But Crosby didn’t seem to pay much mind. He grinned the grin that had nearly driven her nuts for two weeks now. The playful, fun grin. “You bet I do.”
Ella pushed past his arms and tried to stand. She had to get away from him now. Run from the pain of losing him again before it caught up with her. “Then I can find out everything I need to know about your girlfriend from Morton. I’ll make sure your stuff’s packed and ready to go for you.” Letting her head drop, she hid a rush of unbidden tears.
“The hell you will,” he grated, gripping her arm and ushering her to a patio chair. “What you will do is sit down, shut that luscious mouth and listen to me.”
“I used to love it when you were demanding. Right now? Not so much.”
“Sit, Ella. Sit and listen.”
Fine. It wasn’t like she could stand for long without wobbling anyway. But she wouldn’t listen to him drone the same lame story again. It was the truth or nothing. She dropped into the patio chair, faced Crosby with a ragged sigh and waited.
He grabbed it by the arms and dragged her as close to him as they could get, so close her knees were between his. His gaze pierced hers. “Marina Preston owns a lot of land.”
“And clothes. Jesus. You should see the clothes she has. I hope when she goes to jail for harboring exotic wildlife, they have an estate sale. I’ll be all over those purses she’s got.”
Crosby placed a finger over her lips. “Listen,” he ordered, his own lips thinning in impatience. “She owns this land and the land running right up to the forbidden fence. She owns this house, too, among many, many houses and yachts and all sorts of islands. When Marina’s father Glenn Preston died, the pack decided to offer to buy this land in order to make room for more wolves—to create a bigger sanctuary and integrate with full-blooded wolves that were being ruthlessly hunted.”
“How hospitable.”
His dour expression clamped Ella’s mouth shut, but it didn’t keep her from childishly rolling her eyes.
“But that was partially a setup.”
“A setup?”
“Yep. Morton got a lead on some fishy goings-on with a pack of full-blooded wolves no one has been able to locate for almost thirteen years now, and everything led back to Marina. Which made no sense—she was a kid when they went missing. So the pack decided to send me in to woo her into allowing us to take over her financials, so I could snoop around. What we couldn’t guess was why Franklin Little was so opposed to it. We couldn’t figure out why he’d even care who handled her money.”
Ella clucked her tongue. “Wow. You wooed her so hard, she ended up on your lap in a rousing game of tonsil hockey.”
He tugged at her ear and gave her an admonishing smile. “Listening. We’re still listening, honey.”
She sank back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest.
“In fact, Franklin was vehemently against it. But in the end, Marina held all the cards and because she’s of age, he didn’t have a choice in the matter. When I looked more closely at her assets, I found some serious glitches.”
Ella’s shoulders shrugged. “Really? I didn’t see any glitches in her assets. They looked pretty perfect to me.”
“Bitter is ugly on you, honey. Knock it off.”
Ella rolled her eyes again and shut up. Bitter-schmitter.
“Anyway, I brought it to her attention, and with her permission, I started to dig, all the while hoping to find something on this pack of wolves that she’d supposedly bought, knew of, whatever. In the meantime, we kept getting anonymous tips about inquiries into a foreign sale of exotics. Morton keeps a pretty close eye on anything suspicious when it comes to an illegal sale because, you know, we have to look out for our own. His contacts, albeit shady, are usually pretty solid. But back to Marina. It took a long time, and the process was tedious, but what I found out was that Franklin had been embezzling from her father, and now Marina, for years. Franklin Little is a douchebag of the highest order.”
Maybe the clunk to her head was keeping her from connecting the dots because none of this made any sense, and it didn’t explain why kissing Marina didn’t deserve an explanation. “Okay, so how do wolves in her basement fit into all of this?”
Crosby drew a finger along the length of her nose and smiled. “Marina had finally decided to sign over the deed to the land, as well as let the firm handle every last cent of her money. She was going to tell Franklin the night I had my little accident—the night I was also going to tell her that Franklin was a prick and have him arrested for embezzlement. I set up a meeting with her at the estate, but she was late and wasn’t here when I arrived. I started looking around…and that’s when I saw what you saw tonight.”
