Page 2 of A Lady's Heart
Someone in the back of the pack house let off a set of firecrackers, the loud explosions echoing with a staccato pulse like a machine gun, and the screaming that ensued was only drowned out by the louder laughter.
“Me? I’m so Zen. The peace and quiet tranquility of life in Whitehorse makes me sad you’re not here to experience it as well.”
His boss laughed. “You know you don’t have to stay with those animals. I can afford to get you a place of your own in town. Heck,youcan afford to get a place while you’re in town—and I did offer for you to stay in my house.”
“I’m kind of enjoying the Takhini pack-house experience. It’s entertaining.”
“Sure it is. And you’re not sticking around there for anyotherreason than it’s a convenient, central location to deal with work?”
“Pure convenience, you got it.” Justin caught himself rising to his feet as the door on the far side of the pack house opened and a vision slipped into the room. “Sweet mercy,” he muttered helplessly.
“What’s that?”
“Gah…”
Justin’s tongue tripped over itself as Mandy Ainsworth leaned against the nearest wall and cautiously glanced around the room as if to get her bearings. The petite, dark-haired shifter wore faded jeans that were so pale they’d turned white-blue. They looked soft, as if he could caress a hand over her hip and around her butt, and the silky smoothness would tease his palm. A trim pink blouse with white pearl buttons flared over her breasts, the entire vision enough to set his heart pounding and his mouth watering.
She pressed her hands against the wall as she examined the room, her tongue leaving a layer of moisture shining on her lips visible even from this distance.
Justin suddenly became aware of a knocking sound beside his left ear followed by a high-pitched whistle.
Drat. His phone.
He hurriedly answered. “Sorry about that.”
Instead of his boss, a female voice responded. “Are you still drooling over Mandy?”
“Hello, Caroline.” He ignored her question. “Are you having a good excursion?”
“You bears are crazy, and don’t try and change the topic.” His boss’s new wife had a lifetime of experience dealing with shifters and all their shifter games,andshe was far too curious for her own good.
Or his peace of mind.
“Spill the beans,” Caroline ordered. “When are you going to make a move on that woman?”
“Considering you’re seven thousand kilometers away and fifty thousand meters in the air, perhaps you should defer to my good judgment about the best way for me to go about arranging a date, hmmm?”
“Sorry about that.” Tyler was back on the line. “I tried to explain to Caro that you don’t need any help with your love life—”
“—he hasn’t convinced me yet,” she shouted in the background.
Justin laughed even as he kept an eye on Mandy who was slowly inching toward the kitchen. “I’ll answer both your questions, because I know you’ve got me on speakerphone. You knowexactlywhy I’m stationed in Whitehorse. No, Caroline, I don’t need any help with my love life. Yes, Tyler, I have everything else under control, with both the diamond factory and Harrison Enterprises, even though Iamslightly distracted by…something else. I’ve had enough years of multitasking, though. I’m fairly certain I can handle the situation. Are we clear?”
Caroline made a huffing sound.
Tyler chuckled. “I told you, sweetheart. Now say goodbye to Justin so I can give him some final work instructions.”
“Goodbye, Justin. I expect a wedding invitation—no eloping, you got it?”
“Goodbye, Caroline.”
Background noises quieted as Tyler put the phone back to regular mode before he spoke. “She really does care about you,” he offered in apology.
“Caroline’s lived her entire life around wolves—if she wasn’t trying to interfere I’d be worried something was wrong.”
“But you’re doing okay?” Tyler asked sincerely.
Mandy fully lifted her gaze off the floor for the first time since she’d entered the room. When she spotted Justin looking in her direction, her eyes went wide and she stumbled for a second before offering a small smile.
