Shafted (5 page)

Apparently Cotton had no idea how reckless
her driving was. If Anteros weren’t immortal the last few miles of
twisting turning mountain roads and near misses on bends with sharp
drop offs might have been enough to turn his hair grey.

He leaned in the passenger window and held
his clenched fist out to her. “Thank you Jessica. I appreciate the
lift.”

The look on her face would’ve been comical if
it wasn’t so filled with shock. She gingerly curled her own fingers
into a ball and knocked her knuckles against his.

“No problem I was heading up this direction
anyway.”

With the contact he used what powers of
persuasion he still commanded and planted a healthy respect for the
machine she was operating into her head. Anteros hid a smile as her
eyes refocused and she pulled her hand back shrugging her
shoulders. He stood away from the truck and winked. “Thank you
anyway and drive careful.”

Her face flushed and she slammed the truck in
drive. “Yo, peace! Catch a later, auight.” She and Cotton’s truck
were down the drive and around the bend before Anteros guessed
she’d said something about wishing him peace and catching up later
was all right. At least it was as close as he could come.

Inside standing under the scrutiny of Mrs.
Turnbull, a bug under a microscope came to mind. “So you’ll be
staying with us a little long then Mr. Anders?” The strange knowing
look in her eyes was unsettling to say the least. “Helping with
Polya Raynings’s old place are you?”

Anteros brow wrinkled. “Polya Rayning?”

“Yes Polya, you know Callie’s grandmother?”
He was beginning to feel like he’d grown hydra heads. “How long you
been friends with Callista if you don’t know that?”

Callista? Anteros scrambled to put the pieces
together, then recalled Callie chatting about her grandmother on
the way into town. “Uh, oh, you mean Grandee,” a forced chuckle
squeaked out and sounded lame even to him. “Callie doesn’t refer to
her grandmother by name often, so it took me a second.”

“No ‘spose she doesn’t at that. Where is she
anyway? Thought you two left together this morning?”

“We did, but she ended up getting delayed in
town so I caught a ride back on my own.”

Mrs. Turnbull’s face scrunched up. “Yes I saw
that. You’re lucky that girl didn’t wrap you both around a tree on
the way up here the way she drives, it’s what got her in trouble in
the first place.”

“Trouble, what kind of trouble?”

“Oh she’s a good girl don’t get me wrong, a
little wilder than most is all. It was her speeding around the
countryside that finally landed her on probation,” Mrs. Turnbull’s
earrings slapped the side of her cheeks as she swung her head from
side to side. “Poor thing, not her fault her mom’s gone and her
daddy pays her no attention.”

Even more uncomfortable hearing such personal
details about someone he didn’t know, Anteros hurried to finish
signing the register. “Well she seems like a good kid, even if I
can’t understand half of what she says.” He stepped back with a
half turn toward the stairs. “Anything else you need Mrs.
Turnbull?”

She peeped at him over her glasses. “No,
think that’s got it, you’re good now till Sunday.”

“Well, thank you. I’ll just head up to my
room then. And if you see Ms. Jamison when she gets back, if you
could let her know I’m here, I’d appreciate it.”

She nodded but didn’t say a word. Anteros
felt the holes burning in the back of his head all the way up the
stairs.

The rest of the afternoon came and went and
the darker it got outside the darker Anteros mood became. He looked
at the soft green throw draped over the back of the chair and saw
her eyes. He spun his head away and the gold shimmer of the curtain
became the light in her hair and he was convinced he could smell
the shampoo she used. The silk covering on the chair he sat in made
him wonder if her skin was as soft as it looked.

Not only was he missing Callie and starting
to worry about her, the clock was counting down and the more time
he let slip by the worse he’d get when she wasn’t near. He had to
get a hold of himself. All he could think about was getting his
hands on her.

Anteros tried everything from the mental
exercises he used for archery to sit ups and a shower. None of it
helped. By the time he sensed her return, he could’ve chewed
through all four of the six-inch thick posts supporting his
bed.

Relief she was back warred with a need to
take her over his knee, sending Anteros charging down the stairs
two at a time like a thundering elephant. “Where were you?”