“The wolves.” Oh Jesus. The half-starved wolves.
He nodded with a short bob of his head, his eyes grim. “The wolves. Jesus Christ… I’m not sure what happened after that. I guess I was overwhelmed and I shifted—and couldn’t shift back. So I ran for pack territory to gather the council, but I didn’t make it before some human woman with a voice like a sonic boom, big purple curlers in her hair and whiskers on her chin, nailed me when I tried to get through her backyard to the fence. Then the amnesia, yadda, yadda, yadda.”
Sympathy flooded Ella and she almost let everything else go. “But the wolves. Why would Marina have them here, of all places?”
“She didn’t. Franklin did, and he bought them with Marina’s money—which explained why he didn’t want anyone else to handle her finances but the crooked bastard he’d hired. It seems Franklin’s dealt in buying and selling all sorts of nefarious things with Marina’s money,” Crosby spat.
Ella shivered. “Like exotic animals?”
Crosby’s nod was curt, his face full of disgust. “Just like it. Anyway, this is what I found out just before my little accident. The pig who’d originally bought this particular pack had grown weary of the expense and the novelty of owning wolves, giving Franklin the opportunity to swoop in and nab them cheap—which he did. Again, with Marina’s money and the help of her financial advisor, who was in cahoots with Franklin.
“As neglected as the wolves were, Franklin swung himself a deal with the guy, who just wanted to be rid of them. I assume his plan was to resell them on the black market to foreign buyers who like to own exotics. I guess Franklin had them transferred here a few weeks ago to keep until he found the highest bidder. I didn’t know he’d housed them here until the night I was hit and I saw them myself. I can only thank God that shit didn’t find any buyers while I had amnesia.”
Sorrow swept over her, so swiftly she had to put her hand to her mouth to keep from gagging. It made sick sense. “Hide them in plain sight, right?”
“Right. That leads me to Marina and her land. Marina was going to sign over the deed, but she wanted me here with her when she told Franklin the firm was taking over. She was afraid she’d hurt the freak’s feelings, but she didn’t know the full story. I was going to beat the location of the wolves out of him while we waited for the cops.”
“But if she was ready to sign the deed, why didn’t she just say so even after you were clobbered?”
Crosby gave her another confident, told-you-so look. “Because Franklin’s a total worm. I’m betting the night we were supposed to meet, when I didn’t show, Marina still told him she was going to hand everything over to the firm and he dissuaded her. I suspect he used his friendship with her father to make her feel guilty and rethink her choice to use us. Seeing as I wasn’t around to counter, she didn’t sign the deed over. In fact, when you met up with her at the office, Franklin almost had her convinced she should sign power of attorney over to him. Thankfully, Morton talked her out of it. Marina’s young and impressionable, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt Little. He’s known her all her life. That he betrayed her like this would cut her deep. Will cut her deep.”
Understanding hit her like a freight train, and she shoved aside her anger about Marina for a moment. “So the pack wanted Marina to s
ign over the deed to the land and you were the only one who could convince her, but with your amnesia, they were screwed, right? So the deal came to a halt.”
“That, and I’d also found the proof I needed to absolve Marina of any wrongdoing and pin Franklin with the purchase of illegal exotics. I left a message for Morton just before I came here that night, to tell him I thought I could find out where the wolves were, but then the accident happened. Morton couldn’t get anywhere with Marina without the info I’d found. That was why it was so urgent I regain my memory.”
Everything made sense now. Except that kiss she’d seen Marina slather on Crosby. None of this absolved him from sticking his tongue down another woman’s throat. No matter how cute her Barbie Dream House was.
“Well, I guess then everything’s good to go, right? Back to the pack business at hand.” She slapped her thighs and tried to rise. “I’m going to go see if I can help with the wolves. They’re going to need more help than the pack has.”
