The Bobcat's Tate (12 page)

“Frank
is no longer invited to the wedding, and must leave town immediately. And if I catch another member of your family vandalizing my property—”

“You won’t,” Quincy said.

Aurora looked Loch straight in the eye. “I still believe that these incidents are part of the Cypress Woods Witch’s prophecy,” she told Loch. “I do not believe my nephew had anything to do with the vandalism.” In many ways, she was braver than her brother, although she also knew that Loch wouldn’t issue a Death Challenge to a female unless she directly physically assaulted him or someone under his protection.

Cornelia shot Loch a murderous look, and grabbed Quincy by the arm
. “Quincy, please let me tell him,” she pleaded.

Quincy shot her a look that froze her words on her lips. She stared down at the ground
. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

Now
, what was all that about?
Tate wondered. Despite the fact that Cornelia was a snob and a bully whenever she could get away with it, he pitied her. She was bullied, in turn, by members of the Sinclair family. Her husband had died in a Challenge a few years earlier, and her brother-in-law and sister-in-law were notorious for insulting her and belittling her in public.

“We’re done here,” Quincy said, and he turned to walk out
. Aurora and Cornelia followed him. As they walked out, Cornelia shot a quick, miserable glance at Loch, and then followed her relatives with her shoulders hunched and her fists clenched.

“I never thought I’d say this, but I actually feel sorry for the woman right now,” Tate said, shaking his head. “It seems as if she’s in some kind of trouble
, but her brother won’t let her ask for help. She wouldn’t be able to ask for help from the police in their own county, because the Sinclairs pretty much own that county.”

“If she needs help, she could come to me, despite my bad blood with her family, and I’m sure she knows it,” Loch said.

“Yeah, but she’d risk being kicked out of her pack if she did that. By the way, do you think it’s odd that Portia has pretty much vanished from these parts, when she was constantly calling you and harassing you until recently?” Tate asked.

“I threatened her with a restraining order, and I made sure her uncle knew about it
. The Sinclairs are very conscious of their public image. They probably sent her on some nice European cruise until the wedding is over,” Loch said.

Tate shrugged
. He wasn’t going to knock himself out worrying about the Sinclairs. “Well, I’m going to round up the family, head back out and get to planting. Any news on the tiara?”

“Not a peep, unfortunately
.” Loch sighed.

“Hey, buck up. You’re marrying
Ginger
.”

A smile spread across Loch’s face. “I am, aren’t I? I’m a lucky son of a bitch. All of this petty crap is meaningless. I’m marrying the woman I love.”

Tate saluted him and walked out of the office, trying without success to push thoughts of Kat from his mind.

Maybe when he was done working
today he’d try again. Head out to the boarding house and plead his case with her, try to make her see reason. He knew she had feelings for him too. Why was she holding back? What was she hiding?

* * *

“I know it’s only nine o’clock, but maybe you should start drinking,” Marigold said, watching Lainey with concern as she listlessly stirred her coffee without bothering to take a sip. They were at the Henhouse. She’d dragged Lainey into town because they’d forgotten to buy earrings to go with her wedding outfit.

“I’m fine,”
Lainey said, pushing her scrambled eggs around on her plate.

“Fine?
You’re totally off your feed. This is not like you,” Marigold protested.

“Eh, food
. Who needs it?”

“Seriously, I think I’m going to call 911,” Marigold said.

“Okay. Have fun.” Lainey stared out the window into the distance, looking at nothing.

“I am going to have you taken away and put in a rubber room,” Marigold continued
. “They’re going to feed you gruel and shave your head. They’ll probably paint daisies on your bald scalp.”

“That sounds nice,”
Lainey said idly, pushing her plate away.

“Are you even listening to me?” Marigold asked
, exasperated.

“What?”
Lainey said, frowning. She stifled a sigh, finally looking at Marigold. “Sorry, I’m a little distracted.”

“You don’t say
. I hadn’t noticed.”

“I know,”
Lainey said. “I hide it well.”She stood up. “I’m going for a walk. Maybe it will clear my head. You can finish my breakfast if you want. It would be a shame to let all of that food go to waste.”

“
Don’t forget those earrings,” Marigold called after her. “I’ll meet you back at the house.”

Lainey
didn’t answer. She walked outside, so distracted she almost walked into an elderly couple who were strolling into the diner hand in hand.

Watch out, I bet he wants to fingerprint you,
Lainey wanted to say to the old woman, but she restrained herself.

She walked down the street, with no idea where she was going
, until she heard children yelling coming from around the corner. She hurried towards the sound.

Felix was sitting on a second
-story fire escape, peering down at the street. His brothers and sisters were gathered below, yelling at him to come down.

This looks familiar,
Lainey thought to herself.

When Felix saw
Lainey, his little round face lit up in a smile. “I’m stuck!” he called down happily.

“You sure are,”
Lainey called back.

“Aren’t you going to shift, and save his life?” Schuyler asked
. “It’s really high, and he could fall. He’s pretty stupid, and he’s also kind of clumsy.”

“
Fine, I’ll go get him,” Lainey said. “I’m not going to shift, though. I don’t want to ruin another outfit, and he’s not in any danger.”

Schuyler sighed, and the rest of the kids looked disappointed.

“I wanted to pet her when she was a bobcat,” Ashley said, pouting. “I didn’t get to pet her before.”

“Me
, too,” Richard said.

“Some other time,”
Lainey promised.

