Maybe if it had happened to him before, Jack would know how to quiet the animal. But single women were a scarce commodity these days, and available female wolves even more so. Of the dozen or so in his pack, only two had the sort of strength that tempted his wolf. Neither had interested the man.
Ginny interested every damn part of him. The man, the wolf… My cock. The scent of her was enough to make him uncomfortably hard, but the feeling of her power brushing against his, so close he could reach out and touch her…
No. He’d been patient thus far. Ginny was a wild creature. If he spooked her, she’d run so far and fast he’d never catch her. And now that she’d finally come to him, he could hardly afford to frighten her away for lack of a little care.
Even if it meant sleeping on her couch and wishing himself dead.
She pulled her mount alongside his and sighed. “I only got them all back last time because they ranged down to the corner of Ollie’s property, where the creek cuts through. Doesn’t matter though.” She drew up the reins on her horse and led Jack through a damaged section of fence. “I think maybe you were right. I think they’re through with warnings.”
“Ollie will help you round them up in the morning,” Jack murmured, his eyes still half shut. He could sense someone in the woods, one of his wolves. One of his pack. Ignoring Ginny, he urged his horse around and faced the line of the forest that marked the end of her property. In the moonlight it would be impossible not to recognize him, but he let his energy roll out anyway, a warning to anyone in the area. Mine.
His sensitive ears caught the faintest sound, a startled noise followed by a rustle of leaves. That’s right. Run away.
She didn’t move, just stared down at her gloved hands. “Dawson, you figure?”
“Probably.” Jack had to struggle to regain his calm expression before turning back to her. “Whoever it is, they won’t be bothering us tonight. Tomorrow we’ll ride to Oliver’s and ask him to help you while I pay Dawson a visit.” And as long as she was with Oliver, Jack wouldn’t have to worry about her safety. If Oliver had been the least bit interested in politics, he would have been the second or third strongest wolf in the pack. Ginny’s troublemakers wouldn’t dare cause mischief in front of him.
Her eyes were inscrutable in the darkness. “Thank you.”
She rode on.
When they reached her house, Ginny turned straight for the barn. She must have known better than to suggest he go inside and wait for her to stable the horses, so they did it together. They worked side-by-side, in silence, bedding the horses for the night. The tension arcing off her was palpable, recognizable.
She wanted him.
“I have a blueberry pie,” she told him when they finished, her gloves and hat clutched in one hand. “Don’t worry, though. I didn’t make it. Lottie did.”
Jack smiled and followed her from the barn. “As long as it wasn’t Hazel. Lottie may have given that girl a passing acquaintance with manners, but she doesn’t seem too fond of baking.”
“She makes a good rum cake.”
“She is fond of the booze.” He glanced up at the stars and fought the urge to ask Ginny’s advice on dealing with Hazel and the trouble that surrounded her in the pack. That her answer would be succinct and to the point just made it harder. He wanted to ask Ginny’s advice. He wanted to talk to her about pack problems, to seek her counsel and ask for her help. He wanted her as a partner almost more than he wanted her as a lover, though her proximity was sheer torture on his self-control.
Of course, judging by the strength of the arousal drifting off her, he’d have no problem getting an invitation to her bed. And if that was all he wanted…
But it wasn’t. And something told him Ginny would welcome him as a lover long before she considered him for a mate.
Jack opened the door for her and let his gaze drift over the curves of her body as she preceded him into the house. Maybe sex wasn’t the most important thing he wanted from her, but he’d be a liar and a fool to pretend that wasn’t part of it. So make the sex part of the hunt.
He rather liked the irony of using sex to seduce her into considering love.
She paused at a table by the door and lit a lamp. “Do you want any of the pie, or some coffee? Tea?” Her voice dropped an octave. “I have a bottle of whiskey. Not the finest, but smooth enough.”
If he went to her bed, he wanted them both sober. “Coffee would be nice.”
A flash of irritation quirked her brow, and he knew he’d been right. She’d have drank just enough for the alcohol to shoulder the blame when she woke beside him, na**d. “It’ll take a few minutes,” she murmured as she moved past him toward the kitchen.
He reached out and caught her arm, curling his fingers tight enough to hold but not trap her. She tensed under his touch, and he rubbed his thumb along her skin in a soothing gesture without thinking about it. “I wouldn’t want to put you out, Virginia. If you’d rather go to sleep, I can see to my own coffee.”
“I can do it.” She didn’t move for a moment. “I want to, Jack.” It sounded like a confession, and she pulled out of his grasp and walked into the kitchen.
