The Lion Loves a Lady

by Raines, Harmony

  As she turned and walked toward the dining room, she looked up and her eyes locked with Charlie’s. The room spun a little, and she wished he’d reach out and steady her. She would love for him to wrap his big strong arms around her and hold her close. What was it about him? Penny could not pinpoint one thing. Everything about him made her heart race and her body thrum with excitement.

  He stood staring at her, and she stared right back until she was swept away by a group of people heading into the dining room, their excitement brimming over. If Penny thought she’d get a quiet vacation away from the holidays she was wrong.

  Turning around, she fought against the tide of people, fighting to get back to Charlie. But the man had crossed the lobby and stood at the door leading to the stairwell where Harvey was still waiting for Felicity. What was he saying to Harvey?

  Penny strained her ears. All she heard was Harvey replying, “I’m waiting for my wife.”

  Charlie looked up, locking eyes with Penny once more as she finally untangled herself from the group and pushed her way back into the lobby. However, before she had time to speak to Charlie, he’d headed back out the door and into the parking lot. He stalked across to his truck, shoulders hunched over against the icy conditions.

  “You’re back,” Harvey said brightly, then his attention was caught by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. “Felicity, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

  A stunning young woman exited the stairwell, her glossy black hair swept up in a messy bun and her perfect lip gloss shimmered in the artificial lights. “Hello.” She smiled brightly, but Penny could tell she’d been crying. All thoughts of Charlie left her. Well, almost all. How could she forget a man who made her go weak at the knees?

  “Penny is here alone,” Harvey told Felicity.

  “Christmas alone?” Felicity looked horrified.

  “Long story,” Penny smiled awkwardly.

  “We were just going into breakfast, why don’t you join us?” Felicity asked.

  “Are you sure?” Penny stepped closer to the couple, just avoiding a runaway child.

  “Absolutely.” Felicity tucked her arm into Harvey’s. “We can trade stories.”

  A sad smile crossed Harvey’s face. “Or we could forget all about our families and have a nice breakfast and look out at the mountains.”

  “Harvey is trying to stop me from wallowing in self-pity,” Felicity patted his arm. “What he doesn’t realize is that I don’t pity myself, I pity him.”

  Penny tried to gauge if Felicity was joking, but she couldn’t tell. “Well, I’m here because I could not face a family Christmas. So I am wallowing in self-pity.”

  “Is your family that bad, too?” Felicity asked as they found a table in the crowded dining room and sat down.

  “No. That’s not the reason I can’t face Christmas,” Penny admitted.

  A server came their way. She looked familiar somehow, but Penny couldn’t place her. “Can I get you coffee or tea?”

  “Tea, please,” Felicity said. “And coffee for my husband, or he’ll be a grouch all morning.”

  “I’ll have coffee, too, please.” Penny smiled up at the waitress. Her name tag said Lilly, but that still didn’t help.

  “Will your husband be joining you?” Lilly asked.

  “Husband?” Harvey asked. “You didn’t say you had a husband, I thought you were here alone.”

  “I am.” Penny sighed. “It’s a long story.”

  “Oh, he’s the reason you are here and not spending the holidays with your family.” Felicity paled as she reached for Penny’s hand. “I’m so sorry.”

  “He’s dead?” Harvey asked and then cried out as his wife kicked him under the table. “I will never understand women.”

  “No, he’s not dead. In fact, he’s very much alive and probably lying on the beach in the Maldives with his new victim, I mean girlfriend.” Penny had forgotten Lilly was still standing by the table.

  “I’ll get your coffee.” Lilly looked down at her with an intense look of sympathy on her face. “Help yourself to whatever you want from the buffet.”

  “Thanks.” Penny put her face in her hands. “This will be all over the hotel now.”

  “No, it won’t,” Felicity assured her. “Do you have any idea how much scandal goes on inside a hotel this size?”

  “No.” Penny had never given it much thought. But then until she met and married a fortune hunter, or perhaps a title hunter would be more appropriate, she hadn’t considered how easy it was to get caught up in a scandal.

