Читать книгу Desert Wolf - Linda Thomas-Sundstrom - Страница 15

Chapter 7

Grant drove the last stretch of road leading to the ranch like a NASCAR driver. Relief came when he turned into the driveway between two large posts still supporting the Hall sign—a reminder that this ranch was part of Paxton’s legacy.

The house itself was dark, but one outdoor light illuminated a portion of the yard leading to the front porch. Another light flooded an area beside the barn, showing him that he wasn’t alone. The black sedan parked there was Shirleen’s.

Before he stepped out of the truck, she was beside him, utilizing the kind of speed built into most Weres. Shirleen still wore her apron, which told Grant she’d been in a hurry to get here from work.

“It’s back,” she said with a hand on the truck’s door frame.

“Back?”

“I tried to tell you in the café, but you were busy,” she said.

“Tell me what, exactly?”

“That rogue bastard’s trail was found this afternoon in the hills.”

Grant knew that none of his pack would have fired the shots he had heard, which meant the ranchers were already onboard tonight, just as he’d feared.

“What kind of trail was found?” he asked.

“An old campfire. I don’t want to tell you what else was in that fire.”

“Bones,” Grant guessed, praying he was wrong.

“Yep. Bones,” Shirleen replied.

“Cattle?”

Shirleen’s face tensed. “Human.”

Grant was out of the truck before the meaning of that word fully sank in. He didn’t have to ask Shirleen to repeat what she’d said, or quiz her. She wouldn’t have said it if she wasn’t sure.

Part Native American, she’d been born and raised just twenty miles from Desperado, and she was their resident expert when it came to finding things in these hills. Being bitten by a werewolf in her eighteenth year had sent her Grant’s way just twelve months ago. What had been bad luck for her turned out to be the welcome addition of an expert tracker to this pack.

“How old is that campfire?” he asked, heading for the house with Shirleen in his wake.

“A month at least. We had missed it because the sucker used an old mine shaft and then sealed it up afterward.”

Over his shoulder, Grant said, “Those bones. Do you recall hearing about any disappearances? Has there been any mention of missing people at the café?”

Besides waitressing to pay the bills, Shirleen’s job at the café was to gather information that might be important to the pack. Like a missing hiker or two, the theft of horses or more about missing cattle. Lots of conversation went on in that diner, which was a hangout for regulars and local law enforcement. Waitresses weren’t usually given much notice during discussions like that.

“No disappearances were mentioned,” Shirleen said.

“Hell.” Grant headed for a box of battery-operated lanterns kept stored at the ranch in case Desperado’s streets needed illumination after dark. “We don’t have time to pursue that beast tonight. The priority is to shore up Desperado.”

“Why?”

“Andrew Hall’s daughter wants to see the place.”

Shirleen leaned against a wall with her arms crossed over her chest. “That’s the girl you were with?”

Paxton Hall is anything but a girl, Grant thought, remembering the sexy paleness of her skin. He kept that to himself.

“One and the same,” he said.

“Of course, she doesn’t know anything that goes on here? Right?” Shirleen pressed.

Grant gave her a wry look in response to that question.

She said, “There aren’t any new Weres coming in, so the cages will be empty when the full moon rolls around tomorrow night. There haven’t been any newbies for a few months now.”

Grant turned from the box of lanterns. “Yes, and all of a sudden I’m wondering why there haven’t been any newcomers needing our unique kind of hospitality.”

Shirleen pushed off the wall. “You don’t think...”

“It’s a viable theory, right? That rogue might be waylaying Weres before they can reach us.”

“You’re suggesting this rogue might be eating a werewolf or two for supper, as well as cattle, and that’s why the bones in that campfire belong to a human? Because a Were’s bones would look human if it wasn’t furred-up at the time of its death?” A look of utter disgust crossed Shirleen’s face.

“Either that, or our elusive bastard nabbed a hiker. I guess the bones will tell us if I’m right, if the right person looks at them. Did you move those bones?”

“Ben took them.”

“Good. Ben should be able confirm if my suspicions are viable. It’s handy to have a vet around.”

“What are you going to do, boss?”

Grant eyed Shirleen thoughtfully. “I’ll have to see to it that Hall’s daughter doesn’t stay too long or get too nosy.”

“I meant about tonight and cleaning up the town.”