He waved a finger under her nose and shook his head, pointing to the patio chair. “Nuh-uh-uh. Sit. There’s more.”
“After stolen wolves, what else is there? Giraffes?”
“You know, I have to remind myself a lot that one of the reasons I’m so foolishly crazy about you is your humor. It’s a bellyful of laughs when it’s directed at someone else.” He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose.
She was waffling. Crosby was hardest to resist when he was sweet and endearing. “What does my razor-sharp wit have to do with what you did with Marina Preston, cad?”
His eyes grew serious again, and his gaze was direct when he said, “What you saw that night, honey, wasn’t at all what it looked like.”
“Very soap-opera-ish defense, honey,” she emphasized, narrowing her eyes to remind herself he wasn’t getting off that easy.
Max came into view then, loping his way toward them with a sheepish gaze. He tugged his knit cap down over his ears. “He’s telling you the truth, Ella.”
Crosby nodded, rising to shake Max’s hand before he said, “Marina was petrified to make a move away from Franklin. She’s never been on her own, but the one smart thing she decided to do was not end up like every other poor little rich girl. So in order to continue courting her financials, and under pack orders, I agreed to her terms. Which was to explain every single thing her father owned from the inside out and spend as much time doing it as she needed me to.”
Ella’s hand flew up in the air when realization hit her squarely between the eyes. “Hold on! So what you’re saying is, you couldn’t tell me about Marina because you were part of the deal?”
Max pressed a hand to her shoulder. “A lot of this is my fault, Ella. We encouraged Crosby to keep stringing Marina along for the good of the pack. We all could see she was developing a crush on him, and we used it. I know you’re going to hate my guts for all we put you through—I hated my guts when I put myself in Crosby’s position, but it’s like I said the other night, I had good reasons. I just couldn’t share them. It’s also why I wanted you to nurse Crosby back to health. Because I had a gut feeling you two would find your way back to each other, and I couldn’t live with myself if you didn’t because it’s so clear you belong together.”
So many emotions washed over her in that moment. Max’s words from the other night suddenly made sense. Ella gave him a weak smile, pushing a breath of air from her lips. “I think I get it, Max.”
Crosby ran a hand over his hair and ruffled it. His smile was ironic. “Anyway, yes. That’s exactly what I’m telling you. If I breathed a word about it, if even the smallest hint got out that we were not only buying that land, but Marina realized we were going to take out Little, it could have all fallen through. She really trusts the prick—or she did until I came on the scene. I got her to agree to deal only with me, and it damn well wasn’t easy.”
“Still doesn’t explain that kiss, Crosby. And it doesn’t explain why you couldn’t just tell me what was going on. That you let the pack interfere in our marriage so severely blows my mind.”
“There’s more, punkin’.”
“I’m not sure I’m up for more. The kiss. Explain. Please.”
“On that note, I’m going to go help with the rest of the wolves. But if you want to be angry once Crosby’s explained, please, be angry with me. Because I deserve it,” Max said before he stooped down and dropped a quick kiss on her cheek.
Ella was astounded, but not so astounded she didn’t want to know every detail about this kiss. “So go ahead. Tell me about the kiss and how it all came about.”
Crosby reached out and cupped her cheek. “Marina’s a kid. Like Max said, she became a little bit enamored with me during the course of our dealings, but the kiss was nothing more than a crush on her teacher.”
Relief almost washed over. She so wanted to believe. “So she really did come on to you?”
“She’s young, honey. Young and lonely. She’s been surrounded by people who are paid to look out for her best interests and shelter her from the big bad world at large. But that’s not like having real friends or real encounters. She’s low on life experience, and when we approached her about selling that land—land she didn’t even know she owned—she sort of latched on to me. I let her because it was for the good of the pack. That kiss you saw totally caught me off guard. I was as surprised as you, and after you skulked out of there, Marina and I had a long talk about not just the difference in our ages, but how impulsive and inappropriate it was for her to lay one on a married man. She’s just a kid.”
