“Clayton, watch out,” Jo yelled. He could hear the panic and fear in her voice. He knew Jack was raising his gun again. He knew that in a moment the sound of it would crack loudly. He knew it was only a matter of moments and he knew that he wanted to spend those moments looking at her.
Clayton turned his eyes to Jo. His eyes told her what his mouth had not been able to the night before. He loved her. He needed her. He wanted her.
His heart beat for her, his life longed for her.
Tears were running down Jo’s face.
“I know,” Jo mouthed the two words just before he heard the explosive crack of gun fire.
It was a long moment and Clayton was still staring at Jo’s face. Her expression slowly changed and then she smiled.
He hadn’t been hit, he felt the air in his lungs, he was still alive.
Jo shifted her gaze and she was looking beyond Clayton her attention newly absorbed Clayton turned slowly to see Jack. The other man was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, one shot had gone straight to his chest.
Swinging around again he looked for the shooter.
Standing in all his tidy glory was Lincoln. Still in his nightclothes, with an elegant robe and slippers, he was holding a rifle in both hands and looked like something out of Mother Goose. Lincoln stared at Jack, sprawled out on the ground.
“Lincoln?” Clayton could barely breathe. He had no idea the older man even knew how to use a gun.
“Sir,” Lincoln looked up at Clayton, his face white. The man looked unsettled. This certainly was not something he did every day. “It has been twenty years that I have regretted not being there to save your father. It brings me the greatest joy to be able to do the honor for you.”
Clayton gave a throaty laugh of relief. He felt tears sting his eyes but he pushed them back down.
“Thank you, Lincoln.” Clayton understood that it was useless to tell the man that he wasn’t to blame, that there was nothing he could have done to protect his father. Clayton had felt the same things. Even though he was only a boy he’d thought that he should have been able to protect his family, to save those he loved the most. But they’d all slipped away, straight through his fingers, like sand through a sieve.
"It is my pleasure, sir." Lincoln dipped his graying head and pulled his gun under his arm. "I called the police a few minutes ago and I believe they will be arriving shortly—I think I will just go to meet them at the house."
Clayton nodded. There was so much he wanted to say but nothing came out.
“Perhaps you should attend to the lady,” Lincoln looked at Jo before turning and walking back into the trees.
Clayton turned to Jo who was just getting to her feet. They walked toward each other and stopped with two feet between them.
Jo’s face was dripping tears. Her feet were covered in blood, her body scratched and bruised. She looked beautiful.
"You're alive," she looked at him as if she required more proof.
Clayton nodded, “So are you.”
Jo laughed.
"For a moment there, when I heard the shots before I knew… I thought…" he trailed off. The hopelessness of that thought, the terror he'd seen, the future without her in it was too much to endure.
Jo put a finger to his lips and moved forward, “I know.”
“I love you, Jo. I don’t want to live without you. I can’t live without you.” His voice was husky and low, thick with emotion.
Clayton walked forward and took Jo in his arms. His lips met hers. He could taste the salty tears in her mouth, then kissed her eyes and cheeks. Her body felt perfect in his arms. She belonged with him.
Jo smiled, “Let’s go home.”
Home. She’d called his house home. He’d never heard anything so good in his life.
Three months later Clayton was standing by the door of his house.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” He looked nervously at the luggage being taken out of the house and into the waiting car. He’d hired a driver to take them to the airport and given Lincoln a long holiday so he could visit his family in London.
When Lincoln arrived in London there would be another surprise. Clayton had rented out an airplane and a private island for all of the many cousins, aunts, uncles, children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters that could be found in Lincoln’s family. If Lincoln was anything like Clayton then he would come back to Montana thankfully for some peace and quiet.
“Do you have your passport?” Jo put her last bag down with the others.
Clayton held up his passport.
“Good, that’s the most important thing,” she exhaled loudly.
“Aren’t you going to tell me where we’re going?” Clayton had been given a packing list of clothes and no other indication of where they were off to.
“Nope, you’ll see when we get there,” Jo clapped her hands like it was all a very fun game.
“But what if I hate it?” Clayton hadn’t left his Montana home since he’d graduated and now he was feeling more than a little trepidation.
“You won’t,” Jo kissed him on the mouth.
“But what if I do?” Clayton followed Jo out of the house with the last of the bags.
“Then you can bask in the knowledge that we will be coming back,” Jo double checked the locked door and looked up at the house. She breathed in the fresh air and smiled, “Back to our home.”
*****
THE END
Paranormal Shifter Romance
Sheltered by the Alpha Bear
Description
Love brought them together. The world tried to tear them apart. But a Bear won’t be denied…
I’ve tried to fight it. The passion, the danger, the raw sexual attraction—it is all wrong for me to feel this way about an unavailable man. But I can’t help myself. The Christmas season is about giving and receiving, not taking. This is so not like me to feel this way, but when I’m around Tony I just can’t help myself. The very fact that he is here right now… it has to be fate… right?