Grant’s gaze moved to the truck, and he wished he could avoid Shirleen’s question. Strange sensations ruffled inside his chest. He’d felt this same kind of sensation only once before, and that was the first time he’d seen Paxton Hall.

What did those strange sensations mean now?

Hell. Could Paxton be in trouble?

Handing the box to Shirleen, Grant strode to the door. “Take these to Desperado for me. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Make sure things are closed up tight. Guard the place.”

He had smelled trouble the minute his boots hit the dirt. Trouble resonated in his bones, and he knew why. Christ, yes. He knew why.

Paxton Hall’s connection to him was strong enough to enable him to almost see her. That’s the way wolf to wolf communication went. Because of their attraction, a special bond had been forged. They seemed to be linked together by invisible chains that were proving to be stronger than the usual male-female kind of animal attraction. How else could he know what Paxton was feeling right that minute?

Bonds. Wolf to wolf chains binding us together...

Grant now began to fear he might have inadvertently imprinted with Paxton, settling into place an attachment that couldn’t be broken by either party, no matter how hard they might try. Imprinting brought a whole new meaning to the phrase until death do us part and upped the degree of attraction to full-on hunger. Mental and carnal hunger.

He hungered for her that minute.

Damn it all to hell, he wanted to shout. Through that connection to her, he knew that Paxton had not stayed at the motel. Contrary to his warnings, she was out there somewhere in the dark, along with a madman, a bad wolf with a taste for cattle, humans and maybe other Weres. A beast that hunted for sport and ate its prey.

Deep in his mind, the sound of Paxton’s startled cry echoed. His heart began to race, as if matching hers, beat for thrashing beat.

“Okay,” Shirleen called out as Grant jumped into his truck. “We’ll take care of things here.”

With blood pounding in his ears and the back of his neck chilling up, Grant was beyond caring about Desperado. He had to get to her. To Paxton. That’s the way imprinting worked. There was no other option. No way to avoid her call.

With his boot to the pedal and his lips moving with a litany of unuttered curses, Grant headed at breakneck speed back toward the city.

* * *

Paxton hit the highway with relief and with her heart hammering. Her knuckles were white from her grip on the steering wheel, and she kept repeating out loud how sorry she was that she had left the motel.

Though the highway was pretty much deserted, two cars heading in the opposite direction passed, and Paxton was finally able to take a deep breath. Cars meant the city wasn’t far off. But as their headlight beams bounced off the sizable dent in the hood of the station wagon, she rang up the cost of the repairs she was going to have to pay for. Worse yet, she’d have to try to explain what had caused it.

She had to be right about the bear.

Skin tingling with remnants of leftover adrenaline, Paxton kept her attention glued to the road as the speedometer inched upward. Lightheaded from lack of sleep and from being scared half out of her wits, she spoke again out loud to cover the sound of her heartbeats.

“If I didn’t actually want to think more of you, I might start to believe you set this up on purpose, Dad. So, what’s this deal you made with Grant Wade going to turn out to be?”

When a voice replied to her question, she nearly spun the car off the road. But the voice was inside her mind, and likely a remembered thought in one word. Stay.

Grant Wade had asked her to stay. Given that he might be hiding something from her, why would he have then issued an invitation to go there tomorrow and then advised her not to visit Desperado?

“Which is it, Wade? Stay or go?”

Her fear was just beginning to evaporate when she noticed a set of headlights behind her, closing in fast. Turning the wheel, Paxton hugged the right side of the road to allow the car to pass. Instead of doing so, it pulled up alongside and stayed there long enough for her to get a clear picture of the man inside that blue truck.

Grant.

Satisfied that she’d seen him, he backed off the pedal. The truck pulled in behind her, as if the man driving it knew what she had been through and was extending his job description to encompass the term bodyguard.

Swear to God though, Paxton was glad to see him.

The café where they’d shared their late-afternoon meal was the first building she saw. She pulled into the lot and turned off the engine. Grant was beside her in a flash and opening the door. Concern darkened his handsome face as he leaned in.

“What happened?”

“Bear. I think a bear jumped on the car.”

He hadn’t looked at the dent in the hood or the one that had to be on the roof. Grant Wade’s focus was on her.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Paxton heaved a sigh. Having this man here with her made her feel safe. She didn’t recall ever having felt completely safe before.

