Jingle Bell Wolf, page 8
A winter wonderland for sure. Then she smiled at him, felt his growing interest in her pressing against her, their legs touching as they kept themselves afloat, his pheromones—and hers—coming to bear.
Now this was what she could have used earlier when they were trudging through the snow with Rosco, trying to return to the lodge.
“The question is,” she said, nipping at his chin, “will you be available for more skiing tomorrow, or do I need to hire a private ski instructor?” She could do a group lesson, but since she had already had private ski lessons, she really liked the personal attention they afforded. If Landon could do this again with her tomorrow, she preferred that rather than trying to hire someone else to do it.
“Hmm, that sounds like a challenge.” He kissed her mouth again, his hand sliding down her back, bringing her tight against his body. “I’m sure I can be off for the next two days and we can do more of what we did today, minus the snowboarder caught in the avalanche and the Rosco rescue, until your friends get here. When Nicole arrived here, we covered for Blake a lot—family helps out family—so it’s no problem at all.”
“Your family won’t be getting the wrong idea, will they?” She kissed the water droplets off his neck and licked a snowflake from his cheek before it melted, the shadow of a beard darkening his chin, his dark-brown eyes smiling.
“Sure they will. But I’ll assure them you’re not staying beyond your vacation here. They want you to have breakfast with us tomorrow morning, so don’t be surprised if they act hopeful that you’ll change your mind about coming here for good though.”
“Or that they told the pack leaders to invite me to take over the vet clinic here? I meant to ask your family who told them I was a vet, but I forgot.” She would ask them tomorrow, and she hoped they would be honest with her.
“I, for one, had nothing to do with it, and I didn’t mention it to any of them, so I don’t know how Lelandi learned of it.”
She believed Landon was being sincere. She licked his mouth and he kissed her again, this time holding her so she could relax and not have to tread water while he did all the work for them.
“That’s not to say”—he kissed her nose—“that I wouldn’t love it if you moved here. Though I would also love it if you continued seeing only me.”
She laughed. “But there’s a shortage of she-wolves. I would have my pick of bachelor males.”
“You would. That’s why I’m working hard at showing you I have what it takes to convince you I would be the only one you would want to date.”
She kissed his cheek. “I wouldn’t want to change partners at this point. Let’s go back inside. Despite how hot you are, and as warm as the water is, my head is getting cold.”
He slowly released her. “I’ll give you a head start.”
“No, I’ll chase you this time.” She didn’t want to feel panicked as he raced after her. She figured he would catch up to her quickly with his powerful strokes. “And don’t make it easy on me just so I can catch you.”
He chuckled. “All right. I’ll go first.”
But she didn’t want to lose either. And she dove right after him, not giving him more than a split second of a head start, going underneath the water and grabbing his foot before they’d even reached the glass divider. He turned and pulled her into his arms again.
He chuckled. “That was fast.”
“You were going too slow. Try again. We’re still out in the snow.” She smiled at him.
“No head start this time.”
As if she’d given him one the first time.
He dove under the water.
She dove right after him, not about to let him get away. He was kicking as fast as he could and made it under the glass divider. She came up under it and headed to the surface for a breath of air while he was still swimming for the end of the pool. She took off after him and finally grabbed his foot again.
He came up from under the water and laughed and pulled her into his arms again. “Damn, woman, you’re fast, and I swear I didn’t swim slowly so you would catch me.”
“I’m from Florida, remember? I swim a lot.”
He smiled. “I should have remembered that when you told me you were going to chase me.”
“Don’t tell me you couldn’t have caught me if you had gone after me instead.”
“Oh, hell yeah, I would have caught you. The incentive would be too great—not only because I want the prize, but because I have something to prove. Next time, I’m chasing you.”
She smiled. She would panic for sure. “Do you want to swim in the morning before breakfast with your family? And then have breakfast and go skiing?”
“You bet.”
“As long as you can square it with your family.” She didn’t want to take it for granted that he could take any more time off for her, despite Blake having taken off time for Nicole.
“It won’t be a problem.” Then Landon released her, and they climbed out of the pool.
They began drying themselves off. After he pulled on his shirt and his sandals and she pulled her cover-up over her head and slipped on her flip-flops, he wrapped his arms around her. “We’ve run together, saved a snowboarder together, played as wolves together, swam together, had meals together, skied together. It’s high time I kissed you good night before you take off to your room.”
As if they hadn’t already kissed each other! Despite his declaration, he waited to see if she was all right with it.
“I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed doing everything I have with you and with your family.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and tilted her chin up so he could lean down and press his mouth against hers. Warm, sweet, sexy, and memorable. She kissed him back and realized he was going to have a tough time walking through the lobby to the office and storage room with a full-blown erection in clinging, wet board shorts. She smiled up at him. “I can’t wait to enjoy the day with you tomorrow.” Then she released him.
“I’m looking forward to it also.” Then he wrapped his wolf towel around his waist, helping to hide his arousal, and walked her to the stairs leading to her floor. “Good night, Gabrielle. Pleasant dreams.”
