Rachel's Totem

Chapter Four

Rachel swayed as she stared at the familiar blonde coming toward her with a bright smile. Dizzy, she could only breathe deeply and blink to clear her blurred vision. Dean and Grady spun and left without another word, and their departure made her upset for some reason. She’d been wanting something…

But it was Burke who drew and held her attention from the blonde. His hair blew around his face despite the calm, and his amber eyes looked overly bright in such a harsh, masculine face. His mouth was taut, as if Burke strained against hunger. Enthralled by the sharp sight of him, her gaze wandered from his eyes to his long throat to his broad chest and farther down, finally resting on the large bulge tense against the front of his jeans.

Confusion filled her. Burke wanted her, of that she had no doubt. And the others…they’d been, what? Aroused and wanting her too? A woman his brothers had just met? They couldn’t possibly have intimated they’d desired her. That nonsense about marking? She tore her gaze from his erection and stared into his needy eyes. The look on Burke’s face just now. None of it made any sense.

He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her.

“Burke?”

He deliberately tightened his hold, as if to show her who was in charge. But before she could protest, he kissed her. Hard, possessive lips ravaged her mouth. He speared her with his tongue, the flavor of him knocking her for a loop. Had Burke not held her, she would surely have fallen. Her tongue met his and slipped into his mouth, pulling a hoarse groan from him. She felt his erection burning against her belly, and that spiral of heat that seemed to come and go whenever he neared flared again. God, she wanted so much to feel him inside of her.

She pressed against him, nearly climbing him to get closer, but as she moved her lips over his something scratched her mouth.

Burke froze and tore his mouth from hers. His eyes were that eerie golden color, the shape of his pupils resembling that of a cat. He stared at the bottom of her lip, which stung, and leaned down to kiss her, gently this time. He shuddered and ran his tongue over her lower lip before thrusting her as far from him as he could.

“Maggie, help Rachel to a cup of coffee, would you?” She loved his voice, so deep and rough, and so sexy she wanted to melt. Then the name “Maggie” registered. Who was he talking to? “I’ll be right back.”

Burke left in a blur, and once again Rachel felt reality slipping from her. When she could focus again, she found herself sitting in a chair in a masculine but homey kitchen.

A petite blonde, probably Maggie, was whistling and shuttling from cabinet to cabinet.

“Damn. Those guys never refill from the larder.”

“Larder?” Was that croak Rachel’s voice?

“Wait here, hon. I’ll be right back. Out of coffee, and of course nobody but me refills the damned jar.” She walked out of the kitchen before Rachel could say anything else, leaving Rachel alone with her thoughts since reading her aunt’s startling letter.

Impressions of Burke lingered, but she couldn’t make sense of the odd episode with him and his brothers. Since trying to recall details of that strange meeting gave her a headache, Rachel’s concentration shifted to the information her aunt had imparted in that letter, and Rachel wondered if she could even believe half of it.

According to Aunt Charlotte, Rachel was more needed in Cougar Falls than she knew. The task of watching over the precious totem all these people seemed so fixated on was a Penny tradition. For some odd reason, Charlotte believed only she, and people of her blood, could see and locate the totem as its true guardians. And if Rachel chose to believe that nonsense, then she had to also believe what her aunt said about her neighbors—that the Chastells were said protectors of this mystical totem.

Per Charlotte’s instructions, the best things for Rachel to do, in order of importance, were one: to be thankful for finally ridding herself of that leech Jesse Minton and celebrate with a good case of wild, passionate sex with a man like Burke Chastell; two: convince the same Burke Chastell to marry her, because a more perfect match couldn’t have been made in heaven; and three: find the totem with Burke, and quickly, so that the town didn’t fall apart in Charlotte’s absence. Follow your heart, Charlotte had written, emphasizing the “follow”.

As if that information weren’t startling enough, Charlotte also had several suggestions pertaining to the choosing of Rachel’s inner beast, whichever creature on the totem that appealed to her more than the others. Charlotte speculated that Rachel would probably choose the puma, but then again, the fox had always intrigued Charlotte, so who knew?

