North didn’t say anything, but she could hear his highly agitated heavy breathing on the line.
“I won’t meet you at your place,” Elizabeth continued, disregarding how irritated he was with her. “I’ll be at the Timberline Ski Lodge at two.”
“You couldn’t have picked a worse place for me to meet with you.” North finally let out his breath. “If I have any trouble getting there—the road conditions are bad due to the snowstorm—I’ll give you a ring.”
“All right. See you this afternoon otherwise.” She ended the call and left the room to join Bertha, the owner of the B and B, in the kitchen for breakfast.
She hadn’t realized the B and B was run by a gray wolf couple, but she’d been fortunate that the husband was off on a trip somewhere and his wife was really nice to her. She thought maybe Bertha was just an oddity, but then again, maybe because Elizabeth wasn’t a gray wolf, Bertha didn’t care what she was.
“Good morning, Elizabeth,” Bertha greeted her. The woman had springy silver curls and a round face and a cherub smile that reminded Elizabeth of Mrs. Claus. She wore a colorful burgundy and blue floral dress that matched the bouquets of flowers sitting on the dining-room table, kitchen bar, and tables in the common room. Ivies wound around wrought-iron plant stands, and small ficus trees were grouped next to the big windows that looked out on a tree-filled yard blanketed in snow.
“Good morning. The kitchen smells delightful.” Elizabeth sat down at the table covered in white lace to have a cup of steaming-hot chocolate and a freshly baked cinnamon roll. The frosting melted over the top and dripped down the sides.
The scent of cinnamon filled the kitchen, and Elizabeth took in another deep breath. Just breathing in the sweet, sugary smell was bound to pack on the pounds.
“Are you sure the ski patroller won’t be too put out about having to drop by and pick me up?” Elizabeth asked before she took a bite of the homemade cinnamon roll. If she didn’t ski enough to burn up the calories on the slopes, she would have to run in her wolf coat in the woods tonight.
“No, Tom has to drive right by here to get to the slopes. His brother Darien said Tom works until noon and would bring you home anytime you’re ready.”
“He doesn’t have to do that. I can take the shuttle.”
The front door opened, bells jingling, and though Elizabeth couldn’t see the new arrival, she assumed it was her ride. She didn’t rise from the table, not wanting to appear too anxious or foolish if it wasn’t Tom.
“Tom, is that you?” Bertha called out. “We’re in the kitchen.”
“Yeah, is the lady ready?” Tom sounded a little gruff, annoyed, put out.
Just like Elizabeth had assumed he’d be. She should have called a cab, if they even had cabs in Silver Town.
Tom strode into the kitchen as if he was on a mission and ready to get it over with.
He was tall, and his light-brown windswept hair and shadow of a beard gave him a rugged look. His cheeks were full of color from the cold. His eyes were the same rich shade of light brown as his hair, and they were instantly locked on hers.
He took in a deep breath, and she did, too, in a wolf’s way of determining how someone felt. Instantly, she knew he wasn’t all human.
She got a whole lot more of a perspective than just emotions.
He was one hot-looking gray wolf. And that could mean trouble for her.
Chapter 2
Tom Silver stared at the woman. She was too a wolf. He took another deep breath of the cinnamon-filled air, of the woman’s sweet scent of red wolf… and something else. Coyote.
She was petite like a red wolf, but more than unusual because she wasn’t all wolf. He’d never met a wolf-coyote mix before. Never heard of a coyote shifter. Now he wondered if the coyotes he’d seen that dared encroach on their territory were shifters, not just plain old coyotes.
He immediately thought of the Native American legends of Coyote, the trickster god, full of mischief, a thief, wily and sneaky. And a shape-shifter. Maybe that’s where the tales had come from, based in part on the truth, just as werewolf tales of old were.
The lady’s hair was a mass of shiny, dark red curls. Her eyes were a clear blue-green, her skin ivory except for a pale smattering of tiny red freckles barely visible across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. She was a busty little thing. The sweater was formfitting—the style that showed off a woman’s curves. And she had them in abundance.
He glanced at Bertha. She gave him one of her warmest matchmaking smiles.
Tom barely avoided shaking his head.
“This is Elizabeth Wildwood from Canyon, Texas. Elizabeth, meet Tom Silver.”
“Thank you for taking me to the resort,” Elizabeth said quickly, her expression wary, her heartbeat ratcheting up a couple of notches. She looked as astonished to learn he was a gray wolf as he was to learn what she was. She must not have known Silver Town was wolf-run.
He smelled a tangy scent on her that revealed her concern. If she worried that he intended to hit on her, she needn’t bother. A woman who lived much closer to home would have appealed more.
He let out his breath and said to Elizabeth, “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes, um, let me wash my hands real quick.” Elizabeth leaped to her feet. Without waiting for him to move out of her way, she brushed past him to get to the kitchen sink.
His gaze lingered on the formfitting black ski pants that revealed her shapely ass and legs. Fur-topped snow boots reached to her knees, and her aqua sweater zipped up to her chin.
The fact she was a shifter sure would be a wolf draw. At least he thought so, as pretty as she was. Bertha raised her brows at him, her smile fixed. Why hadn’t Darien filled him in? Tom had thought she might be a non-shifting human who had lupus garou roots, and that’s why Darien had said she was part wolf. From what Tom understood, wolves were just as attracted to those nonshifters as to full-blooded lupus garous. The eager males might not be put off by Elizabeth’s wolf-coyote heritage.
Elizabeth grabbed a parka off her chair, pulled it on, then snatched up a backpack. He led her to the front door.
“Have fun, you two,” Bertha called out in a much too cheerful manner.
“Thanks,” Elizabeth said back sweetly.
Having fun wasn’t what Tom intended. Ensuring the Woodcroft boys stayed out of trouble and that the she-wolf coyote didn’t get herself into a mess would be a job, not a fun excursion.
He glanced back at Bertha and tilted his chin down to give her a disapproving look.
Bertha’s smile only broadened. Tom shook his head.
He held the door open for Elizabeth and tried not to take in her appearance again, but it was difficult not to—being the wolf that he was. She avoided looking at him, which made him believe she was a beta.
That brought his alpha nature to the forefront, protective and in charge.
He shut the door of the B and B, escorted Elizabeth to his pickup truck, and opened the passenger-side door.
She eyed the interior of his truck. “Bertha… well, she said…”
“Yeah?” Tom wondered just what Bertha had said.
Elizabeth cleared her throat.
He waited.
She finally let out her warm cinnamon-scented breath, which misted when it mixed with the icy air, and turned to gaze up at him, her eyes so striking that it was as if he were looking into a crystal clear, blue-green lake. “Bertha said you could hang around to bring me back to the B and B later, but I’ll just take the shuttle.”