Cougar's Mate (8 page)

“I like black and gray.” Well, black was okay. She hated gray. Still, she’d feel more nondescript in the gray. “I’ll need these socks, and some more panties. And that’s it.”

“All right. Wear whatever you want, and I’ll take Hal’s things back to him later. Did… you need something to sleep in?”

She chewed on her bottom lip. “I’ll grab something before we leave. I don’t have to try something like that on to see if it fits.”

She handed him all the clothes, and then slipped into the jeans again, and a pair of socks, black tennis shoes, and the black sweater.

As soon as they walked out of the dressing room, they found ten women standing there watching for their exit, some smiling, some looking a little disconcerted.

The owner quickly divested Chase of all the clothes. “I’ll take these so that you can keep your hands free,” she said, and glanced at Shannon as if to say that she knew if he was busy and Shannon tried to flee, he had to have his hands free to grab her. “I’ll put these on your account and you can settle up later.”

“Does she usually put things on your account in here?” Shannon asked, amused. Unless he had a girlfriend, she suspected he didn’t come here to shop with or for a woman very often, if ever.

He took hold of her arm and headed for the counter where the owner was ringing up the sales. Shannon glanced at the other women, a couple of whom finally headed for the dressing room with clothes in hand.

“See, I told you, Chase. You scared the women off who wanted to use the dressing room. Oh, and I need to get something to sleep in. And some more panties.”

That had all the rest of the women standing there bug-eyed, staring at her.

She would have bought something warm for the winter nights, but because she had a gawking audience of women who would gossip about all this later, she figured she’d give them something to really gossip about. She lifted a sweet pink nighty trimmed with lace off a rack. She could wear the sweats over that. And then she grabbed a handful of colorful bikini panties. She might not want to wear anything noticeable as an outer garment, but for herself, for as long as she was stuck here, she’d enjoy some colorful underwear.

She noted Chase was smiling a little, but his face was a little flushed, too.

He carried the bags in one hand, and he had his other locked around her hand. She knew just how to twist her wrist to get free of his hold on her, but she noticed that even while walking out to his hatchback, two people watched them from the grocery store parking lot, another half dozen from a café observed them through the big windows, and two others, who will filling their cars at a gas station, glanced their way.

“Not much going on here, I can see,” she said, since she seemed to be the height of entertainment.

“It’s not very often that a she-cat knocks out both a deputy and the sheriff like you did, then has an APB put out on her.” He waved at a blond-haired man, his hair curly, and she thought he looked like a surfer-dude, tan, muscled, with a pleasing smile. He appeared to be in his late twenties like Chase and Dan, as he headed across the street to intercept them. “Hal Haverton,” Chase warned. “Like me, he works part-time as a deputy sheriff. He’s also the man who owns the home you broke into.”

“His window was unlocked. It was an open invitation.”

“Hey, Chase, so is this the little lady everyone’s talking about?” Hal looked her over. Then he smiled, showing off dimples. “You could have left her handcuffed in my place, and I would have taken care of her.”

“You and who else?” she asked.

Hal laughed. “You’re not going to let her get away, are you?”

Shannon didn’t think his comment had anything to do with confining her for the crimes she’d committed since she’d come here.

“First chance she got, she would have slipped away,” Chase said.

“She wouldn’t have knocked me out,” Hal said, not taking his eyes off her. He finally turned to Chase. “You’re not locking her up at the jailhouse, are you?”

“She’s coming home with me to have some of my famous Irish stew. I’ll talk to you later. Sorry about the mess she made at your place,” Chase said.

“It was all his fault. He startled me,” she said.

“She used the glass of milk as a missile,” Chase said.

Hal grinned and folded his arms. “Well, if you need me to watch your back on this one, just holler.”

“Thanks, I’ve got it covered.” Chase escorted her to his vehicle, threw her packages in the backseat, waved at Hal, got into his vehicle, and drove down the road. “Special Forces buddy of mine.”

“You said Dan was also.”

“And Stryker Hill, his regular deputy who’s on vacation at the moment, is also. We all went into the army together. And when we got out, we returned here.”