“Teran? What are you doing back here?”

“You first. I want to know what took you so
long!”

“I beg your pardon.” She still had one boot
on and banged her head on the door knob trying to take it off while
glaring at him. “Ouch!”

Her wince instantly diffused his tantrum and
he realized what a Gorgon’s ass he was being. Stepping forward he
reached for her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bark at you, I concerned
when you weren’t back before dark.” She was still rubbing her head
and the mitten on her hand was making her hair stick up everywhere.
“Here, let me see.”

She batted his hand away with her fluffy red
mitten and snarled. “I’m fine and I can take care of myself, thank
you. And if that’s concerned, heaven help anyone who worries
you.”

She was mad as hell and looked damn cute
hopping around on one foot. The pain and cramping had completely
eased and suddenly he found himself imagining her with only those
boots and mittens on and fought a grin he was sure she wouldn’t
appreciate. “I’m sorry Callie. Okay I admit it. I was worried and
wanted an explanation that’s really none of my business.”

“You’re right it is none of your business. I
have no need to explain my actions to you or anyone.” Struggling
against her coat she fumbled with one of those bags all mortal
women for whatever reason insisted on carrying and dropped a large
brown envelope in the process. “Darn it anyway.”

For the first time he noticed her eyes were
red rimmed and her face was far too pale for having just come in
from the cold. Crying? She’d been crying! Something, besides him,
had upset her and by Zeus’s beard, he didn’t like it, not one
bit.

Her bag strap got tangled around the sleeve
she was trying to tug her arm through and she was having no luck
getting either the coat or her second boot off. “Here, hang on a
minute and let me help, it’ll give me a chance to redeem myself and
prove I’m not always a complete moron.”

She pulled back and tried to wiggle away
causing her purse strap to slip further off her shoulder and
partway onto his arm. “I’m quite capable—”

He reached with the other hand to catch her
coat as it came free of her opposite arm. “Oh come on. Let’s get
you out of this. Then, you can tell me what’s got—”

Clear of her coat on one side she started to
turn. “Why would I tell you anything?”

Callie continued to spin and the slack in her
purse strap, still wrapped around the sleeve along with both their
arms now, twisted behind her waist. It cinched tight around his arm
and brought her face up against his chest.

Anteros body roared to life at the intimate
contact created. Hers stilled and she quit squirming; her muscles
slowly going limp. Afraid she’d fall, he wrapped his free arm
around her. “Callie?” She finally looked up with tear filled eyes.
“Callie, what wrong?”

She sucked in a shaky breath which pressed
her breasts further into his chest. That simple action heated his
blood and Anteros inwardly cursed the arrow. Her chin started to
warble snapping his mind back from the gutter.

“I can’t read the book. I have to turn around
at least one teen.” Unable to wipe her face with her arms pinned,
she sniffed and blinked rapidly to stop the tears from spilling
over. “How can you have a storage room with a hole in it? There are
mice in the moose, pickup sticks blocking the road and squatting
raccoons. But worst of all,” her voice cracked, “Grandee has a
mustache!”

Anteros looked at her in horror, Zeus’s
beard, it was worse than he thought. He was more than screwed. He
hadn’t just imprinted on a mortal, he’d imprinted on a nut!

Callie wanted to stuff her head under one of
Mrs. Turnbull’s quilted pillows and pretend the last half hour
hadn’t happened. It was bad enough having Mr. Guiley, look at her
with pity as he read the conditions of the will, but then she’d
made an idiot of herself in front of Teran and the way he was
treating her like she’d break any moment wasn’t helping.

Once they were untangled from her stupid coat
and purse, he’d led her to the front parlor, then carefully wrapped
her in a crocheted blanket and sat her down before disappearing.
Now he was back and looked like he couldn’t walk softly enough.

“Here this should help. Mrs. Turnbull made
you some tea and said it’s good for calming the nerves.”

Oh great, someone else she’d have to excuse
her actions to. Their fingers brushed and her hand trembled as she
took the cup from his. “Thanks.”

