ROMANCE: SHIFTER: Shifter to the Max Collection (Dragon, Bear, Wolf and Panther Shifter Romances) (Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection) (107 page)

Chloe had been waiting at the window all afternoon. She’d seen the taxi coming down the valley of Cache Creek, and started to run down the staircase, knocking Josiah out of the way.

“Where’s the fire?” He’d bellowed after her. Chloe completely ignored him, hurrying to the door and then busting through to the porch where she’d decided she would wait. It would mean she could help Heather with her bags, and Heather would immediately see what a great daughter she’d be.

Josiah came and joined her on the porch. He too, had seen the car coming up the drive.

“Who’s visitin’ Chloe? Your dad never said anything about anybody.” He asked the girl, who by now was practically hyperventilating with excitement.

“That’s because dad doesn’t know.”

“Do you know?” Josiah eyed her suspiciously.

“No.” Chloe lied, crossing her arms and jutting out her chin, without removing her gaze from the approaching car.

“No?” Josiah asked again. Crouching down to eye-level with Chloe. “Are you sure you don’t know?” 

Before Chloe could reply, the door of the Taxi opened, and Heather stepped out.

Chloe ran down the porch steps, and galloped over the grass to greet her new mother. She stopped still in front of her. Drinking in the long hair, the beautiful brown eyes that were warm with kindness, and the welcoming smile of her face showing perfectly white teeth.

“Are you Chloe?” the woman asked.

“Hi.” Replied Chloe, suddenly shy and feeling a little overwhelmed. “You’re Heather?”

“I am. I’ve really looked forward to meeting you.” Heather opened her arms, inviting the girl into a hug. Chloe stepped timidly into her embrace, and drank in Heather’s smell of fresh laundry and a delicate floral perfume. Her hugs, like her father’s, felt solid and loving, but she found Heather’s to be much softer and gentler. Chloe felt like she could stay in her arms forever, feeling small, and safe and warm.

Eventually she broke away, and looked up at Heather. Her eyes looked a little wet, and Chloe hoped she hadn’t upset the woman.

“Heather, can I show you the house? Would you like to see my room?”

Heather laughed, “I would love to” She paused, looking up at the porch, “Is that your daddy, Chloe?” she asked.

“No! That’s Josiah. He’s my sitter. And works on the ranch with my dad. My dad’s not here, he had to fix Billy Nelson’s gate. He is very sorry that he can’t see you right away, and asked to send you his deepest regrets.” Finished Chloe confidently. She beamed up at Heather.

“That’s a shame. Well, I look forward to meeting him later.” Heather replied. She was a bit disappointed that he wasn’t here to greet her, but then a ranch emergency couldn’t be ignored. She shrugged, and thanked the cab driver for retrieving her bags from the trunk. He tipped his cap to her, and then drove the cab back down the track.

Josiah came forward, taking the bags from Heather.

“I was doing that Josiah!” Chloe wrestled one out of his hand, and although it was almost the same size as she was, she bravely staggered with it up the steps.

“Hello. I’m Heather.” Heather held out her hand to Josiah, and he smiled as he took it.

“Nice to meet you, Heather.” Josiah was too polite to ask who she was, and what she was doing here, so he just continued to carry the other bag up to the house.

“I can take that,” said Heather, feeling horribly guilty at a young child and an old man carrying her bags for her, “really. Let me.”

“Nope,” replied Josiah winking at her, “not in this part of the world you don’t. We don’t let guests carry their own bags over the threshold.” Heather smiled, and followed him into the house.

She only just stopped herself from gasping as they entered into the front room. The window frontage let in the red, yellows and pinks of the sunset. It was stunning. Despite the majesty of the entrance, the house looked incredibly cozy and inviting. The furniture looked lived in, two huge leather sofas were beautifully cracked and vintage looking, something people were paying a fortune for in New York.  A huge fireplace crackled invitingly in the center of the room, it’s flue reaching up through the ceiling. The entire house smelt faintly of cedar wood, and Heather could practically feel her body relax as they went from room to room.

“This is your guest bedroom,” announced Chloe, at the door of a very pretty room, with a closet, chest of draws and a decently sized double bed. Heather walked over to the window, admiring the view out over the valley.

“It’s beautiful, thank you so much Chloe.” She turned back to face the girl, and as she did so, she noticed a vase of wild flowers sitting on the chest of draws.

“Are these from you?” she asked Chloe.

“Me and my dad,” replied Chloe proudly, “do you like them?”

“I love them!” exclaimed Heather.

