“I completely understand. You didn’t tell him you were invited to dinner tonight.” Tom added the “him” in there, suspecting the caller had to be a he—and Tom damn well wanted to know who he was.
“I doubt he’ll come. Roads are bad.”
So he was close by. Within driving distance.
“I’m… sorry. I hadn’t taken into account that you might have had other plans while you stayed here.” He wasn’t sorry. More disappointed, but he should have realized someone would be interested in the woman.
“Don’t worry about it.”
But he did worry about it. And then he thought it odd. She hadn’t mentioned to the caller that she’d been injured. Maybe not wanting to concern the man, since he couldn’t do anything about it? Or maybe she was worried he’d be angry with the pack for allowing her to be injured, and she didn’t want to stir up trouble.
“If he arrives anyway, he could have dinner with Darien and Lelandi tonight,” Tom offered, as much as he hated to.
“No,” she said.
Bluntly. No explanation. That made him even more curious.
“He’s driving?”
This time her gaze locked onto Tom’s.
He fought to keep from smiling as he drank the rest of his beer and sat back in his chair. “Was he going to ski with you?”
She smiled. “You’re cute, you know? No, I’m not seeing him, as in he’s my favorite squeeze. Yes, he’s a wolf. Yes, he’s driving. No, he’s not skiing with me.”
Tom chuckled. He guessed he wasn’t as subtle as he’d hoped. He frowned. “Business?”
She hesitated too long. Finally, she said, “Yeah. Business.”
Coyote trickster came to mind. Again.
He desperately wanted to ask her what kind of business, but he was glad the guy wasn’t courting her. Tom smiled. “You think I’m cute?”
She laughed. “Yeah. You are. Just don’t let it go to your head.”
“After that kiss we shared on the slope, it already has.”
She shook her head slightly, but she smiled.
The door jingled and they both glanced that way.
“Don’t tell me,” she said. “The man with Jake is your oldest brother.”
“Yeah, he is.”
Being in a close-knit pack, Darien, Tom, and Jake often came to the tavern midday to hang out with other pack members and hear if anyone had trouble with anything. So when Tom saw Darien and Jake enter the tavern, he thought that was the only reason they’d come. Unless someone in the tavern had texted them that he and Elizabeth were here and they wanted to check on them. Tom waved at his brothers to join them. Darien and Jake cast each other looks as if they weren’t sure if they should intrude. This was their regular table, and sitting somewhere else might signal that Tom was courting Elizabeth.
“Elizabeth, meet my brother Darien.”
“Don’t stand,” Darien said. “We look forward to seeing you tonight. Lelandi’s planning a big spread and has nannies taking care of the kids.”
“Thanks. She didn’t have to go to all that trouble,” Elizabeth said.
“Are you kidding? She’s a psychologist, which means she wants to do everything just right to make you feel at home.”
Elizabeth smiled faintly.
“Come, join us,” Tom offered. This was the pack leaders’ table, so no one needed to offer Darien a seat, but Tom could see that Darien was waiting to determine whether his youngest brother wanted time alone with the wolf-coyote lady.
Several tables had filled up due to the time of day. After Darien and Jake took their usual seats, Jake waved to Silva. “I need to get back to the slopes, so if you can just get me a water and sandwich, that’ll work.”
“You got it,” Silva said. “You, boss?” she asked Darien.
“Same.”
“Coming up,” Sam said, as if he didn’t need Silva to tell him what to do.
Silva walked over to the bar to get the tray.
His voice low, Darien said to Tom, “The Victorian Tea Shop?”
“Yeah, there might be trouble in paradise,” Tom replied.
Silva delivered the tray of sandwiches and two bottled waters to their table. “More wolf sightings around the local farmers’ livestock, I hear.”
“A farmer spotted three wolves yesterday before the snowstorm hit,” Darien said.
Tom leaned back in his chair. “Every time we’ve investigated, we haven’t smelled any of their scents.”
“I checked with the couple of wolf packs that live several miles from here to see if they know of any rogue wolves, or if any of their pack members have been missing,” Darien said.