“Yeah. But this assignment’s close to home.”
“Oregon coast,” she said.
“Yeah. You’ll need some winter clothes. When we arrive in Portland, we can take you shopping. Funds will come out of my budget. You’ll actually need an assortment and Tessa can help you with it.”
“An assortment?” she asked, looking puzzled.
“To blend in,” Hunter said.
“And Bjornolf, too,” she said.
Bjornolf dipped his head in agreement.
Looking intrigued, Allan and Paul shifted their gazes from Anna to Hunter.
Seeing their interest, Hunter asked, “Sure you guys don’t want to come along for the ride?”
“Still got plans,” Allan said.
Bjornolf was looking forward to this new mission. He smiled at Hunter and raised his beer to him. Hunter saluted him back. They both polished off their beers, and Hunter ordered another round.
This was one Christmas Bjornolf thought he might enjoy.
Anna gave him a pointed look.
Chapter 6
As they took off on the flight for Portland, Anna wondered what lay in store for her. She was always ready for a mission, but something about this one made her wary. Hunter was usually good about giving her detailed instructions, but this time he seemed reluctant to say anything.
Sitting in the middle of a row, Anna realized she’d fallen asleep against Bjornolf’s shoulder, waking when the hostess offered drinks. Anna quickly sat up and looked at him to see if he’d noticed. He smiled down at her.
His sweet expression surprised her. That one smile undid her and her whole body warmed. Hunter, who was seated next to the aisle, passed two plastic cups of water over to Anna and Bjornolf and asked for the same.
She was dying to ask Hunter what the mission was, but she knew he wouldn’t be able to say until they were in a private vehicle where he could talk freely.
She drank her water and felt revived. Ready for the next mission.
“So you didn’t have any plans for the holidays?” Bjornolf said to her.
She looked at Bjornolf, whose gaze shifted behind her to Hunter. She suspected he was motioning to kill the subject. Christmas was not good for her.
“Me, neither,” Bjornolf said, shrugging. “I have a brother, but I haven’t seen him in years. After the bear incident, life at home was never the same.”
She was surprised to hear him speak about it again. Why had he confided in her? If she’d had such an experience, she wouldn’t have told anyone.
He was watching her, not looking away, waiting as before for her response. She took a deep breath. “Your brother didn’t go with you that day.”
“Nah. He was always the good kid. Never did anything wrong. Never wild or adventurous. Sometimes I wish I had been more like him.”
“A lot of people have depended on you, Bjornolf,” she said softly. “I don’t think anyone would have wanted you to be anything other than who you are.”
He gave her one of his elusive smiles.
Her hormone levels rose. The problem with a guy like Bjornolf was that he intrigued her. But she wasn’t going to tell him that.
“So… it happened at Christmastime?” she asked.
“Yeah. Shortly before then. You can’t imagine what it was like to see the pack members for Christmas and know that one family had lost their son before the big day. I couldn’t deal with it. Had nightmares about it forever.”
She looked away before her own bad memories swamped her. “I don’t do Christmas.”
“None of it?”
“Unless I’m desperate. I don’t mall shop if I can avoid it. I can’t even imagine going to one this time of year. I don’t need to see a rotund man with a fake snow-white beard and a bunch of squirmy kids waiting beside a faux candy-cane fence, with fluffy pretend snow all over the place. Or crowds of harried shoppers buying a bunch of junk that will be given away at white-elephant parties later. Even trying to find a parking place at such a time is a nightmare,” she said.
He laughed.
She smiled, glad he didn’t think she was a Scrooge. She wasn’t. She just didn’t have any need for Christmas.
“No Christmas trees, baking sugar cookies, viewing Christmas lights, watching sappy Christmas stories?”
She folded her arms, but she couldn’t help smile at him. “Nope.”
“No Christmas jingles?”
“Not a single one.”
“I have to admit that while we were in the jungle and I was shadowing you with jungle noises all around us, I couldn’t get the words to ‘Jingle Bells’ out of my head.”
She laughed, the notion so funny that she couldn’t help herself. “And when I saw you wearing all that camo paint, looking hot and tough, I thought you were so macho.”
“I was. I am.”
She heard Hunter chuckle beside her and smiled.
Bjornolf hadn’t felt so relaxed in a long time. He enjoyed talking with Anna. He’d never told anyone beyond his wolf pack what had happened to his friend that day. He wasn’t even sure why he had confided in her. To see if she looked at him with as much loathing as his own pack had done, maybe?
But she hadn’t. She’d looked like she wanted to give him a hug. Both times. Except he knew that if she had, he would have responded with a lot more interest.
He wasn’t into Christmas himself, but he kind of liked the idea of celebrating it with her as her pretend husband for the holidays, if only for Nathan’s sake. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like for the kid to have to face the holidays without his family. Maybe he and Anna could make a difference for Nathan this time.
He thought that if he could tough out the season, she should be able to. But she wouldn’t tell him what she’d experienced, and he didn’t know how to deal with it if he didn’t know what deep-rooted difficulty had turned her off Christmas.
When they arrived at their destination, Tessa met them, red hair windswept, green eyes sparkling, white coat parted to reveal her expanded belly, covered in a pretty, pale blue maternity sweater. She quickly greeted Anna and Bjornolf, then gave Hunter such a heartwarming embrace and prolonged kiss that Anna felt embarrassed. Maybe because Bjornolf was there grinning at the exchange.
After loading the field packs into the silver SUV, Hunter took the wheel as Tessa sat up front with him.
What a contrast over a few days: from the hot, muggy Amazon jungle to snowy Oregon. And neither Anna nor Bjornolf was dressed for the change in weather.
“Okay, now what’s the deal?” Anna asked as she and Bjornolf shared the middle bench seat in the SUV.
“Before we head home, we’ll stop at the mall so you can both pick up some clothes to tide you over. On the way over there, I’ll tell you about the mission. You heard Bjornolf brought home one of our teens who had run away, right?”
Thinking back to the last time she was on a mission on the Oregon coast, Anna chewed her bottom lip. “Yeah.” This
