by Maddy Barone
“I’m glad you’re all here.”
Stone’s grin turned a little mocking. “Even the cat?”
Rose shot Stone a glare. Sky seemed to suddenly remember he was holding her hand. The moonlight clearly showed the charmingly rueful smile he sent her. “Maybe not the cat, but I promise I’ll try to like her.”
Rose had no defenses against that smile. “She really is a sweet little girl,” she assured him. “She’s just unsettled. You would be too if you were stuffed into a basket and made to stay in it for eight or nine hours. Once she gets comfortable you’ll like her.”
“Uh-huh.” Sky sounded unenthusiastic.
“You will. Oh, Stone, have you seen your mate yet?”
The younger man shook his head. “It was too late when we got here. Maybe tomorrow Snow will walk me over to her uncle’s house. He knows the way.”
Sky tugged on her hand. “You’re getting cold out here. Let’s go up to the house.”
The gravel driveway led up a slight slope to a house that wasn’t quite as grand as the mayor’s, but close. Large windows glowed with light. It was an inviting sight. Rose stared at the large Victorian mansion made of dark brick. This would be her home for the next month.
Sky was still holding her hand. “Was there something you wanted to tell me? It’s not safe to speak of private things in the mayor’s vehicle.”
“The driver would have repeated everything to him, wouldn’t he?” At his nod, she snorted. “I thought so.” Their feet made crunching sounds in the gravel as they walked toward the house. “Is the mayor’s son dead?”
Sky stopped for a moment, staring down at her before moving again. “Nobody knows for sure. The mayor doesn’t talk about it.”
“I know a man named Rye Thomas. He’s a trader in Kansas and Nebraska, and he looks a lot like the boy in the pictures.”
Sky stopped again, this time with both his hands clutching her shoulders. “How well do you know him?”
She shrugged his hands off. “I don’t actually know him at all. He helped rescue Ellie a couple of years ago, and he’s stopped at the den to trade a few times since then.”
He turned the subject without saying anything more about Rye Thomas. “Let’s go in the back way. I don’t want to have to introduce you to all the appointments and guests until after the newspaper announces our marriage.”
As they walked past the house Rose saw just how big it was. In the back were three long, one-story buildings. Bunkhouses? One of them must be the dormitory Stone mentioned. “When will that be?”
“Tomorrow morning. I arranged it with the registrar. Turn here. There are four steps.”
She followed him up the steps and through the door he held open for her. They entered an empty room with hooks on the walls to hang coats, only dimly lit by distant light from another room. A mudroom, like her grandparents’ farmhouse had. Laughter rose above the music of a piano in another part of the house. Sky touched her elbow.
“This way.”
She followed him across the mudroom to a pair of doors set side by side. He waved at the door on the left.
“That door leads to the basement. We have the laundry room down there, and storage. This door goes up to the top of the house.”
The staircase he revealed was narrow and very steep. From the bare wood stairs and walls she guessed this was once a servant staircase. They climbed two flights of stairs, and after the first landing, the distant light disappeared. In the dark, Rose kept one hand against the wall and the other touching Sky’s back. She panted slightly by the time they reached the top. Sky opened a door so short that he had to dip his head so he didn’t bash it against the frame when he walked through. At five-eight she passed through with a couple of inches to spare. He touched the wall and electric light came on with a buzz. They were in a short hallway with four doors opening from it, two on each side. On one end was a window covered by a lacy curtain, and on the opposite end was a door.
Sky nodded to the door. “There’s a small porch out there. Looks out over the front yard. I don’t use it much, but Ms. Mary used to sit there in the sun and read.”
“That sounds nice.” Rose smiled, imagining herself reading there.
