In the morning, the nurse came and checked my vitals. They told me I could leave so I called Joshua’s hotel and told him he could come pick me up. The nurse helped me into a wheelchair and wheeled me out to the front door where Joshua’s truck was parked, waiting for me.
He hopped out and helped me inside with my bag of bandages and pain medication. He looked hung over, and I guessed he’d had an enjoyable night out on the town.
We got back on the narrow highway headed north, listening to country radio. What was it with everyone around here and country music? I literally hated country music, but I couldn’t say anything to Joshua. I was tired and in pain and didn’t want to upset him.
It took us two hours to drive back to the ranch. When we arrived, Mr. Ellis’ Range Rover sat parked in front of the house. Nerves ran through my body at the thought of his dark eyes inspecting me after my injury. I hated that I’d cost him the hospital bills, and wondered if he would want to take it out of my two weeks pay.
Joshua helped me inside and up the stairs to my bedroom. Everything was tidy inside as if someone had cleaned up and done my laundry. A fire flickered in the fireplace. Joshua helped me out of my shoes and into my bed. My whole body ached, even with the pain medication. All I wanted was sleep.
As soon as my head hit the pillow, Daisy burst into the room. Her face was pale, and her eyes looked red. She knelt by my bed and grabbed my hand.
“Are you alright? Tell me you’re alright!”
“I’m fine. Minor injuries. I’ll survive. It mostly just hurts.”
“Thank God! Nate is pissed. I’m afraid he’s going to fire me.”
“Why would he fire you? I’m the one that cost an overnight stay in the hospital less than a week after getting here.”
“I’m the horseback riding and horse trainer. It’s my responsibility to make sure nothing like this happens.”
“Has anyone else ever fallen off a horse here?”
“Well, no…”
“See, my fault. I’m a big, clumsy idiot.”
“Don’t say that. Tannin was spooked. She got the scent of the wolves or something. She ran off and didn’t come back to the stables until sundown.”
“Then it’s no one's fault.”
“I guess not. I just hate for Nate to be mad at me.”
“I take full responsibility, alright? I won’t let him fire you over me.”
Daisy leaned in and hugged me gently. She left the room, and I settled back down into my pillow hoping for some sleep. I didn’t get it, not yet. My head swam from pain and medication, and I spotted Owen out of the corner of my eye. He hovered in my peripheral vision.
There was a knock at my door, and Mr. Ellis pushed it open. He walked into my room, awkwardly. He looked pale with dark bags under his eyes. He wore a high-end black sweat suit and slippers. I wondered if he was ill.
He pulled the chair from the fireplace next to my bed and sat down. He looked at me with a hesitant expression I hadn’t seen on his face before. Owen’s form flitted around the room, and I felt I might faint. I could see Owen’s face. His expression was dark.
Mr. Ellis cleared his throat.
“I heard you were injured Ms. Elder. I was worried.”
“Why?” I said. It came out all wrong. I was surprised he was worried about me, but it sounded sarcastic. His face looked wounded.
“You are an employee and of course Morgan is quite attached to you already.”
Owen loomed behind Mr. Ellis, his eyes wide, his mouth open in a silent scream. I sank into my bed. Memories of my time in Owen’s little house surfaced. I remembered myself as his Melody. I loved two brothers. One of them was Owen and the other was named Nathanial.
“Ms. Elder. I need to speak with you. I have a… problem, and I was hoping you could help me.”
Chapter 9
Nathanial watched Jane’s expression as she sat in her bed, propped against a tower of lacy pillows. He immediately regretted what he’d said.
“What do you need to ask me?” she asked quizzically.
He cleared his throat, and searched his mind for a plausible excuse. When he didn’t answer right away, she widened her eyes as if waiting for a response.
“I wanted to know if you have health insurance.”
“No, I don’t,” she said, leaning back into the pillows. Her face went gray, and she took a deep breath.
