But maybe she should postpone her plans and get a job with a good wage. She loved the animal shelter and the experience she’d gained working with all the different animals was priceless. But it didn’t pay the bills.
Damn it. She gave the sauce an extra hard stir, sending droplets of red spraying over her hand and staining her apron. Why couldn’t Peter stick to their financial arrangement? Why did he think he knew better than the courts?
A wave of guilt swept over her. Perhaps she had it wrong and he really had come here to see his family.
“Someone’s at the door,” Ella said excitedly as she swung around and headed out of the kitchen.
“Are you okay, Mom?” Rachel asked as Sian dropped the spoon into the pan and caused a tomato eruption.
“Yes. Just a little nervous.” Sian’s hands fluttered to her hair. Why did her insides feel as if they were on the outside? She was too old and jaded to feel like this.
“Oh my god, you like him!” Rachel exclaimed in a hushed whisper.
Sian looked down guiltily. “No.”
“Mom.” Rachel put her hand on her mom’s arm. “It’s okay.”
Sian shook her head, feeling like a schoolgirl on a first date, confused by the new feelings that rushed through her. “I don’t know him. He has a reputation for playing hardball.”
“All hearsay.” Rachel arched an eyebrow. “Give him a chance. I know you swore to be a nun when you left Dad, but you don’t have to worry about me and Ella. We understand. And you deserve happiness and love in your life.”
“I have love. And happiness,” Sian insisted.
“Not the weak at the knees, melt your heart kind of love.” Rachel sounded older than her years, but for once she also sounded hopeful. Could it be that if Sian found love and a good man to spend her life with, her daughter might lose a little of her cynical nature?
“I thought true love was only in the movies.” Sian hugged her daughter tightly as Ella’s voice carried through to the kitchen.
“The movies and my mom.” Rachel hugged Sian so tightly she could hardly breathe.
“And my daughters,” Sian told her firmly. “You two deserve the best.”
“We’ve got the best. The best mom.” Rachel pulled away and went to the pasta, giving it a stir while she wiped her eyes and composed herself.
“Mom.” Ella stood at the door alone. There was no sign of Matthew. Sian was shocked at her disappointment.
“What’s wrong?” Sian asked as Ella came into the room and gave her mom a hug.
“Mr. Wendell’s daughter. She wanted to let us know her dad is in hospital. He got taken to the ER with a suspected heart attack.” Ella pulled back from Sian. “I feel so bad since we were complaining about him not fixing the boiler.”
“We didn’t know he was ill.” Sian smoothed her daughter’s hair and kissed the top of her head. “Perhaps when he’s feeling better, we can go visit him in the hospital and take him a gift and a card.”
Ella nodded, her face pale. “So, it looks as if the campout in the living room is back on.”
“I guess it is.” Sian shuddered at the thought of not having heat for days, if not weeks.
“We could go to the thrift shop and buy all their thermal clothes and layer them on until we have to walk around like this.” Rachel stomped around the kitchen with her arms outstretched and her legs straight. Sian and Ella collapsed into a fit of laughter. Which was just what they needed.
“Is it bad to laugh when Mr. Wendell is ill?” Ella asked a few minutes later as she set the plates down on the table.
“No, it’s not. We’re not laughing at him. We’re laughing because your sister is a goofball.” Sian picked up a small spoon and tasted the fresh pasta sauce. “There’s a difference, but you already knew that.”
“The pasta is done; the garlic bread is in the oven. All we need now is your mysterious Matthew Lewis and we can eat.” Rachel looked at the watch on her wrist. “I hope he’s coming.”
Sian glanced at her phone. “There are still a couple of minutes to go.” She went to the front door and opened it to look down the street. The sight of Matthew standing in the doorway with a bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine in one hand and a gooey chocolate dessert in the other nearly gave her a heart attack.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you jump.” He looked concerned as she placed her hand over her heart which was racing wildly.
“I didn’t expect you to be standing there,” Sian accused as she inhaled deeply and calmed herself.
“I was early.” He gave her a sheepish grin.
“Come in.” She stepped back and held the door wide open for him.
Matthew squeezed past her, his arm rubbing against hers and a thrill of excitement coursed through her. With trembling hands, she closed the door behind him and then turned around. He was blocking the small hallway, his broad shoulders nearly as wide as the gap between the walls, that really needed a new coat of paint.
Was she really thinking of decorating when Matthew was standing so close to her, she could feel the heat from his body emanating toward her? Sian’s fingers itched to slide under his thick woolen coat and absorb some of his body heat.
“Are you all right?” Matthew asked.
“Me?” Her eyes flicked up to his. She’d been staring at his broad chest. “Oh, yes.” She shook her head as if she were trying to recover from a hard blow. If she squinted, she could actually see stars.
“I brought these for you.” He thrust the bouquet of flowers toward her.
“Thank you.” She reached out to accept the flowers. “Why don’t you come through to the kitchen?”
Matthew nodded but didn’t move. “This way.”
She pointed behind him and he said, “Oh. Yes.”
