Werewolf in Denver (32 page)

“As does the flash of a naked thigh.”

“Then let’s put on a show, milady.” His idea of a quiet interlude was disappearing fast, but he couldn’t resist the challenge in her eyes. If she wanted to display their connection for all to see, he was done with protesting. She knew what she was doing.

He’d been taught to waltz at a young age, and while it was very romantic, he wouldn’t be allowed to mold her body to his as he’d hoped. Placing his palm in the small of her back and cupping her hand in his, he looked
into her eyes. “I love you.” Ah, he hadn’t meant to say
that
.

Her lips parted as her breath caught. “Way to throw off a girl’s concentration, Woofer.”

“Sorry. Let’s dance.” He began to twirl her around the floor as he cursed his loose tongue. What a blunder that was. He’d meant to lead up to it, find a quiet time, a secluded spot…and that plan was in ashes.

“Is that it?” She danced as beautifully as she did everything else. They moved together as if they’d been doing this for years. “You blurt out that you love me and then we just waltz?”

“I dinna mean to say it.” Turned out his bad leg was good for only a couple of times around the floor. Now he winced every time he put his weight on it.

“Because you
don’t
love me? Is it because I’m not a human? Is that it?”

“Nay, I do love you, and I love that you’re Were, too. That’s the best part, which is ironic considering how I’ve been sounding off on the subject. But this wasn’t how I…bloody hell. I’ve made a mess of this.” He sucked in a breath as pain sliced through his leg.

“Duncan, what’s wrong with you? Are you hurting?”

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. Your jaw is clenched and sweat is popping out on your forehead. Unless you really hate dancing with me, and after saying you love me I doubt that, you have a problem.”

“Just keep dancing. I don’t want anyone to…Just keep going.”

“But you’re in pain. I can tell.”

“I don’t want them to know I’m injured. The fight caused too much commotion as it is.”

“All right. Then I’ll have to come up with a different reason why we’ve stopped dancing.”

“I can’t imagine what that would be.”

“I can. Get ready because I’m about to stop. On three. One, two, three.”

Before he knew what she was about, she’d come to a halt and thrown her arms around his neck. Then she pressed her mouth against his. At first he simply stood there in shock, unable to believe that she’d truly kissed him in front of the entire roomful of delegates, including Howlers and Woofers.

“Kiss me back,” she murmured as she continued to press her mouth to his, “or I’ll look like a fool.”

Of course he didn’t want that, so he wrapped her in his arms and got serious about this unexpected event. At first he was aware of the other dancers who had slowly stopped moving to stare at them. But as the heat of passion rose in him, he lost touch with his surroundings.

The world disappeared and there was only Kate, the love of his life, here in his arms as if she meant to stay there for a very long time. His arms tightened and he kissed her with all the tenderness in his heart, which turned out to be quite a bit. Once he started kissing her, he couldn’t seem to stop.

Eventually he became aware of someone tapping him on the shoulder. How annoying. He glanced up to tell the intruder to bugger off. The intruder turned out to be Elizabeth Stillman.

“I think you’ve made your point,” she said with a smile. “We all get it.”

Slowly he remembered where he was, but he didn’t let go of Kate. Keeping one arm firmly around her waist, he
turned to the group of curious onlookers. “I suppose you’re all wondering what this means.”

Knox Trevelyan was one of the bystanders, and he chuckled. “We’re all adults here, MacDowell. We have a pretty good idea what it means.”

Beside him, Kate stood up straighter and took a deep breath. “It seems I’ve fallen in love with the King of the Woofers.”

Duncan stared at her. “You have? That’s wonderful news, lass!”

She flashed him a smile. “Yeah.” Then she continued to address the crowd. “If my followers want to kick me out, then I understand, but personally, I don’t think it would be such a bad thing if we had greater cooperation between the two groups. We could keep an eye on each other that way.”

Heidi stepped forward. “I can’t speak for all the Howlers, but I don’t see how anyone with a heart could help falling for Duncan MacDowell. I’m half in love with him myself.”

Kate laughed. “Hey.”

“Just kidding. Sort of. But most of us suspected you two had a thing for each other. I’m glad it’s out in the open. I, for one, don’t see a problem. Like you said, you’ll keep an eye on each other. Worthy opponents.”