The past year has been so hard. I lost a promising career that was just taking off, blackballed from the industry so no one will hire me, and I was infected with the bear shifter curse.
And sweet Derek, helping me through it all has been wonderful, and of course, I know he would like to be much more than friends… but I've never seen him that way really. But I'm so glad he invited me and my one-year-old son, Devon to vacation with his family at a beautiful ski resort for Christmas.
I tried to keep my feelings bottled up, but the flirty glances, the sweet conversations, and the way Tony looks at me when no one else is around makes it so hard…but he is with Beth, Derek’s sister. It’s so wrong.
And now someone at the lodge has been murdered. By what appears to be some sort of vicious animal… in a house full of bear shifters, I have to wonder. Could my baby and I be living with a murderer? And is the man I’m falling in love with who I think he is?
Chapter One
“To Jackie Banks! The fastest rising star of Pierce, Montgomery, and Thorn!”
Everyone in the room raised their glasses of champagne and took a drink before breaking into a thunderous applause and praises of “Way to go!” and “I knew you could do it!”
"Thanks, everybody!" I said taking a sip off my own champagne. I actually hated champagne; I was much more of a wine kind of gal, but when in Rome…
I could not stop the smile that was spreading across my face as groups of people—partners, associates, legal aides and secretaries, and even file clerks.
I thought eventually I would start to get used to all of the attention and the accolades, but I was till embarrassed to death when everyone made such a big hoopla over the newest case I had just won for the firm.
I’d been with Pierce, Montgomery, and Thorn for five years and I’d dug my way from the bottom where all new Associates start winning case after case, working ninety hour weeks sometimes and rising through the ranks until I finally started to l
and some top clients. And finally a few weeks before, I had been asked to work the Simmons case, which meant a huge payday for the firm if I won.
I had not slept more than three hours a night for the past two weeks, but it all paid off and now our client was going to get millions in the insurance settlement they deserved and our firm was going to get a huge chunk of that money as well.
And there was talk floating around that I, Jackie Banks, was on my way to a nice slot as a partner of this firm. I could not have been more elated. Of course, that was just heresy at the moment and nothing had been spoken to me about it at all, but I was keeping my fingers crossed. I figured it was highly probable that I might have to knock a few more out of the park before I was officially offered a spot as a partner, but a girl could certainly dream. It felt like I was dreaming for so long that finally, my dreams were about to come true.
Ever since I applied to law school on a whim and got in I’d been focused on rising to the top of a lucrative legal career. It had become an all-out obsession for me.
I'd studied political science and psychology as an undergrad and received Bachelor's degrees in both. I thought I would go on to get a Master's or a Ph.D. in Psychology. I wanted to be a grief counselor and help people, but I'd always been fascinated in government and the law. And the more I got into my political science studies, the more interested I became. So, at the urging of my mother and one of my favorite professors I took the LSAT’s and applied to law school.
The rest, as they say, was history. But even still with all of my dedication and hard work I could not believe that I might actually become a partner of one of the best personal injury law firms in town. It was a dream come true. The work was great, the money was getting there, and I was helping people who needed it.
Of course, my romantic life had been suffering a bit.
I have always been a strong, fiercely independent black woman. My mother instilled in me a strong sense of who I was and that I could be and do anything I ever wanted to do in this world, and she made sure I knew it at a young age. My mother never put up with crap from anyone and neither have I, especially when it came to men. That went for men I was interested in and men I wasn’t.
Being such a strong willed, ambitious woman inadvertently scares off a lot of men, but I see it as a good thing because if a man isn’t man enough to let me be myself then he isn’t man enough to waste my time on.
There were a few men around the office I’d kept my eye on as potential romantic interests, but no one special. Besides with all the work I was putting in romance was the last thing really on my mind.
If it was meant to be then it would happen.
I grabbed one of the mini quiches that were sitting on the buffet table. They were the most exquisite things I'd ever put in my mouth. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a few female associates sneering at me. I had to smile to myself.
When you were a successful, up and coming black woman who also happened to be a BBW then you were bound to get some jeers and dirty looks. It was just par for the course and I reveled in it. It just meant that I was doing well in life. I knew those women were thinking that if I didn’t put good food in my mouth then I would lose weight and be anorexic like them. Well, that isn’t how I roll. Life is too short to waste on doing something you don’t enjoy. I work hard and I play twice as hard. And I thoroughly believe in indulging in all of the pleasures that life can offer.
I’ve dealt with that sort of thing my whole life about my size, but I’ve never been ashamed. Despite what most people think I work out regularly, I eat fairly healthy overall, and I don’t sit on the couch eating donuts all day. But I don’t deprive myself and I don’t worry about being a size six.
"Way to go, girl!" Stephanie Powers, a paralegal in the firm, and fast becoming one of my best friends. Stephanie was a character; she was smart as a whip, had great instincts, and she had amazing people skills and the best sense of humor. She would have been a great lawyer but every time I tried to give her the nudge to go for it, she just rolled her eyes and said it wasn't for her. I was not going to stop trying. I mean ultimately it was everyone's decision to do what made them happy, but I had a feeling Stephanie was denying the world her special skills by refusing to further her education.
