The moment Roarke and Aidan stepped into the store, Abby knew that her lie hadn’t fooled either of them. They knew that Earl knew. The only clueless person seemed to be Donald, who was overjoyed to see Roarke and meet Aidan for what he thought was the first time.
“Vampires.” Donald stood warming himself by the woodstove as he sipped another cup of hot chocolate. “There’s a houseful of vampires over there.” He glanced at Earl. “I’d sell out and move if I were you.”
“Funny you should say that.” Earl glanced at Abby. “My granddaughter’s been pestering me to sell, and I’m about ready to give in. Whether they’re vampires or not, the Gentrys make terrible neighbors, going around kidnapping people.”
“If they weren’t vampires,” Donald said, “Abby and I would press charges. Right, Abby?”
“Absolutely. But I like Grandpa Earl’s solution better. We all just leave.”
Aidan pushed away from the wall where he’d been leaning as if nonchalantly listening to the conversation. “I’d like to suggest we start putting that plan into action. Earl, if you’re willing to drive us all in your truck, we should head for the airport and get out of town before the Gentrys regroup.”
Donald glanced toward the front of the store. “Would they come over here?”
“They might,” Aidan said, “once they have a new plan. We need to leave before that happens. Donald, I realize you’ve left your belongings and ID behind, but I can arrange for a private plane to get you safely home.”
Donald’s eyes grew wide. “You guys have a lot of money, huh?”
“Some.” Aidan glanced at Earl and Abby. “You might want to pack a few things. We’ll be taking the corporate jet.”
Donald gasped. “Whoa! Which way are you guys headed? ’Cause I’m just down in San Jose, and I’d love to ride in the corporate jet.”
“We can stop off there,” Roarke said. He seemed to be deliberately ignoring Aidan, who was making slashing motions across his throat. “It’s not much out of the way.”
“And what is our direction, Roarke?” Abby asked. She thought she knew, but she wanted to make sure.
“For safety’s sake, Aidan and I are taking you and Earl back to the family estate in New York.”
“I see.” She liked the idea that he was concerned about their safety, but she wished he looked a little happier about taking her home to meet his parents. Despite all they’d been through, she still might not be mate material, and that was depressing. “I’ll go pack.”
“Wait!” Donald called after her. “What about your dogs? You can’t leave Spot and Rover.”
“Oh, right.” She turned to her grandfather and delved into her imagination for yet another story that would pass muster. At least Donald was easier to fool than Roarke.
“Grandpa! Could you ask your cleaning lady to feed the dogs until we can make other arrangements?”
“Of course!” His eyes lit with mischief. “Good old Bianca! She’d love to do it! I’ll definitely leave her a note about . . .”
“Spot and Rover,” Abby said.
“Yes, of course. Spot and Rover. Terrific dogs. Bianca will be happy to watch out for them. I’ll ask her to take them home, in fact. She has a huge yard, and a big fence, and—”
“That will be perfect.” Abby stopped him before he got them both into trouble by elaborating too much.
“Perfect.” He gave her a conspiratorial smile.
Abby didn’t dare stay in the room any longer or she was liable to start laughing. Twenty minutes later, when she walked out of her room with her suitcase in hand, Roarke was sitting in her grandmother’s old armchair using Aidan’s BlackBerry.
He glanced up as she came to stand in front of him, and he kept his voice low. “Gentry has my BlackBerry, obviously, and I need to contact the helicopter pilot who’s taking me to the Sasquatch pair.”
“Not the Gentry helicopter pilot, I hope.”
“No, although the Seattle Trevelyans are distant cousins of the Gentrys. There was a split a long time ago, and I gather there’s no love lost between the families now. George Trevelyan’s son Knox is bringing a chopper to the Portland-Hillsboro Airport. Handling the Sasquatch situation will delay us some, but I can’t leave those creatures waiting in the cave.”
“Of course not.”
“They’re not safe anywhere near Gentry. I wouldn’t put it past him to shoot them.” He clicked a few keys on the BlackBerry and sent the e-mail.