Sian hid a smile as she slipped past him, but the smile soon melted away. A frisson of electricity sparked between them and she had to put her hand out and press it against the wall to stop her knees from giving out on her. If she had ever doubted the mating bond could exist between a shifter and non-shifter, she was now sure it could. She might not have the same genes as Matthew, she might not have his unique gift, but she sure as hell knew he was the one for her. She knew it with such intense conviction that it physically hurt.
“Easy there.” His gruff voice filled with the same emotions that threatened to rob her of her senses made her insides turn to liquid fire. His hand reached for her and he cupped her elbow in his strong hand. As his fingers curled around her flesh, she conjured up images of him touching her body, stroking her skin from head to foot.
“Thanks. I’m okay now,” she told him. However, she paused and composed herself before she led him into the relative warmth of the kitchen.
“Something smells good.” Matthew’s voice was smooth and charming.
“Mom cooked her special pasta sauce,” Rachel told Matthew.
“I’m honored,” Matthew bowed his head at her. Goodness, she had no idea how she was going to get through this dinner seeing as how each time she looked at him he took her breath away.
“It’s nothing special, just a few tomatoes and garlic and herbs.” She clamped her mouth shut. Even to her own ears, she sounded like a babbling fool.
“Shall I take the wine?” Rachel offered.
“Shall I take the chocolate cake?” Ella added brightly.
“Shall I take your coat?” Sian asked.
Matthew gave a deep chuckle. “Thank you.”
Sian went back out into the hallway, conscious of his eyes following her, while Rachel opened the bottle of wine and Ella put the cake on the counter and then fetched a vase for the flowers. “Sit down, please.”
“Thanks.” Matthew lowered himself into one of the chairs, looking too big for the small kitchen.
Rachel fetched four wine glasses and poured wine into two, which she placed on the table and then filled two with soda. “Is there anything else I can do?”
“No, you sit down.” Sian dished the pasta up and Ella ret
rieved the garlic bread from the oven. She lingered a little longer than necessary, warming herself on the hot air that enveloped her. “Come on, let’s eat and then we can go into the sitting room.”
Sian shivered as she sat down across the table from Matthew.
“The lack of heating is a choice?” he asked as he waited for Ella to place the plate of garlic bread on the table and then sit down. She inched her chair backward to make the most of the heat escaping from the oven.
“No, the boiler broke and our landlord has been rushed to the hospital,” Rachel replied.
Concern covered Matthew’s face. “You have a backup heating source?”
“We have a fire,” Sian said as she took a sip of her wine. “This is good.”
“Thanks. I rarely drink wine, but I have learned to appreciate it.” He took a sip and placed the glass down carefully on the table. “Have you heard the forecast?”
Sian picked up her fork and began to eat, the cold already gripping her fingers. If they didn’t have a guest, they would have taken their plates and eaten in front of the TV with the fire spitting and crackling in the grate. “We were just discussing it.”
“And?” Matthew asked.
“And we’ll manage.” This was not how she expected the evening to begin.
“You could come to my house.”
Sian nearly dropped her fork and the two girls stared at Matthew in shock. “I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
“No. I mean we could house swap. You could move to my house and I could stay here. At least that way if the snow gets really bad, you would be close to the animal shelter.” Matthew stared at the stunned faces before him.
“You’re offering us Kevin Jones’s house?” Sian asked incredulously.
“Yes. It needs work, but it’s warm and watertight.” He looked a little nervous as they continued to stare.
“I don’t know what to say.” Sian placed her fork down on her plate. “It’s such a kind gesture. But...”
Matthew held his hands up. “No strings.”
Sian shook her head. “We can’t.”
“Why not?” Matthew asked.
“Yeah, Mom, why not?” Ella echoed.
Sian had no idea why not. It was such a generous offer. They would be warm and dry, and close to the shelter. It was a perfect solution.
But she simply wasn’t ready to be indebted to Matthew Lewis any more than she already was.
Chapter Eight – Matthew
Not only had he given a sackload of money toward the shelter because his mate loved volunteering there, but now he was offering to give up the house he’d just bought.
All for a woman.
If anyone had told him this is what he’d be doing when he came to Bear Creek, he’d have laughed in their faces and told them they did not know him well at all. But then nobody did know him. He’d shut everyone out when he shut down his emotions long ago. Work had been his mantra; hard work had been his ethic.
Now he’d met Sian and all that had changed. He’d changed. If she asked him to, he’d give away his whole fortune. Although, he’d rather spend it on his mate and her children, and that damn animal shelter if he had to.
“You don’t have to give me an answer now. Think about it.” He skewered a piece of pasta with his fork and ate it, savoring the taste. “This is delicious.”
“Thanks,” Sian answered quietly, while her daughters exchanged glances.
“So what have you been doing since you came to Bear Creek?” Rachel asked, mature enough to steer the conversation into calmer waters.
“I’ve been getting to know the town and some of the people in it.” He bit into a piece of garlic bread and practically drooled. His woman knew how to cook, and after a life living on room service and restaurant meals, he was ready for a life sitting around the family table. “Today I went to the hardware store and met the owner. Gus helped me pick out the tools I need to work on the property.” He looked up, a sudden thought hitting him. “The old house needs a name. I know everyone calls it Jeremiah’s old house, but it’s mine now.”