What the hell had her aunt been smoking up here? Had the letter been written in some kind of code? Rachel had wanted to better examine it, but good old Gerald hadn’t given her a chance. He’d torched the thing in seconds, leaving her with more questions than answers. Shifters, totems, and hot sex that wasn’t even sex, really, with a guy she’d just met and didn’t exactly like in an alleyway?

Okay, she could scratch the part about not liking Burke. Despite her mistrust, she couldn’t help her attraction to the man. And the more she thought about it, the more she realized their intimacy in the alley had been anything but staged. The passion that flared between them was too damned real, and she’d seen Burke’s confusion as well as his attraction on the three occasions the heat had risen between them.

Burke was actually kind of nice, in a sexy, totally masculine, tough-guy way. She liked the fact that he had responsibilities, that his brothers annoyed him and that her aunt apparently thought enough of him to recommend him for marriage. Not to mention he’d given her a mother of an orgasm through her freaking clothes. She could only imagine what he’d feel like without anything between them…

Flushing and shaking free of those thoughts, she tried to make sense of her aunt’s allusions to inner beasts and that totem. Which had her reexamining Burke’s glimpses of weirdness. In that alley he’d been wild, both with those hairy guys and with her. And just now… In her mind’s eye, she saw him and his brothers again, the three of them staring at her with catlike pupils and shimmery skin. Her breath caught. She really had seen that, hadn’t she? And if so, did that mean Charlotte was right about the rest of it? Could Rachel become one of them—whatever “them” meant?

“Found it.”

Maggie’s voice shocked Rachel into a sudden jerk that nearly threw her out of her chair.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I found the coffee.” The petite blonde prepared the pot and took two ceramic mugs from a cabinet, placing one in front of Rachel and the other in front of her seat across the table. “I’m Maggie Buchanan, Joel’s wife. We live here with Burke and his brothers, tending the ranch.”

“Yeah. Burke mentioned you.”

Maggie beamed. “He’s a wonderful man, isn’t he? A bit too high-handed at times, but the men around here tend to be real throw-backs, you know what I mean? It’s all that mountain air, I think.” She winked at Rachel. “But they sure do know how to kiss, don’t they?”

Rachel blushed, recalling the whopper Burke had planted on her right in front of Maggie. Rachel stared at the smaller woman, aware of the normalcy Maggie projected.

She seemed extremely nice and accepting, harmless really. Maybe she could shed some light on what was truly going on around here.

“How long have you lived here?”

“All my life.” Maggie grinned. “I love Cougar Falls. I met Joel seven years ago when he moved back into town. He stayed and we fell in love. We’re coming up on our fifth anniversary next month.”

“Congratulations.” Rachel paused, trying to find a way to frame her next question.

“So did you know my aunt too?”

“Sure did. Charlotte was a great friend, and a funny lady. She bossed your brothers something fierce.” Maggie chuckled. “I loved seeing them run ragged after a day with Charlotte. They’d bitch about it with Joel, but always with a grin. She treated them like family, and they’ve missed that. Their parents died years ago, back when Burke was just eighteen. He’s been raising his brothers and managing this place himself for a long time.”

Maggie rose when the coffee machine beeped and brought to the table a carafe, a container of milk and one of sugar. She gave Rachel a speculative look. “What about you?”

“Me?” Rachel busied herself by fixing her coffee.

“Do you have family to get back to? A husband and some kids, maybe?” Maggie stared at Rachel’s fingers wrapped around her mug.

“No. No husband, not anymore.” Her relief in saying that made her smile.

“A real jerk, huh?”

“You have no idea.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re rid of him then. Had a boyfriend a while back who wasn’t so nice to me.” Maggie’s voice softened. “Took me a while to see the light. That and Joel.”

Her face brightened. “I didn’t want to give Joel the time of day, but he wore me down.

And I’m glad he did. I’d do anything for that man.”

Rachel wondered what it would be like to have a man she could love as much as Maggie seemed to love Joel. Even with Jesse she’d been somewhat remote, walling off that part of herself he’d never quite reached. Sex with him had been great, but now she had to wonder, had she ever talked about him the way Maggie talked about Joel? Had she ever had that glow in her eyes thinking about her ex?

“So what do you think of the town so far?”