He moved down the short hall to a door, opened it, and turned on the light. It came from two lamps attached to the wall, and it wasn’t bright, but Rose mentally did a little dance of delight at the ease of electricity. She obeyed his gesture and walked into the room. It was Spartan. A chest of drawers stood against one wall with a spotted mirror above it, and a bed with no headboard or footboard was in the middle of the room. The coverlet was a boring, industrial shade of gray, pulled up under a fat, dingy, white pillow. A table with a lamp that had seen better days was on one side of the bed and a chair on the other. There were no rugs, and the hardwood floor could have used some polish. Two dormer windows in the sharply sloping roof could have been charming, but thin curtains of faded blue hanging limply from rods ruined it.
Rose imagined jail cells had more personality. Her four suitcases were crowded into a corner. She supposed guestrooms weren’t given a high priority in the decorating budget. She made herself smile at Sky. “Nice. Where’s the bathroom?”
He walked out of the room and opened one of the doors across the hall. Rose peeked in. The room was nearly as large as the bedroom, with pink paper on the wall and matching ruffled curtains over the window. She instantly fell in love with the claw foot tub, chipped and discolored with age, but big enough to swim in. A shower head attached to the high curtain rod peeked over the flowered shower curtain. The pedestal sink gleamed pristine white. A vanity, as feminine and frilly as the bedroom was not, took up much of one wall. Rose walked over the small tiles laid out in geometric floral patterns to look around a partition and found the toilet. She turned back to look at Sky.
“Do you have running water?” His nod relieved her. Carrying buckets of water up those steep steps would have made taking a long hot bath more work that it was worth. Another thought struck her. “Is there hot water? Or does it need to be heated?”
“Yes, there’s hot water, and it’s heated by an electric furnace.”
“Wow.” She walked back out into the hall, hitting the light button on her way out. “This is great.”
He seemed maybe a tiny bit relieved. “I’m glad you like it. I know the bedroom is plain, but the bed’s comfortable, and you could decorate a little if you want.”
“Maybe.” If I stay that long. “I should check on Mitzi.”
A tic developed under his eye. “She’s fine in the laundry room for tonight. I’ll check on her if you like.”
“Yes, please. I think I’ll unpack and take a hot bath, and then go to bed. It’s been a long day.”
She went back to the guestroom and was reaching for one of her suitcases when Sky stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“Rose, wait.”
She stood up to face him. “Yeah?”
He swallowed, loosening his tie with sharp jerks. “I’ve imagined this so many times,” he whispered. “Having you here with me. I never thought it would come true.” He fell silent for a minute, his blue eyes looking dark in the low light. He brought his hand up to touch her face. She shivered under the brush of his fingers over her cheek. He trailed them to the corner of her lips, over her jaw, to her throat. “So beautiful. Rose, I want to kiss you.”
The expression on his face made her heart thunder. No one had ever looked at her with that kind of raw longing. The light stroke of his fingertips over the hollow of her throat did nothing to calm her heart. She tilted her face up. “Then kiss me.”
She felt the shudder that went through him. He moved his hand to cradle her cheek. She closed her eyes and held her breath, agonizingly eager to feel his kiss. It was a long time in coming. She was about ready to open her eyes when his lips brushed lightly over hers. He did it again, and this time his lips stayed on hers. He licked the seam of her lips and when she gasped, he invaded. That was all it too
k. Like a bundle of dry twigs when a spark hits, her whole body flashed into flame.
She didn’t know how long they kissed, but when she finally gathered enough self control to pull away she found her arms wound around his neck. One of his arms was wrapped so tightly around her waist there wasn’t enough space between their bodies to slide a sheet of paper through. And his other hand was on her butt. It felt good there.
“Stop, Sky,” she said hoarsely. “We need to stop.”
He groaned into her hair. “Why?”
“Because this is all too fast. Too far. I’m not ready.”
He groaned again. “Right.” It seemed difficult for him to straighten and step away from her. “I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t mean to pressure you.”
“I know.” She felt cold without him wrapped around her, except for the place between her legs. It was still hot. “It’s not only your fault. I was right there with you.” She dared peek at him and flushed at the sight of the front of his pants. “Oh, dear,” she said. “I…uh, I guess I should get unpacked.”
