Wolf’s Glory (2 page)

Glory restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Jane was a nice lady, boring as beige paint, but nice. But who talked like that? Glory had a master"s degree in biology, and she didn"t talk like a prissy British butler. She and Jane were total opposites. Glory listened to Nine Inch Nails and Linkin Park; Jane loved Bach. Glory and Jane both loved to read, but Glory liked hot vampire romances; Jane read literary masterpieces.

The romance cover model look-alike ignored Jane. He stepped even closer to Glory, and boy, did he smell good. She took a couple quick breaths to savor his scent. What cologne did he wear? Something spicy and so yummy that she wanted to push her nose into his neck and inhale. He growled something over his shoulder without taking his eyes from her. She should try to pay attention to what he was saying, but damn, he was so gorgeous she had trouble focusing. Any movie with a hot piece of eye candy like this guy would get her money at the ticket booth. And if he was dressed like he was now, they"d get her money multiple times.

Holy cow, he was so big and buff he made her feel like a size ten.

“Look,” she told him. “Mister … um … I"m really sorry to interrupt your movie stuff, but like Jane said, people are hurt. We need to get them some help right away.”

“You can call me Um if you want,” he said in a low rumble that made her want to melt into a puddle of feminine goo at his feet. His smile was quick and white. “My name is Wolf"s Shadow. What is your name?”

Yum, is more like it
, she almost blurted. “Gloria Peterson. Well, Glory. And this is Jane Harris.” He was really into his part. Unless he wasn"t an actor? It sure looked like he must be an actor, or maybe a model, with that handsome face and even more handsome bod. How many guys looked that good, especially wearing only a diaper? Well, not a diaper. A breechcloth. It showed off the side of his body from ankle to armpit very nicely. He must do some serious lifting, to have such a well-developed physique. Glory could look at him all day. Too bad they didn"t have time for that. “Can you help us? Do you have a phone?”

He looked from her to Jane, a slight frown pulling his brows toward each other. “We have no phones. Where are your men? Why did they send two women out alone?”

Glory swelled with tired outrage at his critical tone, but Jane"s voice was mellow. “All the men are injured or killed. There was no one else to go for help.”

Wolf"s Shadow turned his head toward another of the Indians, and the wind lifted his hair. Was that shiny black curtain falling down his back and brushing his butt real? Holy crap. “Stag, take the others to the injured.” He looked at Jane and indicated one of the other men. “My cousin Jumping Stag has medical training. He and the others will go with you to help your friends. I will take Ms. Peterson back to our camp to rest.”

Glory was tired, and her feet in their new pumps were killing her. But Jane must be just as tired. Neither one of them had slept well last night. Without sleeping bags or a tent to keep them warm, they had huddled so closely together that in some cultures they would be considered married. It was one of the few mornings in her entire life that Glory had been glad to see the sun come up.

“Jane is tired too,” she began. “I don"t think we should separate. The co-pilot said we should stick together.”

Wolf"s Shadow frowned. “You will come with me to camp,” he ordered.

Glory eyed his magnificent physique with disgusted appreciation. Wasn"t that just the way it went? Guys that good-looking were just naturally bossy. It came from being used to getting what they wanted. Too bad for him she was used to going against the flow. “Sorry.

We"re sticking together. No offense or anything, but I don"t even know you.”

For some reason that made him smile approvingly. “Don"t worry. I promise my

intentions are strictly honorable.”

Pity
, thought Glory.

Jane asked, “How far is it to your camp?”

“Not far,” said Wolf"s Shadow. “For a small woman like yourself on foot? An hour

away, perhaps a little longer.”

Glory looked at Jane questioningly. “I don"t know.”

“Go ahead, Glory. Someone needs to make a call for help, just in case no search and rescue team has found the survivors yet. We"ll need air ambulances to evacuate the injured.

You notify the authorities, and I"ll lead these men back to the crash.”

“Okay, that makes sense.” And she would get a chance to get to know Mr. Big and

Gorgeous on the way back to civilization. “Take it easy, Jane.”

Wolf"s Shadow talked to the other Indians, saying something to them in a voice too low for Glory to catch. Three of them dismounted and handed their horses over. One of them, a slender man in his late twenties, helped Jane up to the horse"s back. She didn"t seem to notice the way he sniffed at her. Then Wolf"s Shadow lifted Glory up into the saddle like he was lifting a little kid who weighed nothing. The saddle wasn"t much more than a folded blanket.