Rachel zeroed in on the question, pleased to turn away uncomfortable thoughts about her ex, as well as to take the opportunity to question Maggie about Cougar Falls. “It’s cute, but a little odd.”

“You think?” Was that humor behind Maggie’s bland words?

“What do you know about this totem pole everyone celebrates? My aunt seemed to think it held magical properties. And that she was responsible for it.”

“She was.”

Rachel stared, pleased but cautious at Maggie’s honesty. “In what way?”

“Look, Rachel, if I hadn’t been born and raised here, I wouldn’t believe half the things I’ve heard, let alone seen. Believe what you feel. Charlotte did. Suffice it to say your aunt was a well-respected and very important woman in this town. Her blood—your blood—runs as far back as the Salish who used to live here hundreds of years ago. And that totem is a symbol of everything Cougar Falls represents. Now that it’s missing, a lot of people are hoping you’ll bring it back.”

Great. So whatever Aunt Charlotte had been smoking, Maggie had taken a few puffs of it too.

“Sounds nutty, I know. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

Rachel was about to ask her about the Ac-taw and inner beasts when Burke and a giant of a man joined them.

“Maggie, time to gather the veggies.” The giant nodded at Rachel, his dark brown eyes tender as they fell on his wife, and Rachel placed him as a man she’d seen in the diner.

“That’s my husband, Joel, my own grizzly bear.” Joel frowned at Maggie’s laugh and hauled her out of the kitchen. “See you later, Rachel,” she yelled over her shoulder, leaving Rachel alone with Burke.

He studied her with very normal, though very handsome, whiskey-brown eyes.

Burke moved with grace, grabbing a mug and joining her at the table without taking his eyes off of her. His stare made her nervous…and made her hot.

“What?”

“You are the damnedest woman.”

She didn’t know how to take that.

“You’ve been hit with a street fight, a touchy-feely stranger in an alley,” he said, self-deprecatingly. “Then there’s your aunt’s will, and the crazy shit I’m sure she wrote about, and not the least my brothers. I thought by now you’d be running for the airport.”

“I would, but I need my car.” She relaxed, flattered truth be told, that he seemed to both like and respect her.

He chuckled. “I can see a lot of Charlotte in you. And that’s a good thing, in case you’re wondering.” He poured himself some coffee and drank it black, smiling at her over the brim.

“Burke,” Rachel started, not wanting to lose this easy discourse between them but needing to have it said. “My aunt said some strange things in her letter.”

“I can imagine.”

“You said you’d do your best to explain things to me. How about you start?”

“Ah, a tall order.” He took another swallow and his hair swung down into his eyes.

Without thinking about it, she leaned forward and pushed it back, startling him and herself.

“Sorry.”

“I’m not. I like you touching me.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he didn’t look happy. “I’m going to tell you the truth. And you’re going to think I’m one hundred percent certifiable. But do me a favor and listen until I’m done, okay? I can prove what I’m going to tell you. Just hear me out.”

Rachel nodded, her pulse racing.

“Cougar Falls isn’t like any town you’ve ever been to, Rachel. The people who live here were either born here or married into one of the founding families. I was born here with my brothers, like my parents and their parents before them. We’re Ac-taw.”

She processed what he said, her eyes wide. “Animal souls? You’re a part of those people the Salish first found?” At his surprise, she explained, “Gerald filled me in on the Totem Festival on the drive over. That and a bit more.”

“Yeah. Truth is, most of the town is Ac-taw. And the totem is the real deal, passed down for generations. Charlotte preserved it for us, and we protected her.”

Rachel frowned. “From what?”

“From those Shifters who would take it from us.”

“Shifters?”

“Humans can’t find Cougar Falls. It’s not on any map, and doesn’t ‘exist’ to outsiders.”

For the moment ignoring “humans,” Rachel asked, “Then why could I find it? I’m not Ac-taw.”

“Actually, you are. Charlotte was too, at least distantly. That’s why she was so in tune with the totem and the world around her. To many, she was a nutcase,” he said bluntly. “But she was so much more than that. She was a spirit guide, a guardian of the magic in the totem. And when she died, she took the knowledge of the totem with her.

The town needs it back. We need you, Rachel, to get it back for us.”

