Dalton (Fairplay Shifters Series Book 5)

by Serena Meadows

  ***Dalton***

  Dalton felt like he’d been dismissed. Looking around the room he realized that there wasn’t much he could do to help, but his pride made him say, “I’m here to help; just tell me what to do.”

  Melody looked at him surprised, then smiled at him mischievously. “Well, I could use a soda, but don’t bring it in here; I’ll drink it in the hallway.”

  Dalton opened his mouth to refuse, but then Melody turned and reached across the desk for a stack of cables and her shirt fell forward revealing a rounded pair of breasts that had his pulse racing and his blood pounding through his veins. Looking away, he found himself walking out the door and back to the kitchen.

  He opened the refrigerator and stood there, letting the cold air wash over him until his body calmed. Taking a soda out and setting it on the counter, he stood and looked at it, debating his next move. Melody was so infuriating, turning his offer to help into a statement, so he was tempted to leave the soda right where it was.

  But then he realized just how childish that was, took out a glass, filled it with ice, and poured the soda. When he got back to the little room, he stood in the doorway holding the icy drink and watching Melody, who was bent over the desk, her rear in the air.

  “Now that’s a sight no man should miss,” he said, grinning when she stood up fast and pulled her long tee-shirt down self-consciously.

  Melody blushed, and looked down at her feet, then said, “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that; you scared me to death.”

  “You look fine to me,” Dalton said, raising his eyebrows and letting his eyes slide over her body, wishing he could see her eyes.

  She opened her mouth, but no sound came out for a long time, then she croaked, “Is that my soda?”

  He held it out to her, sure that he’d affected her just as much as she affected him. When she brushed past him and out into the hallway, their bodies touched; it was only for a second, but it was long enough for sparks of electricity to pass between them. Following her to the kitchen, he couldn’t help but smile.

  Chapter Six

  ***Melody***

  Melody drained the soda as fast as she could, her heart pounding in her chest as desire raced through her. Dalton was standing much too close to her, a satisfied smile on his face, and her face began to burn with embarrassment. She was behaving like a love-sick teenager, and it had to stop, especially since it seemed that Dalton knew exactly what she was feeling.

  Over the last few years, she’d learned to hide it when a man’s attraction to her spilled over and affected her. Knew when she was feeling their desire and not hers. But with Dalton, it was different; she couldn’t hide what she was feeling and that scared her. It made her wonder if the desire she was feeling was actually her own and not his, created and mirrored by her eyes.

  Even worse, it made her wonder if the passion she felt between them was real, had nothing to do with her eyes, and that scared her too. But there was no way to tell which it was without taking a risk, and she just wasn’t willing to take that risk. Again, she wished that Dalton hadn’t seen her eyes, that she knew the attraction between them was real.

  Deciding that the best course of action was to avoid him altogether, she said, “I really don’t need your help. Thank you for the soda, but I’d better get back to work.”

  To her dismay, when she headed for the bedroom that had been converted temporarily into her computer room, Dalton followed her. “I don’t have anything else to do. I’d be happy to help,” he said, looking around at the mess in the room.

  “I’ll have all this squared away by lunchtime,” she said, wishing he’d leave.

  “Some of this stuff looks heavy. I could help move it around,” he said, then grimaced when she stared at him.

  “I really can manage on my own; I don’t need you to lift the heavy things for me,” she said, her voice very calm, but her face telling a different story.

  Dalton looked at her, then looked a little ashamed. “Sorry, old habits. I’m sure you can lift this stuff on your own. I just wanted to help,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

  Melody gave him another one of those grins that told him she was about to say something he wouldn’t like. “If you want to help, you can crawl under the desk and hook up the cables down there. I’ll tell you where everything goes.”

  Dalton knew when a challenge had been issued and walked around behind the desk. It was a tiny space, and it wouldn’t be easy to stuff his tall frame underneath, but he wasn’t going to let her win this round.

  “Okay, just tell me what to do,” he said, clearly accepting her challenge.

  Cursing her impulsive suggestion, she began to explain to him what she needed to be done. When he ducked under the desk, she sighed with relief; at least she wouldn’t have to look at him while they worked. But that didn’t stop her heart from racing or her palms from getting sweaty, and if there were any more butterflies in her stomach, she’d have been able to fly.

  But soon the computers took over, and she was able to push all that from her mind and concentrate. Dalton turned out to be a pretty good helper, and by lunchtime, the system was ready to be turned on. When he finally crawled out from under the desk and stood up, he groaned and stretched.

  “I think you owe me one for that; you would have fit much better under there,” he said.

  “But you wouldn’t have known what to do up here,” she countered, unable to let him win even that point.

  Dalton shook his head, but there was a little smile on his face. “You don’t give an inch, do you?” he asked, then without waiting for an answer, said, “I’m starving; let’s go find some lunch.”

  Melody led the way to the bunkhouse dining room, promising herself that after lunch she’d get rid of Dalton. There was nothing he could do to help her now, and his presence was a huge distraction. To her great relief, Daniel was waiting for them when they came in the door.

