The Bobcat's Tate (15 page)

Lainey pulled her sketch pad out of her purse and showed some of the sketches to the couple, including one of Loch that she’d done when he hadn’t known she was looking.

“You’re very good,” Loch said. He peered at it more closely
. “I am a handsome devil, aren’t I?”

Tate snorted
. “That’s what they call artistic license.” Then he put his arms around Lainey’s waist. “You’re not flirting with my woman, are you?”

Loch burst out laughing. “If I weren’t marrying the most wonderful woman on the planet, I might risk it
. But I’m taken, so I think you’re safe. I’m glad you two worked things out. You’ve got a good man there,” he added to Lainey, who blushed anew.

“I
—well, I—we’re still–I mean—” she stammered.

“I believe what my lovely kitty cat is trying to say is that she knows that’s true, and she appreciates how
incredibly lucky she is.” Tate grinned, and hugged her to him.

“Nope, I don’t think that was it at all,” she protested, but Loch and Ginger had already moved on to check out the gazebo where the ceremony would take place.

As Tate walked her back to her car, she noticed Hamilton Hooper with a group of men who were trimming hedges on the property.

He glanced up as she walked by.

“Hi, Kat,” he said. Lainey felt a little growl vibrating through Tate, who tightened his grip on her shoulder.

“
Hello, Hamilton,” Lainey said. “What brings you here?”

He smiled grimly
. “Anything to get away from the store and mother dearest, or what’s left of her these days. I volunteered to help out clearing the grounds.”

“Oh,
well…that’s nice of you to help,” Lainey said, taken aback by his callous comment about his mother. “Good to see you again. I’ll see you around.”

“No you won’t,” Tate said
to her as they walked away.

“Jealous much?”
Lainey didn’t really mind. It was actually quite flattering.

“Of course I am
. You’re delicious, and every man in this county would love to sample your…kitty cat. I particularly don’t like him, though. I don’t know what it is about him. I guess anyone that oozes that much charm, I just don’t trust.”

“He sure speaks
harshly about his mother.”

“
There are a lot of hard feelings there. His father drove him out of town when he was a teenager, because he was gay, from what Loch tells me, and his mother apparently didn’t stand up for him a bit, although I guess she always secretly sent him money.”

“He’s gay?” she
asked, surprised.

“I gather he’s an equal opportunity offender.
He hits on everybody, which is fine, as long as that means everybody but you.”

“Ooh, you’re the macho caveman type. I like it.”

“Sweetheart, you ain’t seen nothing yet.” He winked, and kissed her forehead before she climbed into her truck.

Tate showed up for their date an hour early
. Lainey was in the kitchen, helping Imogen and Marigold make apple pie, when Emma stuck her head in the doorway. “Oh, Miss Kat, your gentleman caller is here,” she sang out.

Everyone seemed to have agreed that they were going to keep calling her Kat.

“Now? I have flour on my face.” Lainey ran over to the sink and splashed water on her face, wiped it off with a faded hand towel, and quickly took off her apron.

“Ooh, someone can’t wait for his hot date,” Marigold crooned as she pinche
d pie crust into shape. “Kat and Tate, sittin’ in a tree…”

“Wolves rarely climb trees, and when they do, it doesn’t end well,”
Lainey informed Marigold. “And what are you, in first grade?”

The
black wall phone rang, and Imogen rushed to pick it up. “Yes, he just showed up. He came here to pick her up already. Early, even. She wasn’t expecting him until six.”

“Who is that?”
Lainey asked, astonished.

“
It’s Hepzibah, the owner of the Kurl Up And Dye. Hepzibah says hello, and enjoy your date, and don’t let him get fresh.” Then Imogen turned back to the phone. “Hepzibah, these days, I think the young men get fresh a lot sooner than they did back in our day.”

“Is everyone in the county going to know all the details of my date by morning?”
Lainey asked Marigold.

“It won’t take that long,” Marigold said, shooting her
great-aunt an exasperated look.

“She’s wearing jeans and a flowered blouse and sandals, but she might change,” Imogen said into the phone
. There was a pause. “Kind of a scoop neck. They’re daisies, on the blouse. Yes, it’s very flattering on her.”

“Oh. Good. Lord
.” Lainey hurried towards the door.

“Welcome to my world
,” Marigold yelled after her, as the kitchen door closed behind her. “Everyone in town knew I was engaged before I did.”

Tate was waiting for
Lainey in the living room. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and it looked as if he’d taken a quick shower, because his hair was still wet and combed into place with a side part. He’d shaved, too. With his sparkling blue eyes and sensual lips, he looked good enough to eat. Lainey planned to test that theory later that night, if everything went as planned.

“Well, don’t you look tasty,” Tate said to her with a grin
. Apparently, great minds thought alike.

“They’re in the kitchen gossiping about our date
. Everybody in town knows about it already.”

“
Of course they do. Welcome to Blue Moon Junction. Ready for dinner?”

“I should shower, and change…” she protested.

“We’re just going to the Wolf Whistle Diner. Unfortunately, Blue Moon Junction doesn’t have any fancy restaurants. It’s all pretty casual around here. No need to get all gussied up.”

As they walked to his pickup truck,
Lainey didn’t need to glance back at the house to see if everyone was staring at her through the kitchen window; she could feel their eyes boring into her back.

She settled into her seat, breathing in Tate’s warm,
musky smell. As they pulled out, he held his hand out of the pickup truck window and waved in the direction of the boarding house. Shamelessly, everyone in the window waved back. They weren’t even trying to hide the fact that they were spying on Lainey and Tate.