“Right. I’ll clear out a couple of drawers for you.”
“Clear out…” She stared as he went to the chest of drawers and opened one. “Wait a minute. Is this your room?”
“Yes,” he answered, not looking at her while he scooped up a pile of black socks.
“I’m not staying in here.”
His hair looked untidy. Had she done that while they kissed? He turned to face her. “Why not?”
“Because,” she began, and stalled. “I haven’t accepted your mate claim yet.”
“The Lupa and the Chief slept together in his bed until she accepted him,” he pointed out.
“That was different.”
He dropped the socks back in the drawer and came to her with slow, lithe strides. God, he smelled good. “How was it different?”
She tried to back up a step, but his hands were warm and heavy on her shoulders. Words dried up when she tried to find the right ones. After a minute of floundering, she blurted the unvarnished truth. “Because if we sleep in the same bed I won’t be able to keep my hands to myself. I’ll end up mated to you without having a chance to decide whether or not I really want to be.”
His expression flitted from satisfied to angry to determined. “I promise to not let things go too far.”
“No. Too much temptation.”
A scowl of insulted pride bloomed on his face. Even scowling, it was a handsome face. “You can trust me.”
She was perfectly familiar with wolf pride. “Yeah, I know I can. But I can’t trust me. So one of us has to sleep somewhere else.”
“Oh.” The scowl faded into a satisfied smile, then a sigh. “Follow me.”
He went to the other door on the opposite side of the hall, the one next to the bathroom. “This was Ms. Mary’s room until the stairs got to be too much for her.”
It was a pretty, feminine room decorated in cream and pink. It matched the bathroom. The bed had a ruffled canopy. The two dormer windows had pink cushions to make comfortable window seats perfect for reading in. She already liked it.
“This will be great,” she told him. “It’s really nice.”
He leaned against the door jamb. “The bed’s not as comfortable as mine.”
“It will be fine.”
He ran a finger down her arm. “If you change your mind…”
She ignored that suggested invitation. “What time is it?”
He glanced at his wind up wristwatch. “Half past eight.”
“How late are you open? I mean.” She waved a hand. “Your house.”
“On Monday through Thursday we receive guests from six o’clock in the afternoon until eleven at night. Friday and Saturdays we are open from six until two o’clock in the morning.” He hesitated. “We’ll need to talk about what role you want to play in the house, but for tonight, I’d rather you stayed up here.”
She retreated a step further into the room. “You want me to work here?”
“No.” His fists clenched at his sides. “God, no. I was talking about whether you wanted to stay up here while we’re entertaining, or if you’d like to stay in the kitchen, or join our guests in the reception rooms.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t want you to be bored, but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable either.”
“Oh.” She almost slumped with relief. “Okay. We can talk about that later. It’s been a long day.”
They carried her suitcases into the pink room and stood looking at one another. He really was handsome. She waited for a good night kiss, but he didn’t move. Finally she nodded.
“Good night, Sky. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Good night, love.”
*
Out in the hall, Sky leaned his hot forehead against the cool wood of the door. He could still smell Rose’s scent on his shirt, and it was driving his wolf crazy. He spread a hand over the door. “Rose,” he whispered. “I can’t believe you’re here at last. I’ve dreamed of it. I’ve wanted it. And now you want to sleep in a separate room. You’re killing me.”
Even so, he knew his wolf was happy she was here. In spite of the turmoil over the vote, he was glad she was here too. It would be hard to squeeze enough time out of his day to court her, but he would damned well find the time, because she was his mate. His kisses affected her as much as they did him. That was how he would woo her, one sweet kiss after another, until she lay naked in his bed, surrendered to his love. His heart beat a hot, happy rhythm when he imagined it.
