Seal Wolf Hunting (9781402293832) by Terry Spear Page A

drop off our gear and then head over there and pick up groceries afterward. We figured she’d want to fix us breakfast, at the very least. So you have to admit we were rather surprised. Then we heard you and Rose screaming and—”
    â€œI didn’t scream.”
    He turned to study her, his brow furrowed. “In the kitchen you vehemently said you wouldn’t do it. I thought some man was trying to force you to do something horrible.”
    Lori’s cheeks warmed a little.
    â€œWhat was that all about?”
    â€œCatherine wanted me to tell the two of you that you were being auctioned off. It wasn’t my idea! So I wasn’t about to take the blame for it. Or be the messenger either.”
    â€œAh. And Rose’s scream? Hell, she screamed when we were on the speakerphone with Catherine, then someone else yelled, and then the phone clicked dead. What would you expect us to think?”
    â€œThat someone had a little accident? But really? That was the reason you went all Navy SEAL wolf on us?” She kept herself from probing about his last mission. “Okay, Rose picked up a plate Catherine had been warming on top of her toaster oven. It was hotter than Rose expected, and she burned her hand and dropped the plate. On my foot! Which protected the plate from breaking. I yelled out in surprise when the plate hit my foot. But Catherine must have ended the call with the two of you right after that. She checked Rose’s hand to see how badly it was burned, and it wasn’t that bad. Rose was startled more than anything.
    â€œRight before the two of you barged into the kitchen, Rose tripped over a box of jams and jellies that she forgot her mother had set on the floor, which made Rose drop the plate she was taking to the dishwasher. This time she didn’t have my foot to protect the plate from shattering on the ceramic tile floor. When the plate broke, she said she was giving up on dishes and got another cup of coffee. I got the broom to clean up the broken plate.”
    â€œAnd then used the broom on me .”
    Lori cast a smile at him again. “You have to admit it did stop you.”
    â€œNot for long.”
    â€œWell, if it had been someone else, I would have continued to fight.”
    â€œNot kissed him back.”
    Now that they had gotten off the subject of Dusty and the necklace, Lori was feeling more relaxed. She hadn’t been up here since the incident. Paul had sensed that right away, and she wished she could have said and felt otherwise.
    Not that the brothers were inherently bad, she didn’t think, or she wouldn’t have agreed to them coming up to the lake. She and Rose were trying to learn why the men were now living in the Cunningham pack’s territory. She’d thought questioning them was a good idea. The brothers said that they’d had to move from their last jobs and find new homes because the rancher had retired and sold off his ranch. And they’d lived close before so the area felt like home. Now she worried that something more might come of it, considering the way the brothers had given Paul the eye, especially when her grandma outbid everyone for his services.
    Paul watched Lori as she looked toward the west, her mouth still curved in a tantalizing smile. “Sunset’s gone. Do you want to keep me company while I make the jam for tomorrow?”
    He sure did and joined Lori in the kitchen, where she began washing her bucket of berries. He followed her lead and washed his. Then she put them all in a big saucepan and added sugar in the same quantity as the huckleberries. After that, she dissolved pectin and added it to the fruit and sugar mixture.
    â€œDo you want me to break up the berries more? Less?” She paused in stirring them and crushing some to make the mixture more jelly-like.
    He peered over her shoulder, breathing in the sweet berry-and-sugar mixture and Lori’s sweet she-wolf scent. “Smells great.