  “Harvey works in the hotel trade.” Felicity took her husband’s hand and held it in her own. “It’s where we met.”

  “Really? What do you do, Harvey?” Penny glanced up as Lilly brought their beverages and placed them down on the table with care. “Thank you.”

  “I’m a concierge at an exclusive hotel.” He turned his head to look at his wife. “And Felicity is an heiress. I was out of her league when I fell in love with her.”

  “An heiress?” Penny leaned back in her seat. “That’s so romantic. And you are so in love.”

  “Either that or Harvey is very good at pretending to love me.” She leaned on him and he stroked her neck in the sweetest way.

  “You know that’s not true,” Harvey murmured.

  “I know.” Felicity sat up straight. “Sorry, PDAs are new to me.”

  Penny grinned. “You make an adorable couple. And I envy you. But why aren’t your parents happy?”

  “Because they are worried that Harvey only wants me for my money.” Felicity’s mouth turned down at the corners.

  “Which could never happen.” Harvey drank his coffee, his eyes fixed on his wife.

  “But it does happen.” Penny held her coffee cup in her hands and turned it around and around. She still wasn’t used to not having a wedding band on her finger. “But I’m glad you two are happy.”

  “Is that what happened to your marriage?” Felicity asked gently.

  “Yes,” Penny answered directly, there was no reason to hide the truth. “I got duped.”

  “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.” Felicity’s eyes misted with tears as she fought to find words to make Penny feel better.

  “It’s okay. Now look who is killing the spirit of Christmas.” She got up from the table. “I need food.”

  “Good idea.” Felicity and Harvey followed her across to the tables laden with food.

  “I am heading for the bacon and eggs,” Harvey announced and crossed the room, leaving the two women together.

  “He is quite a catch,” Penny said quietly. “And he obviously loves you very much.”

  “I got lucky.” Felicity watched her husband. The love they shared went both ways and Penny experienced a pang of jealousy. “He’s a special kind of a guy.”

  Penny helped herself to pastries and fruit then waited for Felicity to fill her plate before they returned to the table. “How did you know?”

  “That he was the man for me?” Felicity asked as they sat down.

  “Yes. After my failed marriage, I don’t think I’ll ever trust my feelings toward a man again.” She smiled sadly as she picked apart the sweet pastry, her appetite nearly gone as she thought over the many wrong decisions she’d made over Laurence.

  “I don’t know if I can help you there.” Felicity paused, her eyes seeking out her man as if he wore a homing beacon. “Harvey is different.” She jerked her attention back to her breakfast and ate in silence for a moment.

  “Sorry, I shouldn’t have pried,” Penny apologized. Felicity and Harvey had been kind enough to let her join them for breakfast and the last thing she wanted was to ask stupid, personal questions. Nothing Felicity said about Harvey would make sense of her sham marriage.

  “It’s okay. It’s just a little difficult to explain without you thinking I’m crazy.” She popped a grape into her mouth.

  “Isn’t love supposed to make you a little crazy?” Penny looked up as Harvey came back to t
he table with a mountain of food on his plate. “I can see you have a healthy appetite.”

  “I certainly do. A red-blooded male needs to keep his strength up.” Harvey put his plate down on the table and sat in his seat. “Now, what have you two ladies been talking about while I was away? Me?”

  Felicity giggled. “Harvey lost out in the modesty department.”

  “Well, he is right, we were talking about him,” Penny teased.

  “You were? I’m flattered.” Harvey looked at his wife. “All good things I hope.”

  “Of course,” Felicity assured him. “Penny wanted to know how come I’m so certain you are the real thing.”

  “Ah.” Harvey forked food into his mouth and chewed slowly.

  “How long have you been together?” Penny asked. Surely that was the secret? They’d been together through thick and thin, good times and bad and still loved each other.

  “A couple of months.” Felicity pressed her lips together as if expecting Penny’s negative reaction.

