Wolf Line

Chapter Nine

They didn’t say a word beyond polite conversation as they made their excuses and left the ballroom. Keri kept hold of his elbow, stopping him outside one of the formal boardrooms and stabbing in the access code before all but shoving him into the space. She didn’t bother to flick on additional switches, leaving them in the low security lighting that cast shadows and lent a mysterious air to the room.

The beautiful panorama outside the full line of windows overlooking the glittering Pacific Ocean, along with the lights shining off the passing islands, was seen and discarded in a second flat.

He leaned a hip on the massive oak board table, looking all hunky and tasty and stuff, and she had to reel in her hormones big time.

She was pissed off—an important detail to remember—but in the face of six feet of delicious mate, it was really, really difficult.

The he reached into his pocket, pulled out the brooch and laid it on the table beside him. Even in the low lighting the thing sparkled enough that if Tessa would have been here? She’d have been batting it around in an instant.

Keri pointed. “That. That’s not yours.”

He coughed briefly. “Well, strictly speaking, it is, but it isn’t.”

“Arghhhh!” She stomped across the room, gripped his elegant lapels and got right in his face. “That brooch has been reported missing or stolen. I’m trying to save your ass here, mate, so enough with the cryptic responses. Why did I find it in your tool belt?”

Instant confusion. “In my tool belt? I found the brooch in your desk drawer and recognized it. I didn’t want you to get in trouble so I grabbed it with the intention of—”

“Wait. You found it in my desk? Okay, fine. I totally want to know why you were rummaging around in my drawers in the first place, but the brooch was there because…” Keri paused for effect, “…I found it in your tool belt. So there.”

Jared continued to shake his head as if confused. She was still right up against his body, the heat between them growing. He wrapped his arms around her almost absentmindedly as he spoke. “But I didn’t take it. Honest.”

Staring into his eyes there was no way she doubted his sincerity. Okay, maybe a lust-driven, hormonally charged wolf wasn’t the best bet for discerning truth, but it was all she had to work with. “Then how did it get into your tool belt?”

They gazed into each other’s faces, his fingers trickling over her shoulders again and again as they considered. The constant motion calmed her. Eased her nervous twitching as a million scenarios raced through her brain. Had someone planted it on him? Should they be double-checking the security tapes in the staff room?

It hit at the same moment.

“The bookshelf,” they both shouted.

He picked her up and twirled her, and she laughed with relief. “Oh my goodness, I thought you were in all kinds of trouble and I was going to have to sit outside your cell and pass you peanut butter sandwiches or something.”

“And I thought you’d gotten into trouble…but that’s enough. We both assumed, and we were wrong.” He lowered her to the table. Stepped back slightly. “We don’t know each other—it’s only been a day, really.”

Keri nodded, a huge sigh of relief escaping her. She clung to his fingers, refusing to let him escape. “So in the interest of easing your mind. I’m not a thief. I have a degree in modern art—which means I’m usually employed as a barista. Tessa got me this gig on the ship to hold her hand while she’s running things for the first time—she’s the business-admin-with-honours student. We’ve been friends for years, and then we roomed together even though she went into a different program than me.”

His smile was real. “That’s the best kind of friends. People who like you for who you are, and not who you are…”

“Totally.” She paused as he kissed her, standing between her legs to hold himself tight to her body. He cupped her chin as he stole the air from her lungs.

Much later he kept a tight hold but spoke next to her ear. “I’m not a thief either. I live in Haines, Alaska. Mom and Dad moved there to start their family in a nice quiet location out of the limelight. They and my sisters moved away to another of the family homes a number of years ago, but I decided to stick with the North.”

One of the family homes?

Keri pushed him back to see him smiling sheepishly. “Go on.”

“Well, the family is kind of in…a good financial position.” He nodded more enthusiastically. “So I do work, but I also get to do a lot of volunteering and—”

She wasn’t a cat, but this slow trickle of non-information was killing her. “Jared? What are you not telling me? Don’t you think not knowing stuff has already caused enough trouble?”

“Definitely, only I don’t want to freak you out.”

She laughed and clutched his neck, pulling him back in for another brief kiss. “If you’re not a thief, I don’t think anything you say can freak me out. Just tell me.”

“Jewels. The family is into jewels. One of the things I do in the North is travel between the four shops the family owns that are located in resort towns along the cruise-tour route. I also help my dad with sketches for layouts—we work online. That brooch? I recognized it because it was commissioned as a gift. My father and I designed it a couple years ago as a birthday gift for my mom’s best friend.”

Her heart might have skipped a beat, which was why there was this ringing in her ears causing her to hear things that couldn’t possibly have been said.

“Your mom and Mrs. Fedora are…best friends?”

He nodded slowly.

“So…you’re not a thief because you could buy that brooch?”

“I could buy this boat.”

Change of mindset needed. The rags-to-riches makeover took a few seconds, and the result was she didn’t really know what to say.

“Okay.”

He leaned over her where she sat on the table. “Okay? That’s it?”

“Well, I figured dancing on the table would seem like a bit of a mercenary response. As would screaming holy shit I hit the jackpot!”

His laugh deepened. “So glad you’re not running away in fear like I’d expected.”

“Fear?”

He nodded. “Because that dinner tonight? Was very informal compared to what we’ve got coming down the line. I can ask my parents to keep the parties small, but there will be a few events we’ll have to attend, like a mating party for some family and business friends.”

A shiver raced over her skin. Maybe she needed to borrow Tessa’s rebounder and sprint for a while. “How many friends are we talking about?”

He shrugged. “Six? Seven?”

She snorted in derision before realizing he couldn’t mean only that many people. Her mouth went dry. “Hundred?”

She held her breath in anticipation. The pause was worse than an answer.

Well, not really.

“Thousand.”

The pent-up air in her lungs escaped in a gasp and she bolted.

He caught her before she could hit the door and hoisted her over his shoulder. “No, no running away.”

Keri laughed and pounded on his back. “Put me down. I’m kidding. I mean, oh my, that’s a hell of a lot of people all wanting to sniff us, but as long as you’re there, it’ll be fine.”

Jared lowered her back to the tabletop. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. Poor little me can deal with having mated a millionaire.”

“Oh, you found someone else? With less money?”

She smacked him on the shoulder even as they laughed together. Then he rolled with her to the middle of the table and proceeded to remove all thought of thefts, parties and cash of any sort. Her dress went one way, his suit the other, until the only thing left between them was skin.

It had been a hell of a day. A hell of a good day.