“Thanks!” I replied freezing still as she insisted on hugging me. Yea, Stephanie was a bit of a hugger.
Stephanie was thirty-eight years old, divorced with no kids. She had been married really young to a guy who was a total loser who refused to get a job, spent every dime she made and cheated on her. She said it was the best day of her life when she wised up enough one day to leave the bastard. He reminded me of a lot of our dirtbag opponents in court who ruined people's lives due to negligence and then refused to even pay financial compensation for the life they ruined.
"You are going to be my boss in no time," Stephanie said. "And when that happens I expect to get two-hour lunches every day and a half day only every other Friday."
“Right, you aren’t going to take advantage of my good nature or anything are you?” I joked.
“Of course not, that’s why I didn’t ask for every Friday half days.”
I almost shot champagne out of my nose.
“For some reason, I feel like I should have a date at these things,” Stephanie said. “It just feels like that kind of party!”
I found myself suddenly thinking about Tony Davis. Tony was the opposing attorney whom I had just beaten in court. The man was ruthless in the courtroom and he had a near perfect record. Most people would have been intimidated, but I was not. I kept focusing on the fact that I was not beating him, I was beating the case. I could not let anything personal enter into it. Although I wanted to.
The man was damn sexy. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and he had a dominant way of moving and speaking as well. Day after day I was able to watch him do his thing in that courtroom, the way he spoke to the judge, the sympathy that he used when referring to his clients who were clearly in the wrong. I almost wanted to believe him and tell him that he won.
After the verdict was rendered and I was packing up my stuff to come back to the office, Tony stopped me unexpectedly. I thought he was going to say something derogatory about how I got lucky. It would not have been the first or even the tenth time that sort of thing had happened. So many lawyers were so competitive. It was in our nature. I was the same way. It was our sport if you will.
“Great job,” Tony said extending his hand.
I took it and enjoyed the shake. “Thank you,” I replied. “You did excellent in here.”
“Thanks, but clearly you were the better attorney today,” Tony said.
“You can’t win them all, I guess.”
“Well, after you whipped my tail the least you could do is let me buy you a beer tonight,” Tony said. I smiled. I would have loved to go out for a few beers with him, but I knew there would be a celebration underway for after office hours to praise this victory. I would have blown that off in a second if it meant spending some time with this man. But I also had to play a bit hard to get. The game was way too fun to lose the first move so quickly.
"I'm flattered but I have other plans," I said. I expected Tony to at least look disappointed. Instead, he flashed a charming smile at me and just said, "Ok."
With that he was gone, walking out of the courtroom. I watched his sensuous form moving away from me and I wondered for a second if I should have just said yes. No, he knew where he could find me if he wanted to try again.
I hoped he did try again.
And just a few hours later I was already having a few drinks and trying to forget how sleep deprived I was.
It was fun looking around the office and seeing everyone having so much fun. The firm was a great tight knit place. I had been so lucky to have been hand selected to be one of the associates chosen right out of college five years before. Usually, they expected you to work somewhere else for a few years first but due to my scholastic achievements (I've alwa
ys been proud to be a total nerd) and a few recommendations by some great professors who went to school with a few of the partners I was chosen.
The partners could not have been nicer people to work for. They worked hard to run a successful business but they cared about people too; they were not just in this for the money and it showed.
Walter Pierce was the man who started the firm almost forty years ago and had turned it into one of the top personal injury firms around. He almost felt like a sweet grandfather, but as nice as he was, he expected everyone to work hard and he did not tolerate slacking, but he understood if life occasionally happened too. But he was not someone you could snowball.
Joe Montgomery was the next partner. I didn’t know a great deal about him because he did not talk that much really, but from what I heard he was remarkable in the courtroom and you did not want to get into a battle of wits or litigation with him because he would shred you to pieces. I was glad he was a sweetheart otherwise.
And then there was Josh Thorn. Josh was the newest partner. He was thirty-three, brash, handsome, charming, sexy in a bad boy young George Clooney kind of way, and he was the most disgusting man I’ve ever met. He was the cockiest, most arrogant, and some would say downright evil, guy that anyone would ever come across.
There had been a lot of talk around the office about his behavior, especially towards women, and the fact that he was even partner was accomplished in a pretty shady manner. But of course, he was too good at hiding things to be caught. And the fact that he happened to be Joe Montgomery's nephew kind of helped him get away with a lot of it.
I had personally spoken to several of the young female associates in recent years who were basically sexually blackmailed by Josh. From what I’d been able to piece together that his M.O. was to seduce a new, young, female associate, and then he would threaten to tarnish her reputation if she did not basically become his errand girl.
The man was the most incompetent lawyer the firm had probably ever produced, but he intimidated bright associates into making him look good over the years. And if they ever told what he was up to, he would use his power to get them fired and ruin their careers so that no other firm ever would touch them.
The Dragon's Secret Queen Page 34