She scrambled to stay on, her purse swinging wildly. “Hey, me and horses don"t get along.”

“We will go slowly, Gloria Peterson,” he promised. It sounded like he tacked on her last name, as if he wanted to call her by her first name. “Here, give me your bag, and I"ll carry it so it doesn"t pull you over.”

His hand on her thigh was warm when he gave her a quick caress before slinging her purse over his shoulder and swinging onto the other horse. Damn, only a guy like him could make her big purple purse look small on his shoulder. And he didn"t seem to mind carrying it.

Her last boyfriend would have bought her tampons before he would have carried her purse.

Wolf"s Shadow raised his hand to the others, and he led her away from the Indians at a fast walk, with a couple of the dogs dancing along. She wondered how long the ride would take.

She"d like to call the study center before it closed, to let them know that the plane had crashed and set up a new interview.

Glory clutched the horse"s mane with one hand since there weren"t any reins, and waved good-bye to Jane with the other. Then she clamped both hands in the horse"s mane. The last time she had been on a horse she had ended up with a broken arm and a concussion. She felt about horses like she now felt about planes. Evil creatures. Wolf"s Shadow rode close beside her, his knee brushing hers from time to time. He was watching her with an odd expression, like she was dessert. And he leaned close every now and then and inhaled. The sight of her purse, bright purple patent leather, slapping against his back, made her smile. The sight of his chiseled, hard pecs and long, muscled legs made her drool. At a half inch under six feet, she was used to towering over most women and quite a few men. He was five or six inches taller than she. She liked that in a guy. But in her experience, guys who looked like him were not interested in girls who looked like her.

Then again, his eyes kept going over her, and every time they did, he smiled. What could it hurt to try to get to know him? If she was stranded here overnight … She could definitely stand to spend a little time with him in bed. The Nine Inch Nails song “Closer” passed through her head. Oh, yeah. She"d like to eff him like an animal.

“So,” she said brightly, looking up at him with what she hoped was a flirtatious smile.

“Who are you? I mean, where are you from, and what do you do?”

He smiled back at her, and that white smile made her breath catch. “I"m Wolf"s Shadow.

My friends and family call me Shadow. I"m from here.” He waved his arm broadly to indicate the empty prairie. “I am my father"s Beta in the Lakota Wolf Clan. We migrate to where the hunting is best. Once or twice each season we go down to Kearney to visit kin and trade for supplies. Our cousin Taye leads a pack there.”

She had no flipping clue what he was talking about. “Lakota?” she asked with interest. “I lived not far from the Standing Rock res for a while. Are you from there? Or maybe Pine Ridge? Or…?” She trailed off to give him a chance to answer.

He shook his head, and the wind lifted his hair again, making her want to pet it. “No, the Clan doesn"t live on a reservation. We live on the plains like our ancestors did long ago.”

Weird. Not that it was any of her business. “That"s nice,” she said instead. “But what about in the winter? It must get pretty cold.”

“It"s warmer in the Sacred Lands. We move there for the cold months. It"s a good time of the year in spite of the cold. We gather in each others" lodges and sing and tell stories. The Grandmother and the other women teach the young reading and history and math. And…”

His voice sank to that sexy rumble, and he smiled at her. “It"s a time for loving.”

Glory swallowed hard. The way his black eyes were looking at her dried her mouth and wet her panties. “Oh?” she said stupidly. “
The
Grandmother?” She attempted to get her wits back and make coherent conversation. “Is that a title? Like
The
President?”

He ignored that, leaning close. “I"m a good hunter.” His voice was still low, forceful. “I can provide for a mate. I didn"t think my hunt today would be so successful. I wasn"t expecting to find you. You"re so beautiful. To whom do I pay your bride price?”

Glory eyed him sideways. “You"re acting, right?” she suggested doubtfully. “This is part of your script.”

“Acting?
Pretending
?” He snarled at one of the dogs who trotted around them. It looked to Glory like the dog was laughing, its tongue hanging out. “I"m not acting. You"re my mate, Gloria Peterson. Can"t you feel it?”

