Alpha Rancher Bear: BWWM Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Bears of Pinerock County Book 3) by Zoe Chant

neighbor who usually watched Bucket when she had to go away; their family had dogs as well, so they had a longstanding reciprocal agreement of petsitting when either household was away. Then she collected her emergency labor kit, tucking things into her soft-sided travel duffle with the speed of long practice.
    She was so focused on the issue at hand that she'd forgotten all about Alec until she came out of the house, locked the door, and turned around to find his truck pulling into the driveway behind her Jeep. Snow was already coming down so heavily that she could barely see across the road.
    Crap .
    Alec was stepping down from the truck now, and his face lit up with a welcoming smile.
    "Alec, I'm so sorry," she said over her shoulder, loading the kit into the back of the Jeep. "I wish you hadn't driven all the way down here, just to have to turn around and go home. I've had an emergency come up with one of my clients. She's in labor, and she's at home on an isolated, rural farm. I was just about to drive out there."
    "In this?" Alec asked, gesturing to indicate the falling snow.
    Not this again. "I know how to drive in snow, Alec. I think we established that."
    "I know, I just—" He stopped. She could see him clench his teeth and rework the shape of the words; then he said, "I'd like to come with you, if you don't mind."
    He wasn't offering to drive her. Only to accompany her. And, Charmian thought, as she stifled her initial flare of independence, it was actually a good idea not to travel alone down some of these back roads. At the very least, if she had a flat tire, he could probably change it in no time at all.
    "Are you sure you don't mind?"
    Alec shook his head. "Not at all. I came prepared to spend time with you. This isn't what I had in mind, but I can roll with it."
    "I'm going to be assisting a woman giving birth. It's not going to be a hot date."
    There was maybe the slightest flinch, but he rallied. "Well, that's not exactly something I'd be good at, but there's got to be other things I can do to help."
    He was probably right. In a three-kid household (soon to be four), on a cattle ranch, there would always be something to do. Mary's husband would probably love to have an extra set of hands around the place for the evening, or however long it took them to make it back to town.
    "And will your place be okay if we're stranded out there overnight? Because that might happen."
    "We will," he said. "I'll call the house and leave a message on the machine telling them I might not be back tonight. There's enough of 'em up there, it won't be a problem."
    "In that case ..." She smiled at him. "I'd love to have you come with me."
    It was worth the slight hit to her pride, because she got one of those genuine, million-watt smiles in return. She would never get tired of seeing him smile.
     

Chapter Nine
     
     
    They took Charmian's Jeep, because her stuff was in it, and she was used to driving it. Alec's truck was left parked in her driveway.
    The falling snow was bad enough, but the wind had picked up again, whipping it across the road. And it would be getting dark soon. It went against all Alec's protective instincts to let his mate go out in this. But after a few miles of having to do all but sit on his hands to keep from interfering, he began to see that she actually was a very good driver. She'd clearly had a lot of experience at driving in difficult winter conditions. She knew exactly when to speed up and slow down, when to brake and when not to brake. Normally Alec had a lot of trouble being the passenger in someone else's vehicle; it was even more nerve-wracking for him than actually driving in bad weather. But with Charmian, it was somehow less difficult than usual.
    "I'm sorry it turned out like this," Charmian said, glancing sideways at him. "I had a nice evening all planned for us. A movie on the DVD player, and—oh, no, I left steaks thawing in the fridge. Well, they'll be okay for a couple of days, if it