Silence of the Wolf(87)

“Chicken,” Tom said. “Do we have any steaks?”

Elizabeth smiled. “Chicken sounds great.”

“I promised you—” Tom said.

Elizabeth shook her head. She didn’t want them to hear the whole story of how she’d been taken hostage. “Chicken is fine.”

Darien and Jake still waited for an explanation.

Tom cleared his throat. “Elizabeth had bought some steaks at a butcher shop and—”

“It’s all right, really,” Elizabeth said, taking his hand and squeezing it. If she was going to be alone with Tom, sure, then she’d want steaks. But whatever his family had planned was fine with her.

“She lost them when they took her hostage,” Tom said, sounding angry now that they had kidnapped her. “I promised her when we reached your place, I’d fix her a steak.”

Darien and Jake grinned.

“Yeah, steaks. Yeah, that’s what really appeals to me,” Darien said. “You, Jake?”

“I’m always interested in a tender, juicy steak.”

Elizabeth felt her face flush with heat. “I was just a little angry that I’d paid for the steaks, good price, too, and…” She shrugged. “Lost them.”

“Whatever you’d like is fine with all of us. That’s about all I have to say about the tracking tomorrow. We’ll get together for dinner in a few hours, call it a night early, and leave before dawn,” Darien said.





Chapter 26


As soon as Darien ended the talk, Tom sequestered Elizabeth in his bedroom, and she knew they hadn’t come up here merely to take a wolfish nap.

She noted he didn’t have antique furniture like in her guest room. Everything was modern. A dark chocolate-brown padded headboard stretched halfway up the wall. A white duvet covered a king-sized bed, and a brown-satin padded bench sat at the foot of the bed. The covers were in disarray, half tossed over the bench and half on the floor.

“Restless night?” she asked.

“Woke really late and worried about you, then found you were MIA the next morning.”

“Ah.” She didn’t want to get into that again. She’d disappeared on him, and she guessed he’d left to look for the rogue wolves after that and didn’t have time to clean up.

Two large, matching armless chairs were situated one on either side of an entertainment center—wide-screen TV, computer, and stereo. A thick, plush brown carpet made her want to kick off her shoes and roll around on the floor because it looked so cushiony soft.

She toed off the slipper boots.

“Are you sure you trust Bjornolf?” Tom asked, closing the door behind them as she looked at the rest of his bedroom and saw one of the pictures she’d taken at the ski slopes framed and sitting on his dresser.

He cleared his throat. “Jake must have had the picture turned into a print. To remind me to chase you down.”

She chuckled. “I doubt you needed the reminder.”

“I didn’t.”

“As for Bjornolf, yeah, I’d trust him with my life. He’s a retired SEAL, you know. Anna works on ‘projects’ with him. I suspect both of them know lethal moves without even turning into a wolf.”

Tom laughed, turned on some soft instrumental music, then raised the volume.

“What’s so funny?”

Tom pulled off his snow boots, then joined Elizabeth and wrapped his arms around her back. He slowly danced to the music with her. “Peter thought his brother had been involved in illegal operations all this time. He said he caught the two of them sparring in the guest bedroom of his home. We all thought it was a case of mate abuse.”

She laughed. “I guess they were keeping in shape.”

“Speaking of keeping in shape…”

Elizabeth had never danced with a wolf before, and she loved Tom’s moves as he held her close, rubbing his body against hers and claiming her, just as she was claiming him back. “Great dancer.”

“Hmm,” Tom responded, his hands slipping all over her back, sliding the soft wool sweater against her skin. His warm hands slid up her sweater, his fingers pausing at her bra. He smiled. “Did you find it in my room?”

“I had to look a bit. It was tucked away in your underwear drawer between two pairs of black briefs.”

“See how I even share my drawers with you?”

She smiled and rubbed her body against his, loving the feel of his cock coming to life, firm, ready. “I love how much you share every bit of you with me.”

That earned her a smile. He leaned down and nuzzled his face against her cheek, lower until he could kiss her neck, her throat, her breasts. At the same time, his fingers unfastened her bra at the back. When he straightened, she pressed harder against his erection, wanting to feel his firmness, touch him, caress him, take him inside her.