“Believe me, they will be totally pleasant.” If she had any say in her dreams at all. “Wow, what a memorable vacation already. Good night, Landon.” Then she headed quickly up the stairs before she could invite him to stay in her room and cause even more speculation for the family and any other wolves who might have seen them glued together, kissing.
* * *
“It’s all working according to plan,” Odette told her sister, Zelda, at the hotel room they were staying at in Pensacola, Florida, even though she was aggravated they hadn’t been able to catch up to Melany. She felt the jaguar would have gotten a fair trial and Melany had no reason to run. As soon as they could, they were checking into her story to see if they could find her mate—alive. Now the JAG had additional charges pending against her. Though if they could find her mate alive, they would drop all charges against her.
Zelda started stripping out of her clothes to take a shower. “Only if Gabrielle takes the bait. But I never expected her to hook up with one of the owners of that new ski lodge.”
“I know. Me either. Lelandi said she would make sure Gabrielle met several bachelor males, all of whom are ski instructors and could show her how to ski since we wouldn’t be there to teach her. Who would have thought the owner of the lodge would teach her how to ski?”
“She’s going to be pissed off at us once she learns that we’d planned this all along,” Zelda said.
“Not the part about that woman escaping her escort. That was all true.”
“Just the part of how someone else could have gone in our place. We’re not the only JAG special agents on the force, after all.” Zelda pulled the pins out of her hair. “At least she didn’t get suspicious about that part.”
“She trusts us.”
Zelda rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but when she learns the truth?”
“If she finds a hunky wolf mate that she can’t live without, she will be thrilled we aided her in this way. She would never have done this on her own. Ever. She’s a wolf, not like us big cats. She needs a mate for life and she needs a pack.”
Zelda sighed and headed into the bathroom. “You’re right about that. Lelandi’s a trained psychologist. Hopefully, she can do some magic tricks to help Gabrielle see what a great place it would be and convince her to stay.”
“Then when we want to take our annual ski vacation to Colorado…”
“We can stay with Gabrielle and her new mate.” Zelda started the shower.
Odette turned on a movie to watch until Zelda was out of the shower. She’d had the idea of doing this once they had learned Silver Town was a wolf-run town and the ski lodge was just being built. They’d stayed at the Victorian Silver Town Inn and met Lelandi, who had welcomed them to their little slice of shifter paradise. And that’s when Odette got the idea that their good friend, Gabrielle, could find someone to love there. At least Odette and her sister had hoped she would.
For the first time in the three years they had asked her to ski with them, Gabrielle had finally agreed to go, and this was the first time it really mattered—since they had found the perfect wolf paradise just for her. They knew how she had lost her parents on a ski trip, so they’d worried that might be an issue for Gabrielle. But they’d hoped the wolf pack would make a difference in convincing her to stay.
Odette thought about the situation with Gabrielle dating Landon. So much for their matchmaking efforts. Their best-laid plans were always being upset by someone or something else they hadn’t counted on. But Odette smiled. So much the better.
Then she frowned. The main problem with this whole venture was that Gabrielle had lived in Florida all her life, and making changes that would be that great—new state, new clinic, new friends—could be a bit overwhelming.
Gabrielle had no mate prospects where she was now. And if she was still being stubborn-headed about taking over an established vet practice in a wolf-run town, Odette would have to ask Lelandi what else she could do to make it happen.
That’s just what she would do. She lifted her phone and found Lelandi listed in her contacts and selected her number. “Hi, Lelandi, this is Odette. Things seem to be promising as far as Landon taking Gabrielle skiing and all, but she’s not convinced that she should make any real changes in her lifestyle and move to Silver Town.”
“I’m going to talk to Doc Mitchell. I have some ideas about what to try next. Thanks for keeping in touch.”
“All right then. Work your magic.” Odette ended the call. She and her sister would continue to do whatever they could to make it happen from this end.
Chapter 6
Landon dressed in his warm clothes and headed home, crunching through the deep snow on this snowy night and thinking what a remarkable day it had been. He’d had such a great day and night with Gabrielle that he hadn’t wanted it to end. She had really added some spark to his life.
Though he was concerned about the new-moon phase that would be upon them tomorrow. He and his family wouldn’t be able to run and play with Gabrielle as wolves since they weren’t royals and couldn’t turn into wolves then. Maybe she wasn’t a royal either. The royals had no issue with shifting at any time of the month because they had very few human-diluted genes. Instead, they had several generations of pure lupus garou blood. The only royals in the Wolffs’ group were Blake’s mate, Nicole, her brother, Nate, and their parents. It hadn’t mattered to Nicole that Blake wasn’t a royal; she loved him just the same.
Not all royals felt that way. It wasn’t that they felt superior to those who had more recent human genes, but that being a royal carried somewhat less of a risk because the full moon couldn’t compel them to shift. They wanted that same freedom for their offspring. Landon understood that reasoning.