The Wolf Whistle Diner was only ten minutes from the boarding house, but w
hen they pulled up in front of the restaurant, there was a long line of people standing outside. Tate frowned. “Well, that never happens. I didn’t account for all the people who are in town for the wedding.”

He turned to
Lainey. “I’m dying to show you off to everybody, but there’s plenty of time for that. I have another suggestion for tonight. You know Henry, Marigold’s fiancé? He owns a house that he inherited from his family, but ever since he moved in with Marigold, the house has been sitting empty. He gave me the keys to the house tonight. I thought you might enjoy a rare moment of privacy.”

“
Sounds like a winner,” Lainey said. She and Tate, just the two of them together in a cozy little house? Forget dinner, she’d go straight for dessert.

Her stomach growled in rebellion at that, and she winced. Okay, first dinner, then some dessert, then some man-candy wolf shifter for
an aperitif.

As they drove, Tate called to order pizza for delivery to Henry’s house
.

I am going on a date with the handsomest man in the world,
Lainey marveled as they headed to the north side of town.
And he likes me. He really likes me. And the way he’s looking at me, he means to strip off my clothes and do terrible, indecent things to me…I hope.

She felt her cheeks heating, and the warm rush of arousal pulsing through her veins.

Nervous, she cleared her throat.
Make conversation. Don’t just sit here like a rock.
“How’s everything going with the family?”

He sighed.
“Great, except for Megan. She’s been sneaking around, disappearing and not saying where she’s been, like the day that you rescued Felix from that tree. I’m pretty sure that she’s sneaking off to meet this little punk she went out with a couple times before I put a stop to it. Frank Sinclair, from the notorious Sinclair family.”

Lainey
frowned. This was sensitive territory, she knew.

“
Is Frank dangerous?”

“
It’s pretty obvious he’s been involved in the vandalism that took place out at the Beaudreau mansion. His reputation in high school wasn’t great, dating a new girl every week. Most of his pack live in Morgan County, which borders my county and Blue Moon county. The Sinclair family are notorious bullies and braggarts, and Frank is apparently such a grade-A jerk that even his own father won’t talk to him these days, which takes quite a lot. Frank quit working for his father, moved out of the county, and his family barely speaks to him these days.”

“Why is he here in Blue Moon Junction, then?”

Tate shook his head. “Good question. Supposedly, because everyone in the pack is expected to attend the Alpha wedding as a show of solidarity. Really, though, I think he’s here because he’s sniffing around my sister’s tail.” His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he said it, knuckles going white.

“So what does Megan say about all of this?”

“She stuck up for him at first, tried to say he was a good guy, he’s just misunderstood, I won’t give him a fair shot because he’s a Sinclair. She claims they only hung out as friends, and she says she’s broken it off with him after I ordered her to, but I don’t believe it. What?” he demanded, when Lainey winced.

“Well, she’s eighteen
. There’s just a point, unfortunately, when you have to let people make their own mistakes. The more you try to control someone, the more you risk pushing them to rebel. God knows that’s what happened with my parents.”

“But I’m not your parents,” Tate protested. “I actually care about Megan and want what’s best for her.”

“I get that, but think back on how you were when you were eighteen years old and anyone tried to tell you what to do. That’s an age when you think you know it all, and it’s only time and painful experience that teaches you otherwise. She may end up having to get her heart broken to find out you’re right. At which point, you most definitely should not say I told you so. You should act surprised and supportive.”

“And then rip his heart out with m
y fangs.”

“
Er, maybe not that.”

Tate’s grim smile was not particularly reassuring, but then again, if Frank Sinclair was fool enough to mess around with the teenaged sister of an Alpha after he’d been warned off, then he should be prepared to face the consequences.

The truck glided to a stop in front of a small, logcabin-style house set among swaying pines. The sun dipped towards the horizon, painting the clouds in watercolor shades of red and orange and yellow.

The pizza arrived just as they were pulling up. Tate tipped
the driver generously, unlocked the door, and followed Lainey into the house.

The cabin was small and cozy and definitely had belonged to a bachelor
. There were deer heads on the wall, moose antlers and big bass mounted on plaques. The kitchen table was an old barn door set on a sanded swirl of tree branches.

They carried the pizza out to the back porch, where they sat side by side on the porch swing and watched the
ruby glimmers of the lowering sun as it plunged below the distant pine tree tops.

The pizza was delicious, the tomato sauce tart and tangy and a perfect counterpoint to the golden ooze of the melted cheese
. Normally, Lainey was a girl who savored her food and lingered over it, but she couldn’t stop thinking about what was to come. She still wasn’t at the point where she felt comfortable getting naked in front of a man. Not even Tate, who, she was coming to realize, she truly trusted.

Nervous, she set down
the crust of her pizza and patted at her mouth with her napkin. “That was delicious, thank you,” she said.
Ugh.
She sounded like she was reading from an etiquette book.

Tate didn’t seem to mind
. “There’s plenty more where that came from,” he said, with a sensual glint in his eye.

Her heart caught in her throat.

She wanted him so much it scared her. She was afraid of how much she was falling for him in such a short time, afraid he’d break her heart, afraid he’d change his mind.

She willed her mouth to move
.

“
So, is yours a big pack?” she asked in a bright voice.

I’m stalling
, she thought to herself.
I want to rip his clothes off with my teeth and lick him from head to toe, but I can’t get past my fear.

“No,
it’s pretty small, like the county we live in. It’s my family and a couple of other families in the pack. There’s also a panther tribe out there, and a pride of mountain lions. No bobcats, though…yet.”