“I’m fine,” she lied, not quite sure her legs would hold her up if she got out of the car. “Just scared.”

“Coffee?” he suggested.

“So you can scold me in public for driving into the desert?”

“You’re not a kid, Paxton. You could have been hurt.”

She nodded, in full agreement with that last part.

“Coffee?” Grant repeated. “Or something stronger?”

She offered him a weak smile, still gripping the wheel. Seeming to read her tension, Grant reached in to unlock her grip. He helped her out of the car and to her feet, his touch providing the same kind of charge she had experienced earlier.

She supposed she was a sucker for feeling anything at all for this tall stranger, and countered those thoughts by telling herself he merely made her feel silly about going out there.

“Come on.” His tone was gentle but firm.

When Paxton didn’t immediately start walking, he pulled her closer to him with a snap of one arm. Their chests met. Their hips met. Grant didn’t appear to think this was awkward, when, for her, their two bodies meeting in a parking lot where other people might be around seemed almost obscene.

Truly, Grant Wade—solid, somber and handsome in the extreme—was likely every bit as dangerous as that damn bear. His hold on her was light, yet supportive. His pulse was pounding as hard as hers. And he was every bit the solid he-man male she’d imagined he would be.

Was he going to kiss her? She knew he was thinking about it.

Would she allow such a thing?

With cars coming and going from the parking lot around them, Grant acted like they were the only two people here. She was in his arms and couldn’t shake herself free. Hell, she didn’t even try.

Her cowboy’s eyes didn’t meet her questioning gaze. Nor did his mouth come anywhere close to hers. He continued to steady her quaking limbs...and she was a sap for thinking he might have had other plans.

“You think you saw a bear?” he asked, reminding her of what she’d said.

She nodded. “Yes. Big, dark and like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

“It got that close?”

There was no way to miss the trepidation and concern in his voice. Each word he spoke made his chest rumble. However, Paxton couldn’t figure out why he was so concerned about her when her father’s will stated that if anything were to happen to her, the land she’d been left would go to guess who, along with Desperado.

“It looked at me through the windshield before taking off, and nearly wrecked the car,” she explained.

Grant’s hold on her loosened. She didn’t ask him to wait another minute before letting her go. Didn’t confess to needing his strength a while longer. What right did she have to expect anyone to save her from her own stupidity?

“I shouldn’t have tried to follow you,” she admitted.

His voice lowered. “It was a regrettable move, but not entirely unanticipated.”

Had he read her so easily, then?

Maybe that’s why he had found her out there on the road. He had expected her to act like an idiot. Expected her to spy on him.

“Do you know about the bear?” she asked.

“I haven’t heard of one, but we’ll be on the lookout after this.”

“Then why did you advise me not to go out to Desperado on my own, if not because of that bear?”

“The desert can be a dangerous place for other reasons.”

“Such as?”

“Snakes.” He hesitated before adding, “Wolves.”

“The threat of snakes and wolves is what made you warn me off?”

“In part.”

“There are more parts?” Paxton got the fact that Grant Wade didn’t appreciate being questioned when she was the one who had been caught in an unfortunate act of defiance.

Just one more question, she told herself.

“Were you driving back to town? That’s why you saw me?”

He returned a question for a question. “You’re sure it was a bear you saw?”

She pointed at the car. “What else could it have been? No wolf or coyote I’ve ever heard of is that big.”

Paxton was sure that having coffee while sitting across from Grant in a lighted café was not going to make her feel better about that dent in the hood. In fact, she felt foolish any way she looked at tonight’s events...and that made her angry.

“I’m all right,” she repeated. “I should probably get back to the motel and face the fire about this accident.”

“I’ll follow you,” he suggested. “I can talk to Dev, the manager of the motel, about the car.”

“My insurance might cover the damage, if anyone were to believe how it happened.”

Her self-appointed cowboy bodyguard smiled weakly and said, “I’ll take care of it.”

He hadn’t let her go and seemed as reluctant as she was for him to do so. And, okay, she had to admit that having his arms around her was nice. But she also got the feeling Grant was waiting for something. What? An invitation for that kiss?

Stupid girl. How inappropriate would that have been? How absurd was it to wait for a kiss that was not going to happen, in light of them still being strangers on the opposing sides of an upcoming round of litigation?

The thought had barely receded when Grant Wade rested his mouth on hers.