the time she’d met Derek.

  “I interviewed for a position as his personal assistant before you were hiring. He preferred having a male personal assistant, afraid of what you were afraid of, only reversed. He was worried I’d be worming my way into his life and looking to get his money. He was really upfront with me about it.” Kate shrugged. “Then I had the opportunity to interview for the job with you, and that was it. Perfect for both of us.”

  “I so agree. Come on. Our chef awaits.” Lexi and Kate headed over to Ryder’s cabin.

  “Hey,” Ryder said in greeting when he opened the door. “Mike’s going to be here tomorrow, helping us.”

  “You didn’t tell him about the message I’m looking for, did you?” Lexi asked.

  “No, but he’ll help us watch out for Don or anyone else who might show up here trying to do a news story on you.”

  Lexi let her breath out. “No one else was supposed to know about the message.”

  “I don’t even know about it,” Ryder said. “Mike is a good guy. He doesn’t need to know anything about it, just that he’s helping guard against trouble. I mentioned to Mike that Don was taking pictures of us, giving you grief.”

  “This other situation is really dangerous.”

  Ryder frowned at her. “Which makes me believe we should get Rafe involved.”

  “No, no one else, Ryder. No one. You shouldn’t even know about it,” Lexi repeated.

  “Okay, Mike can stay here while we search for the message.”

  Lexi was ready to cancel lunch, but she knew Ryder thought he was being helpful in offering another body to assist them with guard duty. Instead, she switched topics. “Do you have any siblings?”