“Thanks, Grandpa.” She scooped up the clothes.
“No problem. I want that boy back to his human form as soon as possible so he can tell me all about the Sasquatch.” Then he rolled his eyes. “Listen to me, being so self-centered. He probably has other more important things to do, but I would really—”
“I’ll make sure you get a full report, Grandpa.” She hurried back out to the car. How she longed for her grandfather to see the Sasquatch pair board the helicopter. Having a wolf accompanying them wouldn’t surprise him now, but he wasn’t supposed to know about that.
She briefly considered smuggling him to the spot without telling Roarke but knew she couldn’t do it. Roarke had trusted her with far more information than he should have, and no doubt he’d catch hell for it with his pack. If she betrayed him in any way, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself, even if he never found out.
Roarke and Aidan were both lying in the backseat, and when she opened the back door and saw the amount of blood, both on them and on the backseat, she gasped. “I need to get you some towels, and probably a first aid kit, and—”
Roarke growled softly.
“You don’t want those things, do you?”
He growled again. Then he reached up and put a paw on the clothes she held in her arms.
“Right. The clothes.” She hoped that she’d become a convincing liar because she had to look into those green eyes and make him believe her. She repeated the story her grandfather had concocted.
Roarke’s unwavering gaze unnerved her. She was afraid he could tell exactly what she was thinking.
She broke eye contact. “Okay, then. I’ll leave the clothes, and once you’ve shifted, we’ll talk. By the way, Donald’s asleep in front of the woodstove, so you caught a break there. I can tell him I tucked the dogs back in their kennel. You can give him whatever story you want when you see him and I’ll go along with it.”
She put the clothes on the floor of the car, away from the bloody seats. “Oh, and, Roarke, I told Grandpa Earl that you’d seen the Sasquatch pair, and of course he’s dying to hear the details.” With that she closed the car door.
Then she realized they might want to leave the car before shifting, and she opened the door again. After leaving it propped open about two inches so they could choose which way they wanted to accomplish their shift, she left.
Technically, she could have hung around and watched through the car window if she’d wanted to see them shift. But it wasn’t a private moment with Roarke this time, either, and she had no desire to embarrass herself or Aidan by catching him in the nude. His wife might not like that much.
Or maybe Aidan didn’t consider Emma a wife. Maybe calling her his mate was more inclusive, more permanent, and—truthfully—more thrilling. Abby walked back into the store thinking about that. The concept of becoming Roarke’s mate, instead of his wife, was actually pretty damned exciting.
She would have to accept the idea that their children could end up in either camp. Was that so horrible? If they couldn’t shift, then she’d teach them how to live in the Were community as nonshifters. If they could shift, then Roarke could instruct them in the finer points of werewolf etiquette.
Parents often had to take those kinds of roles depending on the temperament of their children. Or grandparents did. She wondered how she might have turned out if she hadn’t had Grandpa Earl, the man who understood fanciful children, to depend on.
One thing was for sure, she never would have fallen in love with a werewolf. She only hoped that werewolf hadn’t been able to tell she’d just lied to his face.
Chapter 25
Aidan heaved himself up from the leather seat.
Her grandfather knows.
Yes.
Roarke hated that, but it couldn’t be helped now.
And if she told him, she had a good reason.
Well, that clinches it, little brother. Once again, you’re leaping to her defense. You’re falling in love with her.
Roarke had no reply, because Aidan was right. Roarke was falling in love with Abby. He believed that she might be falling in love with him, too. But that didn’t change the fact that they were from two different worlds and that made falling in love a questionable idea.
Aidan picked up a pair of sweats in his teeth.
I’m doing this in the forest. I’m sick of this damned car.
Me, too.
Roarke grabbed the other pair of sweats and followed Aidan through a misty rain into a wooded area out of sight of the road. By the time they returned to the car, barefoot and shirtless, they were no longer bleeding, but Roarke still had a limp.
Aidan reached for a sweatshirt and pulled it over his head. “Seeing as how you’re a lovesick fool, I’d better take charge of this operation. We need to isolate both Abby and her grandfather.”
“Once you do that, Gentry will know that Earl’s involved.”
“Gentry’s going to think that no matter what we do. Better to take the precaution now.”
Roarke put on the other sweatshirt and reached for the flip-flops. “Okay, we all need to get out of town, anyway. I don’t know if Gentry will try anything else, but he might.”
“We definitely need to leave, and soon.” Aidan glanced at the trashed Town Car. “But this thing—”
“We’ll get Earl to drive us all to the airport in his truck. Abby and I will ride with Earl in the front, and you can ride with Donald inside the camper. That way I can discuss the security breach with Abby and Earl.”
Aidan nodded. “Then we’ll have to get Donald home, wherever he lives, by private plane. The poor guy can’t fly commercial until he replaces his ID and credit cards.”
“Don’t feel too sorry for him, Aidan. He needed to be scared straight. He’s a potential menace to Sasquatch everywhere, but he’ll be so grateful to us for saving his ass from the vampires and sending him home at our expense, that if we ask him to stop hunting Bigfoot, he’ll do it.”
“I see your point.”
Roarke took a deep breath. “Long story short, I’m with you on the isolation plan. Besides that, I owe it to the folks to take Abby and Earl back to New York and sequester them there, at least for a while. I’m sure Gentry’s raising a stink and Mom and Dad are taking the brunt of it.”
“I’m sure Gentry’s doing exactly that, and I see him as a guy who carries a grudge. If he gets his hands on Earl’s land, he might leave Earl alone, but Abby’s another matter. I don’t see Abby being able to resume her normal life anytime soon, if ever.”