  “I was just about to come looking for you two,” he said.

  “Everything’s hooked up and put together; after lunch, I’ll turn it on,” Melody said. “Then I’ll have to install all the programs, which will take most of the afternoon or longer,” then she turned to Dalton. “I won’t need you this afternoon.”

  “That’s good because I’ve got his cabin ready,” Daniel said, “I put you in the one closest to the house; you can move your stuff in any time.”

  Dalton looked a little disappointed but said, “I’ll do it this afternoon since Melody doesn’t need me.”

  They’d reached the buffet line at the back of the dining room and begun to fill their plates. Melody was relieved that Dalton was going to be out of her hair for at least the afternoon, but also found that she was a little disappointed as well: not a good sign.

  As soon as she had her plate full, she said, “I’m going to go eat in the kitchen with Margot; I haven’t seen her yet, and I’d like to catch up.”

  Daniel gave her a questioning look, but said, “Okay, I’ll introduce Dalton around; he should get to know the rest of the hands since he’s going to be here a while.”

  ***Dalton***

  Dalton watched Melody walk away with relief; he’d been acting totally unlike himself. Teasing and flirting with her like some love-sick kid, it was embarrassing and had to come to a stop. She’d made it clear that she didn’t need or want him around this afternoon, so he’d check out of the hotel and move into the cabin.

  Then he’d work on the book of spells he’d brought, get his mind off Melody for a while. He had to get control of himself, stop what was happening between them before it was too late. Romance was not in his future and especially not with a woman like Melody. Every time he turned around, she was pushing him, questioning his beliefs and values.

  It was uncomfortable to have to defend what he believed in, and he was beginning to wonder if he knew anything at all about the world. The truth was that he’d never questioned what he believed, had formed those beliefs around his life in Simons’ Cove
, and the life he envisioned for himself one day.

  He’d always known that Annabelle would take over the coven and that if she didn’t, Joslin would; that left him with all the options in the world. He could have left home and traveled, seen the world, but instead, he chose a life of study. A life that revolved around the history and lore of their clan, and it suited him just fine.

  Life might not be full of adventure, but he’d never longed to see distant places or have new experiences; his books gave him all the excitement he needed. When he wanted companionship, it was never hard to find a willing woman, and if in the end, things ended before they ever started, none of them ever seemed to hold a grudge against him.

  Feeling better, more like his old self, he followed Daniel to a table. When he began to introduce Dalton to the men around the table, he pushed Melody from his mind. After a surprisingly enjoyable lunch, he headed for his car. The men he’d met today had been far more educated than he’d expected and some of them were as well read as he was.

  It was a pleasant surprise, and he was beginning to think that his stay here wasn’t going to be as difficult as he’d thought it would be. He hadn’t expected to find anyone here who could carry on an intelligent conversation, had expected a bunch of uneducated cowboys, spitting chew on the ground and scratching themselves.

  That thought made him smile, a picture forming in his mind, but then he realized just what he’d been thinking. That he’d been stereotyping those men and women based on where they lived and what they did for a living. It was small-minded of him, and shocking to realize that through his ignorance, he’d belittled them.

  When he got to town, he took care of his errands as quickly as he could and headed back to the ranch. Feeling unsettled by the things he’d discovered about himself over the last two days, he longed to lose himself in the spell book, to block everything out for a few hours and go back to a time when life was simple.

  He got a little thrill when he thought about the spell he was working on, a time travel spell that had been lost generations ago. After hours and hours of research, he’d concluded that no one had performed the spell in decades and he’d become slightly obsessed with unlocking the spell’s secrets.

  As a child, he’d been obsessed with time travel, had read everything he could get his hands on about the subject. Most of it was just fantasy and science fiction, but occasionally he’d find a reference to a time travel spell in an old journal. He’d never thought to find the entire spell and had been happy with the few lines he’d found.

  But now he was almost certain he’d found the spell, and that he could make it work. He hadn’t finished translating it yet; between the handwriting and old-world language used, he had to be very careful that his translation was completely accurate.

  Finally feeling like his old self again, he parked in front of the little cabin he’d been assigned and began to unload the car, deciding that it would be just perfect for him. It was only one bedroom, furnished simply with a small couch an overstuffed chair and a bed, but there was plenty of light coming through the big windows.

  When he’d unpacked his few belongings, he moved the little kitchen table under the window; then he got out the spell book, his computer and the notes he’d been keeping and settled down to work. But it wasn’t long before he was staring out the window at the mountains and thinking about Melody.

  No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get her off his mind. First, he’d think about the way she’d stood up to him when he’d insulted her; that led him to think about the sunglasses she never took off and the beautiful eyes behind them. It was strange that she wore them all the time; strange too that she dressed like a sloppy boy; huge tee-shirts and baggy jeans seemed to be all that she owned.

