SEAL Wolf Surrender

by Terry Spear

  She wasn’t armed with a cart either. And like the man claiming to be a photographer, she’d been checking out the security around the place. Something Brock wouldn’t think of doing if he were just here as a garden enthusiast.

  Chapter 14

  Natalie wished she were a PI. She wanted desperately to call Brock to tell him the woman he was checking out had driven Marek’s car here, but she was still trying to help her customer decide which plants she wanted to buy. Normally, Natalie never minded. But in this instance, she wanted to chase after Brock and the woman and question her.

  “Okay, you sold me. I’ll get ten of the daylilies, five of the salvia, and ten of the phlox.”

  “Super.” Natalie didn’t want to appear to be rushing her, but she tried to load the plants the customer picked out as quickly as she could.

  “Oh, and a red rosebush. Which do you recommend?”

  “They’re in the back garden.” Yes! “We can walk back there, and you can see which variety you might prefer.” Natalie would give her more specifics, but she was hoping she could see Brock and the woman while she sold her customer on a rosebush.

  Natalie hoped there wasn’t an altercation between Brock and the woman he needed to check on. How would that look? Brock being nasty to a customer in front of other customers when he worked for her parents’ company? Not good. Sure, he was a professional, but no one knew how the woman might react if she thought Brock suspected her of being in league with Marek and the rest of the counterfeiters. She could create a scene and look completely innocent of any wrongdoing, and Brock and the Silvertons’ garden center would look bad.

  Brock was chatting it up with the woman in one of the rows of shrubs that were only a couple of feet tall. He was nodding, smiling. The woman laughed at something he said and touched his arm, sliding her hand down it in an intimate caress. Natalie frowned. Didn’t he get that the woman was a spy?

  “I like the true red ones,” the customer said to Natalie, drawing her attention back to where it should have been all along.

  Natalie hoped Brock knew what he was doing.

  “Those are a great variety for our area. Blackspot resistant, mildew resistant for hot Texas heat, and they even last well in snow. Mine were covered in snow, and they didn’t die at all. They didn’t bloom again until it began to warm up some more, but they’re super-reliable.”

  “Oh, that’s good to hear. I had a different variety, and all of them had blackspot and powdery mildew. Destroyed my whole hedge. That was when I lived in Oklahoma, so I didn’t want to go through that again. They’re like family, you know.”

  “Oh, absolutely. Do you want this one?” Natalie said, trying to hurry her customer along.

  “Yes. Do you think I should have more than one?”

  Natalie schooled her expression so she didn’t show her exasperation. She wanted to overhear what Brock and the other woman were talking about. And she really wanted to make her presence known, a hazard of getting hooked on a male wolf when another she-wolf was batting her eyelashes at him.

  “It depends on your landscape.” It would have been easy to tell her customer that she should get a couple, because massing the color would be more spectacular. But Natalie didn’t want to give her the wrong advice just to get another plant sale or to free herself so she could check on the suspicious woman. “Did you need just an accent rosebush in one place, or maybe a couple of places? This one grows a little bigger, so it’s about four feet tall. But if you’re looking for something smaller, the Drift is around two feet tall,” Natalie said.

  Her customer proceeded to pull out her cell phone. Natalie was tempted to pull hers out and text Brock, but she was afraid the woman he had under surveillance would think he had to do some work, and the woman would let him go so she could get back to whatever she was doing. Then what? He couldn’t follow her around the place, because she obviously wasn’t really there to shop.

  Her customer showed Natalie a picture of her front yard. “Wow, it’s beautiful. Where did you think you would like to put a rosebush?” Even in her own garden, Natalie was guilty of picking out something that was so pretty and planting it, then wondering why she picked it out for the garden in the first place.

  “Right there,” the customer said, pointing at a spot in her flower bed.

  “I’d plant the lower variety so it doesn’t encroach on too much of the flower bed and hide the flowers you have in the background.”

  “Okay, then I want this red variety.”

  “Good choice.” Natalie hated to ask, but she had to. “Is there anything else you’d like to look at?”

  The customer studied her cart of plants. “No, I think this will keep me busy for a while. Thanks. I’m ready to check out now.”

  “All right. Super.” Natalie loaded the rosebush on the cart and took it up front for her. She was going to let Shawn ring the woman up, but then she sighed. She didn’t need to load the lady’s plants, but that was what made a smaller garden center do well against the big ones. Customer service was so important.

  Natalie towed the cart behind her and then loaded the customer’s plants into her small SUV.

  “Thanks, dear. I’ll be back for more, I’m sure. I need to get these planted first and see what else I can use.”

  “We’ll be here,” Natalie said cheerily. Once the lady went around to the driver’s side of her vehicle, Natalie hightailed it to the back garden, pulling the cart behind her just for show.

  Brock and the woman had disappeared! Natalie glanced around and saw them walking to the section with fruit trees, but before she could head in that direction, a man stopped her. “I can’t find a Steeds holly. Do you have them? The big chain stores don’t have any.”