  “Wow. Now I can see why your parents might be worried Harvey was after your fortune.” Penny looked horrified. “Not that I think you married Felicity for her money.”

  “I didn’t. I married her because she is my mate.”

  “Your mate?” This sounded weird, but when he looked at Felicity, it was obvious he believed they had some kind of deep connection. And being in their presence for the last twenty minutes or so had convinced Penny of that, too.

  “Yes. Harvey and I share this special bond.” Felicity sighed. “Which is the part my mom and dad have trouble dealing with.”

  Penny was starting to understand this. Her mom and dad had been perfectly accepting of Laurence but then they had dated for six months. Six months in which he’d convinced Penny and everyone around them that they were in love and perfect for each other in every way. If her parents had any reservations, they didn’t voice them. However, her dad had insisted that they had a prenup. Laurence had eventually agreed, not realizing it was watertight. When he announced his desire to divorce Penny, he’d expected a large payout, but he got nothing.

  “They don’t understand the bond we share. And so they think I’m only after Felicity’s money,” Harvey confirmed.

  “Even though I’ve told them I don’t need their money. I’m happy with or without it, as long as we’re together,” Felicity added looking at her husband adoringly. “We were meant to be together, forever.”

  Oh, boy, Penny thought as she ate her breakfast. These two were a little Christmas crazy. But she liked them. She liked them a lot. And maybe she needed crazy to get over Laurence and learn to live her life once more.

  Chapter Four – Charlie

  “Charlie.” Lilly ran out of the hotel in a thin blouse. Immediately the cold took her breath away and she gasped, forcing air into her lungs. “Damn, it’s freezing out here.”

  Charlie swung around to face her, immediately taking off his jacket and wrapping it around her shoulders. “You will freeze out here. And that is not the kind of language a teacher uses.”

  She grinned and hugged his jacket tighter around her body. “It is when it’s this cold outside.”

  “Then go back inside.” He pointed toward the hotel where Lilly worked as many shifts as she could jam into her busy schedule without compromising her time with Sally.

  “Not until I tell you my news.” Lilly let him wrap his arms around her and guide her back to the hotel. He wasn’t really in the mood to talk, all he wanted to do was nurse his injured heart and spend some time alone getting used to the idea that his mate was married.

  “You have more news? I thought the news about the job was enough for one day.” He pulled open the back door leading into the hotel and ushered Lilly inside.

  “This is not my news, this is your news.” Lilly’s eyes shone bright and she could barely contain herself as she spoke.

  “My news?” he asked with a frown. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  “Yes, you do. Penny.” She ducked her head as he averted his eyes, not wanting her to see the pain he could not hide.

  “She belongs to another man. I saw her with him in the hotel lobby.” Charlie waved his hand in the general direction of lobby, where he’d gotten all the confirmation he needed that Penny, his mate, was married to a man who was very much alive.

  Lilly’s expression clouded. “That’s not what she told me.”

  “You spoke to her?” he asked, suddenly keenly focused on his best friend. He didn’t like her interfering in Penny’s life, but he sure did want to know all he could about his mate.

  “I waited on her table,” Lilly explained.

  “And?” Charlie didn’t dare hope. But why would Lilly look this excited if Penny was happily married?

  “She is not here with her husband. She has no wedding band on her finger.” Lilly’s cheeks flushed with excitement.

  Now she had his attention. “Do you know what happened?” Charlie asked as hope surged in his heart.

  “Not exactly, all she said was that he was likely lying on a beach in the Maldives with his girlfriend.” Lilly looked triumphant. “She is free.”

  Charlie took a deep breath and then let it out in a rush of air. “Is she okay?” His first concern was always going to be for his mate and her happiness. Penny’s absent husband might be good news for Charlie, but if she loved him and wanted him back...

  Sometimes you have to think of yourself and go after what you want, his lion told him. What we want.

  “She seems okay. He’s the reason she’s here alone. Penny couldn’t face a family Christmas.” Lilly’s bottom lip trembled. “We have to be there for her. No one should spend Christmas alone.”

