Instead, I found myself rationalizing why Clement was a worthy exception to my new rule. The man was a cop and a family-oriented wolf shifter. That made him highly loyal and protective. Even my sister approved of him, though she had warned me that he tookprotectiveto a whole new level.
One look at his caramel-colored eyes, and I decided I would be up for a whole lot of protecting. Especially if I got to run my hands over his sculpted body and weave my fingers through his neatly trimmed, blondish-brown hair.
I inhaled his sage-and-lavender scent, picturing him running through woods and fields in wolf form.
As it so happened, I had a fair bit of wolf-shifter blood in me. (As well as bear and dragon, not to mention witch andwarlock, but that didn’t seem pertinent at the moment.) We were practically made for each other, he and I!
Madame Martin had been one croissant away from assembling my order, but she stopped to serve Clem.
“What can I get you, dear?” she asked sweetly.
One baguette, one raisin bun, and a brioche,went through my mind.
“One baguette, one raisin bun, and a brioche,” he said.
I flashed a smug grin, picturing future marital bliss.
“Oh! Geneviève ordered a baguette too!” Madame Martin exclaimed.
So did half of Auberre, but I loved her for trying. The woman had gone straight from trying to fix Clem up with my sister to fixing Clem up with me.
God bless meddling, small-town matrons.
Clem turned to me slowly, “Let me guess. For yourguests.”
Thenhis tone dropped, and not in a good way. One of those guests had stolen the love of his life — Mina. Which was terrible and everything, but here I was, ready and willing to help him back aboard the love train.
I wanted to jump up and down, wave my arms, and holler,Here I am! Can’t you see me?
But I’d been doing that since I was six, and Clem had never noticed. He didn’t notice now either.
“Well, our guests do have to eat.” I tried a joke.
Clem’s sour expression suggested I could use starvation as a tactic to get rid of them.
Sadly for him, I didn’t intend to. They made an excellent work force, and my godfather was paying good money for them to board with us, at least for the last few weeks of their contract with him. After that… Well, everyone avoided the subject for the time being. Marius had a plan for what to do next (renovating the château and living happily ever after with my sister), but theothers had been pretty vague about their plans. My guess? They didn’t have any.
We had a lot in common that way.
“How have you been?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
Sleepless. Suffering. Heartbroken,the dark lines under Clem’s eyes said.
“Fine,” he grunted. “Work keeps me busy.”
I couldn’t imagine what with, since the majority of Auberre’s 200-plus residents were law-abiding senior citizens.
His nostrils flared, and he whirled as someone walked past the shop window.
“Claudette,” he murmured.
I sighed. I could wave pom-poms in front of his face and Clem wouldn’t notice, but Claudette got a full head whirl.
“Claudette?” Madame Martin’s tone oozed concern.
Claudette was Auberre’s pierced, tattooed wild child who flitted in and out of town, providing townsfolk with a constant stream of gossip — when they weren’t speculating about me, my sister, and the goings-on at Château Nocturne.
Claudette must have spotted Clem, because a split second after walking past, she U-turned and entered the bakery.