Chloe smiled back at her, “we’re really excited you’re here. My dad can’t wait to meet you. I hope you like it here. We have horses and other animals; I can show you them tomorrow. And we can go fishing in the lake, if you’d like? There’s loads of things to do here.” Chloe finished almost breathless.

“I love it here Chloe, it’s wonderful.” Heather reassured her. Chloe’s face flushed pink at the compliment.

“You’ve robbed me blind, woman.” Josiah looked admiringly at Heather and she laughed greedily.

They had been playing an intense game of Monopoly for the last two hours, Chloe had continually robbed from the bank, and then joined Heather’s team when it was time to admit defeat. Together they’d dominated the board, leaving Josiah with one paltry property and plenty of debt.

Heather had long ago stopped anxiously glancing toward the door. The game had completely distracted her from the strange situation, and it felt like the three of them were in their own cozy world, and that Heather had known Josiah and Chloe forever.

Chloe was currently leaning on her arm, her eyes closing every so often as the girl grew drowsy from the firelight and warmth.

“I think we need to feed her,” said Josiah, echoing Heather’s own thoughts.

“We do. Shall I get cooking?” Heather replied.

“No, don’t do that,” Josiah hurried to his feet, “I can get on with that. We have some stuff I can defrost.”

“Or I can get into the kitchen and see what I can rustle up? Honestly Josiah, I love cooking – I’d enjoy it.” Heather smiled up at the man, trying to persuade him. As long as she was here, she didn’t want Chloe eating defrosted leftovers. That girl was going to get proper home cooking.

“You sure?” Josiah was hesitant.

“I’m positive. Now, just show me the kitchen.”

Josiah took her through to the farmhouse-style kitchen. All the equipment looked brand new, the stove like it had never before been used. On closer inspection Heather found it to be well equipped, and on opening the fridge it was revealed to be bursting with fresh ingredients.

“Well, looks like we have a chef here already,” Heather asked Josiah curiously, “does Tanner cook?”

Josiah barked out a shout of laughter, “No ma’am. He sure doesn’t.” He eyed the fridge and smiled to himself, Chloe had dragged him into town early that morning – insisting that the fridge needed to be full of groceries. He’d thought at the time the girl had gone half mad, but now it all made a lot more sense.

“Well – I can certainly make something out of all this,” Heather riffled through the contents, “potatoes dauphinoise, salad and steak? “

“Sounds great.” Josiah had no idea what potatoes dauphinoise was, but it sounded delicious.

Heather turned back around and started to busy herself in the kitchen. With Chloe half asleep in the next room, Josiah felt this was the perfect time to find out what or who Heather was to the Holt family.

“How long you known Tanner for?” He asked, trying to sound as breezy as possible.

“Um,” Heather slightly squeaked out her answer, “not long.” She hoped that answer was vague enough; she really didn’t want Josiah asking questions before she’d had the chance to speak to Tanner and understand what he wanted their story to be.

The silence stretched out for about five minutes, before Heather cracked under the pressure. “We’re engaged. I’m, well – I’m Tanner’s fiancé.”

Josiah had no idea what to say to that. He had worked side-by-side Tanner for about thirteen years. There was absolutely no possible way the woman standing in the kitchen could be Tanner’s fiancé.

After a pause, Josiah fell back on platitudes, completely at a loss. “That’s wonderful news. Congratulations.”

Heather turned and smiled at him, blushing a deep shade of red. “Thank you.” She didn’t really know what else to say either, so turned back to the cooking and hoped that the questioning would now come to a close.

Josiah watched Heather as she moved around the kitchen. After spending time with her this evening, he wished that she
were
Tanner’s fiancé. He’d never met such a kind, generous and warm woman. She was beautiful as well – just the way Tanner liked them, curvy and lush.

She was good with Chloe too, he reflected. She needed someone like Heather in her life, whether or not she was aware of it.
Jesus
. It clicked.

“Heather, will you excuse me a minute? I need to speak to Chloe.” Josiah moved swiftly back into the living room without waiting for a response.

“Madam monster, what you gone done now?” Chloe woke to see Josiah glaring at her from above as she lay on the sofa.

“Shh, she’ll hear you Josiah.” Chloe scrambled to an upright position, and clutched at the old man’s arms. “Don’t say anything, Heather doesn’t know!”

“Doesn’t know what?” Josiah spoke sternly.

“About dad not knowing – I bought her. As a wife, for dad.”

Josiah sighed deeply. “Chloe, you can’t just meddle in people’s lives like this! How do you know her,
do
you know her?” He couldn’t for the life of him work out how Chloe had orchestrated this. She sat starting dumbly at him. He sat down next to her on the sofa.

“Chloe, please – tell me what’s goin’ on.” He lowered his voice, and could hear the sound of Heather humming away as she prepared the dinner.

