by Thorne, Elle
“Nice to meet you, too,” Tanner responded.
Mae gave them both an odd look.
Chapter Two
Martina—Marti—Lee kept her eyes from the man who’d just entered.
Tanner, they’d called him. Teague’s brother. As close as she’d become with Kelsey, Marti hadn’t heard her mention Teague having a brother.
Then again, why would she mention that? I’m just decorating the B & B. It’s not like I’m a member of the family.
But they did treat her like family. More than just family. Marti would know, because by Marti’s definition, family was just a word and a shared set of DNA.
However, Mae had invited Marti to the dinner, and Chelsea had sent her an invitation to the wedding.
Marti couldn’t keep her eyes off him for long because Mae was introducing them. She studied at him.
Deep, dark brown eyes, seeming to probe into her very soul and dissect who she was. The widest shoulders and thickest chest she’d ever seen on a man. She surveyed that chest, then her eyes drew downward to the vee it created as it merged with his hips.
Oh, Lord.
She averted her eyes quickly. What was she thinking? She wasn’t thinking, not at all. Her gaze had drifted downward to his package. Why? She never did that. She didn’t look at men’s packages.
Oh, it wasn’t because she didn’t enjoy a man. She totally and completely and fully enjoyed men. More like, she used to. It was just that there wasn’t room for a man in her life right now. And not anytime in the foreseeable future. She needed to avoid men and the complications they brought.
Mae said something.
It took Marti’s mind a second to process it.
Introductions.
“Nice to meet you.” Marti didn’t put her hand out.
She wasn’t normally rude by nature, not at all. But there was something about the idea of touching this man that made her body shiver on the inside as if currents were running through it.
She needed to get out of there quickly. The effect this man was having on her was not good. At all.
“Nice to meet you, too.” His voice traveled through Marti like honey from a jar. It was languid, sexy, and pure.
It made her body react in ways she didn’t want it to. She shoved her hands behind her back and clenched them into fists, digging her nails into her palms, letting the pain bring her away from where his voice was taking her.
She didn’t know him. She’d never met him before. How could he have this effect on her?
She glanced at her watch. She was stuck. She had to stay until dinner was over. She couldn’t be rude.
And, sheesh, she’d just heard Chelsea tell Grant that Tanner was one of their plus-ones. Whose plus-one was he?
A coldness ran through Marti’s body. Surely not hers. No. She didn’t want to be with him for a whole day at the wedding.
Oh, don’t forget the evening. The reception and the dance.
Marti took a deep breath.
“Are you okay?” Mae’s hand was on Marti’s shoulder. “You look like you’re not feeling well.”
No, she wasn’t feeling well. She was feeling closed in. Why was she having this reaction to Tanner? She didn’t know him. They had no history together. Why was he affecting her this way?
Kelsey drew near. “She does look a bit off. Might need some fresh air.”
Marti nodded. That would get her out of the room.
“I’ll walk her out,” Tanner said.
“No.” The word escaped Marti’s filter. It was louder and more vehement than she’d have wanted. “I mean, I’d like to get a drink of water.” She slipped around the crowd of her new friends and the mountain-sized Tanner with that damned beard that she wanted to touch, rub against her face, feel against—
Oh, Christ. No. She couldn’t be thinking this way.
The water glasses on the table were empty. She looked around for a pitcher to fill one glass with. No pitchers in sight.
Great. Just great.
Marti left the room, searching for a waiter, a glass, an escape, anything. She made her way past the open floor plan restaurant and headed toward the front door.
A bit of cool air on her face sounded good right now.
“Everything okay, miss?” The hostess looked up from wiping menus.
“Fine. Just fine. Going outside for a spell.”
“Oh, to smoke.” The girl’s lip curled upward.
Marti didn’t smoke, but she didn’t feel like small talk either.
She pushed the door open and stepped into the night air. The coolness refreshed her heated skin and filled her lungs.
Marti sat on an oak bench shaped like a log on the wood walkway. She leaned her head back against the building’s wall and studied the clear sky, stars brilliant against the black background.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. What had she been thinking? She should have turned down the job the moment she met Teague.
That first day that Kelsey had brought her into the B & B and introduced her to the shifter, Marti should have walked—no, run away. She had no business being involved with shifters.
But she’d thought… Well, there’s just one, and he’s a nice guy, and she needed the money. She’d do the job quickly and get paid and then get out of their lives and get them out of hers.
What the hell happened to that plan? she chastised herself.
One shifter led to another. She’d met Grant, then Kane and Doc, all of them shifters.
They didn’t know she had experience with shifters.
She frowned. And they didn’t know she knew what they were.
Fine. She’d keep their secret. She’d attend the wedding. Then she’d get the hell out of Bear Canyon Valley and go back to the city. Back to her life.
“Hey.” It was Joe, Grant’s foreman or ranch manager, or whatever he was. It was never clearly defined.
One thing Marti knew, Joe wasn’t a shifter. That made them the same. He was the only one like her. As much as Marti liked the women, Chelsea, Astra, Mae, and Kelsey, Marti knew they were with shifters. They were together. She would be willing to bet that the women were unquestioningly committed to their shifter men. They’d never pick an opposing side.