“Oh, can we help name it?” Ella asked excitedly.
“Sure.” Matthew smiled a nice wide, genuine smile.
“Are you keeping the house?” Sian asked. “Only that might determine what you call it.”
“I didn’t plan to when I bought it,” he admitted. “But the more work I do on the old place the more I like it. The view of the mountains is one of the best in the area. And the back trails lead through the lower hills and into the mountains without having to take a step on the road.”
“Sounds as if you’ve fallen in love with the place,” Ella said, leaning forward. “So what are you going to call it?”
“What about something with bear in the name?” Rachel asked, and Sian stopped eating, her fork halfway to her mouth.
Matthew glanced at her nervously. Did they know about shifters?
“What did you have in mind?” Matthew asked, keeping his tone level.
“Bear’s Rest.” Rachel nodded happily at her own idea.
“That sounds like an inn or a hotel,” Ella challenged.
“I like it,” Matthew admitted. “It seems somehow appropriate.”
“In what way?” Sian asked, her interest piqued.
“Because for the first time in my life I think I’m ready to settle down. Which is kind of new for me since I’ve never had a place to call home before.” Matthew kept his eyes focused on his plate even though he could hardly resist the urge to look at Sian for her response.
“You must have had a home. When you were a child? With your mom and dad?” Ella finished her pasta and clasped her hands around her arms as the heat from the oven completely dissipated into the freezing cold kitchen.
“I never knew my parents,” Matthew had never shared his story with anyone before. It was no one else’s business. His story was part of him. Not something he ever opened up about.
“Never?” Rachel asked appalled.
“No. They died in a car crash when I was a baby.” He’d never realized what he’d missed until he saw Sian with her daughters. They were a family, even if there was no husband and father around.
“Who raised you?” Sian asked.
“My uncle.” Matthew gave a small laugh. “He only agreed to take me in because I came with a house and an income.”
“But he raised you all the same.” Ella’s voice was no more than a whisper.
“He raised me because that was the condition of my parents’ will. But raising a child can be interpreted in many ways.” At night, lying in bed alone, in that place between awake and asleep, he could still hear his uncle’s raised voice as he rained blows down on his sister’s child. “He wasn’t a kind man.”
“But I thought that family was...” Sian furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to convey some kind of message. Then he understood, Ella and Rachel didn’t know about shifters.
Well, that’s going to be an interesting conversation, his bear said sagely.
It also means they don’t know how much their mom means to me. He looked from one girl to the other. Even without that knowledge, they had accepted him into their home.
“My uncle was my mom’s brother. I have my father’s genes.” Matthew saw the understanding in Sian’s expression.
“So he didn’t have the same instinct to protect his nephew.” She raised her wine glass to her lips and took a gulp. “That’s terrible.”
“It made me the man I am,” he admitted. “Or the man I was.”
“Did you kick him out of your house when you were old enough to inherit?” Rachel asked as she, too, finished her pasta.
“No. By the time I was old enough to inherit, there was nothing left. My uncle never did have a work ethic.” Matthew laughed as he saw their appalled faces. “I can see you’ll invite me to dinner again since I tell such happy family stories.”
Sian got up from the table and her hand brushed against him as she collected the plates. A surge
of warmth swept through him. A sense of home.
“What did you do?” Ella asked gently.
Matthew jerked his attention away from thoughts of Sian. Away from the realization that anywhere she was, he’d be home. A lump formed in his throat and he coughed to clear it before he spoke. “I resolved to never be reliant on another person again. I worked hard at whatever job I could get until I finally ended up on a construction site. The hours were long, the work was hard, but the money I earned meant I could save up for a house of my own.”
“So you did have a home,” Rachel said, leaning back in her chair almost triumphantly.
“My first house was a two-bedroom dilapidated shack which I renovated and sold for a profit.” He gave a wry smile. “I then bought another dilapidated shack and repeated the process.”
“You should be proud of yourself,” Sian told him. “You did what most people could never do. You made it on your own.”
“Once I started, I was scared to stop,” he admitted. “Scared someone would come along and take it all away from me. So I fought for each penny, I bargained and hustled until that’s all I knew how to do.”
“You do have a reputation,” Sian said as she set the cake down on the table along with four plates.
“A reputation of buying the best chocolate dessert in the store,” Ella said with a warning look at her mom.
Sian let a smile play over her lips. “That is one reputation that goes a long way in this house.”
His mate cut the cake and passed the plates around. The conversation shifted to school and the holidays which were right around the corner.
“Mary-Anne says when it gets really cold, the creek freezes and you can ice skate on it,” Ella announced. “I don’t think I’ve ever ice skated, have I?”
“No, you haven’t,” Sian confirmed.
“So if the creek freezes this year, can we go?” Ella asked.
“We don’t have ice skates,” Rachel reminded her sister and backed it up with a subtle look that Matthew saw, but Sian did not as she spooned a mouthful of cake into her mouth.
The Bear Buys a Bride (A Second Chance Christmas in Bear Creek Book 1) Page 6