“Fine. But you can’t tell dad.” She turned to face him, her stubbornness back in place and all pleading gone.

“Are you goin’ to tell your dad what’s goin’ on?” Josiah answered her.

“Yes! When he gets back. It will be fine – he’ll see her and he’ll fall in love with her, I know he will. I made sure she was perfect!” Chloe was getting agitated now.

Heather called them through to the kitchen before Josiah could untangle more of Chloe’s story. He was absolutely certain that her dad would be furious with her when he found out, but there was nothing he could do about that now. Better, he thought, that they enjoy dinner together, and then Tanner could sort this out in the morning. And maybe the kid was right, Tanner sure needed a woman – and he couldn’t imagine a better one coming along that Heather, however she got here.

“Alright kid, I’ll keep quiet if you promise to tell your dad everything – before he sees Heather. I can tell that woman’s already been through enough.”

Chloe stared at him solemnly, and nodded her head. “I promise, Josiah.”

Dinner was an intimate affair, the three digging into the food in near silence, but it was a comfortable one. Chloe seemed a bit subdued, but when Heather asked her if she was okay, she just nodded and gave Heather a sleepy smile.

Josiah insisted on clearing away after dinner, as a thank you for cooking. Heather let him do it this time, but vowed it would be the last – she wanted to be as much help to this family as she could, and Josiah, while not a blood-relation, was still very much part of the family.

At ten o’clock Heather floated light as cloud out of Chloe’s room. The girl had insisted that Heather read her a bedtime story, and then fallen asleep, head in Heather’s lap, before she’d gotten even half way through. She’d kissed Chloe on the forehead, gently brushing back the girl’s brown hair and felt a warm glow emanate from her heart as if it were shifting and growing to fit in the new Chloe-shaped addition to her life.

Tanner came home a little after midnight. He was absolutely exhausted; it had taken the three of them roughly five hours to fix the fence damage that populated Billy Nelson’s two-hundred-acre land. Then they’d had to herd back in the cattle, in the pitch-black night. Tanner’s entire body ached.

Walking into the warmth of his ranch, he saw the dying fire in the grate and smiled, imagining the cozy vignette he would have missed out on. He also noticed a different smell in the house, one that mingled with the various distinctive and familiar scents of his daughter and Josiah. This one was lightly floral and feminine, entwining with the other scents perfectly, but still new and different. It smelt nice, he reflected, maybe Chloe had been playing around with pressing wild flowers.

He climbed the stairs to his bedroom, wearily. The scent was getting stronger, but he thought nothing of it. He was already fantasizing about collapsing into his large bed, and finally getting some rest.

“Dad?”

Tanner woke to a heavy lump sitting on top of his body, lightly bouncing up and down.

“Dad,” Chloe’s mock whisper came close to his ear, “are you awake?”

Tanner groaned, “No. What time is it?” 

“It’s the morning. But I have a present for you.” Chloe continued her bouncing till Tanner grabbed her and moved over to the other side of the bed.

“That’s lovely honey, but why don’t you leave it by the bed, and I’ll get it when I wake up?” Tanner was still half-asleep.

“I can’t, dad.” Chloe was starting to get desperate, so Tanner gave another groan and sat up in bed, giving her his full attention.

“Okay, okay – what’s this present?”

“It’s downstairs. But, I have to tell you what it is before you see it.” Chloe placed her hands on his shoulders, staring into his eyes as if to emphasize the importance of the information she was about to disclose.

“So, I have been thinking a lot about us.” She began, “me, you and the horses, and Josiah and Wesley. I think we all need a mom, and you need to be married to a really, really nice lady who can cook. So we can be a complete family.” Chloe stared him down, daring him to disagree with her.

“Well,” Tanner was slightly confused by the direction, “that’s lovely honey. It’s very sweet of you to think of us all like that, and I’m glad you see Josiah and Wesley as part of the family.”

“Yes.” Chloe replied, “It’s very sweet of me. So, also, I got you one.”

“You got me one what, Chloe?” Tanner noticed his daughter was starting to look very shifty. As he shook off sleep, he could also hear noises coming from downstairs, and the smells of food cooking. “Who’s in the kitchen, Chloe?” 

              She smiled at him tensely, forming a part grimace. It was a look Tanner knew well; he’d seen it the day that Chloe had decided to ‘decorate’ the bathroom with chocolate mousse, the day she’d tried to keep a wild field mouse as a pet in her pillow, and most recently, the day she’d tried to dye her hair with beetroot juice.

“Chloe,” he sternly prompted her, “what’s going on?”