Marti didn’t want anyone to pick a side. Hell, she didn’t want to be on a side. She wanted to be left alone.
“Hey, you,” she said to Joe. “You’re a little late, aren’t you?”
“Got tied up,” Joe said.
“Ever think you may work too hard?” She joked with him because she’d been accused of the same.
“Nah, I love what I do. They serve dinner already?”
He rubbed his stomach, which was damned flat, Marti thought with a bit of admiration and maybe a smidge of envy, looking down at her own tummy.
“No. Not yet.”
“So why are you out here?”
Because there’s an extremely sexy shifter who’s making my body do things it needs to not do.
“Needed some fresh air.”
She wondered how he’d become involved with a group of shifters and yet wasn’t one of them. Then she found herself wishing he would be her plus-one at the wedding. At least she’d feel safe… No, that wasn’t the word for it. Tanner didn’t make her feel like she was in danger… Damn it. She couldn’t put it into words.
“I’ll wait with you. Seems something’s wrong with letting a lady be out here alone.”
Chapter Three
Tanner watched Marti leave the room. He followed, but not too closely, worried about what might be going on with her.
She’d gone pale, and had a strange look on her face, almost as if she’d seen a ghost.
She started to walk toward the kitchen, then changed course and passed the kitchen, said something to the hostess, and stepped outside.
He walked to a window and watched her sit on the bench that was right in front of the window where he was standing. He shifted slightly and moved out of sight, in case she turned and looked
in his direction.
Her pulse beat a pattern in his body. Her scent as he’d followed her was the scent of fear. What the hell could she be afraid of? his bear grumbled.
Come on, she barely knew him, he soothed the bear.
And sure, Tanner knew he was big, and he got that some people found him intimidating, but not the ladies. Not usually.
It bothered him no end that this woman might fear him. The bear snarled, and then roared.
Tanner closed his eyes against the volume and fought the urge to cover his ears. The bear was pissed at Tanner, blaming him.
What the hell makes you think it’s my fault? I didn’t even talk to her.
The bear grumbled.
I did not send vibes. Maybe you did. Maybe you scared the shit out of her, with your whole ‘she’s the one’ thing.
More snarling.
How the hell would I know what she can or can’t sense? I don’t feel anything supernatural about her. She’s just a woman—
A roar interrupted him.
I don’t mean she’s not…
Damn, his bear had never been this way before. He was up in arms and wanted to go to her immediately. Tanner was tempted to take the bear out for a run.
More roaring.
I’m tempted to, okay? That doesn’t mean I’m going to go running right now. Fuck, you’re a cantankerous bastard.
Tanner paused, listening to his bear.
No. I’m not going out there to see what’s wrong with her. Sometimes people just need privacy and the time to work things out on their own. And don’t ever say I’m not interested in her. I’m just as interested in her as you are. I’m simply in better control of myself.
Tanner steeled himself for the onslaught of roaring he knew the bear was going to deliver for that last comment.
Instead, his bear snorted and shut down, paying attention to the signals it was getting from Marti—listening to her pulse, feeling her heart rate, scenting her emotions.
The bear made a low rumble in Tanner’s head.
Yeah, I caught the scent of desire that came from her when she saw us. And boy, had Tanner ever caught that scent. The bear delivered her raw essence to him.
Tanner savored her aroma, sure her heated moisture would taste as good as it smelled.
I’m still not sure why you think she’s got a history with shifters. She didn’t give any signal of that, but maybe you’d know better than I.
The bear in him heard footsteps outside, approaching Marti. Tanner and the bear both went on high alert, ready to pounce on anyone who might pose a threat.
Out from the darkness stepped Joe, Grant’s right-hand guy.
Tanner recognized Joe, though he hadn’t seen him since he and Teague had left Bear Canyon Valley ages ago.
Joe was a good guy, and he didn’t pose a threat to anyone; though he was a fairly solidly built man, he had a good and generous heart. And Joe knew about shifters, lived with shifters, and had no issue with their kind.
Marti greeted Joe, and he sat next to her.
A heat traveled through Tanner’s body the moment Joe sat down. Anger seared at his heart. This was a strange sensation coursing through him, and Tanner recognized it immediately though he didn’t want to admit to it. Jealousy.
He didn’t want another man next to Marti. Not until she was his and they’d…
What the hell am I thinking? He blamed his bear for this type of thought. He hadn’t exchanged more than a handful of words with the girl. It was too early to feel this way.
Joe and Marti made small talk about dinner, then he graciously offered to stay out there with her.
The bear grumbled a complaint.
He’s a good guy. He’s just being a gentleman.
Then why did Tanner want to go out there and uproot Joe from the bench and take his spot?
He felt the vibration of footsteps approaching, then the beat of a female heart—not Marti’s.
Mae.
“I thought it would be a good match.” Mae’s voice was low. She stood next to him.
“So is that why I’m here?” Tanner fought back the anger at Mae’s manipulation because a part of him—a big part; the bear—knew that Mae was right. How did she do that?
She had a reputation for making these matches, even though the parties involved had never met before.