“So, the other two will be giving you and Dan a hard time concerning me.” She thought it was sweet, really. Though Dan and Chase might not think so. “Aren’t you afraid I’m going to try and escape from your place?”

“You have no reason to. I’m offering you a place to sleep, shower, and eat. You have clothes to wear, a television to watch, and a beautiful view of the lake and mountains. It’s a forested paradise. And you are under my protection. Now, if you really don’t want to stay, I’m not going to force you to.”

She stared at him in disbelief. He appeared to be serious.

“Then… then why did you chase me down?”

“You saved that boy at the waterfall, didn’t you?”

“He would have drowned.”

“Right. Well, the word will have spread that a cougar wanted the boy for a meal. Hunters would have gone after you, or any cougar in the area. You were staying in a cave still close to that waterfall. Beyond that, hunting season starts in less than two weeks. None of our people run as cougars at that time. And you were starving. Besides, I’d tranquilized you. You were in no shape to fend for yourself.”

“You think I’m a hardened criminal.”

“I think you’re running from someone, and I’m here to help you out if you need my assistance. Which, I’m guessing you do. I don’t believe your recent crime spree was something you do on a regular basis.”

She raised her brows at him, not sure she believed that he really thought that.

He smiled. “I’ve seen criminals in action. You didn’t run after I passed out near the river. You watched over me until Dan arrived. You were concerned for my welfare. A hardened criminal wouldn’t have been. You would have been more concerned with getting out of there. You stayed with the boy until help came. That put you at a hell of a lot of risk. You didn’t break Hal’s window or jimmy it open. You just found that it was unlocked and slipped inside. You didn’t ransack his place, just got what you needed—some warm clothes that fit well enough and a glass of milk. That’s not the actions of a lawbreaker with a long rap sheet.”

He pulled into a treed log cabin resort, each of the cabins connected by a trail to the main one, but pine trees surrounded them, giving each of them privacy. And at once, she loved it. It seemed homey, both to her cougar and human half.

He parked. “So here’s the thing. You can stay in one of the rental cabins and we can share meals if you like, or you can do your own thing until you want to talk. You can slip off and run away again. Or you can stay with me.”

“Stay with you,” she said, not meaning that she wanted to, but she didn’t know why he was suggesting
that
as an option.

“That’s what you want to do? Stay with me?” He sounded surprised she’d go for that choice.

“No. I mean, why would you suggest that?”

“Because you’re running scared. Running from someone. I have two bedrooms. You can take the guestroom, and I can protect you if you need protection. It would make it easier for me to keep an eye out for anyone who might wish to bother you. If you’re staying even in the closest cabin to mine, I can’t see it from my place.”

This changed everything. All that Chase said had merit. She wanted to stay in her own place so she would have more privacy. But she’d been running for so long on her own, isolated from others, and terrified, she’d like to feel she had someone who could watch her back.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said, “but I’d like to stay with you.”

He tried to look ultra-serious, but then he gave in and smiled broadly. “That works for me.”

***

Chase had hoped he’d said the right words to convince the lady to stay with him and not want to run off again. In the meantime, he had to learn who she was and what the trouble was that she was facing.

“So, do you have a name I can call you?” he asked.

“Ann,” she said this time as she carried the bags of clothes into his cabin and he grabbed the sacks of groceries.

“You’re not an Ann.”

“What’s an Ann supposed to be like?” she asked, glancing around his cabin. He was glad he’d picked up the place before he’d had to run after her yesterday.

“Sweet and innocent.”

She snorted.

He laughed. “So what is your name, really?”

“Shannon. But that’s all you’re getting.”

He was glad for that much. His phone rang. He set the groceries on the kitchen counter and glanced at the caller ID. “It’s Dan. I’ve got to take this.” To Dan, he said, “Hold on a sec.” Then he said to Shannon, “First door on the right is your guestroom, bathroom is the second door on the right. Make yourself at home.”

“Thanks. Say hi to Dan for me.” Then she hauled her bags to the guestroom and shut the door.