Nathanial fidgeted in his seat. This was proving to be more difficult than he expected. He silently cursed Mona for instructing him to speak with her. Even though he trusted his healer completely, he couldn’t bring himself to face Jane’s inquisitive hazel eyes. How could he tell her he was the monster who deposited a carcass under her window? It wasn’t exactly flowers and chocolate.
“Did you have them bill Bear Creek Ranch?” he asked her, trying to sound sympathetic.
“That’s what Joshua told me to do,” she whined. Nathanial could tell he was upsetting her.
“Good, that is exactly what you should have done. And I’m going to give you two week’s pay in advance. I can transfer it electronically if you’d like. I know there isn’t a lot to buy around here, but we do have postal service. I see you like books,” he said, trying to connect. Coming out and saying he was a werewolf might not be the best way to her heart.
“Yes, I do.” She smiled and glanced at her bookshelf. “But there are so many books in the library. I have plenty to choose from for quite some time.”
“Then perhaps a pretty dress, or something for Halloween. There is a big party with the locals down at the Community Center. You could get a costume.”
She looked at him inquisitively. Halloween costumes weren’t exactly within the purview of a man like Nathanial, but he assumed Jane enjoyed such things. His wife had. Even though she was a highly educated woman, Nathanial’s late wife had leanings toward the arcane. She had even begun indoctrinating Morgan, before her untimely death.
“I guess that would be fun,” she said, looking up at him through her eyelashes.
She didn’t seem all that interested. He reached out and petted her hand, an instinctive response left over from his marriage. The second his hand touched hers, sparks radiated up his arm. He could see that she had a similar reaction. Her lips drew back into a shy smile. Her eyes batted up at him. He could see her chest heave with deep breaths.
“Thank you for taking care of my hospital bills. And everything,” she said as she drew her hand back.
The loss of contact left a cold place under his fingers. He hungered to take her hand again, just to fill that empty space, but she had pulled the covers over herself and settled down into the bed.
“I can see you are tired,” he said, rising. “Would you like some food brought up or do you wish to retire?”
“I want to sleep.” She yawned and turned toward the opposite side of the room. He watched the curve of her body under the billowy blanket. It was all he could do to resist jumping into the softness of her bed and her body. The wolf inside him growled, begging to be fulfilled. The rise of her bottom tempted him beyond reason.
“Would you like me to turn off your light?”
“Please.” Her voice was soft, on the edge of sleep.
He pulled away toward the door, clicking off the overhead light. Her room was cast in darkness, except for the flickering firelight. It cast a warm hue over her slumbering form, creating shadows that accentuated the curve of her body even more. He took one last, amorous glance and closed the door.
As he walked down the hall, clinching his fists to retain control of the beast inside him. The wolf howled in his ears to claim the girl sleeping so vulnerably in her soft, sensual bed. Marching to his office, he locked himself inside. He paced the room like a caged animal. His heart thudded in his chest. His hands contracted like grasping claws, angry and seeking something to rip apart. A stack of papers sat on his desk until he flung them to the floor in frustration. He wanted to reduce the entire room to rubble. The beast had her scent; it wouldn’t lea
ve him alone until it had what it wanted. Or until someone was dead.
He hunched over his desk, panting hard, trying to regain some sense of composure. It was always the worst right before and after the shift. He told himself he was Nathanial Ellis, heir to the Ellis fortune and the owner of the Bear Creek Ranch. He had international investments and international associations. He looked up. The dark window behind his desk showed the reflection of his half-crazed face and gritted teeth. The sight was enough to calm him.
After several deep breaths, he moved to collapse in his chair, pressing his face into his hands. What was he supposed to do now? How could he connect to a girl he wanted to rip apart and ravish? Perhaps Mona was wrong. Her cures had not worked yet. Maybe she was missing something. How could giving into the beast’s desires possibly overcome it? He leaned against the back of his chair. Posture slumped; he exhaled and let his legs stretch out before him.