“Quit kidding around. It"s not funny.” It hadn"t been funny in tenth grade when she"d believed Rob Jorgenson liked her. He"d flirted with her for a month before he announced loudly and publicly that he had only done it to see what it would be like to sleep with a big fat cow. Glory had walked up to him and punched him in the face so hard that she"d sprained her wrist and broken one of his teeth. Being suspended from school had been a small price to pay to see the look of shock on his face when she punched him. She stared coolly at Wolf"s Shadow. “And quit calling me Gloria Peterson. That"s my mom. Call me Glory.”

He stopped his horse, and hers stopped too, with a jolt that made her slip sideways. He reached out one brawny arm and pulled her back up effortlessly. “I"m not kidding. This isn"t a joke.” He frowned a little bit, and pulled a windblown lock of shiny black hair away from his face. She found her eyes tracing the hair to the straight edge of his jaw to his full lips. “I"ll court you if you want,” he said. “You"re worth it. I can"t believe that my mate is such a beautiful woman.”

“Beautiful?” she snorted. “If you want to get in my pants, you don"t need to…”

Then she paused. If she wanted to spend a little time in bed with him while waiting for transportation back to civilization it might not be such a good idea to offend him.

“Beautiful?” she said again. She spread her hands to indicate her anything-but-slender figure. “Yeah, sure. Look at me. Not exactly what you"d see on
America’s Next Top Model
.”

He did look at her, black eyes hot. “I don"t know what you mean by that. I suppose you have plenty of suitors. Maybe there"s one you already favor.” That deep voice went deeper, almost flat. “But he can"t have you. You"re
mine
. I won"t give you up.”

Something twisted painfully in Glory"s chest. “Hello? We just met. Maybe I"m not a teeny little stick. But that doesn"t mean I don"t have feelings. So just cut it out, okay?”

“I"m not a little stick either,” he growled back. He snatched her hand and held it to the front of his breechcloth. “See? That is what you do to me!”

“Holy shi—!” Wolf"s Shadow should be named Anaconda! She snatched her hand away

so violently she almost fell off the horse again. Her pink hair was pale compared to her embarrassed blush. “What the hell do you think you"re doing?”

“Sorry. I got carried away,” he muttered. “I"ll court you.”

“Just knock it off, okay?”

“Why are you angry, Glory? I know you want me. I can smell your desire. It"s the same for me. Every time I scent you I get harder.”

Glory snorted in disgust. What a typical egotistical jerk. She wasn"t pretty or slender, so he thought he could make fun of her. She could remember her mother"s plaintive voice telling her she"d be pretty if only she"d lose some weight. Even now, a decade later, that memory hurt as much as the memory of Rob laughing at her. She kicked her horse to get it moving again, and it bounded off at a dead run. She shrieked and fell off like a kid doing a belly flop.

She was gasping desperately for breath when Shadow"s moccasins pounded into her line of sight. He fell to his knees beside her, his long hair falling on the ground next to her face when he bent over her.

“Lie still, Glory,” he commanded, running quick hands over her. “Let me see where you"re hurt.”

She grimaced and managed to roll over. “Just my pride,” she wheezed. “I didn"t mean for that to happen.” She found her gaze level with his crotch, barely covered by his breechcloth. It looked like he hadn"t lost interest. “Ah, geez.” She groaned and jerked her eyes higher. That view was pretty nice too, and safer; his chest and abs were a work of art. He pulled her to a sitting position with one arm behind her back. She took a deep, calming breath. Damn, that cologne was going to make her drool, and she wanted to be cool and collected. “You are so hot,” she wailed. “Why do you have to be such a jerk?”

“If a jerk is a man who is happy to have found a beautiful woman to love, then I am a jerk. You"ll have to live with it.”

She slapped a hand flat on the ground. “I don"t appreciate being made fun of, so just quit it.”

He stroked a hand up and down her arm. “I don"t know why you"re angry at me. I"m

telling the truth. I"m not making fun. You"re beautiful. So soft and curvy, just like a woman should be. I"ve never seen a woman as well filled out as you are. What would I do with a tiny woman? I"d crush her.”

He sounded like he really meant it. “Seriously?” she asked hesitantly.

He nodded. “Very seriously. You"re the woman my wolf wants as a mate. I want to get you home and in my lodge as fast as possible.” His hand went to her hair, smoothing the windblown mess gently, with a wondering look. “Your hair is … pink.”