Claimed (The Lair of the Wolven 1)

It was like taking a belt sander to her affect.

Meanwhile, on the driver’s side, Daniel Joseph was overflowing everything, and the heft of him was comforting.

“Nah, I don’t have a place yet.” He backed out and turned them around. “But something’ll turn up. It always does.”

She looked over with a frown. “So you’re staying at the Pine Lodge until you—”

“I’m not sure where I’m going to be. That place is expensive, although running water is nice.”

“Tonight you’ll stay there, though.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Up at the county road, he hit the blinker to go left. “No,” she said. “Let’s go the other way.”

“But the post office is by the bank, right?”

“If you could head in the other direction, that would be great. I just need to go check on something first.”

“Okay. Whatever you say.”

They waited for a pickup truck to pass by, and then he hit the gas, Lydia’s beater letting out a wheeze as it was called on to get over the hump of asphalt with so much more load than it usually carried.

On the proper road, coasting along at forty-five, he glanced over. “So are we going to your house? It’s not far from here.”

“How do you know where I live?” she said.

Not that it was a state secret. Lots of people knew where she lived.

Unfortunately.

“I ate at the diner, remember?” Daniel rolled his eyes. “That night you almost had chicken pot pie with me. After you left, I got your life story. Where you live, that you’ve been single since you moved here two years ago, that you’re very serious and haven’t left for a vacation or even a weekend away. Well, there were two trips to Plattsburgh for that root canal, though. Oh, and you’re very serious. Did I say that already?”

She propped her elbow on the window and rubbed an aching head. “Bessie told you all that?”

“Well, to be fair, I got most of it from the supermarket side when I bought a Coke and a bag of Doritos to snack on after you interviewed me. I was waiting to get a copy of your dental records with my receipt, but I think her Xerox was broken.”

“How did I come up?” Lydia groaned. “Wait, let me guess. I’m the only single woman in forty miles of mountain terrain and you’re not wearing a wedding ring.”

“Pretty much. It all started when she wanted to know why I was in town and I told her.”

“Susan is such a talker.” Lydia glanced over. “And I guess I have no secrets from you now, huh.”

Daniel lowered his lids. “I wouldn’t say that.”

As Lydia’s breath caught, images of naked skin and horizontal bodies and fur rugs in front of fireplaces turned everything into a modern-day Bridgerton. Not at all helpful, but something to put on pause and save for later.

When he refocused on the road, she did the same and touched her lips. They were tingling as if he’d kissed her.

“Sorry,” he said.

“For?”

“What’s going through my head right now. You don’t want me to go into it, but I’m thinking you know what it is.”

Refocusing out the side window, Lydia murmured, “Candy thinks I should go out with you.”

“I knew she was a woman of rare intelligence. Unless of course, she came at it like you have no other options. I would still take advantage of that logic, I’d just not admire her as much.”

Lydia had to laugh. But it didn’t last. “You’re right, by the way. I did almost get fired today.”

He frowned. “So you’re suspended or something?”

“No.”

“What was that woman here for, then? And by the way, I’m not sure she should be anywhere near anything dog-like.”

“Why’s that?”

“She’s Cruella de Vil.” As Lydia laughed in a burst, he actually smiled. “Come on, you know she has a coat made of something god-awful in her closet.”

“Can I just point out that I think you have comedy-dysmorphia.”

“What can I say …” His hooded eyes met her own. “You inspire me.”

As Lydia’s face flushed, she pulled the seatbelt free of her chest and sat up in the seat. “Okay, the turn’s coming—here, right here.”

He jerked the wheel and hit the brakes, shooting them onto a paved driveway that was shaded by an allée of maple trees. Or would have been shaded if everything still wasn’t bare. As things were, there was a sinister cast to the skeletal trees, the barren lawn, the dead leaves that whispered across the lane.

“Where are we going?” Daniel said as the car drifted forward at an idle.

“I need to …” See what the hell Peter Wynne was doing. “Look, I want to know if my executive director is home.”

“He’s the one I was supposed to be interviewed by, right? So how long’s he been missing?”

“Let’s just see if he’s here.” She glanced over. “And I guess I should have told you.”