Page 43 of Fetch Me A Mate
Then, the front door chimed again. Miriam entered with her knitting bag and a determined expression.
"Afternoon, ladies. I brought tea and my favorite fountain pen." She set both on the desk beside Diana's papers. "Figured you might need proper tools for whatever you're planning."
Diana gestured at her schedule. "Holiday celebration the second week of December. New Year's Eve party with champagne and dancing. Winter solstice storytelling circle. Valentine's weekend romance package."
"Ambitious." Miriam uncapped the fountain pen and handed it to Diana. "What about staff?"
"I'll hire locals. People who want this place to succeed."
"People who won't disappear without explanation," Twyla added pointedly.
"Exactly."
Miriam pulled out her knitting and settled into the parlor chair. "Mind if I ask what happened this morning? Whole square's buzzing with gossip about strange men and raised voices."
Diana's pen paused over the paper. "Rowan had visitors. They wanted to discuss his future plans."
"And those plans don't include Hollow Oak?"
"From the way it sounded, no.”
"And you believed him?"
The question caught Diana off guard. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Because last night he looked at you like you hung the moon," Twyla said. "Because he's spent weeks working on this place like he planned to live here forever. Because men don't usually invest that much time and care in temporary situations."
"People change their minds."
"Do they? Or do they get pressured into saying things they don't mean?"
Diana set down the pen and looked at both women. "What are you implying?"
"I'm implying," Miriam said gently, "that pack politics are complicated. That sometimes wolves have to choose between what they want and what keeps the people they care about safe."
"Pack politics?"
"Those men this morning weren't business associates," Twyla said. "They were shifters. Dominant ones. The kind who don't take no for an answer."
Diana felt pieces clicking into place. Rowan's recent tension, his excessive security preparations, his reluctance to make concrete plans for the future.
"He was protecting me."
"Maybe. Or maybe he was protecting himself. Either way, the result's the same." Miriam's needles clicked steadily. "Question is what you plan to do about it."
"What can I do? If he wants to leave, I can't force him to stay."
"No, but you can make sure he knows he has a choice." Twyla reached for a muffin. "That he has a place here if he wants it."
Diana looked at her carefully planned schedule, at the future she was determined to build with or without Rowan's help. But underneath the anger and hurt, something else stirred. Concern for a man who might be trapped by circumstances she didn't understand.
"He could be in danger, couldn't he?"
"Possibly," Miriam said quietly. "Depends on what he's running from and whether it's caught up to him."
"Then I should?—"
"Should what? Chase after him? Demand explanations?" Twyla shook her head. "Wolves need to handle their own business, Diana. But they also need to know they're not alone."