He noticed lamplight and the Christmas tree lights still on in the living room at his and his sisters’ home and wondered if his sisters were waiting up to interrogate him about Gabrielle. He’d thought they would be in bed by now. There was nothing for him to say. He thoroughly enjoyed her company and wished there could be more than that to it, but it wasn’t happening. Not if she loved her workplace and home in Florida and wanted to stay there. She might not like the cold here, being used to the heat out there.
Then again, maybe his sisters had left the lights on so he wouldn’t have to return home to a dark house. But as soon as he entered the house, he found both of them waiting in the living room.
“We suspect you need more time off to be with Gabrielle.” Kayla was sitting on the couch, dressed in a pair of warm red-and-green-plaid pajamas, her feet in red slippers resting on the footstool.
Dressed in red footed pajamas, Roxie was sitting on the couch at the other end. “We’re fine with it.”
“Thanks. She’s leaving when her vacation is done, but her friends aren’t here yet, so I said I would take her skiing again tomorrow. Maybe for a couple of days if she would like that.”
“And meals, and swimming, and wolf runs.” Roxie frowned. “We won’t be able to run with her as wolves the day after tomorrow, you know.”
“Yeah, I was thinking about that. She may be like us anyway and can’t run during the new moon.”
“Or she may be a royal and disappointed that we aren’t royals too,” Roxie warned.
“True.” There was nothing he could do about that, unless he got hold of some of the royals in the pack to run with her. He figured a whole bunch of them would take him up on the offer. Bachelors especially.
“When are her friends arriving?” Kayla asked.
“They won’t be here for two more days. By the way”—he folded his arms and looked sternly at his sisters—“you wouldn’t happen to know how Lelandi learned that Gabrielle is a veterinarian, would you?”
“Seriously?” Roxie asked. “I asked what she did in Daytona Beach when you were having breakfast at the bar and grill, but you didn’t want me to continue grilling her, so I didn’t have a clue. You were supposed to tell me that night, but I forgot to ask you. I didn’t know she was a vet until now.”
“Me either,” Kayla said.
“Who else knew who could have told Lelandi?” he asked.
“Someone who overheard her tell you that’s what she did? When did you learn about it?” Kayla asked.
“When we were having breakfast. She told me after Roxie had left.”
“Minx then? She was the one serving you breakfast. There was no one else in the restaurant at the time,” Roxie said.
“I’ll ask her.”
“Ask Lelandi,” Kayla said. “She’ll tell you.”
“Why are you concerned?” Roxie asked. “Is Gabrielle upset about it?”
“I don’t think she was really upset, just more surprised that the pack leaders would know. You know how you would feel if you visited a place and those in charge knew just what you did and where you were from.”
“That would be unnerving,” Kayla said.
“Exactly.”
“That’s a pack for you when we have a shortage of females. Though Kayla and I are available, we have been busy working on everything to do with the restaurant and lodge. Gabrielle should be thrilled the pack leaders want her to stay. They can be really picky about who can join the pack—and for good reason. They always check their backgrounds thoroughly. They checked ours,” Kayla said. “That’s great about her being a veterinarian, though if she hadn’t had a job, she could certainly have worked with us at the lodge or restaurant. There’s always something that needs to be done. But, hey, if she’s at a human-run vet clinic, she’s probably a royal.”
“You’re probably right.” Then Landon frowned, trying to remember where Minx had been when Gabrielle told him what she did for a living. He hadn’t thought she’d been anywhere near them at the time. He wondered why she would even be interested in telling Lelandi about it if she had.
“Oh, by the way, that was great how she helped you to find Rosco and the injured man,” Roxie said. “I would say since she wanted to go with you, that was a good sign.”
Kayla said, “Yeah, she didn’t want to give you up.”
He chuckled.
Roxie got up from the couch. “She wanted more of your personal touch.” She headed for the stairs, then paused on the first stair when Kayla started to speak.
“You know, if she does take over Doc Mitchell’s ranch and vet clinic, and if you and she mate, you’ll be living out there, farther away from us,” Kayla said.
“It’s not that far, and it would give all of us another place to run. He’s got a lot of acreage out there,” Landon said.
Roxie laughed. “I told you, Kayla. Our brother is seriously making a go of this.”
“I told you about them kissing in the pool.” Kayla smiled.
“Is nothing sacred?”
“No,” both his sisters said at the same time and laughed.
Landon was not at all surprised that his siblings were checking up on him and Gabrielle, and he wasn’t bothered by it. If other bachelor wolves were wandering by and captured a glimpse of them, they would know he was serious about the she-wolf. And yeah, he definitely wanted to make a go of this.
Kayla left the couch and followed Roxie up the stairs. “I would love to hear what you learn about how Lelandi discovered Gabrielle is a vet.”
Roxie called down, “No wonder Rosco loves her. She’s good with animals.”
Landon agreed with Roxie about Rosco. He still wondered who might have been the one to tell Lelandi that Gabrielle was a vet. Lelandi was known to be a matchmaker when a situation arose that she might be able to help along. He’d learned that when she ensured Nicole had enough mysteries to solve right here in Silver Town so she wouldn’t return to her home and practice in Denver.