Rachel shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I mean, I read my aunt’s letter. I know she believed what you do. But I don’t know anything about this totem or how to get it back. It wasn’t in the house or anywhere around the property that I could see. And there was nothing about it in the box Gerald showed me.”

“The knowledge is within you.” Burke touched his heart. “Once you open yourself to the beast within—”

“About this beast. My aunt seems to think I can choose my ‘inner beast,’ whatever the hell that is. Care to explain?”

Burke sighed. “Why don’t I show you instead?” He whistled and in moments, Dean and Grady appeared in the doorway. Though she hadn’t seen them pass the window, they must have been waiting nearby. “Grady? How about you do the honors? Show Rachel your animal soul.”

Grady’s eyes lit up with approval. “Don’t freak, Rachel. This is totally normal.” He began removing his clothes, much to her surprise and admitted appreciation. The Chastells were enough to make any woman’s heart race. A glance at Dean showed him leaning against the doorframe, his gaze glued to her. Burke sat beside her scowling, but said nothing more.

“Why would I freak, Grady?” She couldn’t believe he was actually stripping down to nothing but golden skin. God, Grady was just as big and almost as gorgeous as Burke.

“There’s a handsome man getting naked in front of me and his brothers. I keep thinking I should be giving you money or something. How about some music to add to the mood?”

Dean chuckled, and even Burke choked on a laugh.

She had mere moments to see Grady naked, however, because as soon as he shucked his underwear he went down on all fours, and she had to lean over the table to watch. He seemed to shimmer, his tanned flesh growing brighter and then softer as skin became fur, joints realigned and a tail formed. His eyes, as they stared at her, turned a brighter gold, the pupils slitted in what appeared to be a catlike face. It seemed to take forever, but in mere seconds Grady had disappeared, replaced by a mature male cougar.

Rachel forgot to breathe as she stared at a freaking cat person, one of her aunt’s favorite Shifters in the many tales she liked to share. Rachel didn’t know what to say, and could scarcely believe what she was seeing.

“He’s real,” Burke said softly. “Go ahead and touch him. He won’t bite.”

Rachel stood slowly and walked around the table to…Grady? His tail swooshed along the floor where he sat waiting, his eyes unblinking. She glanced again to Burke, afraid and excited and disbelieving all at once.

Burke pushed back his chair and crouched with her in front of Grady. He lifted her hand and placed it on Grady’s head. “Go ahead, honey. Feel him. It’s Grady in there.

We’re feline Shifters, catamounts. Better known as cougars or pumas.” He pressed his warm hand over hers, pushing her fingers along Grady’s soft coat.

“Oh my God.” She stared at their hands, then at Grady’s half-closed eyes. When he began to purr, her gaze shot back to Burke. “You did that. After…when we…at the alley.

You purred.”

“I did.” Burke caressed her hand before letting go. “I was very content.”

His sexy drawl gained her body’s immediate response, and Grady tensed under her hand. She immediately stilled, unnerved when Dean approached and stood behind her, boxing her in.

“You see, Rachel, it’s like this,” Burke began, licking his lips as he stared at her.

“You and Charlotte are a lot alike. Neither of you cast a scent. Or at least, you don’t unless you’re aroused. And at least three times since you’ve been here you’ve set me off like a rocket. You accused me of taking advantage of you in that alley to get Charlotte’s land. Honey, I hate to break it to you, but I’m helpless when you’re turned on.”

Grady nodded, an odd sight, seeing a big cat nod in agreement.

“We all are,” Dean added. “It’s been so long since we’ve had a female feline.”

Rachel swallowed around a dry throat. All this talk of turning her on was doing just that. Grady pushed his head under her hand, forcing her to stroke between his ears and under his chin.

“Cut it out.” Burke pushed his huge head away. “Quit rubbing all over her. She’s mi—” He broke off just as he glanced back at her. “Sorry. Grady can get a tad possessive.”

Behind her Dean snorted.

“What did you mean before when you talked about marking a female?” She wanted to know, as much as she didn’t want to know.

Dean answered. “Marking a female means you accept her as one of your own, as part of a pride or clan, a family unit. Shifters are born, not made. So marking is very, very rare. But every now and then, an Ac-taw like you comes around. A person who can choose her beast.”