“Sometimes, I think you may be a witch,” he told her.
Her eyes sparkled in the dim candlelight of the foyer’s corner.
“You are?” Damn, he was right. She had witchery background.
“There’s witch blood in my ancestry.” She put a finger over her lips and gave him a wink. “It’s not common knowledge.” Mae wrapped her fingers around his biceps. Her hand was so small compared to his muscles that it couldn’t even make its way around one tenth of their girth.
Tanner put his hand up. “Shhh. They’re coming in.”
He and Mae stood still, ensconced in the corner, unseen, waiting while Joe opened the door and escorted Marti back to the private dining room.
When they were out of sight, Mae turned toward Tanner.
“You’ve become an extraordinary man, Tanner Navarro. I knew you would, even as a teen.”
“And you’re still the same beauty that I had a teenage crush on.”
A blush crept to her cheeks, and a smile so shy it didn’t look like her came to her lips. She was beautiful, and his crush had been harmless, but he still cared for this lovely woman like a sister.
“When will you be happy, Mae? Do you have to be in mourning forever? You’re young and beautiful. You deserve a life. It’s been a long time since Brad…”
She squeezed his arm, then slapped it gently. “You don’t need to worry about me, Mr. Tanner.” Her teeth gleamed in the darkness. “My happiness is in seeing Brad’s dream come true in Bear Canyon Valley.”
Bullshit. No one should be alone forever, Tanner wanted to say, but didn’t. He couldn’t say it because then he’d be the biggest hypocrite ever, since he had always been alone and had never sought to change that.
Sure, he’d had women. More than his fair share. And he’d enjoyed every one of them, but it wasn’t the kind of enjoyment that made him want to stick around indefinitely.
A set of blue eyes behind dark-rimmed glasses on a pale face framed by shiny black hair came to mind. He pushed the thought away, and the bear growled at him for it.
“So Marti… me… this is no coincidence, is it?”
“You were always too sharp for your own good. Why can’t you be a simple one, just coming to the rescue, joining in the festivities?” Mae patted his shoulder. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
“Stunning. And you knew I’d find her that way.”
“And your bear? How does he feel?”
“He may kick my ass all over the place if I don’t make this happen on his timeline.”
Mae smiled. “He was always one of my favorite bears, you know. Even more than a decade ago, that bear had an old soul. It’s what’s made you the way you are.”
“I’ve missed this place. You, the magic of Bear Canyon Valley.”
“You have a home here. And your presence is needed. Not to mention that Teague’s not leaving now.”
“Yeah, I see that taking my partner away is certainly a little bit of an arm-twist toward getting me to move up here, isn’t it? Then you toss in this fair-skinned, curvy hottie with…” Tanner bit his words back. No need to get crude in front of Mae.
“Good. That’s settled. She’ll be your plus-one. And you’ll impress her the way I know you can. The wedding’s in three days.”
Chapter Four
Marti sat at the table next to Joe. She felt a sense of relief, because she’d saved herself from the trouble that could have ensued.
Chelsea had been wonderfully open to the changes and hadn’t blinked at Marti’s request. Joe was the kind of guy who made a girl feel safe. He was like a warm, cuddly, safe teddy bear.
Bear. Marti fought the grima
ce that wanted to come to her face at that thought. Why did she have to think of bears?
She raised her water glass to her lips and took a sip, her eyes going to the door at that moment.
She choked on the water, a coughing fit overtaking her faculties. She was sure she was turning all kinds of crimson. Finally getting her coughing spell under control, she looked at the reason she’d coughed.
Tanner had walked in, escorting Mae, his hand on the small of her back.
Why the hell did the sight of that make Marti see red? Tanner’s hand on Mae drove her crazy. She wanted to get up and…
I can’t do this. She could not be attracted to this man. No. He was a shifter. Shifters were dangerous to her.
Tanner watched her coughing. His eyes were concerned, but there was something else in their depths. Something that made Marti quiver. There was a golden amber glow in the dark depths of his chocolate brown eyes.
“You okay?” Joe patted her on the back gently.
“I’m fine. Went down the wrong way,” she told him. God, would this dinner ever end? They hadn’t even been served dinner yet. She was so screwed.
Double screwed, she thought, as she noticed that Tanner was going to be sitting directly across from her.
It had to work out that way, didn’t it? There was another empty seat halfway down the table, but with Marti’s luck, Mae got that seat and Tanner got the one across from Marti.
Damn it. She’d have to watch that gorgeous face eating all night, that fork traveling to those lips, those shoulders that led down to… Yeah, better not go there. A heat covered her chest, and she felt it rising to her cheeks.
Bad timing for her. She raised her eyes to Tanner’s face and caught a raised eyebrow and a look that pissed her off because it told her he knew what she was thinking.
Arrogant bastard. She’d teach him.
Wow. When did I get so hostile?
Right about the time that he walked into her life, that’s when.
Marti masked her emotions and looked away. “So, how do you like the valley?” She tried to make conversation with Joe to keep herself from thinking of that bear shifter sitting across from her, dominating her attention, even when she wasn’t looking at him.