“I told you! I got you a wife. She’s downstairs.” Chloe folded her arms defensively.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Tanner was half dreading the answer. Something was not right, the smell last night, the cooking this morning, the floral notes that were permeating the house…

“I got you a mail order bride.” Chloe stumbled over her words, and hurried to pacify her father as Tanner reared up in bed, looking furious. “But she’s not just a mail order, she’s Heather and she’s really lovely, and I love her and she smells nice and she’s really kind and she read to me!” Chloe was shouting now, trying to get her father to understand, scared that he’d send Heather away.

“You’ve got to be joking?” Tanner was stunned – how the hell had this happened? “Chloe – that’s impossible, can people even do that? Send away for brides?”

“Yes dad! It happens all the time. Lucille told me all about it, her parents were watching a show.  She’s from New York, and now she’s here – and she’s really nice.” Chloe hurried off the bed. Tanner’s face had grown increasingly pale as she’d been talking. From experience Chloe knew this meant he was going to explode.

“There’s a woman downstairs?” Tanner was absolutely livid. Partly with himself, how did he not know this was going on under his own roof? How had she paid for this?

He stood up, wondering what the hell he was going to do. Politely send her away, he supposed, there wasn’t anything else he
could
do. And refund her any expenses, unless, he amended, he’d already paid for them.

“Chloe, I’m going to have a shower and then go downstairs and speak to this woman. I want you to go downstairs now and be polite to our guest until I get there.” He was really trying to keep his temper in check, but Chloe had really pushed him this time – and she would have to be punished somehow, he just couldn’t think of anything suitable yet. 

The shower helped calm him. It was just a simple mix-up. He would also call the agency that Chloe used; it was absolutely preposterous that they would send a woman over to someone’s house at the whim and desire of a ten year-old.

He would need to have a proper talk with Chloe. She was, most of the time, a fairly sensible kid. She wouldn’t have gone to this much effort, and hidden something so significant from him, if she didn’t feel strongly about what she was doing.

Tanner stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel round his waist. He noticed a bruise on his upper bicep; some of the grazing cattle had gotten a bit spooked last night when they’d tried to herd them. Tanner was more than capable of handling himself, but Billy had fallen down a ditch and half-dragged one of the cows with him, causing the mammal to get agitated and ferocious.

Tanner pulled on a pair of jeans and a grey t-shirt, and padded barefoot down to the kitchen.

He paused in the entrance. Chloe was standing with her back to him, still in her pajamas at the kitchen stove. A woman standing next to her was calmly giving her directions, “Now, Chloe, knead the dough carefully and slowly…that’s it, well done, that looks perfect – you have talent!” He watched as Chloe raised her head up to the woman. From the doorway Tanner could see the look of complete adoration.

He fully intended to go and politely interrupt the cozy scene, but as he watched the woman he became transfixed. Her hair was long, thick brown and glossy. He could feel his hands twitch with longing, wanting to go up and run his fingers through it, feeling its silky softness. He watched her full, curvaceous hips sway gently with her cooking movements, her backside full and heavy, calling out to him, making him want to see the pale pink coloring of it beneath her pants. As she turned her head to speak to Chloe, he caught a glimpse of her profile; long thick lashes and rose colored lips stretched into a beautiful smile that caused small dimples to form at the corner of her mouth.

As Tanner watched, he felt his lower abdomen tense and flicker as he grew hard, pushing against the denim of his jeans. He felt foggy suddenly - his skin starting to hum and prickle with energy. He knew then that he was about to change. The woman, the stranger standing in his kitchen, the woman with the heavenly body, who had introduced the floral scent into his home, was none other than his true mate. The one human being that he didn’t think he’d ever find.

He turned away from the kitchen swiftly. Tanner didn’t know how it had happened, how his true mate – which he’d given up hope actually existed at all – had found her way to him. But the primal pull she had on him, the instant and overwhelming attraction that pulled him in physically and in other ways that Tanner couldn’t even begin to explain, made it clear that this woman was his.

He was going to change any moment now, and needed to run out his beast. It was calling to him, a primal shudder running through him, echoing the wilderness of the mountains. His ears twitched as he heard the calls of other beasts and creatures in the forests and valleys, bringing him to them.

Tanner ran outside, flinging off his jeans and t-shirt as he did so. He ran to an old outbuilding, which now served as the carpentry workshop for the ranch. He let the change consume him; letting his muscles break and tear to reform into a beast four times the size of Tanner in human form. Once the change was complete, he bellowed up to the open sky, his thick coat rippling in the sun. His bear had taken over, and he surrendered to it, let it lead him, running, into the brutal and majestic mountains of Wyoming.