“Because they could be literally anybody, unless you recognize their style or something.”
“Exactly. Look, thank you for being so understanding. A lot of people aren’t.”
“Well, here’s a secret for identifying me.” Vicki extended her hands, showing off her paint-stained nails. “I almost always have weird colors on my hands because of finger-paints.”
Zane, audibly relieved, said, “I’ll remember that. Thank you, Vicki. Look, Dion and I are leaving Virtue around ten tomorrow morning, so if I go back to the B&B and do some work tonight, we could meet for breakfast and I could show you some preliminary sketches then? And then we’ll really know what we’re aiming for when we vone.”
“That sounds great. Like…eight o’clock? At the Silver Diner? Do you know about the Silver Diner?”
“Wow. That place is still open? Yeah, that’ll be fine. See you then.” Zane scooped up his things and swept off with a glance that Vicki swore felt like a fiery, sweet kiss on her skin.
CHAPTER 8
Confessing his Terrible Secret had gone so well that Zane had decided he’d better run before he blurted out hisothersecret.
It would have been fine,his wolf said wearily. The big furry beast thought all his dithering and fluttering about was exhausting, and that Zane needed to chill. Not that the wolf would phrase it that way, but that was pretty much the idea.
Not in the middle of a restaurant,Zane protested.Shifters don’t go around explaining their secrets in public.For one thing, obviously, talking about secrets in public was a bad way to keep them secret. For another thing, though, Zane was fairly certain that must true humans needed to beshownthe truth, not justtoldit.
And really, that seemed fair. If somebody told him they could turn into a wolf, he’d want to see it before he believed it.
No, you wouldn’t.
“No,Iwouldn’t, but if I wasn’t me?—!”
His wolf lifted its head to give him a grey-eyed stare of bewilderment.You wouldn’t know what you would do, if you weren’t you.
Okay, I IMAGINE I would want to see it before I believed it!
The wolf stared at him a while longer, then, with a sigh, put its head down. Clearly humans and their imaginations were too much for the wild creature. Zane gave its ears the mental idea of a rub, and the wolf relaxed back into sleep.
Victoria had beensounderstanding. Zane’s chest filled with lighthearted relief, and the only thing that kept him from skipping back to the B&B was that his shoes really had no tread at all, and he’d probably kill himself slipping on the ice. He was even willing to give a couple of interviews on the B&B’s front steps, mostly keeping it toyes, Virtue is a lovely town,and,no, we only have a few preliminary ideas for the dress so far, before he hurried inside when it started to rain.
Emmy Jones was at the front desk reading a book. She looked up attentively, then smiled in real pleasure as she realized she didn’t have to stop reading. Zane waved, she waved back, and she went back to her book as he headed for the stairs.
Dion’s voice, down the hall, drew his attention. He detoured to find his assistant lounging in a comfortable, cozy sitting area that had aGuests Welcomesign on the wall. A big, good-looking man with a distinct resemblance to Emmy was also in the…parlor, Zane decided to call it, with his thick sturdy legs stretched out toward Dion. The big man wore jeans, a flannel shirt, and sturdy brown leather work boots; Dion, as if a deliberate study in opposites, wore silk pajamas in orange and purple with a matching robe, and fluffy slippers.
“Zane, darling! This is Aaron Jones, seventh son of a seventh son, or some such nonsense. Aaron, this is Zane.”
Aaron Jones stood up and up and up, until his broad, big self seemed likely to brush the rafters with the top of his head. “I’m really only the fifth son,” he said in a very deep voice as he offered his hand. “And you probably don’t remember me. I was about nine when you left Virtue.”
Zane shook Aaron’s hand. “Nice to meet you again. I assume you were shorter then.”
Aaron laughed, a rumbling sound as deep as his voice. “Considerably. Nice to meet you, too. Todd is planning to drive down from Burlington tomorrow to say hi.”
A pang of actual guilt sizzled through Zane. “Oh, no. I’d love to see him, but tell him not to. We’re leaving in the morning.”
Dion sniffed. “I still think we should stay until you have the design done.”
Since Dion had said nothing of the sort, it took everything Zane had to not blurt an astonishedWhat? in response to that. Instead, after a startled heartbeat and then a second suspicious one, he bit back a laugh. Apparently Dion and Aaron were getting along very well. “I’m sorry, but your boss is a terrible taskmaster and has a lot of work back in Los Angeles.” And wanted to get out of Virtue as soon as possible, Zane added silently.
Dion gave a petulant sigh and folded his arms in a flurry of orange and purple silk. “Overworked and under-appreciated, that’s me.”
“Overworked, probably,” Zane said fondly. “Under-appreciated, never. I’m going upstairs to work on some design ideas. If you want to order dinner, The Italian Place is good.”
“All right. What’s it called?”
Aaron and Zane both said, “The Italian Place,” and Aaron's big laugh rumbled through the parlor again. “It used to have a different name, but nobody ever called it anything butThe Italian Place, so they eventually gave up and renamed the business. But I’m cooking for the B&B tonight, if you don’t want to order in.”