Duncan glanced around at the group and was gratified to see heads nodding in agreement. “Those of you who know Kate won’t be worried that I’m going to convert her to my way of thinking. She has strong opinions and that won’t change.” He couldn’t believe that she’d made his argument for him. “But I can keep an eye on her. And she can do the same with me.”

“Fine speeches,” Elizabeth said. “Well done, both of you.” She handed Kate a small evening bag. “Here’s your purse, dear. Now get out of here. I’m sure you have better things to do than hang around this ballroom.”

That brought another laugh, but Duncan thought it was a fine idea. “We do, at that.”

As they left the ballroom with their arms around each other, Kate lowered her voice. “Lean on me if you need to.”

“Nay, lass. I can make it under my own power.” He gritted his teeth. “But it’ll be good to stretch out.”

“We’ll take the hotel elevator to the third floor.”

“Don’t want to be seen leaving like a cripple.”

“No, you’ll be seen leaving like a Were eager to be alone with his lover. An elevator is faster than stairs.”

He was in no mood to argue, so he walked with her into the spacious elevator. She punched a button for the third floor.

Holding her close by his side, he gazed into her upturned face. “Did you mean what you said back there?”

“Did you?”

He was willing to go first. “Aye. It must have been bubbling up in me, waiting to get out. I couldn’t stuff it down another second, and out it popped. I love you, Kate. I think I loved you before I met you, but once I glimpsed you in the airport with that furry hat and your blond hair peeking out…I was a goner.”

As the elevator creaked upward, she smiled at him. “I think I loved you before I met you, too, Woofer. You and your torch, and the ability with a tire iron, and your…ability with all that you’re hiding under your kilt.”

He laughed. “You’re wondering, aren’t you?”

“I am. It’s part of the mystery of a kilt. On this side of
the ocean, we’re told that a true Scotsman wears nothing underneath. Are you a true Scotsman?”

“You’ll find out soon enough, won’t you?”

“I could find out now.” She eyed the drape of his plaid.

“Not yet. I want to preserve the mystery a little longer. Your grandmother said that a kilt made a powerful lure, so I want to make sure I have you well and truly caught before I reveal my secrets.”

As they walked down the hallway toward her suite, their arms still wrapped around each other, he couldn’t imagine a moment when he’d been happier, or more filled with anticipation for the future.

At the door to her suite, Kate paused to dig the card key out of her tiny purse.

Duncan tried not to be impatient. The night was still young, and they had it all to themselves.

She found the key and opened the door. “Did you get anything to eat while you were down there? Do you want something from the kitchen?”

He guided her inside and turned to lock the door behind them. “All I want is right here.” He drew her into his arms.

“Now, that’s so touching,” said a voice that Duncan knew only too well. Kate gasped and stiffened in his arms. Dread sent a cold chill up his spine. He pushed Kate behind him as he turned to confront Neil leaning in the archway that led to the living room. His neck was bandaged, but otherwise he looked strong. And he held an ugly gun in his hand.

“Come on in,” Neil said. “I wasn’t sure whether Kate would come back alone or with you, but having both of you here is terrific. You’re earlier than I expected, which
is good. We’ve run out of things to talk about and could use some company.”

Behind Duncan, Kate quivered, either from fear or rage. “We?”

“Penny and I. We have a little proposition for you.”

Chapter 21

Sniffer Update: @newshound—
Duncan and Kate in love! Hot on the trail of juicy details! #paparazzi

Cold fury settled in Kate’s stomach. She should probably have sense enough to be afraid, especially because Neil had a weapon. Instead she wanted to launch herself at him and scratch his eyes out. But before she took any action, foolish or brave, she had to find out what Penny was doing here.

Neil pushed himself away from the arched opening and backed into the living room, keeping the gun trained on Kate and Duncan. “Kate, you can join your sister on the sofa. MacDowell, you stand behind the sofa. That way I have a clear shot at all three of you.” He positioned himself with his back to the fire he’d obviously made while he waited.

Penny looked very pale and un-Penny-like with her hands clenched in her lap. “I’m sorry, Kate. I’ll bet when you kept my ID on the elevator code for old times’ sake, you didn’t expect something like this.”