Teran stood over her and adjusted the blanket
back up onto her shoulders. “Want to talk about it?” The timbre of
his deep voice did more to chase the chills away then the
blanket.

Maybe it was because she’d seen him at less
than his best last night - wow had they really only met last night?
But for some reason, not telling Teran seemed silly.

He sat down on the coffee table in front of
her and the intensity of his focus was both exciting and unnerving.
The sharp planes of his face and warmth in his dark eyes had become
so comforting and familiar in such a short time, but still having
all that gorgeous male attention dialed in like that could make a
girl dizzy.

Before she could change her mind Callie took
a sip to clear her throat and forced herself not to look away from
his penetrating gaze. “Well, honestly I’m not sure where to start,
and by the time I’m done you may wish you hadn’t asked, but here
goes.” A quick swipe with a tissue caught the last remaining tear
and she sat straighter. “I moved here from Seattle, which is where
I grew up, to finally claim some property my grandmother left me
when she passed away.

“You see, she and my mother hadn’t gotten
along for a very long time so we didn’t know she’d died until after
the funeral. In fact the only way we found out was through a letter
from Mr. Guiley, her lawyer here in Bandit Creek, telling me I was
her sole heir. But according to her final instructions, in order to
claim the inheritance I had to physically come here so he could
read the will to me personally. At that time, I’d started a new job
and couldn’t come.”

Teran slid forward until his knees nearly
touched hers and it seemed to her the inch of space left heated by
several degrees. “Is that a normal thing for a person to stipulate
in a will?”

“Yes, and no, depending on the deceased
wishes. At least that’s what the lawyer told me this afternoon and
until now; I had no desire to own property in a small mountain town
anyway, so I never seemed to make time to take care of it.”

Teran leaned forward close enough she noticed
a midnight blue tint ringing his eyes she hadn’t seen before and
she got so caught up she lost her train of thought. Clasping his
hands together he rested his forearms on his legs. “So now you
have, and?”

Wow, his arms were big, not bulging like a
body builder but whew, big just the same. Callie gave herself a
mental shake and told her racing heart to settle down. “Uh, well,
now it has become important to me, not that it wasn’t before, that
didn’t come out right. I loved Grandee and would’ve done it
eventually but now it’s important for other reasons. Unfortunately
there are some conditions written into the will I hadn’t
expected.”

Sitting straighter he spread his hands and
Callie bit her lip. He had great hands too; strong capable ones
with nice long fingers. Ones she was trying hard not to imagine
stroking her bare skin. She wasn’t having much success. “Okay, so
you’re here and you did what she wanted so all’s good now,
right?”

This whole situation was quickly sliding
beyond Callie’s control. Taking a sip of tea and hoping to redirect
her wayward thoughts she tore her hungry eyes from him and had to
try twice before her voice worked properly. “Well not so much I’m
afraid. Some of the conditions, I don’t have any idea where to
start to meet what’s required, and when we drove out to the
property this afternoon, the place is practically beyond
repair.”

Teran lifted his chin and scratched, exposing
the thick column of his throat, and it was all Callie could do to
not lean in for a nibble. “So that’s where you went, to inspect the
property?”

“Uh huh.”

Without taking his eyes from hers, Teran took
her cup and set it aside. Before she could pull away he had her
hands folded in his. “Okay, so there’s where you start. In fact,
what do you say we go by the place tomorrow and have another look?
Who knows, it might not be as bad as you think?”

It would be too easy to give in to the
promise of help in those dark eyes. But he was already worming his
way in too deep. If she was going to stick to her guns she better
start now. Her stomach churned and her hands turned to ice in
protest but she forced the words from her mouth anyway. “Thanks for
the offer Teran but really, I couldn’t ask you to do that.

“And if it was only a matter of repairing
things, I could take it on, but I also have to reopen it as a
retreat for young girls at risk. That’s what Grandee used to do
here. It was called Camp Penthesilea which again, in itself I might
be able to do. It’s the last one that’s the stickler.”

“See you’ve already said you could handle two
of the three you mentioned. So what’s this stickler, go ahead hit
me with it, how bad can it be? Never know, maybe I can help.”