Everyone liked Gabby, the most outgoing and genial of the three. She had a tawny complexion that suited her dark red hair, and a curvy frame where Meghan and Julia were leaner.
Slender, sexy and beautiful, Julia made him ache. She made him want to beg. He huffed. A Roderick didn’t beg. Hell, at home he rejected sexual offers from women left and right. But Julia had never asked a thing from him, not until the sly vixen had propositioned him, drunk as a skunk. Now how the hell could he say yes to that and not have her hate him in the morning?
Meghan was the first to answer him. “Ty, uh, I’m, well…”
“Get on with it, Meghan.” She really was cute. A younger version of Julia.
“The brat thinks she’s in love,” Julia said, her words laced with disgust. Her gaze met his before it skittered back to her sister.
“I am in love,” Meghan retorted. “Just because you’re turning into the neighborhood cat lady is no reason to be jealous I’ve found someone special.”
Ty coughed to smother a laugh. “Cat lady?”
“You know, the old lady with no life who lives with like thirty cats for company.”
“We like cats,” Gabby defended, shooting Meghan a look that surprised Ty. She seemed genuinely annoyed.
Meghan flushed. “I’m just saying Julia blames me for having a sex life.”
“I so did not need to hear that,” Ty muttered.
Julia’s eyes sparkled and her scent grew richer. When angry, the little spitfire turned him hard in a heartbeat. He casually crossed the room to stand behind an oversized chair to hide his erection. Talk about embarrassing, not to mention irritating. The vixen made him crazy like no one could.
“Okay, you want to talk about your sex life? Fine,” Julia sneered. “Are you using birth control? Does Jason know what can happen when you go into heat? Is he prepared to help rear your litter?”
Fascinated, Ty watched the family interplay. He’d never seen Julia so impassioned. Normally she did her job with calm precision and couldn’t be described as anything other than cool. But with Meghan, she acted like a virtual firecracker. A sultry redhead with a temper to boot. God, he wanted her.
Meghan stared from Julia to Ty and back again, her cheeks scarlet. “I am not going to talk about this in front of Ty.”
Thank God.
She continued. “I’m going to call Jason to come get me.” Tears filled her eyes. “He’s the only one who understands me. The only one who cares.” She sobbed and fled the room.
Everyone stared at the slammed door in silence.
After a moment, he asked, “You sure she didn’t major in drama?”
Julia’s lips curved.
Gabby choked on a laugh. “I’ll go talk to her. You deal with him,” she said to Julia, a knowing look in her eyes that made Julia blush. Gabby joined Meghan in the bedroom, leaving Julia and Ty alone together.
“Now it’s just you and me, honey. Where should we start?”
Julia gnawed on her lower lip, and he wanted to kiss the sting away. She turned her direct amber-eyed gaze on him. “Why are you here?”
“You’re welcome for saving you, by the way. Or would you rather I stepped aside so you and Ned can head down the aisle?” he asked dryly.
“Please. I can handle Ned.”
“Oh?”
“Granted, he’s an ass. But I know how to handle the type.” The look she gave him heated his blood to boiling.
“I raced nearly two hundred miles on no sleep and shitty gas station food. I left the raptors in a frenzy, ready to rip out Sarah Duncan’s feathers one by one. The cats are at the throats of the gray wolves again, the bears are losing their minds, and half our clan is in favor of instituting a new mating policy, whereby the silver foxes will soon have arranged marriages. I left all that behind to save you from Hunters.”
“Hunters?” Julia blinked in confusion. “Rip out Sarah’s feathers? Is she okay?”
He spoke through gritted teeth. “The Whitefeathers and Gerald have it all under control. Sarah’s the one who told me you were having trouble with Hunters.”
“What do the Whitefeathers have to do with this?”
“Julia, focus, would you? Why would Sarah think you were dealing with Hunters?” The thought of Julia being hunted down and killed had nearly stopped his heart before he’d managed to bear down and concentrate on finding her.
“Hunters? Where would she get that idea?” Her expression cleared. “Oh. Right. The last time we spoke I mentioned Jason’s family’s disgusting hobby of mounting dead things in their homes. She might have gotten the wrong impression.”
“I’m not sure she did. Ned Williams seems pretty threatening.” And he likes you way too much for my liking.
“He is, but he’s nothing I can’t handle.” Now she sounded like the competent legal assistant he knew her to be. Sexy, unruffled, self-contained. “I’m sorry if you rushed out here on our behalf, but we’re fine.”
“Oh, right. I can see that. Some asshole just shot all of our tires. Your sister is involved with an outsider the clan knows nothing about, and you’re getting married to Ned No-Neck Williams.”
Julia pinched the bridge of her nose. “I didn’t say we weren’t having some problems, but it’s a family matter. Not your concern, Ty.”
He liked her saying his name. He’d like it a whole lot better if she’d cry it out as her body clenched around his in orgasm. “Oh, but it is my concern. Meghan’s in some serious trouble. And it doesn’t seem like she’s going to drop this Jason anytime soon.”
“I know.” Julia sighed. “But we’ll handle it.”
“Yes, we will.” Ty made a sudden decision. Maybe he could fix a few issues at once. He had no transportation at the moment. Considering the “long line of Williamses” in Nowhere, he’d venture a guess he’d have a hard time finding spare tires for his truck in town.
Time to match wits with a sexy, conniving adversary. Satisfaction flooded him at the thought of tangling with Julia again. He really had missed her.
“What does ‘we will’ mean?” Suspicion made her voice husky.
“It means I’m here to fix a few things. But first things first.” He took a step closer, pleased when she licked her lips, nervous.
“Ty—”
He answered how he should have the first time she’d asked, four weeks ago. “Yes, Julia. Yes, I’ll take you home and make love to you until neither of us can walk.”
He kissed her before she could close her pretty mouth.
Julia had to be dreaming. No way Ty Roderick would step in to save her from Ned and fulfill her deepest desires all in the same day. But she couldn’t ignore the heat building inside her from the taste of him.
He tasted like chocolate. She couldn’t explain how, but he did. And his scent. Like spiced male and sex, topped with sugared seduction. He groaned low and deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue between her lips to sweep her mouth.
She never could have guessed it would be this good. Oh, she’d fantasized. For years she’d had a thing for the town sheriff. The unflappable man every woman wanted and every man wanted to emulate. Ty was a man’s man. He fished and hunted with deadly accuracy in shifted form. Quick and devious, he could also talk politics or sports with the best of them.
Possessing a body corded with strength and a face anyone would call attractive, he was the catch of the season, if you could grab a hold of him. As slippery as an eel, he’d cut a swath through the females in town without settling on anyone. Julia refused to be added to his notch of conquests, so she’d kept her distance. And watched. And waited. But Ty never approached her. The other dogs in town did, but not the one silver fox she wanted.