“Not exactly.” Kate had meant the elevator to be an escape route if Penny had ever needed to hide. Her grandmother had agreed they should leave the code in place. They both worried about Penny’s vulnerability living in the human world. Instead, the threat to Penny had come from the Were world in the form of Neil.

Kate eased down onto the sofa next to her sister as Duncan positioned himself behind them both. Kate felt his solid presence there and took comfort from it. They would figure this out…together.

She covered Penny’s cold hands with her own. “What’s going on?”

Penny took a shaky breath. “Neil’s been blackmailing me for years. It wasn’t much, because I couldn’t afford much.”

“You bastard.” Kate regarded him with loathing. Yet she couldn’t say she was surprised. Furious, yes, but not surprised. She’d always known that Neil was capable of treachery. The switched blog was child’s play compared to this, however.

“It was gas money,” Neil said with a shrug. “Elizabeth always was stingy with me, so I needed a supplement. But now…thanks to your main squeeze there, Kate, I need more because it looks as if I won’t be the pack alpha, after all. I’ll need to keep on the move, and I’ll need funds. I figure you and Woofer-boy can ante up now, too.”

“Dream on, you creep.” Kate glared at him. “We won’t do it.”

Neil rocked back on his heels. “That’s not a very good attitude, cousin. You see, what with the cell phone craze, all the members of Penny’s human family have
’em. They’re on one of those family plans. And I have Tom and both of their kids on speed dial.”

“You really are a first-class heap of dung, aren’t you?” Duncan said in a conversational tone. But his anger blazed hot enough for Kate to imagine she could feel it.

“You have the
first-class
part right, Woofer, and that’s how I plan to travel from now on, with your help, of course.”

“You won’t get away with it,” Kate said. “First chance I get, I’ll turn you in. We’ll hunt you down.”

“You wouldn’t want to do that. Any hint that you’ve become a tattletale, and those three people will receive my text messages.”

“They won’t believe you,” Duncan said. “They’ll think you’re a lunatic.”

“Maybe, maybe not. They’ll have questions. Penny might crack under the pressure of all those questions, because the fact is, she’s never been a particularly good liar. The texts won’t be identical. Taking all three together, there’ll be enough detail for them to search out the truth.”

Penny’s hazel gaze was filled with agony as she looked at Kate. “I worry so much about losing my kids. I’ve tried to tell myself that nobody would believe something like that, but I’m not sure. Tom’s had questions over the years. I know he has. I think a word from Neil, and Tom would begin to put it all together.”

“And that’s not only bad for Penny,” Neil said. “It’s bad for the entire Stillman pack. Much as MacDowell yearns to usher in a new age between werewolves and humans, it ain’t here, yet. The pack might take me out,
but in the process all of you could find yourselves facing a mob with pitchforks, so to speak.”

Kate glared at him. “That’s nothing compared to what’s going to happen to you if the pack ever catches on to what you’ve been doing.”

“They won’t unless one of you tells them, and if that happens—I’ll be able to send those texts before they bring me down. My life won’t be worth much at that point, but neither will any of yours. So let’s all play nice, shall we? We can negotiate this. I’ll throw out some figures, and then you throw out some figures. I’m reasonable. I’m willing to haggle.”

As Kate tried to think her way out of the situation, she discovered that looking at Neil just made her see red instead of helping her concentrate. She searched for something else to focus on. She studied the books on her bookshelf, as if they might have some words of wisdom for her.

Wait. Did the bookcase just move?
It couldn’t have. Probably wishful thinking on her part. No one else had the code except her grandma, and she’d have no reason to come up here.

Neil trained the gun specifically on her. “So here’s what I was thinking, Kate. You should chip in a little more, because Penny’s your sister, but the Woofer can probably afford a fair bit, too, because he’s like royalty or something over in Scotland. You said he lives in a castle, so that has to make him worth something, right?”

“I don’t have a lot of money,” Duncan said, “but you might be interested to know that I can use a broadsword.”

“Oh, I’m so scared. A
broadsword
. Whew.”

Kate glanced at the barrel of the gun, but couldn’t
keep looking at it, so she settled her gaze on the bookcase again. Then she blinked. She hadn’t imagined movement there! The bookcase was opening ever so slowly and carefully, as if whoever was behind it didn’t want to make a sound and give away that anyone was there.