“My inner beast,” Rachel said, remembering her aunt’s words.

“Yes. That inner beast is your animal soul calling out to you. That you can choose from any you encounter speaks to your power over the totem. That and the fact you project no scent. You’re a very powerful woman, Rachel. And we would be honored to mark you as ours.”

She couldn’t explain the rush she felt hearing that, but she still didn’t understand.

“As yours? What exactly does that mean?” Had they marked Maggie, too? But Maggie was married to Joel, so maybe it wasn’t a sexual thing.

Burke helped her to her feet and settled her back in her chair. She watched in awe as Grady stretched and changed back, then dressed again.

“A mark is a sign of belonging.” Dean sat next to her. “We—” he paused to motion to his brothers, “—are each marked as part of this pride, a group of Shifters led by catamounts. Joel and Maggie are marked as ours too, though they’re not cats. Marking isn’t the same as mating or joining.”

“Huh?”

Burke shook his head. “Dean, you’re making a muck of it. Let me explain.” He turned to Rachel. “A mark is a subtle scent other Shifters can smell. It lets everyone know who’s loyal to whom. Though in Cougar Falls, all the clans pretty much have an affinity to the town. Our pride is the most diverse, because we don’t care what breed of Shifter we accept.

“We mark by scent in a variety of ways. We marked Maggie and Joel over time, allowing small measures of our hormones to cover them. Completely painless and nonsexual, I promise you.”

“As if I’d make it with a bear,” Dean muttered.

“Bear?” Rachel’s mind felt sluggish. “But Maggie’s so small.”

“No. Maggie’s mostly human. Maggie has a touch of Ac-taw still in her that lets her see Cougar Falls when others can’t. Joel’s the bear.”

“Okay.” It was starting to make an odd kind of sense. Rachel stared at Grady, still trying to place him on the floor with whiskers and large teeth. He winked at her.

“Marking can be sexually done, but it doesn’t have to be. Joining is sex, pure and simple.” Burke stared hard at her and cleared his throat. “And then there’s mating.”

“As in Shifter marriage,” Grady explained. “It’s permanent and very spiritual. And the sex is to die for, or so I’ve heard.” His gaze wandered over her body suggestively, lingering on her breasts.

Rachel crossed her arms over her chest defensively, trying to protect her body from Grady, as well as her lust from growing out of control around the dangerous Chastells.

Burke apparently read her discomfort because he shoved a hard elbow into Grady’s gut.

Grady flashed long sharp teeth in what sounded like a hiss, but before they could distract her, Rachel pressed for more information.

“So you guys wanted to mark me? Why?”

Burke looked pained by the conversation but he answered her. “You haven’t chosen an animal soul yet, Rachel. And you’re so feline, it’s killing me. We would have you as one of us, to strengthen our clan.”

“And because you’re hot as hell,” Dean offered.

“Shut up, Dean.” Grady growled, rubbing his belly.

Rachel didn’t know what to think. “So, ah, there are other Shifter ‘clans,’ is that the right word?”

“Yeah. You met two of the silver fox clan today, Gerald and Ty, the sheriff. We have bears, catamounts—us—some eagle and raptor clans. And then there are the wolves.”

The way Burke said “wolves” she knew they weren’t particularly well liked. “I fought a few of them in the alley earlier. And there’ve been wolves prowling around your place looking for the totem the past two weeks.”

“What?” Those hairy thugs were wolves? Funny, she’d have thought they’d look more polished and graceful.

“Yeah. The gray wolves really want to start a breeding town here. To that end, they used to pressure Charlotte a lot when she first moved here. My parents held them off, then we did when we took over.” Burke looked uncomfortable but he maintained eye contact. “Rachel, we did want, and still do, the land back that Charlotte owned. It was in our family for years before one of our idiot relatives lost it in a bet. But we’d never do anything to force you to sell. We kind of liked Charlotte near us. And we take pride in the fact that we were her protectors.”

“Just like we’re now your protectors,” Grady added quietly.

She felt their stares and glanced at Burke helplessly. He wasn’t the bad guy she’d first thought. He was a bona fide myth walking on two legs, or was that four, who wanted to protect her. Good Lord. What should she do about that?

