Rachel interrupted his chaotic thoughts. “Okay, I think I need some explanations, and I need them now.”
Gerald smiled, showing too many teeth. “And that’s my cue to leave.” He snatched the letter from Rachel, burned it and pocketed his lighter. Grabbing his briefcase, he swiftly said his goodbyes and left them standing together, alone at last.
Rachel blinked rapidly and shook her head. “This is like some bad dream. I inherited my aunt’s house with major strings attached. And what the hell is this totem, anyway?
Gerald told me about a twenty-foot totem pole, but that letter said something way different. I want answers, Burke.”
She planted her hands on her hips, her attitude both aggressive and scared. He wanted to know exactly what Charlotte had written, and why it made Rachel so nervous.
“Tell me what your aunt said.”
“First, you tell me about this totem pole and why the town has festivals dedicated to it. And why were you fighting with mountain men just after breakfast? And while you’re at it, why are most of the men I’ve seen in town so…”
“So what?”
“So animalistic? Not to mention loaded with testosterone and weirdly good-looking genes.” She stared at him almost accusingly.
His brows rose. So did that mean she thought he was handsome as well? Even as he preened he chastised himself. The totem, Burke. Remember the town.
With a sigh, he grabbed his keys out of his pants pocket and tossed them in his hand.
“You want the truth, is that it?” At her insistent nod, he exhaled heavily. “Fine. Maybe that’ll make everything clearer. But this is going to take a while. How about you and I grab some coffee at my place? I’ll behave, I promise.” He wanted to smile at the small frown of disappointment curling her lips, wondering if she realized it was there. “I’ll show you my neighboring land and introduce you to my idiot brothers if they’re home, and then we can figure out how to work with Charlotte’s last wishes so that we can both live with the results.”
She cocked her head, as if weighing his sincerity. Whatever she saw satisfied her, and the tension he hadn’t been aware of within him relaxed. “All right. Then you’ll take me back into town to get my car?”
“Whatever you want.” So long as I get you away from rogue wolves and away from here. Careful not to crowd her, as much as he wanted to, he waited while she carried her box back into the house and returned after locking the front door behind her. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that anyone who wanted in would find a way, if they hadn’t already. Hell, he and his brothers had already looked through the home and that box, but had found nothing of any consequence, much to their dismay.
Burke helped Rachel into his truck and closed the door after her. A strange enjoyment filled him at having her to himself again, and he drove the mile separating their properties slowly.
“So what do you do on your ranch?”
He glanced at her, appreciating the glint of sunlight striking her hair into a glossy blue-black. “We raise a small herd of cattle, mostly for food, as well as a large vegetable garden. Our family’s run the land for over two hundred years. We try to be self-sufficient, for the most part. But we generate much of our income from Chastell Tours, a fishing guide company Dean and Grady run. I operate the business end of it from the house.” He shrugged. “I’m not one for tourists and bigger towns. What about you?”
“Well, over a year ago I split from my business partner of three years. I’ve been involved in legal battles since.” Her lips turned down, and he saw bitterness in her gaze.
“A real waste of my life.” Her business partner sounded like way more than some platonic associate. “Luckily, I was always the gifted one in our partnership. I run a small business, a promotions firm that specializes in web development and management.”
He nodded. “So you can do that anywhere, so long as you can get on the Internet.”
No reason for her to leave Cougar Falls. His blood pounded at the thought.
“Yeah. Actually, this couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
He glanced at her and saw her flush.
“I didn’t mean that, at least, not the way it sounded. I loved Aunt Charlotte. Hell, I wish she was here right now and I was just visiting. But she’s gone, and I’m at loose ends. Aunt Charlotte would have said it was fate.”
Burke felt the ghostly whisper of destiny over the back of his neck. “You a big believer in fate?”
“No, actually.” She chuckled and leaned her head toward the window, the wind pushing through her dark hair like threading fingers. “I don’t like to think my future’s planned for me. I think we all make our own destinies.”
“Yeah, me too. But I’ve been told I have control issues.”
She turned to him and her grin lit her face, a beacon of warmth he wanted to bask in.
“Who told you that?”
“Grady and Dean. The two most irritating men you’ve ever met in your life.”
“But, Burke, if they’re anything like you, I can’t imagine them being anything less than perfectly charming.”
He laughed. “Very funny. But you’ll see soon enough.” He pulled into his driveway and drove the half mile to the house. A large rancher, the house had plenty of room for his pride—what used to consist of nearly twenty Shifter pairings and the occasional loner, now down to three unattached catamount males, a bear Shifter with attitude and his pretty wife. Years ago, the town suffered when the totem fell under the gray wolves’ hands for a spell. Huge clan wars resulted in getting the totem back, but at a price. Many in the pride died, and the rest eventually scattered. Though saddened, his parents had said it was for the best, as many in the pride had been considering leaving anyway. Catamounts, traditionally, were solitary creatures. Typically, outside of one’s immediate family, a male feline Shifter felt the urge to claim his own territory. And unlike the wolves, cats weren’t pack animals; they didn’t much like to share. Burke and his brothers, however, didn’t fit the mold. They liked living together, with each other and with Joel and his family. They had no plans to separate, whether they mated or not.
Thoughts of mating had him glancing at Rachel, and he wondered how she would like living alone in Charlotte’s house.
Rachel whistled, shifting his focus. “Holy crap, this place is huge. And so pretty.”
He felt a burst of pride and parked, trying to see his house as she might. Built in sections, the main log cabin was surrounded by flowers and a small stream behind the house. Through the years, they’d added on to the house as needed, making the additions seamless. Now, thirty-four hundred square feet of space gave his pride enough room to roam without stepping all over one another, and the extra cabins near the main house gave them even more space.
“Who lives in those?” Rachel pointed to two of the six cabins visible over the hill on which the property sat.
“Joel and his wife, Maggie, live in that one. You saw them this morning in the Fox’s Henhouse. Joel was the big guy sitting at the table next to mine, and Maggie was the cute blonde, his wife. She’s the one who keeps the flowers so nice, while Joel works around the ranch with me. He’s big into the garden.”
“He’s a farmer?”
“Of sorts. He loves to eat, and makes sure we have what we need to survive.”
“Interesting. You sound like one of those survivalists or something.”