Roarke had been wrestling with the same problem. He didn’t want to keep Abby a virtual prisoner on the Wallace estate, but how could he let her go back to Phoenix where he couldn’t watch over her? “I could hire a bodyguard for her when she goes home to Phoenix.”
“There’s another solution, Roarke.”
Roarke glanced at him. “I don’t know that Abby would want that solution. It would involve a lot of sacrifices on her part.”
“Take some advice from your older brother. Don’t assume she’s not willing to make them.”
Roarke gazed at Aidan and nodded. “Okay, I won’t. Ready to go in?”
Aidan shoved his feet into the flip-flops with a grimace of distaste. “God, yes. The sooner we wrap this up the sooner I can put on shoes that don’t make me look like a surfer dude.”
The moment Roarke and Aidan stepped into the store, Abby knew that her lie hadn’t fooled either of them. They knew that Earl knew. The only clueless person seemed to be Donald, who was overjoyed to see Roarke and meet Aidan for what he thought was the first time.
“Vampires.” Donald stood warming himself by the woodstove as he sipped another cup of hot chocolate. “There’s a houseful of vampires over there.” He glanced at Earl. “I’d sell out and move if I were you.”
“Funny you should say that.” Earl glanced at Abby. “My granddaughter’s been pestering me to sell, and I’m about ready to give in. Whether they’re vampires or not, the Gentrys make terrible neighbors, going around kidnapping people.”
“If they weren’t vampires,” Donald said, “Abby and I would press charges. Right, Abby?”
“Absolutely. But I like Grandpa Earl’s solution better. We all just leave.”
Aidan pushed away from the wall where he’d been leaning as if nonchalantly listening to the conversation. “I’d like to suggest we start putting that plan into action. Earl, if you’re willing to drive us all in your truck, we should head for the airport and get out of town before the Gentrys regroup.”
Donald glanced toward the front of the store. “Would they come over here?”
“They might,” Aidan said, “once they have a new plan. We need to leave before that happens. Donald, I realize you’ve left your belongings and ID behind, but I can arrange for a private plane to get you safely home.”
Donald’s eyes grew wide. “You guys have a lot of money,
huh
?”
“Some.” Aidan glanced at Earl and Abby. “You might want to pack a few things. We’ll be taking the corporate jet.”
Donald gasped. “Whoa! Which way are you guys headed? ’Cause I’m just down in San Jose, and I’d love to ride in the corporate jet.”
“We can stop off there,” Roarke said. He seemed to be deliberately ignoring Aidan, who was making slashing motions across his throat. “It’s not much out of the way.”
“And what is our direction, Roarke?” Abby asked. She thought she knew, but she wanted to make sure.
“For safety’s sake, Aidan and I are taking you and Earl back to the family estate in New York.”
“I see.” She liked the idea that he was concerned about their safety, but she wished he looked a little happier about taking her home to meet his parents. Despite all they’d been through, she still might not be mate material, and that was depressing. “I’ll go pack.”
“Wait!” Donald called after her. “What about your dogs? You can’t leave Spot and Rover.”
“Oh, right.” She turned to her grandfather and delved into her imagination for yet another story that would pass muster. At least Donald was easier to fool than Roarke.
“Grandpa! Could you ask your cleaning lady to feed the dogs until we can make other arrangements?”
“Of course!” His eyes lit with mischief. “Good old Bianca! She’d love to do it! I’ll definitely leave her a note about . . .”
“Spot and Rover,” Abby said.
“Yes, of course. Spot and Rover. Terrific dogs. Bianca will be happy to watch out for them. I’ll ask her to take them home, in fact. She has a huge yard, and a big fence, and—”
“That will be perfect.” Abby stopped him before he got them both into trouble by elaborating too much.
“Perfect.” He gave her a conspiratorial smile.
Abby didn’t dare stay in the room any longer or she was liable to start laughing. Twenty minutes later, when she walked out of her room with her suitcase in hand, Roarke was sitting in her grandmother’s old armchair using Aidan’s BlackBerry.
He glanced up as she came to stand in front of him, and he kept his voice low. “Gentry has my BlackBerry, obviously, and I need to contact the helicopter pilot who’s taking me to the Sasquatch pair.”
“Not the Gentry helicopter pilot, I hope.”
“No, although the Seattle Trevelyans are distant cousins of the Gentrys. There was a split a long time ago, and I gather there’s no love lost between the families now. George Trevelyan’s son Knox is bringing a chopper to the Portland-Hillsboro Airport. Handling the Sasquatch situation will delay us some, but I can’t leave those creatures waiting in the cave.”
“Of course not.”
“They’re not safe anywhere near Gentry. I wouldn’t put it past him to shoot them.” He clicked a few keys on the BlackBerry and sent the e-mail.
Abby shuddered. “Me, either.” It was the first private moment she’d had with Roarke, and there was something she needed to say. She gazed at him. “I’m sorry I lied to you about the clothes.”
His expression tightened, but he didn’t say anything.
She hated knowing she’d hurt him with that lie. “I foolishly thought I could hide the fact that Grandpa Earl had found out, but of course you saw right through me.”
He powered down the phone but didn’t look up. “When did you tell him, Abby?”
She winced. Roarke thought she’d offered the information, and yet still he hadn’t blamed her. That spoke volumes. “I didn’t tell him,” she said softly, so glad she could erase that misconception. “He found the flash drive.”
Roarke relaxed and blew out a breath as he glanced up at her. “I figured if you’d told him, you had a good reason. But I feel better knowing that he found out on his own.”
“I shouldn’t have left the flash drive where he could find it, but at the time . . .”
“I know.” He stood. “You weren’t sure you could trust me.”
“I have the pictures and the flash drive in my suitcase. I’ll give them to you when Donald’s not around so you can destroy them.”
Gratitude flickered in his eyes. “Thank you.”