Beauty Dates the Beast(9)

“What sort of smell?”

“Like rotten meat,” Sara added. “I didn’t know what was going on, just that the house stank. I was changing the garbage when you called.”

I gestured at the bushes on the opposite side of the house from where they’d come. “I thought I heard something over there, but I didn’t smell anything.”

“I’ll check it out.” Beau immediately set Sara down and crossed the yard.

I watched his buttocks flex in the moonlight as he walked toward the bushes. It was hard to force myself away from the sight, but concern for my sister drew me back to her, and I turned, touching her arm and examining her with my gaze. “Are you all right?”

“Just trying to hold it together,” she said in a shaky voice. “He caught me by surprise. I … I hope he didn’t smell me.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I said, lying to comfort her. To be safe, I surreptitiously hid my hand behind my back and wiped it on my dress to try and remove her smell.

She looked over my shoulder, and choked a little. “He’s coming back.”

I turned. Blood roared in my ears as I stared at the man striding across the lawn, all tawny skin and rippling muscles and completely, utterly naked. And judging by his casual, graceful stance, he didn’t care that he was naked.

“Oh, I am in so much trouble,” I breathed, watching him move. Then I picked up Beau’s pants, holding them out to him with my eyes closed so I wouldn’t see anything else and be tempted. “I’m fine, really,” Sara protested from beside me in the Viper. The wind was high and icy outside, so I sat in the driver’s seat while we waited for Beau. “You’re making too big of a fuss.”

“I always fuss over you. Besides, you fainted.” I ran a hand over her bare arm, feeling for telltale fur. “How are you now? Are you good?”

“I’m fine,” she said, shoving my hands off of her like she would an overprotective mother. “It just startled me. Tell me about your date.” A shadow crossed her face. “He didn’t ask about me, did he?”

“Dinner was very nice. The restaurant was lovely. You would have liked it.” If you ignored the car thing, the drop-in from the werewolf, and my date telling me he was going into heat.

“Your face is red,” she said. “You like him, don’t you?”

I focused on the front yard, avoiding her gaze. “Don’t be silly. I’m just going out with him this one time. It’s not going to go anywhere. You know it can’t.”

“You like him,” she restated slowly. “And you don’t like anyone. Huh.”

I ignored her, scanning the house for Beau again. He had insisted on checking out the place one more time in cougar form. When that yielded nothing, he shifted back and made a few phone calls while Sara and I waited in his car.

All of my suggestions to go into the house were met with a small growl.

“Should we call the police?” I rolled down the window and asked.

He shook his head at me. “I don’t think what was in your house was human. We can’t notify the police—that would compromise the Alliance members in the immediate vicinity.”

I didn’t give a crap about the Alliance. I wanted to get back inside my house and see what was missing or touched or disturbed.

Beau circled back toward the car, pulling his pants on and buckling his belt. “I smelled a mixture of things. Like werewolf and something else.”

Sara stiffened next to me, and fear clenched my heart. “We can’t smell anything,” I told him. “You’re the one with the shifter nose.”

He gave me a sheepish look. “Right. I keep forgetting.”

“Isn’t it safe to go back in?” I asked again. “You’ve gone over the property three times.”

He shook his head and reached for his shirt. “One of the tigers in the Merino clan knows forensics. He’ll be over shortly to dust the house and look for evidence.” His hand stretched toward me. “House keys, please?”

I held my purse tightly. “Why?”

“So Mike can check out the house while I take you two to a hotel.”

No way. Not with Sara’s scent all over the place.

Beau continued, “Mike insisted that we leave the crime scene intact, and that’s what we’re going to do. I can go inside and get you some clothes once he gives the okay.”

Sara’s hand clutched mine anxiously, and I knew what she was thinking. If Beau went inside and dug through her things he’d find wolf scent all over her clothing—or worse, he’d find the clothes that she had last used when she changed: a torn T-shirt and a wrinkled pair of shorts that reeked of the change.

“We’re fine,” I blurted. “We don’t need clothes. Let’s just go.”

Beau’s eyebrows went up and he glanced over at Sara in her pajamas. “All right,” he said slowly. “I’ll buy you girls some clothes and we can check things out in the morning. Sound good?”

I still didn’t like the thought of a stranger poking around in our house, especially one with a shifter’s nose. “We sometimes take care of the neighbor’s dog for her,” I lied, to explain the canine scent sure to be in the house. “Tell Mike that if a woman with a dog comes to the doorstep in the morning to call me.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Beau’s mouth. “I’ll tell him.”

Without another reason to stall, I handed him the keys.

He walked away to greet the car that pulled up.

Mike turned out to be an enormous man with short, close-cropped black curls and a cheerful expression, despite it being nearly midnight and freezing outside. He and Beau talked for a couple of minutes, then Beau showed Mike to the front door and they went inside. I clasped my hands tightly to stop myself from dashing inside and dousing the house with some scent-masking sprays—or better yet, chasing the men out of the house.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Sara told me, trying to ease my worry. “You know I’m careful. And if Beau didn’t notice anything before …”

At least I had the clothes on my back. Poor Sara had only her pajamas.

Beau returned a few moments later and I got out to meet him. He moved to my side as if he belonged there and began to rub my shoulders. “Mike’s going to be several hours, so he’s going to drop your keys off to me in the morning.”

“All right. Sara and I will stay at the office,” I said.

“You can’t sleep at the office,” Beau argued, putting his warm arm around me. He gestured at Sara, still huddled in the car, her legs tucked under her. “She looks a little freaked out. Wouldn’t you rather stay in a nice, comfortable hotel room?”

I glanced over at my sister. She was a dainty, fragile sort, so unlike me with my tall, sturdy frame. Tonight she seemed even smaller, staring at the house with worried eyes, waiting for Mike to discover her secret and ruin her life. She was shivering, too.

I sighed. “She could use a good night’s sleep. Thank you. We’ll stay at the hotel.”

He nodded and pulled me against him, tucking me under his chin and cradling my body to his.

I stiffened a little, but he only ran his hands gently up and down my back. It felt lovely and soothing, and I finally relaxed a little.

Unfortunately, snuggling with a man was not the way to get rid of him.


At the hotel, Beau got us the room adjoining his. The hotel room was lovely, the blankets turned down, and fluffy robes hanging on the back of the bathroom door. I felt sleepy just looking at the big, plush bed.



“I’ll be on the other side if you need me,” Beau said, standing in the doorway that connected the two rooms. “Sleep tight, ladies.”

With a wink at me, he closed the door.

As soon as he was gone, I slumped on the edge of the bed and sighed. “God, I wish he wasn’t so hot. That would make this all so much easier.”

Sara tapped her ear, indicating that his shifter hearing could hear our conversation.

Oh, well. It wasn’t like I’d done a good job hiding it anyhow.

She moved to the closet and opened it, scanning the contents. Then she turned to me and mouthed, “Are there extra blankets?”

“Why?” I mouthed back.

She gestured at herself. “I still smell like whatever was in the house,” she mouthed, her voice barely audible. “I need to shower and get the stink off of me. But if I do …”

She’d smell like herself again. And if I slept next to her all night, I’d smell like her, too, because I didn’t have any other clothes to sleep in.

Should I go downstairs and get a third room? Beau was sure to be curious if I did, and we would have to be more cautious than ever.

Unless … he’d already figured out that Sara was a werewolf? I discarded the thought. He’d have questioned me about it immediately if he had, or demanded to speak to Sara. Our secret was still safe.