They explored the cabin. The sofa had a pull-out bed and there was a full bathroom downstairs. The bedroom upstairs was large, with a king-sized bed and a sizeable bathroom. Troy checked and made sure all the windows and entries were locked, especially the sliding glass doors leading to the deck outside the dining area.
They returned to the living room. Troy knew he should return to the bunkhouse. Knew he had an early rising to help the other cowboys patrol the perimeter before the tourists arrived. Dale had been insistent on that because the security enforcer sensed things, the way animals sensed changing weather.
But Jenny looked frail and vulnerable, not her usual tough self.
“I need to leave. But I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Stay here with me.” Jenny touched the sofa. “This feels so odd, Troy. I haven’t slept in a place this … homey … in months. I don’t want to be alone.”
He wanted to. He wanted more than anything to climb into that bed and curl up beside her. Maybe a few kisses to get things started and then they’d shuck their clothing and give way to their feelings at last.
But more than sex, Jenny needed to feel secure. The way Snake had looked at her sent his hackles rising.
“I have no intention of leaving, Jenny. Not now. I need to return to the bunkhouse and fetch my stuff and get your pack as well. Go get settled in the bedroom and I’ll sleep on the sofa when I return.”
“That bed is big enough for both of us. Why not use that?”
Troy gave her a level look. “First, if I sleep on the sofa I’ll know the minute if anything or anyone tries to break inside. Second, if you want me in bed with you, I ain’t sleeping, Jenny.”
He went to her and stood close enough to see the fascinating green flecks in her blue eyes. “I don’t know if you’re ready for that. If you are, I am. But I’m not pushing you into something you’re not ready for. And once we cross that threshold, sweetheart, I’m not holding back. All night long.”
Her soft complexion and huge eyes compelled him to lean closer. Confess his deepest desire.
“When I take you, we’ll have a long time for me to do to you the things I’ve dreamed of for a while. There’ll be no rush. Only us, naked, nothing between us.”
Jenny’s pupils dilated. “Troy, you make me want to get naked. Now.”
He sighed. “That makes two of us, darling. But I can wait. Good things are worth waiting for.”
Rubbing a hand over the bristles on his chin, he ruefully wondered how cold the shower was in this place. Might help with the rising heat in his groin. He had no intention of dozing off with a hard-on.
Troy watched her yawn. “Big day. Go upstairs, get some rest.”
“What about you?”
“Tomorrow I have an early day. Have to help Darius with a group of tourists who want a trail ride into the mountains.”
“Tourists? You mean Skins? Aiden allows humans on this ranch?”
Judging from her tone, he got it. She didn’t think the Lupines here were as wild and carefree as they seemed.
“This is a working ranch and one of the things Mitchell does is trail rides for Skins. During certain days and never during a full moon.”
He winked at her, but Jenny did not smile back.
“Jenny, there’s no such thing as a pure Lupine pack anymore. We all have to make adjustments to living in the Skin world. If you’re still searching for that Lupine utopia where everyone runs around in wolfskin and lives off the land, I doubt you’ll find many packs. Except in Alaska.”
He really hoped she wouldn’t entertain going that far to get away from people.
“It’s not that, Troy. Not anymore.” She frowned. “This feels like a good place, Troy, but there’s still something here I can’t place. That evil stone I destroyed earlier… it felt like a test. As if someone were trying to infiltrate the ranch, and seeing where the weaknesses were.”
Troy had to know. If anyone had seen what she had done… “How did you destroy the stone, Jenny? The same way you hurt those Skins in the dark alley?”
Her mouth opened. She rubbed her arms and did not look at him. Troy went to her, cupped her chin.
“It’s your business and yours alone. But I don’t like Tristan sniffing around here because if anyone saw what you did and told the Silver Wizard, he could take you away. Permanently.”
She shivered as he stroked a thumb across her wobbling lower mouth. “I saw you react to him. Guess you’ve had your own troubles with that wizard.”
“He can vaporize you, Jenny. Not one to be trifled with. Put as much space as possible between you and Tristan.”
“What did you do to know so much about him?”
Those big blue eyes looked at him without guile or deceit. Troy debated telling her, and gambled. Talking about the wizard and what he’d done made his erection shrivel faster than a cold shower.
“You know I have a past, Jenny. Haven’t shared the bad stuff because you had baggage enough of your own.” He gestured to the sofa and they both sat upon it.
“I told you I was left without a pack when my family moved to Europe and I didn’t want to go with them. That’s true.”
He stared down at his hands. Long fingers, elegant, and more suited for piano playing than being a boy, his mama once said, laughing as she would wipe his hands after he played in the mud or got into some minor trouble.
When he turned fourteen and all the changes began, she no longer laughed or wiped his fingers when he came into the house, stomping off mud or dirt. Instead she looked at him the way the rest