Abby shuddered. “Me, either.” It was the first private moment she’d had with Roarke, and there was something she needed to say. She gazed at him. “I’m sorry I lied to you about the clothes.”
His expression tightened, but he didn’t say anything.
She hated knowing she’d hurt him with that lie. “I foolishly thought I could hide the fact that Grandpa Earl had found out, but of course you saw right through me.”
He powered down the phone but didn’t look up. “When did you tell him, Abby?”
She winced. Roarke thought she’d offered the information, and yet still he hadn’t blamed her. That spoke volumes. “I didn’t tell him,” she said softly, so glad she could erase that misconception. “He found the flash drive.”
Roarke relaxed and blew out a breath as he glanced up at her. “I figured if you’d told him, you had a good reason. But I feel better knowing that he found out on his own.”
“I shouldn’t have left the flash drive where he could find it, but at the time . . .”
“I know.” He stood. “You weren’t sure you could trust me.”
“I have the pictures and the flash drive in my suitcase. I’ll give them to you when Donald’s not around so you can destroy them.”
Gratitude flickered in his eyes. “Thank you.”
Yesterday he would have used this moment to kiss her, but that was before she’d bounded out of his bed early this morning and told him she couldn’t handle their long good-bye. Now he was probably reluctant to reach for her, in case she still felt that way.
“We should probably get going,” he said.
“Wait.” She had one chance to make her request before they joined the others. “Please take Earl with you in the helicopter when you relocate the Sasquatch, Roarke. Surely you could squeeze him in.”
He frowned, clearly not comfortable with the idea. “You know I’m going as a Were.”
“Yes, but now that he knows you can shift, that wouldn’t matter. It would be the thrill of a lifetime for him.”
“I suppose, but I—They’re really smelly.”
“He wouldn’t care. Please, Roarke. He’s dreamed of these creatures all his life.”
Roarke massaged the back of his neck. “Abby, you’re the only human I’ve interacted with as a Were. I’ve adjusted to that, but to deal with Earl while I’m a wolf . . . I just don’t know.”
And then she understood. Her big, strong hero was reluctant to interact with a human who’d never seen him in wolf form. Riding in a helicopter with two huge smelly creatures didn’t sound like her idea of fun, but for Earl to be there, she would need to be there, too, for Roarke’s sake. “Do you have room for both Earl and me?”
His expression warmed, but he shook his head. “You don’t want to go.”
“Sure I do.”
“No, you don’t.” His gaze held hers and he smiled. “But you’ll go if you think that will convince me to invite Earl.” He reached out and stroked her cheek. “You may be really sorry you offered, because I’m going to take you up on it.” “Good.” She was thrilled for her grandfather, and she’d survive just fine. The original plan of watching from a distance had been far more appealing, but she was beginning to understand that for Weres, who’d been hunted for generations, appearing as a wolf to a human was loaded with anxiety. “Thank you, Roarke.”
“You probably won’t thank me when everything you’re wearing stinks like the spray from a thousand pissed-off skunks.”
She laughed, and that brought another smile. He’d been way too serious recently. She stood on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss, because it was obvious he wouldn’t kiss her. The touch of his lips was achingly familiar, but she didn’t allow herself to linger there. “It’ll be fun,” she said.
Roarke longed to remind her of that statement two hours later as they rode in the helicopter, skimming the tops of the trees in search of the cave where Roarke had left the Sasquatch pair. But Roarke could no longer communicate in words. He had his nose out the open window, and when the stench rose from a spot below them, he glanced back at Abby. Sure enough, she was wrinkling her nose.
Earl, seated beside her and looking like a kid going on his first roller coaster ride, didn’t flinch at the smell. He’d been glowing with excitement ever since Roarke had invited him to go on this trip. Earl had been driving to the airport at the time, and he’d almost swerved off the road.
But he’d pulled himself together and had been extremely cooperative about everything ever since. He’d promised that no matter what he saw and heard on the relocation trip, he would never discuss it with any human other than Abby. His voice had trembled with sincerity, and Roarke believed him.