  He knew what was under those horrible clothes, and he’d never known a woman to cover up what she’d been so generously been given. But Melody was different from other women he’d known, and that was what had him snared. Instead of showing off her beauty, she covered it up as if it was something to be ashamed of.

  She was fiercely independent, always quick to defend her rights as a woman, and had a way of keeping him off balance that had nothing to do with the desire she inspired in him. All of that should have made it easy to stay away from her, but instead, he found himself drawn to her, unable to get her off his mind.

  Sighing, he began to pack up his things; he clearly wasn’t going to get anything done here. Hoping that a change of scenery and a little background noise might help him concentrate, he headed for the ranch house. He’d set himself up on the porch to enjoy the beautiful summer day and the view of the mountains.

  Chapter Seven

  ***Melody***

  Melody was typing as quickly as she could, entering code and mumbling to herself when she felt eyes on her. Looking up, her hands froze on the keyboard when she saw Dalton standing in the doorway, a backpack slung over one shoulder.

  “Are you going somewhere?” she asked, unable to stop the trill that passed through her when she saw him.

  “I thought I might keep you company while you work,” he said, walking into the room and sitting down.

  “Well, I’m kind of busy. I mean I won’t be very good company,” Melody said.

  “Oh, that’s fine. I brought some work with me,” Dalton said, opening his backpack.

  Melody wasn’t sure what to say; short of telling him to leave, there wasn’t much she could do. “Oh, okay.”

  Dalton gave her a huge smile, a smile that melted her insides and started a gentle throbbing in her middle. Then he began to unpack his things, setting them on a little table, then opened his computer and a little black leather book and began to work.

  She watched him for a few minutes, then unable to stop herself, asked, “What are you doing?”

  Dalton smiled at her again and said, “I’m translating a book of spells; that’s what I do.”

  Melody studied him for a second; she knew that he was a witch, he was Annabelle’s brother after all, but she’d never thought about what he did with his time. “You translate books?”

  “Well, that’s part of it. It’s my job to take care of all the old books in the family library. There are regular books, but we also have an extensive collection of old spell books and grimoires. No one’s been taking care of them for a long time, so I took on the job,” Dalton explained.

  “So, you sit in a room and read books all day?” Melody asked, thinking it sounded like the most boring job ever.

  “Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Dalton said, getting up and bringing the spell book over to her.

  He handed the book to her, open to the page he’d been working on. “This looks like a foreign language but not one I’ve ever seen,” she said, squinting at the page. “And the writing is so small, it’s hard to see.”

  Dalton laughed. “See what I mean,” he said, coming around behind the desk. “This is Old English here,” he explained reaching over her to point at a section of the page. “But over here, this is some kind of a mixture of French and English.”

  Dalton was so close she could smell his cologne and feel the heat coming off his body. She took a couple of deep breaths, willing her body to stop responding to his, but knew she was fighting a losing battle. Looking up at him, then back down at the book, she tried desperately to think of a way to get him to step away from her.

  “So, what’s this spell? Can you show me how you do it?” she asked.

  Dalton stood up and went back around the desk and sat down. He hesitated for a second before answering, “It’s a time travel spell, one that’s been lost for decades.”

  Melody was intrigued. “I’ve always wanted to time travel, go back and see the past,” she said, a dreamy quality to her voice. Then she looked at Dalton and admitted, “I thought your job sounded boring, but I might have been wrong.”

  Dalton laughed, “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you admit that you were wrong about something,” he teas
ed.

  Melody couldn’t help but tease him back. “Well, it’s probably going to be the only time, so don’t get used to it, I’m not wrong very often,” she said.

  “Hmm, we’ll see about that,” Dalton said.

  Melody stuck her tongue out at him, shocked at herself, but unable to stop flirting with him. “Shall we keep score?”

  “That all depends on what the winner gets,” Dalton said, suggestively, letting his eyes roam over her.

  Melody felt the blush rising on her cheeks and knew that things were going too far. “Dinner,” she said, quickly. “The loser has to cook dinner.”

  Dalton looked at her for a long time as if considering her offer. “I was hoping for something else, but I’ll settle for dinner,” he said.

  Melody was speechless for a second, visions of the something else surfacing in her mind. A bit rattled, she said, “I’d better get back to work.”

  ***Dalton***

  It was nearly dinner time before Dalton looked up from his computer and the complicated translation. Melody was still tapping away at the keyboard, clearly lost in what she was doing. Standing up, he stretched his cramped muscles and yawned. His stomach growled, and he realized that he was hungry.

  “I’m starving, and it’s time for dinner. Want to take a break and go get something to eat?” he asked, making Melody jump. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  She smiled at him, and he wished again that she’d take off her sunglasses so that he could see her eyes. “It’s okay, I’m used to it; I get kind of lost when I start programming,” she said.

  “I asked if you wanted to take a break and go get some dinner with me?” Dalton said.

  Melody looked down at the computer screen. “I can’t stop right now; I’ll get something to eat in a little while,” she said, going back to tapping away at the keyboard.