‘For fuck’s sake, Mallory!’ Alexander MacTire’s handsome face was glaring at her. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
‘Oh, it’s you.’ She blinked at him. ‘I guess I won’t be eaten after all.’
‘Not for lack of trying! You reckless, foolhardy idiot! Not only is it still dark and still the full moon but you’re completely wasted! How much have you had to drink?’
She smiled. ‘Lots,’ she said. ‘Lots and lots of whisky. You know, sexy Lexy, your eyes are the exact shade of a good single malt.’
Alexander stared at her in astonishment. Then Mallory passed out completely.
There wereheadaches and then there wereheadaches. Mallory groaned and squeezed her eyes even more tightly shut but it didn’t ease the pounding in her all-too fragile skull.
She knew she only had herself to blame; she also knew that she was far too old for hangovers of this magnitude. She ought to be counting her blessings that she’d made it home safely.
In fact, she couldn’t even remember getting home. She groaned again. ‘You’re an idiot, Mallory,’ she whispered.
‘On that count, we are in perfect agreement,’ Alexander MacTire’s voice said.
Her eyes flew open and she shot upright, clutching the duvet. ‘What are you doing here in my…’ She stopped. Wait. This wasn’t her duvet. It wasn’t her bed. Neither was it her room.
‘You’re in my house,’ he said. ‘I brought you here after you passed out.’
Passed out? She didn’t… Her shoulders sagged. Oh. She looked around. ‘Is this your bedroom?’ she whispered.
‘Don’t be silly. I’ve got plenty of guest rooms, Mallory. And if you think I’m the sort of man who would take advantage of a drunken woman then you’ve learned absolutely nothing about me.’
Actually, she didn’t think he was like that at all but this was an unusual situation. She swallowed and peeked underneath the duvet.
‘I took off your socks and shoes,’ Alexander said, clearly exasperated. ‘Otherwise you’re still fully dressed.’
‘Doesn’t hurt to check,’ she mumbled.
He folded his arms. ‘What would you do if I did try something?’
Her eyes flew to his. Abruptly she had a vision of Alexander MacTire’s mouth on hers, his hands on her breasts, his head then moving…NO. Stop that, Mallory.She coughed. ‘Uh…’
‘That’s right,’ he said, with more than an edge of disdain. ‘You couldn’t have done a damned thing. Do you do anything at all to look after yourself?’
She wished that her head didn’t hurt so much and that he wasn’t glaring at her with such ferocity. ‘Can we talk about this later?’
He didn’t appear to have heard her. ‘The disregard you have for your own wellbeing makes me wonder if you have a death wish. Last night was the full moon! Any number of werewolves could have found you. You might be a squib, but you’ve lived in Coldstream long enough to know that not every wolf is experienced enough to control their beast side after they’ve shape-shifted. Smart people stay home! You could have been attacked, Mallory. You could have beenhurt.’
‘I had wolfsbane with me,’ she told him, feeling uncharacteristically disgruntled.
‘That you were too drunk to use properly! What thefuckwere you thinking? You were so out of it that I’ve had to sit here for hours because I was afraid you’d choke on your own vomit.’
That last admission explained a lot, but before Mallory could respond appropriately the mention of vomit roiled her insides. She swallowed hard. It didn’t do any good: nausea had completely overtaken her. ‘Bathroom?’ she managed.
Alexander took one look at her face and understood. ‘Over there,’ he pointed.
She heaved herself from the bed and ran. Her humiliation was now complete.
Chapter
Ten
There were two things to be thankful for: first, that Alexander had left her in peace to hug the porcelain with her clammy hands and retch up her guts and, second, that the act itself now meant she felt far better.
Mallory splashed her face with cold water, rinsed out her mouth and returned to the now-empty bedroom. In possession of greater control of her faculties than when she’d awoken, she realised that she was obviously in a guest room. Tidy, expensive and anonymous, it didn’t even smell like him.