He straightened, smoothed his hair back into place, tightened his tie, and went downstairs to mingle with the evening’s guests. He kept that warm happy glow in his heart as he greeted his ladies and their companions. How long would it take her to unpack? Even his superb hearing couldn’t hear the water running in the tub two floors above, but he could imagine Rose’s pale body sinking into hot water. One day he would join her there. Imagining running a sudsy washcloth over every inch of her body made his smile especially warm.
He retained that smile until he saw the shredded drapery. That damned cat would be lucky to live through the courtship.
Chapter 10
Rose found her way back to the kitchen the next morning by following the sound of voices. The steep, narrow stairway was as dark as it was last night, and no matter how long she groped to find a light switch, she found nothing. She made it down the stairs without tripping, and once she neared the bottom the delectable scent of bacon drifted up to her.
The woman standing at the stove was bony. Her deep-set eyes widened when she saw Rose, and she forgot about the sizzling bacon long enough for a spatter of grease to leap onto her wrist. Wordlessly, she wiped it off, still staring.
“Good morning,” Rose said cheerfully. “I’m Rose…Wolfe. Is there anything I can do to help with breakfast?”
The woman’s long narrow face set in disagreeable lines. “No. Breakfast is almost over. I hope you don’t expect me to carry a tray up those stairs to serve you breakfast in bed.”
“No, of course not.” Rose took a step back. “I’m sorry I’m late. I guess I overslept.”
“Well, go into the dining room.”
She retreated down a short hallway that opened into a room with a bow window. There was a long table there, crowded with men and women. She did a quick count and saw there was room for six people on a side, plus the head and the foot. The faces at the table turned to look at her. This was worse than the first day at a new school. She stared back, shifting her weight from foot to foot until Paint and Standing Bear pointed at the empty chair between them. Feeling awkward, she smiled at the strange faces as she went to the chair.
Only after she was seated did she see Sky sitting at the head of the table. She started to stand up again but he waved her back. He patted his mouth with a cloth napkin and stood up to walk down the table to her. She watched him with a smile that probably looked as uncomfortable as she felt.
“Don’t get up, my dear,” he said w
armly.
“Sorry I’m late. I didn’t mean to sleep through breakfast.”
He squeezed her shoulder. “You don’t need to apologize. You had a long day yesterday and you looked so sweet sleeping that I came down without you.”
He saw her sleeping? Heat rushed up her cheeks. “The door was closed,” she began, but he cut in.
“I’m sorry to have to go out on your first day here. I have business that can’t be put off.”
The council vote. “That’s okay. I understand.”
“I’m a lucky man to have such a sweet and understanding wife. I hate to have to leave you this morning.”
He bent over to kiss her. She tilted her head so he could reach her cheek, but he gently took hold of her chin to turn her face so he could kiss her lips. It struck her then. This is an act. He’s pretending for the benefit of the other people at the table. He wanted them to believe she and Sky were happy newlyweds. He wanted to play make believe? She could do that. She pushed her chair back and stood up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him down to give him a real kiss, one with tongue.
It lasted only a second, because Sky gently disengaged. For that second it was glorious. All she smelled, felt, and tasted was him. He stepped back with his smarmy smile. “Now I really hate to have to leave you,” he said.
Was that a rejection? She smiled back through clenched teeth. “I’ll miss you, too. Darling.”
He gave her one even quicker peck. “I’ll see you tonight.” He glanced around the table. “Everyone, make my wife feel at home, won’t you?”
Rose laid a hand on the table to steady herself as she watched him walk out. He wore navy blue today, and the way the fabric fell from his broad shoulders to his narrow hips emphasized what a fine and tempting physique he had. She swallowed and sat back down.
Everyone stared at her. A quick glance around the table showed her they weren’t all happy. She sent them a beaming smile. If she kept smiling at this rate, her cheeks would go into rigor mortis by lunch. “Good morning. I’m Rose.”
The clatter of silverware all but drowned out the few muttered good mornings. Some of the people ignored her. Not very friendly. Or maybe they weren’t morning people? A clock on the wall caught her eye and her mouth fell open. Half past nine? Good heavens, the morning was half over.
