“He’s freezing. Build up the fire some more, Emma.” Now there was a lovely voice.
Someone sat and wrapped her arms around him. As the soft body pressed closer, warmth seeped into him. The scent of flowers drifted to his nose.
“Margery?”
“Well, your brains haven’t frozen, at least.” The humor in her voice lightened his mood. “Here, drink your coffee.” She set her hand under his shaking one and helped him raise the cup to his lips.
The hot liquid burned all the way down but started to warm him from inside. Ben must have laced it with bourbon from Calum’s private stash under the bar. Good grizzly.
Another set of shivers hit, and Margery moved the cup away. “How did you get so chilled?”
“Fight outside—bear versus panther. Bloody mess.”
“I bet you forgot your coat and got so involved in healing you didn’t notice the cold.”
“You’d be right. At least it wasn’t raining.”
Emma tsked at him. “You need a keeper.”
“This from the female who gets in car accidents?” But then the next set of shivers hit, and his laugh strangled. “Aye. I’ll take a keeper.”
As the spasms eased off, Margery helped him drink more coffee.
The heat from the fireplace and the warmth of her body on the other side finally penetrated. With a sigh, he leaned back. “Thank you.”
She giggled. “Caring for the healer wasn’t in the list of things we discussed for a banfasa, but I can take that on, too.”
Caring for him. He looked down at her, aware of the curves of her body. Imagining her hands on him. Those soft lips under his.
A different kind of heat started to burn away the chills.
“There, now, you’re feeling better, aren’t you?” She was stroking his shoulder and arm.
Soothing was no longer what he had in mind. He took the cup from her, pleased his hand was steady again, took a sip, and set it on the coffee table. “I’m definitely feeling better.”
“Margery, it’s Margery, right?” A male walked over, face flushed with lust. One of the wolves. Hopeful and focused on Margery. “Want to come and talk with me or…”
Or go upstairs? Donal’s lips curled up in a snarl, and a sound escaped that he’d never heard himself make. The sound of a panther ready to defend its territory.
“Uh, got it, sorry.” The male jumped back and hurried toward the other side of the room.
Donal didn’t feel repentant in the least.
His gaze met Emma’s. She winked at him and rose. “Since you’re doing better, I’ll go help Ben hand out drinks. See you later, Margery.”
“Um, right.” Margery watched her friend stroll away. “Was she—”
Donal interrupted by raising her hand to his lips. He kissed her fingertips, then more intimately, her palm. Her personal scent was fresh, not sultry, more like a flower garden at dawn. He breathed it in with another slow kiss before looking down at her.
Her eyes were wide and surprised. Lovely hazel eyes, the firelight bringing out the green. Apparently realizing how she was pressed against him, she started to edge away.
“Please stay, Meggie. I’m still half-frozen,” he lied.
She immediately leaned against him. “Of course. I—”
His pleasure must have given him away. Her eyes narrowed. “Sneaky cat.”
She moved away.
“Worth a try. Lust is an excellent medicine for hypothermia, it appears.”
Giggles came from the little banfasa, so he took his chance, slinging an arm around her and pulling her back against him. “Stay where you’re put, female.”
Those wide eyes again. Could she not feel the attraction between them? He needed to be more obvious. Bending, he brushed a swift kiss over her mouth.
Yes, her lips were as soft as they’d looked. And her cheeks turned a delicate pink.
Normally, a male would discreetly check a female’s interest by sniffing her wrist, but since she was right there in the curve of his arm, he nuzzled her cheek, her ear, her neck, breathing in. The scent of her desire had his shaft growing until it strained against his jeans.
How strange. Margery hadn’t been at all interested in mating again…not until Donal sat down beside her. Then every cell in her body had jumped up and started bouncing around like a shifter at her first trawsfur.
He smelled like springtime in the foothills, so enticing she wanted to rub her face on his skin and nibble on his sharp jaw.
After finishing off his coffee, he set the cup on the table and leaned back, pulling her against him again. His arm was an