“I answered way more questions than you did. That’s hardly fair.” She scowled at him.
He grinned at her and leaned back against his desk. “Who says I fight fair?”
A flush stained her fair cheeks and swept down her throat, spreading faintly over her chest. What would it be like to make her flush with passion? The thought made him shift uncomfortably where he stood as blood rushed to his groin.
“Tell you what. Come back tomorrow, have lunch with me, and we’ll talk.” He gave her his most winning smile. It was the smile that made women’s clothes fall off them and puddle on the floor.
“Have lunch with you?” she said scornfully. “I wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire, much less have lunch with you. And I’m busy tomorrow. I am accompanying her to her doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon. Prenatal visit.” Her tone turned bitter. “And by the way, if you’re questioning that she’s pregnant, I saw the test results. Positive. She’s eight weeks pregnant. She got here ten weeks ago. Do the math. And also by the way, this is a tiny town where everybody gossips. If she’d been seeing anyone other than your brother since she got here, it would be all over town.”
He nodded. “That is true. It would.”
“So?” she glowered at him.
“Tomorrow. You like prime rib?”
“Yeah, I’ll pencil you in for about half past ‘never gonna happen’. You have no legal right to prevent two adults from marrying each other, and I will find a way to stop you from interfering. Have a terrible day; I’ll see myself out.”
And with that, the beautiful, sexy bear who smelled like cinnamon and made his loins blaze with lust flounced right out of his office. Not for long, he vowed to himself. He would do whatever it took to make sure that sometime in the very near future, her growls and snarls turned to moans of passion.
* * *
Clover stood blinking in the midday sunlight outside the Henhouse, a small diner where everyone in town gathered to gossip. That hadn’t changed since she’d left Blue Moon Junction.
They weren’t hiring at the moment, just like the last half dozen places she’d applied. Or was it just that they weren’t hiring a member of the notorious Jones family? That could also be the case. They’d all been very nice to her, at least. It was impossible to tell if they were just being polite or if they really didn’t have any work.
Either way the results were the same. She was a college dropout who needed to support her four younger siblings for who knew how long, and she was stuck here until she could get her sister’s current crisis worked out. For that matter, she could hardly afford to go anywhere else at the moment. She didn’t have money for rent and she couldn’t buy enough gas to get them out of the state. And she couldn’t mooch off Imogen forever. If only she had anything worth pawning, she thought gloomily.
Her cell phone rang. It was Autumn calling.
“Are you in jail?” Autumn asked.
“No, the bear will live another day. But if he’s smart he’ll sleep with one eye open. Is Sapphire back yet?”
“No, she called and said she’s spending the night at a friend’s house.”
“What friend?” Clover felt annoyance flare up in her. Sapphire tended to have questionable friends who liked to party hard and drive too fast. Now that she was pregnant, those days should be behind her.
“She didn’t say. You should probably head back here now. There’s some lady from social services at the house.” Autumn’s voice was perfectly calm, as if she were reciting the menu for dinner.
“What?” Clover’s heart seized up in her chest. “Why? What does she want?”
“I don’t know. Imogen came and told me about it. I told the rest of the kids to shift and beat it. They’re all in the woods hiding out in trees right now. I’m hiding behind the shed out back. I don’t deal well with authority. Also the no climbing thing.” With a bear shifter for a mother and a coyote shifter for a father, all of the children were bear shifters – except Autumn. Her coyote form could run, but couldn’t climb worth a damn.
“Fine. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Don’t panic.” Clover struggled to keep the fear from her voice.
“You’re the one panicking. I am calm like Buddha. Also fast like ninja. She won’t get her claws into me.” Autumn hung up.
Clover quickly headed back to the boarding house, her stomach turning to water as she careened around sharp curves in the narrow country road. What if the social services lady made a big stink about the kids being there? Autumn didn’t have money for next week’s meals, much less a lawyer.
She pulled up in front of the boarding house in a cloud of smoke, noting the station wagon parked out front.
Imogen and Rick met her at the door. “Don’t you worry,” Imogen said reassuringly as Clover ran up the front steps. “I told her nothing but good things about you and the children, and it’s all true.”
“Thank you.” Clover cleared her throat; her mouth had gone dry and her palms were sweaty.
Imogen led her to the living room. Rick followed them in, and stood with Imogen just inside the doorway.
A thirtyish woman with a tailored pant suit and a frosted bouffant sat in one of the armchairs. She was a bear shifter. Clover’s heart sank. Was that just coincidence? Had Sam sent her, for revenge?