In that relaxed position, he had a new thought. His only true option was to trust Mona’s advice. He might not be able to tell the girl outright that he needed her help. How could he ever win her heart that way? The man in him needed a woman too, as much as the beast. Maybe more. She was lovely, and wonderful with his daughter. The overpowering lust of the wolf overshadowed his own, more tender attraction to Jane. Perhaps he should win her heart with more conventional methods than what his inner beast had in mind. He could find out what she liked, he could make an effort to gain her favor. It hadn’t been that long since he’d dated. Ten years? He could remember how it was done. Couldn’t he?
He sprang up from his chair with renewed vigor. Yes, that was it. He would court her in the old-fashioned way. Slowly, with care. She deserved all the chivalry a man could muster in this day and age. Look at the courage she showed in coming to work for him. Look at the tenacity and resourcefulness with which she tutored Morgan. Look at the tenderness she gave his haunted and broken daughter. Indeed, Jane Elder deserved a good courting. He would resist the urge to bed her until he had won her true heart. Even the beast inside him seemed to find that offer satisfactory, with the caveat that there would eventually be ravishing.
Nathanial Ellis sat at his computer and clicked on the Internet, looking to buy things that the lovely Jane Elder might desire. He clicked over to Nordstrom, and his hand instinctively clicked onto the lingerie section. He scrolled over a lacy peach chemise and imagined Jane’s curves filling the delicate contours. Then he scrolled over a shear lilac bustier with garter straps. He imagined her thick red hair tumbling down over the lilac lace and nearly lost his cool. He quickly clicked away from the lingerie and looked for something more appropriate.
He found a teal cashmere scarf and added it to his cart. The blue-green hue would set off Jane’s beautiful pale skin and haunting hazel eyes. Satisfied with himself, he wondered if he should buy her more. He found a floral perfume and body cream set that he knew was a slightly selfish purchase. The idea of the delicate floral scents caressing Jane’s pearly skin as he brushed her hair away from her neck, made him quiver in his seat. Finally, he went back to the lilac bustier and put it in his cart along with a pair of white silk stockings. Complete, he purchased his order and had it shipped overnight.
He sat back in his chair thinking he had done well for himself. Then the thought struck him that he had no way of giving her these gifts. She had no idea of his feelings. His initial treatment of her surely left her leery of him. He couldn’t exactly come to her room and give her a box of perfumes and body creams without raising an eyebrow. He would have to play it much more smoothly than that. But how?
Nathanial stood and paced the room. He had never courted an employee before, or a woman who lived down the hall. All regular forms of courtship were out of the question. He couldn’t pick her up at eight and take her out to dinner and a movie. It was impossible. He needed a different tactic. He could leave her orchids from his hot house. It wouldn’t be obvious they had come from him, and it might warm her heart to see them.
Next, he had to get her alone. Connect with her. Show himself to her. The idea of allowing himself vulnerable made a chill go up his spine. He hadn’t opened himself to anyone since his wife died.
Mona had said this was the only way. And the wolf inside him clearly wanted nothing more than to feel Jane’s flesh between its teeth. He reached the side of the room and turned to pace back to the other side. He had to try to be tender. Unfortunately, tenderness was not Nathanial’s strong suit.
He went back to his desk and sat down. This was too difficult. How the human race hadn’t died out already was a wonder. He would just have to play it by ear, roll with the punches, let the cards fall where they may. If that didn’t work, the wolf inside him had plenty of ideas of his own.
I woke to the sound of my door flinging open. Morgan scampered on my bed and crawled beneath the covers with me. She clung to me and breathed into my ear.
“I’m so glad you are alright, Jane.”
I turned over in bed to face her and put my arms around her little frame. Her black hair cascaded over my white blankets. I reached to caress her cheek with the backs of my fingers, and she smiled. Her emerald eyes gazed at me with such trust and love.
I didn’t know what I did to deserve it. Perhaps just being in the position to replace part of what her mother had done for her, gave me a place in the child’s heart. I wanted to protect her, to make her happy. Somehow, part of me had taken on the role of mother as well, even though I had no idea how to be one.
