Marie Harte - Foxy Lady

The middle of Nowhere, Washington

Ty swore under his breath as he dodged yet another pothole in what passed for a paved road in this crappy little town. For all that folks complained about Cougar Falls, the town council would have been caught dead before letting their streets look like this.

On either side of Main Street people parked pickup trucks and four-wheel drives next to the occasional sedan—all American-made. A diner, grocery store and pharmacy sat on the east side of Main, while the local hardware, sheriff’s office, hunting lodge and bar took up the west. On the few side streets in this less-than-picturesque small town, eclectic shops attempted to capitalize on the area. But from what Ty had seen, the surrounding lake, forest and mountains gave Nowhere, Washington its real grandeur.

His stomach grumbled again, his high metabolism making it nearly impossible to go too long without food. Unfortunately, instinct told him if he didn’t find Julia soon, the damned woman would find herself in more trouble than she could handle. Hunters. God almighty. Thoughts of the stubborn redhead awakened his libido from the hibernation he’d endured in her absence. So not what he wanted right now, not with his family’s constant pressure to procreate. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was missing the game tonight at Burke’s place.

“Trust Julia to screw up March Madness for me,” he muttered as he left the main town behind and turned into a neat little convenience store. Thank God this place had a paved lot. After filling up the fuel tank on his truck, he hurried through the bitter wind.

Inside the store, Ty grabbed packets of jerky, some trail mix and a water.

“That it for ya?” an older man asked and rubbed his grizzled cheeks. He wore a plaid flannel shirt with a nametag pinned to the pocket— Bart, owner and operator.

“And the gas.” After Ty paid, he took out a picture of Julia and shoved it across the counter. “You seen this woman?”

He stared down at the same feminine perfection the old man studied. Thick, auburn hair covered her shoulders and framed a pixie-like face. Her light brown eyes flashed with humor in the picture, and he remembered her laughing at something Gerald had said. Of course, that was several months ago, back when the blasted woman had a sense of humor. Now he was lucky to get even a glare, and all because he’d done the right thing.

Fuming about a night he wished he could redo, he asked again, “You seen her or not?”

The old man smiled. “Yeah.” He said nothing more.

“Where is she?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“She’s a friend of mine.”

“Then shouldn’t you know where she is?”

Ty gritted his teeth. The wily old coot might as well have been Ac-taw. He danced around words as fine as any shapeshifting silver fox Ty had encountered.

Ty wanted to flash his badge and demand answers, but he had no jurisdiction here. And explaining Cougar Falls and its citizens to any outsider without council permission would not only bring danger to the people Ty had sworn to protect, but it would get him kicked out of his clan in a heartbeat. A Shifter without a clan had no place in Cougar Falls. Ty couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Ever.

He could force the old man to answer, but Ty didn’t believe in bullying when a cagey fox could handle a challenge in a far better way. Nothing satisfied him so much as matching wits and coming out the winner. Especially since he couldn’t afford to lose.

Ty rubbed his throat, feeling the press of responsibility tightening around his neck. He glanced at Julia’s picture again, worry for the slight woman increasing his urgency to find her and make sure of her safety.

Pretending to play the old man’s game, he sighed and settled on as much truth as he could. “Her name’s Julia Easton. She has two sisters, and they both look like her.”

“Pretty,” Bart murmured, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Very. Truth of the matter is that if I don’t play things right, I’m screwed. Woman just doesn’t understand I was doing it for her own good.” She treated him like he had the plague.

“Woman problems. I knew it.”

Woman problems. Ha. Try shapeshifting-vixen problems. Ty wished he had Julia here to shake some sense into her, but that would mean putting his hands on her pretty, pale, soft skin. Arousal centered in his groin.

He vented his frustration to the old man. “I’ve been wanting to get my hands on this particular woman for years. She’s cool, calm and unattainable. Never even looked at me twice while half the assholes in town are drooling all over her. Frankly, I just don’t have the time or energy to fawn over the woman.” Not that a Roderick should have to fawn. Dammit.

“Like that, is it?”

“Unfortunately, yeah. Then out of the blue, she gets drunk and propositions me. What was I supposed to do? Take advantage of her?”

“Hell, no.”

“Right. So I gently turned her down. That was four weeks ago. Stubborn woman won’t give me the time of day anymore.”

“That’s too bad.”

Ty appreciated Bart’s sympathy. God knew his friends and family weren’t giving him any. “My father thinks it’s funny. My mother’s on my case to settle down and have kits—kids. How can I if Julia won’t even speak to me?”

“Now that’s a problem.” Bart tapped the picture, his shrewd gaze on Ty’s face. “You planning on taking her back with you when you go?”

“Yes, I am.”

Bart shook his head. “Then things are going to go to hell in a handbasket sooner than I’d thought. Your pretty gal is with her sisters in Maude’s cabin on the hilltop. Another mile and a half down, make a right. Take the dirt road to the end and you’ll see a blue cabin.”

“Okay, thanks,” Ty said slowly.

“No, thank you . I can’t wait to see Ned Williams’ face when you try runnin’ off with his fiancée.”

“His what? ”

“Rumor has it the wedding’s set for next week. Good luck, fella. You’re going to need it.”

“It’s amazing to me we didn’t abandon you at birth.”

“Julia!” Gabby gasped in shocked laughter. “Really.”

“Really,” Julia grumbled, aiming her glare at her youngest and most troublesome sister, Meghan. “I’ve been out here a half dozen times in the last four months at least, thanks to your nifty little note to the family. And that’s not counting all the trips I took to visit you at college. What were you thinking, Meghan? Aunt Lynn is in fits, Uncle Harry won’t speak to me—thanks for that, at least—but keeping quiet about you in love with an outsider is giving me ulcers.”

“So who asked you to keep quiet?” Meghan retorted.

“You’d rather the clan cut you off and force you to leave town? Choosing to go is one thing, but not having a choice to return is another.”

“But she’s in love…” Gabby trailed off when she saw Julia’s real anger.

“ Love? What does the brat know about love?”

“I’m not ‘the brat.’ I’m twenty-two years old! My name is Meghan ,” Meghan shouted and threw a pillow at Julia. “Just because you’re a few years older does not make you my mother.”

Gabby groaned.

Julia dove in headfirst. “No, our mother is right now rolling over in her grave because you’re crushing on some kid fresh out of college. A miracle, really, since his backwoods family makes the possibility of a Deliverance sequel all too real.”