  Charlie looked confused. “But the guy I spoke to said he was waiting for his wife. And Penny was coming back toward him...” He raked a hand through his scruffy hair.

  “He was waiting for his wife, but that wasn’t Penny. Honestly, Charlie, you can go in there and see for yourself.” She caught hold of his sleeve and pulled him back toward the hotel.

  Nerves kicked in. “What if she doesn’t like me?”

  “Who could not like you?” Lilly assured him. She stopped and turned to look at him. “You have no idea what effect you have on women, do you?”

  Charlie blushed. “I’ve never taken much notice. Not since high school. Not really.”

  “In high school, when all the girls thought Charlie Watts was so hot. And so hard to get.” Lilly chuckled. “They hated me for being your friend. They thought I monopolized you and kept you to myself, always whispering in your ear, telling you not to go out with this girl, or that girl.”

  Charlie’s eyes widened. “I had no idea.”

  “I know. That’s why you were my best friend, you never bought into all the school politics. You never judged me for anything other than who I was.” She pulled him forward and then flung her arms around his neck. “You saved me more times than I can ever thank you for.”

  “Hey, don’t cry.” He rubbed her back, soothing her tears. “This is a two-way relationship. You and Sally have been there for me, too.”

  “I just want you to be happy, Charlie.” Lilly sniffed loudly. “You deserve it more than anyone else I know.”

  He let her pull him back inside the hotel. They entered through the rear entrance, and she took off his coat and handed it back to him. As she straightened her skirt and brushed her hair smooth, she smiled brightly. “Does it look as if I’ve been crying?”

  “Have you been crying?” Julius, the owner of The Catherine, appeared behind them.

  Lilly wiped her fingers under her eyes and turned to face her boss. “Just a little.”

  Julius looked from Lilly to Charlie. “Is there something I can help with? Is Sally okay?” Julius had been an amazing boss to Lilly. Not that Lilly hadn’t worked hard. She was always punctual and never let Julius down unless Sally was sick and needed her mom.

  “Sally is fine.” Lilly nodded.

&nbs
p; “So you are crying because you are so sad to be leaving us?” Julius held up a letter in his hand, Lilly’s handwriting on the outside of the envelope.

  “My resignation.” Lilly nodded and burst into tears again. “I’m going to miss you all.”

  “We all knew this day would come.” Julius hugged Lilly. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of you, Lilly. When you started work here you were shy and afraid of making mistakes. Yet here you are about to embark on a new life as a teacher.”

  Lilly swallowed hard and sobbed into the handkerchief Julius produced from his pocket. “Thanks.”

  “You are going to make an amazing teacher.” Charlie wanted to hug Lilly, too, he hated to see her cry. Or any woman cry for that matter. But life was all about ups and downs. You had to take the rough so you could appreciate the smooth.

  “Goodness, I won’t be able to go back to work at all if you two don’t stop.” But Lilly smiled with pride at their words.

  “And that’s what the tears were about?” Julius persisted.

  “Not exactly...” Lilly ignored the warning glance Charlie threw her way.

  “I thought there was more.” Julius was one of the most perceptive men he’d ever met. Charlie had put it down to the years he’d spent at the hotel, dealing with people and their problems. It was like a sixth sense.

  We all have a sixth sense, his lion told him. This bear shifter just chooses to use it in a different way.

  “It’s nothing,” Charlie insisted and backed toward the door. “I should let you two get back to work.”

  “Oh, no!” Lilly grabbed hold of his arm and made him stay.

  “I’m intrigued.” Julius raised an eyebrow. Charlie was not walking away from this without the truth coming out. Maybe that was a good thing, he needed to find a way to introduce himself to Penny without looking like a stalker. So far, he’d not done a good job of it.

  “Charlie found his mate.” Lilly smiled, her cheeks flushing pink with happiness for her friend. She might not be a shifter herself, but she did understand how important a shifter finding their mate was.

  “You have.” Julius grinned, too. In fact, the two people before him began to resemble a pair of Cheshire cats.