He heard her stirring up the coal stove and the rattle of the coffee pan. Then she took a single long breath and leaned against the open doorway. Watching him. “You didn’t have to come all the way out here tonight.”
The opening presented itself, and Jack maneuvered the conversation in the direction he wanted as deftly as any hunter. “I don’t mind. But maybe you could pay me back with a little bit of insight.”
“Insight about what?” She rubbed her left calf with the toe of her right boot.
That wasn’t a no. Jack crossed the room and leaned against the wall a few feet away from her. “Hazel. She’s already past due for her first mating. The young wolves in town are losing their grip on their common sense, but Hazel ignores every reasonable, safe option that Lottie and I have put before her. If she hasn’t chosen a mate by the time she goes into heat…” There was no reason to finish. Ginny knew as well as he the sort of chaos that was likely to cause. “You’re friendly with the girl. What is going on in her head?”
She started grinning halfway through his speech. When he finished, she threw back her head and laughed. “Reasonable and safe. Sounds like what you know about women could fit in your coffee cup with room to spare, Jack.” The accusation was saved from being harsh by the low, honeyed tone of her voice. “‘Reasonable’ doesn’t make our hearts seize up. ‘Safe’ doesn’t make us dream about you.”
He moved before he had time to consider the wisdom of his actions. Two steps and he had her trapped against the doorframe, his body pressed along hers. He braced his hand above her head and leaned down until his lips almost touched hers. “You don’t need to be a dangerous fool to know how to make a woman pant for you. To make her beg for your touch until her voice goes hoarse and she’s come so many times she can’t stand it anymore.”
“That’s one thing I never doubted about you, Jack.” Lust darkened her eyes. “You could make me see stars, I bet. The question is what comes after that.”
A lifetime. He eased his knee between her legs and rocked against her. “We do it again?”
Her hands slid up his chest, and she ground down on his thigh with a harsh moan. Then she pushed him away and took his hand. “Come to my bed.”
Anticipation raced through him as he lifted her hand to his lips. He bit the inside of her wrist lightly and smiled when she shivered. “Yes, Ginny. A bed is a good idea.”
Chapter Two
Ginny paused in the doorway of her bedroom. Moonlight shone through the curtains, splashing over the faded quilt on her bed, and she shuddered. Though she wasn’t celibate, not by a long shot, she’d never invited a man into her bedroom before.
So why now? Why Jack?
Her hand pulled free of his, and she crossed to the bed to remove her boots. “Make yourself comfortable.”
Jack pulled off his boots and set them next to her door in silence. When he straightened, he lifted his fingers to his belt. “Are you comfortable?”
His hands hovered over the buckle, and Ginny caught herself staring. She tore her gaze away and rose, dragging her shirt from her pants. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I’m the alpha, Ginny. You can’t fool me.” He dropped his hands and crossed the room, stopping in front of her. His hands covered hers and his knuckles brushed her stomach, a light touch that gave her a taste of the restrained energy inside of him.
Heat blazed through her, and she started unbuttoning her shirt under his hands. “I didn’t plan on this, that’s all.” Which was true enough.
He moved with such speed that she didn’t realize he’d spun her until her back hit his chest. One hand gathered her hair and held it away from her ear as the other splayed across her bare stomach. “Do you plan everything?”
His breath blew hot over her skin, but she didn’t hesitate before answering. “Yes. Always.”
“Too bad.” He teased at the shell of her ear with his tongue and bit the lobe with a soft growl. “No plans tonight.”
Making plans would involve thinking, and Jack had stripped her of that ability already. “No plans,” Ginny agreed breathlessly. She trembled and bared the side of her throat to him in silent invitation.
His breath skated over her, but he didn’t accept the invitation to mark her. Instead, the hand on her stomach eased up until he found the curve of her breast. Strong, callused fingers teased over sensitive skin, tracing tiny circles that moved closer and closer to her nipple without touching it.
Frustration drew a growl from her throat. “You’re a tease.” She needed to test herself against his strength, to revel in it. She bent a little, curving her back as she leaned forward and rubbed her ass against him. Ignore that, Jack Owens.
He moaned, a quiet noise that rumbled up from the depths of his chest and vibrated against her. His c*ck was hard already, and he rocked into her movement, pressing himself tight to her ass. “You’re a bad, bad little wolf,” he whispered, then caught her aching nipple between his thumb and forefinger as his teeth closed on her neck.