Ella’s knees began to weaken. “Yeah? Well, she’s a pretty hot kid. You told her I was your assistant, Crosby.”
“To keep her from going anywhere near you. Werewolf versus pampered princess, even if she is a pretty decent princess, would have only ended badly for Marina.”
Fair point. “So, why didn’t you just tell me what happened?”
Crosby gave her a pointed look. “I did tell you. I told you nothing happened, and that was the truth.”
She shook her head with vigor. And it hurt. So she stopped and gave him the eye. “Oh no. No fair! You didn’t expound on that. Never once did you say she was some rich heiress who held the key to those wolves’ freedom.”
“You were the one person I most wanted to tell, Ella. But I couldn’t. I was under strict pack orders to keep my mouth shut. Max insisted we couldn’t afford a leak. We couldn’t afford to lose track of Little…and we couldn’t afford to lose track of something else. Something much bigger than you catching Marina in my lap.”
“Is this the more-more part?” she asked, tired and achy and so desperately wanting to believe because she loved him so damn much.
“It is. Come with me,” he said, holding out his hand.
She put her hand in his and let him lead her to where the pack was loading the wolves into large trucks. Again, she smelled that familiar scent—a distant memory she just couldn’t quite grasp long enough to place and muddled by so much desperation.
He put his mouth to her ear, and whispered, “See that wolf over there? The big gray one with his ribs poking out?”
Ella winced and leaned back against Crosby’s chest. It hurt just to look at the poor animal. He was almost unrecognizable, with large patches of hair missing from his coat and his ribs outlined against his thin flesh.
Her heart swelled with sympathy again. “I do. I hope the pack gives him a side of beef to fatten him up.”
“You know what I hope?”
“He shares his side of beef?”
“No. That you’ll finally understand I didn’t keep this thing with Marina from you without a really good reason.”
“And that is?”
“That wolf right there? He’s your missing father.”
* * * *
Ella curled into Crosby’s naked length, burying her nose in his neck. It had been a long night but her father was now safely with the pack, and though he hadn’t shifted yet, the hope was, with nourishment a
nd proper care, he would soon.
Her father. After all these years of wondering, praying and then finally accepting he was gone—he was here.
At first she’d been unable to believe the wolf she’d seen tonight was her dad. He was worse than a former shadow of himself; in such bad shape, in fact, she’d had to touch him. Smell him up close in order to be convinced. But once she was close enough, Ella knew the scent she’d picked up, the one that had eluded her since the night she’d gone looking for Crosby, had been her father’s.
“I can’t believe I didn’t know he was my father, Crosby. What kind of werewolf am I? How could I have missed it?”
Crosby’s response was tender. “It was pretty hard to define, honey. And I had a tip to go on. So I was looking for him specifically. If I hadn’t already had a suspicion he was in the mix, I might have missed his scent, too, with all the other smells involved. Don’t beat yourself up about it, okay?”
Warmth and gratitude raced through her veins. It would be all right. Somehow, she just knew it would. And it was because of Crosby. “I love you.” So hard. So much.
“After what just happened up in here, I should hope so.” He chuckled against the top of her head and gestured to the rumpled sheets.
Regret for the time they’d lost, remorse for her angry judgments and the cruel words she’d spewed, ate her from the inside out. “I wish I had known, Crosby. I’m sorry. I’ll say it every day of our lives together if you want me to—even if you did let the pack come between us and our marriage.”
He flipped them to their sides and spooned her, running his hand along her ribs. “I couldn’t tell you we thought that freak had your father, honey.”
He was right. So right. After Max and the pack found out Franklin had purchased the wolves illegally, they’d also discovered at least two of the alleged wolves were shifters, forced to stay in were-form in order to hide.
Her father was one of them. He’d been caught during a rescue effort twelve years ago and had been stuck ever since in order to stay hidden. When Crosby had gone to Marina’s house that night, he’d actually scented her father, and it was probably what pushed him into a shift.
Bad Case of Loving You Page 10