  “Oh, of course. They’re wonderful in a landscape, easy to care for with practically no maintenance, keeping their beautiful pyramidal shape without needing to be trimmed.” Natalie hated hearing people mention how they shopped at the big stores and only came to theirs in the hopes of finding something they couldn’t at the others. On the other hand, it helped their business when they had plants that didn’t compete with the major chains. “Come right this way.”

  Natalie figured she wasn’t going to be able to meet up with Brock and the woman, as much as she was dying to. Not when she had to put on her master gardener hat and let Brock do his job. Then she had a break. The man looked over the Steeds holly and nodded. “Just what I was looking for. Thanks.”

  “Do you need anything else?”

  “No, this will be it, thanks.” He began loading the cart. Natalie found a spare one down one of the aisles, grabbed hold of the handle, and walked in Brock and the woman’s direction.

  Natalie kept glancing at rows of plants as if inspecting them, making her way toward Brock and the woman in as subtle a manner as she could.

  He finally saw her coming and waved at her. She wasn’t sure what he meant by it. To say he saw her? That he wanted her to join them?

  She took it to mean he wanted her to join him. Even if he didn’t, she could just drop by and say…something and then mosey off close by to overhear them. She really could get into some of this PI snooping business.

  As soon as she drew close enough, Brock said, “This is Natalie, our master gardener.”

  Natalie was surprised to smell that the woman was a wolf. She hadn’t even bothered to hide her scent. How bold could she be? Then again, the woman wouldn’t realize they knew what Marek’s car looked like either.

  “Natalie, this is Kittie Canton.”

  “Hi, shopping for some trees?” Natalie asked as if they needed some of her gardening expertise.

  “Aww, well, not really. I was looking for a plant for my mom, but then Brock came over to see if I needed any help, and I realized he was one of us. We just got to talking. He said the garden center is”—Kittie glanced around and, not seeing any humans nearby, finished�
�“wolf-run. I hope I’m not keeping you both from your work. But I was just so excited to find others like us here.”

  “Do you know any others in the area?” Natalie asked, baiting her.

  “No. Just my mom and me. Like I was telling Brock, we live out near Canyon, but I wanted to replace a flowering plant my mom had that died. Anyway, we just got to visiting about wolf stuff, so we moved over here where no one was shopping to talk more…privately.”

  “What was the flowering plant that died?” Natalie didn’t like the coy way Kittie was acting, the close proximity to Brock that indicated a desire for intimacy, and that Brock was allowing it!

  Kittie finally said, “Oh, a…a rosebush.”

  Most people called a rosebush a rosebush and not a flowering plant, unless they didn’t know what it was.

  “Would you like me to help recommend one for you?” Natalie asked, continuing to be way too businesslike when she should have pretended to be glad to see a fellow wolf.

  Kittie gave her a fake smile. “Brock’s helping me. But thanks so much for the offer.”

  Brock opened his mouth to speak, probably to get himself out of this one and tell Kittie that Natalie was the expert gardener again, but Natalie quickly said, “Great. I’ve got to get back to work anyway. We’re getting ready to close soon.” Brock didn’t ask if he was needed up front. Natalie reminded herself again that he was doing his job. “Nice meeting you,” she said. Then she hurried off.

  “Guess I’d better hurry and pick out what I want, then,” Kittie said to Brock, loud enough that Natalie could hear her, though she didn’t appear to be in any hurry to check out.

  She’d better not be making a play for Brock.

  So much for secretly listening in on the conversation.

  They normally didn’t remind people they were closing. They let them shop for however long they needed, within reason. But the woman totally irked Natalie. What kind of a name was Kittie for a wolf anyway? It was probably an alias.

  Natalie left the cart with a row of others and joined Shawn at the register. “Here, I can man the register, and you can help customers with their purchases, if you like.” She was trying to say it in a nice, congenial way, but Shawn raised his brows slightly, indicating he heard the annoyance in her voice.

  He probably knew what she’d been up to. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Thankfully, she didn’t have any customers at the moment. But she noticed an older couple loading some flowers onto a cart. “Did you want to see if they need any help?”

  “Yeah, sure. Are you certain you’re okay?”

  “I am.” Not. She appreciated Shawn’s concern though, and then she got a text from Brock. Shawn hung around, waiting to hear what was up.

  I want to invite her to dinner, Brock texted.

  Absolutely not! Natalie texted back: She’s Marek’s girlfriend, or stoolie, or something. She’s driving Marek’s car.

  Natalie waited for a reply, but none was forthcoming. Then she had a customer, and Shawn went off to help the older couple with their plants. Her cell dinged that she had a new text message, but she was in the middle of ringing up the lady’s purchases. She had three more people get in line, her regular customers knowing it was almost time for closing.

  Her cell phone dinged again. Brock again? She didn’t look to see this time.

  Shawn returned with the older couple’s cart and hauled it to the end of the line. While they were waiting to get checked out, he went up to the cashier’s desk and asked if Natalie wanted him to check the text messages on her phone.

  “Sure.” She handed it to him, and he checked the messages, then smiled.