She snuggled closer and dipped her head into the crook of my shoulder. The warmth of our bodies together under the covers was comforting to us both. A flash of how inappropriate it was to be so close to my pupil crossed my mind, and I drew away. I sat up and noticed a potted pink orchid sitting on my windowsill. Where had that come from? I stood to pull on a bathrobe and examine the plant. It was lovely and in full bloom. Had Nathanial put it there?
“Time to get up,” I said cheerfully, hoping she wouldn’t feel hurt that I’d pulled away from her embrace. I didn’t know if I deserved her love and trust. And I didn’t know if it was right to accept it. Boundaries were being crossed right and left at Bear Creek Ranch, and I intended to put a stop to it.
First, I needed to regain control of my mind. The dreams of Owen had been one thing, but now I was seeing him in my waking life. The concussion had clearly knocked something loose in me. It had brought my dream world into my reality, and I didn’t like it one bit. At least if something was a dream, it could be ignored and explained away.
I pulled clothes out of my drawers and grabbed my shoes from beside the bed. I needed to shower and change. I hadn’t done either since the accident.
“Why don’t you get dressed and go downstairs to see what Patty is cooking?”
Morgan looked at me with disappointment in her eyes. Her arms hung slack down her body, and she trudged out of the room. I took a deep breath and went to the bathroom to shower and change.
Before I got in the shower, I had to remove the tight bandages that had been placed around my ribs. My whole midsection stung and throbbed, as did my head. I took off my clothes and removed the bandage. My ribcage was purple and black.
I got in the shower and let the hot water run over my hair and down my back. The slight tug of the water over my scalp irritated my head injury, but not enough to make me move away from the warm stream. The impact of the fall hadn’t caused any bleeding, but I had a massive swollen lump on the back of my head.
I stepped out, dried myself, pulled a bandage around my ribs and got dressed in tan cargo pants and a stretchy white sweater. The high-end hair dryer that belonged in this bathroom dried my hair and blew it out. I patted on a slight layer of makeup, foundation, mascara, bronzer, lip-gloss. I chose a rose pink gloss and rolled it over my lips twice. I had hardly worn any makeup the entire time I’d been at the ranch. Why did I feel so compelled to put it on today? I took one last look at myself, fluffed up my hair, and left the room.
In the hallway,
I stumbled directly into Mr. Ellis, who stood right outside the bathroom door as if he had been waiting for me. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt, open at the neck, and form-fitting black jeans. The ripples of his muscled shoulders showed through the expensive fabric. My heartbeat accelerated. Was I in trouble? His black eyes gleamed down at me; a slight smile curved on his lips.
“Sorry, Mr. Ellis. I didn’t mean to walk right into you.”
“No. Not at all. Please, call me Nathanial.”
“Alright, Nathanial. Did you need something?”
I felt myself contracting under his stare. Something about him frightened me. It wasn’t just that he was my boss, and he could fire me at any moment, leaving me homeless and broke. It wasn’t just that he was a dismissive taskmaster. Something in his eyes spoke of dark, primal secrets. Secrets that would push me to the edge of sanity. Secrets that could destroy my mind or consume my heart. I backed away toward the bathroom.
“I wondered if you would like to join me on an excursion into the village on the way to view a piece of land I’ve acquired.”
“Sure, I guess. What about Morgan? What about her classes?”
“That is what I wanted to talk with you about. I thought it might be easier if we spoke about her away from the ranch. For privacy.”
“That sounds fine. When did you want to leave?”
“As soon as you’ve had your breakfast. I’ve already eaten. Meet me in my office once you are ready.”
He turned away from me and headed down the hallway. I finally felt free of his entrancing stare and hurried downstairs. I didn’t really want to be stuck in a car with Nathanial Ellis, but what could I do? Say no? I couldn’t exactly turn down my boss. I reached the bottom of the stairs and scurried into the kitchen to find Patty and Morgan sitting at the breakfast nook. I dished myself a plate of waffles with syrup, poured a cup of coffee, and sat down. A bowl of fresh, sliced strawberries sat on the table, so I scooped a large spoonful onto my waffles. Morgan had eaten most of the food on her plate, and her glass of milk was almost empty. It was a relief to see her eating.
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