Wild About You

good sign.

“Oskar, make sure the wiring is completed for the basement and ground floor,” Alastair continued. “Did you finish sectioning off the basement?”

“Ja,” Oskar replied. “We have the walls up for the bedroom suite and storage room.”

“Excellent.” Alastair strode toward Elsa and handed her the upstairs floor plans. “Let’s make some progress before Madge shows up at noon with the camera crew. Jimmy and Jesse, would you mind putting the leftover donuts in the kitchen?”

With that, everyone split up to get to work. The wiring and plumbing crews were concentrating on the basement and ground floor. Elsa headed up the stairs behind The B Boys. The twins hurried off to the kitchen with the last two boxes of donuts.

With one more stair step to go, she felt a tap on her shoulder from behind. An instant burst of red-hot pain shot from the birthmark on her shoulder. She stumbled onto the second floor landing and turned to see Howard’s cousins right behind her.

“I’m sorry,” one of the twins said, his eyes wide with worry. “I didn’t think I tapped you that hard.”

“Yeah,” the other twin said. “Sometimes we don’t know our own strength.”

“Howard would probably kill us if we hurt you,” the first one added.

“I’m fine,” Elsa assured them. “I just lost my balance.” So these two boys had the same effect on her birthmark that Howard had. Not surprising, really, since they came from the same berserker family. But she didn’t feel immediately drawn to them like she had with Howard.

Another good sign, she thought. It meant she was attracted to Howard not because he was a berserker but because he was Howard. Huge, handsome, hunky Howard.

“We wanted to introduce ourselves,” said the one who had tapped her shoulder. “I’m Jimmy.”

“And I’m Jesse.”

She smiled, hoping Jesse wouldn’t realize she was avoiding shaking hands with him. His touch would probably burn as badly as Jimmy’s had. “I’m delighted to meet you.”

The B Boys gathered around to introduce themselves, then unfolded Elsa’s floor plans to study them.

Jimmy slanted a grin at her. “We heard you were Howard’s dream girl.”

Her heart lifted with a surge of hope. “Did Howard say that?”

“No, it was the little dude,” Jesse said. “Howard just growled at us.”

“He’s not his usual self,” Jimmy whispered.

Elsa nodded, her heart settling back into its current condition of pain and despair. “Buff, can you and the others go ahead and get started? We’ll join you in just a second.” When The B Boys sauntered off with the plans, she turned back to the twins. “I wanted to talk to you in private.”

“Awesome.” Jesse exchanged an excited look with his brother. “This sounds like a conspiracy.”

“Cool,” Jimmy whispered, then turned to Elsa. “It’s about Howard, right?”

“Yes. He’s supposed to come here today at two to videotape an interview.”

“Yeah, he mentioned that,” Jesse said. “Dudette, he’s on to you. He called it a trap.”

“The interview is real,” Elsa assured them. “Madge will be here filming today.”

“And you’ll be here to see Howard?” Jimmy asked.

“He probably assumes I’ll be here,” Elsa continued. “But I won’t be. I’m hoping he’ll be disappointed enough to realize how much he does want to see me.”

“Oh, tricky,” Jesse said. “I like it.”

Elsa sighed. There was a very big danger that her whole plan could backfire and Howard would be relieved she wasn’t here. But if the plan worked, she would be successfully luring Howard back into the role of the pursuer. “Would you mind helping me?”

“What can we do?” Jimmy asked.

“If Howard asks where I am, tell him I’m cooling down at the stream. He knows where that is.”

“You’re going to reel him in like a fish?” Jimmy grinned. “Cool.”

Jesse nodded. “Awesome.”

Where the hell was she? Howard had showered and shaved and put on some of his best clothes before walking into Elsa’s trap. Dammit, here he was, a willing victim, and she didn’t bother to show up?

He hid his frustration behind a forced smile as he exchanged pleasantries with Madge in front of the camera. In the course of the interview, she’d walked him through the basement, where the plumbing and wiring crews were hard at work. But no Elsa.

Madge had escorted him around the ground floor, even going into the kitchen to inspect Elsa’s progress on the cabinets. She wasn’t there.

She wasn’t upstairs, either. It didn’t make sense. She had to be around here somewhere. Her aunt Greta was parked outside in the driveway. He’d spotted her when he’d parked his SUV behind the sporty convertible his cousins had borrowed from Ian.

So where the hell was Elsa?

It didn’t matter, he told himself. It was best not to see her again.

There will never be another Elsa, you fool.

The interview ended, and he gave Madge a strained smile as she thanked him.

He hesitated, watching Madge and her crew go down the stairs and out the front door. Should he leave, too? The interview was over.

“Hey, dude.” Jesse sauntered toward him with his brother. “You were good.”

“Yeah,” Jimmy agreed. “Real smooth.”

Howard shrugged. “I used to do a lot of interviews when I played football.”

“Cool.” Jimmy eyed him curiously.

“Awesome.” Jesse crossed his arms, watching him.

What did they want? “Are you working hard?” Howard asked.

They nodded.

“You brought everyone donuts like I asked?”

They nodded.

Howard raked a hand through his hair. “It seems a little . . . odd.”

“What?” Jimmy asked.

“Elsa’s aunt is out front to guard her, but she’s not here.”

“Hmm.” Jesse looked at his brother. “Didn’t she tell us she was going somewhere?”

“Yeah.” Jimmy scratched his head. “Where was that?”

The twins exchanged an amused look.

Howard gritted his teeth. “Where is she?”

“Well, if you insist.” Jesse’s mouth twitched. “She said something about cooling off in a stream.”

Howard had an instant vision of Elsa splashing around in the pothole where the water was deep.

Jimmy heaved a sigh. “It’s a shame you missed her.”

“Yeah. I guess you have to get back to work.” Jesse patted Howard on the back. “Tough luck, old dude.”

Howard clenched his fists. So this was the trap. Elsa alone at the stream. “I’ll see you guys later.” He marched down the stairs, ignoring the snickers from his cousins.

So they were in on it. Shanna, too. Did everyone think he was that easily manipulated?

He’d show them. He’d go back to work at Dragon Nest. And Elsa could splash around in the damned stream all afternoon, waiting for him.

He reached the bottom of the stairs. It was a tempting trap, he had to admit, but he wouldn’t fall for it. Cooling down in the stream, my ass.

Skinny-dipping? He paused by the front door. Was she waiting for him naked? Did she think he was that easy to entice? Damn.

He spun on his heel and strode toward the back door. His cousins on the second-floor landing cheered, then laughed when he shot them the finger.

He’d show Elsa not to toy with him.