  Natalie didn’t. No way did she want that woman in her house or her parents’ home. Kittie was with Marek, and by virtue of her association with him, no matter in what capacity, she was one of them. Besides, she’d lied about not knowing any other wolves in the area. Was her name even Kittie Canton? Probably not. Did she have a mother who lost a flowering plant? Natalie doubted it.

  She was dying to hear what else Brock had to say in his texts. Having Kittie stay for dinner when the center was closed for the evening could be a good way to really grill her privately about her connection with Marek, but the woman still irked her.

  Why? She shouldn’t have. Then again, Natalie realized it wasn’t so much that the woman was most likely bad news, but that she was acting like she was making a play for Brock!

  Natalie had never thought she’d be one of those controlling women who was afraid her mate would see another wolf as more intriguing than her. But the woman was a wolf, and she knew she’d been pulling Natalie’s strings. Didn’t Brock see that? Men could be so clueless when it came to a woman’s wiles. Had he figured Kittie was part of the gang, or at least involved in it somehow? Natalie had smelled a slight amount of Marek’s scent on the woman. Probably because she’d been sitting in his car, if she’d been careful not to hug on him before she showed up here.

  Natalie wondered why Kittie wouldn’t have driven her own car here. It was a mistake on her part to drive Marek’s vehicle. Though once they discovered she was a wolf, they would have been suspicious of her anyway.

  When they got to the end of the line of customers, Shawn helped all who needed assistance to carry their plants to their vehicles. Three cars were still parked in the lot.

  “We’re closed now,” Natalie said to Shawn. “If you don’t mind, could you man the gate until everyone leaves? Just close it, or people might think we’re still open.”

  “Sure thing.” Shawn handed her phone back to her. “He invited her for dinner. He’s a PI. He knows what he’s doing.”

  Natalie growled under her breath.

  “Does this mean there might be hope for me yet?” Shawn smiled and headed for the gate.

  Natalie was hungry, and she’d been looking forward to dinner. If Brock thought she was going to fix a nice dinner for them, he had another think coming.

  Two more customers left, and Shawn smiled as he opened the gate for them. She really liked working with him. He seemed to love the job, and he enjoyed talking to the customers. She glanced in Brock’s direction to see him walking with Kittie to the checkout. Kittie didn’t have a plant she’d picked out either.

  If the woman was going to pretend to be friends with them, she could at least buy a plant. Especially since Brock had invited her to dinner.

  Shawn headed their way. “I ordered a couple pizzas—meat lover’s and cheese deluxe.”

  “Oh, what a terrific idea.” Natalie loved that he had been thinking ahead. She hoped someone would eat the cheese pizza. Wolves loved their meat. She was so glad Shawn had thought of a way to avoid anyone fixing a meal for Kittie.

  “Why don’t we eat out in the gardens?” Natalie said, not waiting for anyone’s agreement. Not that she had asked the question as if she was looking for anyone’s consensus.

  “Sure,” Shawn said. “The gardens are beautiful this time of year. Perfect for outdoor dining. That’s back in that direction, right? Where we had our lunch breaks?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, great. I’ll wait at the gate for the pizza delivery. It should be here in about forty minutes, maybe longer, but if the delivery person is quicker, I want to be there to pay them.”

  “It might be too hot and buggy outside, don’t you think?” Kittie asked Brock, as if he had anything to say about it.

  “Nah. We’ve been working outside all day. We’re used to it,” Natalie said, not about to allow the woman into either her home or her parents’. Did she want to case the places? Natalie suspected she did, and she’d give a description to Marek and his buddies.

  “I haven’t been outside all day, and I’m used to air-conditioning,” Kittie said, fluttering her eyelashes at Brock as if he’d invite her inside one of the places when Natalie was being hard-nosed about it. Then Kit
tie fanned herself as if it was just too hot out here.

  Natalie gave Brock a look that said if he offered to move the venue inside, he’d be leaving for Greystoke tonight. And Kittie could go with him.

  He cast her a small smile, appearing amused that she was having a meltdown over him.

  “We have ceiling fans out there and citronella candles for the mosquitoes, so no problem.” Natalie was annoyed at herself for having made the comment. If the woman didn’t like it, she could leave. Natalie was biting her tongue about Kittie driving Marek’s car and the reason she was really here, but Brock knew what he was doing, so Natalie was trying to play along. As much as she could. Besides, he might have talked to her about a lot of this already.

  On the deck that overlooked the waterfall, Natalie fetched Styrofoam plates and paper napkins for the meal from a cabinet, waiting for Brock to question the woman. Maybe he was putting it off until Shawn joined them.

  “Oh, Brock, would you get us some bottled water from my house?” Natalie asked.

  He hesitated, as if he was afraid Natalie would screw up their dinner by questioning Kittie!

  “I can help you, Brock,” Kittie said, flashing a provocative smile at him.

  Natalie fumed, but she plastered on a smile. “That’s okay. You probably wouldn’t know where to look, Brock. I’ll leave the two of you to get better acquainted.”

  “Why don’t you make that wine,” Kittie said. “And real wineglasses.”

  Natalie was about to say she was fresh out of both, but then again, if they could get her drunk, maybe Kittie would tell them what they wanted to know. “I’ll see if I have any.”