Once at the airfield, Roarke had shifted inside the helicopter before Earl and Abby boarded. Then Earl had climbed into the helicopter, greeted Roarke with quiet dignity, and taken his seat.
But Roarke couldn’t imagine this trip without Abby. Earl obviously was trying to treat his first werewolf experience as no big deal, but he looked a little nervous. At first Roarke had been incredibly self-conscious with Earl there, but Abby’s calm acceptance of the situation had done the trick. Gradually Roarke had relaxed.
Knox Trevelyan, the pilot from the Seattle pack, obviously wasn’t happy to be transporting two humans with knowledge of the Were community, but he’d been reasonably polite to Earl and Abby. Other than the unhappy pilot, the arrangement had worked out well.
While Earl, Abby, and Roarke tended to the Sasquatch problem, Aidan had sent Donald to San Jose aboard the corporate jet, thus eliminating another takeoff and landing for the queasy Aidan. Roarke pictured his brother relaxing in a comfy chair somewhere, sipping a vintage wine, if that was available, and talking to Emma on his BlackBerry.
Aidan liked his creature comforts. Roarke couldn’t imagine Aidan trekking through the jungle or riding a camel across the desert. But he could imagine Abby doing both. Her sense of adventure matched his. She might not be eager to take part in this Sasquatch relocation, but that was common sense. Only a Bigfoot nut like Earl would think this was the experience of a lifetime.
Roarke glanced over to see if Knox had caught the scent. Obviously he had, because he’d begun scanning the terrain for a decent landing spot.
The moment the chopper started its descent, Roarke sent a telepathic message to the Sasquatch pair. He offered them support, but he also alerted them to the presence of two humans who would ride with them in the helicopter. He promised that they were good humans.
Blades whirling, the helicopter rocked gently as Knox set it neatly down on a grassy spot in a small clearing. Roarke envied Knox his flying ability and made a note to ask about taking lessons from him someday in the future. Roarke was almost ready to solo in the Learjet, and the chopper would present a great new challenge.
Knox backed off on the controls, but kept the blades turning slowly. Then he leaned over and opened the door for Roarke. Once Roarke was out, Knox would go back and open a cargo door in the rear to accommodate the sizable bulk of the Sasquatch.
All that assumed that Roarke could get them in this machine. He glanced back at Abby and Earl. Earl looked fine, but Abby appeared ready to puke. Yet she met his gaze and managed a weak smile.
Roarke had seen Abby in many situations—hiking through the rain while her muscles cramped, enjoying orgasms in a lantern-lit cave, laughing with him inside a tiny tent, and driving like a maniac to save his ass from some ferocious Weres. He’d loved every one of those moments, but in this moment, he loved her, the woman who’d willingly braved this awful smell to give her grandfather the experience she knew he desperately wanted.
Roarke vowed to tell her of his love at the first opportunity. His love wouldn’t come with any strings attached, though. She wouldn’t be required to do anything as a result of his declaration. But to love someone the way he loved Abby and never tell her would be a crime against nature.
Leaping from the helicopter, he set off to bring back the incredibly odious Bigfoot pair. One thing comforted him, if only a little. Abby’s sense of smell wasn’t as finely developed as his, so maybe, just maybe, she’d suffer slightly less.
Chapter 26
Grandpa Earl reached over and squeezed Abby’s hand. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about anything. I take that back. Waiting for Olive to walk down the aisle—I was pretty damned excited then, too.”
Looking into Grandpa Earl’s sparkling eyes, Abby felt as if she’d swallowed a gallon of sunshine. Thank God Roarke had agreed to bring him. Earl would cherish this for the rest of his life, and so would she, provided that she didn’t spend the entire time barfing.
Her grandfather turned to watch Roarke climb the wooded incline leading to the cave. “Roarke’s quite impressive as a wolf, isn’t he?”
“Yes.” Abby admired Roarke’s fluid grace as he moved toward the cave. “He’s impressive as a man, too.”
“He is, at that. When Gentry told me you two had run off to Vegas, I had a tough time imagining that you’d do that without telling anybody, but I wasn’t too upset because I think he’s the right guy for you.”