“Tonight?”
Robin asked. “You could come have dinner with us.”

“Want to see me be a wolf cub?” Richard asked. “I’m really fierce.”

Schuyler tipped her head back and yelled to up to Felix, “Come on down! She’s not turning into a bobcat.”

Felix promptly scrambled down the fire escape with no problem whatsoever
. When he got to the bottom, he scrambled over the railing and dangled from the edge, and Lainey ran to catch him. He fell into her arms with a plop.

“You kids are really a handful,”
Lainey said, laughing despite her dark mood. She set him down gently on the ground.

“Tate says that all the time
, but he’s usually mad when he says it,” Felix said.

“He just gets mad because he loves you and worries about your safety
.” It was true, she knew it. She didn’t doubt in the slightest that he would lay down his life for them. How could a man like that also be so deceitful?

“Want to see me do a magic trick?” Schuyler asked her.

Just then, Megan strolled up, hands shoved in the pockets of her jeans.

“Epic fail,” she said to Felix
. “Come on, quit pestering her and let’s go get ice cream. The ice cream cart’s parked over by the general store.”

“Come with us
.” Felix grabbed Lainey’s hand and dragged her along.

Megan
leaned in to Lainey and whispered in her ear. “You know they totally staged that because they wanted you to rescue Felix again.”

“I kind of guessed, yeah,”
Lainey said. “I don’t mind. They’re good kids. They’re just burning off a little energy.”

“Actually
, they’re all spawns of the devil, but whatever. And Tate, forget it. He’s driving me crazy. I don’t think he’ll ever accept that I am a grown-up. Sometimes, I just want to run away from home.”

Lainey
thought that when Megan said that, she sounded like a pouty two-year-old, especially the part about running away from home. However, it probably wouldn’t help to say that out loud.

“He’d be worried out of his mind if you did that,”
Lainey said. “And he really needs your help with these kids. How would he make it on his own? How would he run his business? I’m sure that you’re what’s holding it all together.”

Megan looked pleased at that
. “It’s true, even though he never recognizes it. Everything would fall apart without me.” Then she frowned. “So, I guess that means that I’m stuck there forever, or at least until Schuyler is eighteen and I can make her take over, but that’s eight more years. I’ll snap, I swear. I keep expecting him to put me in a chastity belt. He doesn’t know anything about love.”

Lainey
had to fight not to laugh at that; the worldly-wise teenager, so sure that she knew everything and the grown-ups were just big, stupid meany-butts.

Megan looked at her hopefully
. “Maybe you could start dating him? Then, I could dump all of the babysitting duties on you and run away without feeling guilty. I know that he’s crazy about you. How come you guys haven’t been out on a date yet?”

Lainey’s
heart skipped a beat at that. “He’s crazy about me? What makes you say that?”

“It’s only totally obvious,” she said scornfully. “I’ve never seen him act like this about anybody. The way that he looked at you that time you caught Felix, the way he talks about you and the dorky look he gets on his face when the kids say your name.”

“
They say my name? He talks about me?” Lainey asked, a feeling of warmth spreading through her. She felt that dark cloud of gloom that had clung to her all day dissipating. Maybe she had overreacted when she saw the glass. She should have at least given him a chance to explain himself.

Damn Miles for making me think that no decent
man would want me. Am I going to let that jerk haunt my relationships forever?

Megan snickered
. “Now you’ve got the dorky look on your face. See, I know more than people think. I know plenty about love. It’s just that nobody gives me any credit for it because they all think I’m a child.” She had a very childish pout on her face. “Like, I would know if somebody was really in love with me, or faking it.” She shot Lainey a defiant look, as if daring her to challenge her.

Lainey
was tempted. She wanted to say,
you know who’s great at tricking women into thinking they’re in love with them? Men. All of them. It’s what they do.
She wanted to say,
I know that better than anyone.
She’d even have given Megan the details, if she thought it would smarten her up.

But she didn’t bother, because she knew damned well that no infatuated
eighteen-year-old was capable of listening to reason.

Still, as she
walked down the sunny street with Tate’s family crowding around her, she felt more cheerful then she had in days.

So, Tate really did like her
. Fine. She’d hear what he had to say about the glass.

Megan led the kids over to an ice cream truck, and
Lainey, spotting Tate, who was standing by his truck, walked over to talk to him.

A
s she walked up with a big smile on her face, he didn’t look as if he liked her, and he certainly wasn’t delighted to see her, no matter what Megan thought. He was standing there sipping a cup of coffee, and he looked angry and hurt.

“Tate?” she asked, puzzled. “What’s up?” If anyone should be mad, it was her. And there she was
, all ready to be the bigger person and let him talk to her.

His face was pale and angry, and he skewered her with a glare which stabbed her to the heart
. She couldn’t stand Tate being angry at her, even if she had no idea why, she realized.

“There are certain things you might want to tell a man before you get naked in th
e grass with him,” he bit out.

“What are you talking about?” She was genuinely baffled.

“Like the fact that you’re engaged? Did that slip your mind?” There was a world of pain in his blue eyes, and it ripped her in two to see it.

“I’m not engaged,” she said slowly.

“Miles Bauer? Name ring a bell? I met him downtown just a little while ago. Him and your mother. They showed me the newspaper clipping with your wedding announcement. Two weeks from now? Congratulations, Lainey Robinson.” Tate threw his coffee on the ground, then stomped off without a backward glance.

Lainey
felt the blood draining from her face.