Chase pulled the stew out of the fridge, dished it into microwave dishes, and began warming it up. “Shannon is her name, and she’s staying with me. I’ll protect her at the same time until we know what’s going on.”

“Who’s going to protect you from her?”

“I’ll be fine.” Chase smiled, then began putting away the groceries.

“Hell, she’s liable to handcuff you to your furniture and run off with your money and car. Or leave as a cougar and disappear. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Yeah. How are you doing?”

“I’ve felt worse. But at least I’m home now. Do we have a last name for her?”

“No.”

“You think the first name is really hers?”

“I believe so. Not completely sure.”

“I’ve had twenty calls from our people. They want to know the trouble she’s in.”

“As much as I do.” But he worried a little that the townsfolk were concerned she would bring trouble to them and want her gone. Not that he was changing his mind about this. She was staying as long as she wished.

“They want to help her in any way that they can.”

“Good.” Chase was truly glad for that. The more everyone wanted to help her, the more he hoped she’d want to stay.

“Some of the single guys called to let me know if she’s too much of a handful for the two of us, they’d open their places up to her.”

Chase laughed. “Was Hal one of the ones who called you?”

“You better believe it. First one, actually. He said he’d give her a fresh glass of milk and anything else she wanted.”

Smiling, Chase shook his head. “I bet.”

“Five families said they’d take her in. And a couple of single women said the same. Dottie offered her a home if Shannon didn’t mind her twin toddlers.”

“Thanks, Dan, I’ll let her know.”

“Hal didn’t just call me though. He dropped by the house to rub it in about the little lady knocking us both out, envisioning she was an Amazon-sized woman with muscles that rivaled Hercules’s. Until he saw her in her human form—petite, sweet, and totally innocent looking.”

Chase chuckled. “Wait until your deputy returns home from his vacation.”

“He already called and asked if we needed backup.”

Chase pulled the dishes of heated stew out of the microwave. “He’ll do anything to get out of taking a vacation because he’s such a workaholic. How did he get word?” Though as soon as he spoke the words, he figured it was Dottie, their dispatcher.

“You know Dottie. She was worried about the woman and wanted all available personnel here to help out.”

“You told him we didn’t need him, right?”

“Yeah. And Rick and Yvonne Mueller invited the two of you over to dinner, soonest.”

“Let me talk with her first.”

“Possibly, they can find out who she is through their contacts. It’s best if we know as soon as we can what kind of trouble she’s in.”

“End of the week, Dan.”

“Sooner than that. We have to be prepared.”

“I’ll work on it.”

“All right. Hope you know what you’re doing. Are you handcuffing her to the bed tonight?”

“No. She’s free to go if she feels she has to. But for now, she’s staying with me.”

“Got another call coming in. I swear everyone in town is going to call me about her. Nearly a dozen women called about the dress shop incident. They told me how you stayed in the dressing room with her. Want to tell me about that?”

“No. Just watching out for her.”

“Anything else I ought to know?”

Chase smiled a little. His buddy was fishing. “That about sums it up. We’re going to have some stew. You take it easy and I’ll call you later.”

“She’s dangerous, Chase. Just be careful.”

“I will. Talk later.” Chase started a fire in the fireplace, and then began making some coffee.

Even though he wanted to let Shannon do what she felt she had to do, he was relieved she’d opted to stay with him. If she had stayed at one of the cabins, he figured there would be more of a chance that she would tear off. He couldn’t curb the notion that he would be pulling guard duty all night.

Though not to protect her from anyone, but to keep her from running, despite his saying it was up to her. He didn’t want her killed. And he knew very well how vulnerable she would be on the run as a cougar.

Chapter 7

Shannon put her new clothes away in the dark oak bachelor chest. She still couldn’t believe how generous Chase had been to buy her anything she’d wanted in the line of meals and clothes. She tucked her hair behind her ears, walked over to the window, and opened the green curtains. Peering out at the pine trees, she loved the wilderness feel of the place. She should have stayed at one of the other cabins, but she couldn’t. She could protect herself to an extent, but she’d been on edge for so long, running as a cougar in the wilderness, and before that, running as a human, that she felt more… vulnerable now that she was standing still.