“I want to help.” And she did. She hadn’t seen much, but she trusted what she’d seen, and she listened to her instincts. They hadn’t failed her yet, and had she heeded them in the first place, she never would have married Jesse… Funny, but thoughts of him after what she’d seen didn’t matter much anymore.

“And we want to help you. What can we do, Rachel?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. My aunt didn’t tell me anything useful about the totem.”

“What did she say, exactly?” Burke asked.

Rachel flushed, distinctly remembering her aunt’s thoughts about what to do with Burke. “She told me to forget about my loser ex-husband, to find my inner beast, and …”

“And?” Burke’s gaze intensified.

“And to take my responsibility for the totem seriously.” As if she was going to tell him her aunt wanted them to marry after hot, wild sex. Embarrassing.

“Right.” Did Burke sound disappointed?

“What did she tell you?”

“To protect you and to help you in any way that I can.”

“So how do we do that?”

Grady held up a hand. “I think we should start with Rachel’s beast. You need to get in touch with yourself first. Charlotte was always preaching that to me.”

“Yeah. So.” Dean paused. “You want us to mark you now or later? Maybe some lunch first for strength?”

“Dean.” Burke rolled his eyes. “Give her some room to breathe, okay? Rachel, it’s a lot to digest. How about we go for a walk and I’ll show you around? You can see Charlotte’s, I mean, your house from on top of the hill near the eastern cabins.”

Rachel nodded and stood. “Some air would be nice.” Looking at Grady and Dean, she clearly read their disappointment. But honestly, she didn’t know what to think about what she’d been told. Marking? Mating? Ac-taw that were real? And why couldn’t she stop thinking about what Burke would look like when he shifted? About how hard his muscles would be under her palm before his skin turned to fur?

Burke couldn’t help a quiet sigh of regret that Rachel hadn’t taken Dean up on his offer to mark her. Though her scent was tamped, his arousal kept building the longer he was around her. She just kept getting prettier every time he looked at her.

She’d taken their news well, so far that he could tell. The only glitch on this morning was the knowledge she’d been married. He’d bet the ranch her ex was the business partner she’d spoken of with bitterness. Some asshole who didn’t appreciate a woman like Rachel didn’t deserve her.

They walked outside along the spring, the deep grasses, wild flowers and honeybees a symphony of nature that couldn’t compare to Rachel’s feminine beauty.

“So you were married huh?” Dumb, Burke. Real dumb.

She frowned but nodded. “Three years. He cheated on me, I left, and he tried to bilk me out of our joint business assets and every dollar I’d broken my back to earn.”

“What a dick.”

She blinked at him and smiled, a genuine grin that made his heart pound with desire.

“Truer words were never spoken.” They walked in silence a few moments before she said, “How about you? Ever married? Been heavily involved? It wasn’t Sarah Duncan was it?”

“Hell no.” Horrified at the thought, he caught her nasty chuckle. “Funny. No, it wasn’t Sarah. You blasted me for talking down to her, and maybe I deserved it. But that woman will not take no for an answer. She’s been bugging me for years.”

Rachel stared. “No kidding.”

He flushed, feeling stupid. “I like sex. It’s just that for me, it has to be with a person I care about.” So why did you take Rachel up against a wall? A woman you’d just met? He quickly hurried the topic. “I’ve never been married. Never found a woman I wanted to commit to. We Chastells marry for life. No infidelity, no divorce. Sounds corny, but we marry for love. Always have. And hopefully always will.”

“That sounds lovely.” Her voice was thick, and when he turned to her, he saw tears in her eyes. “I should have waited. Every instinct told me Jesse was wrong for me. Even Aunt Charlotte told me to forget about him. But I was lonely. My parents had just died and I felt so lost.”

He put an arm around her shoulders and they walked beside the stream. Being with her felt so right, as if he’d found the other half of himself long missing.

“I felt the same way when my parents died. Hell, they’d survived clan wars and a rash of poachers. Even land developers who made a real nuisance of themselves before I was born. And then they died in a stupid plane wreck.”

She squeezed his hand by her shoulder, and he squeezed back.

“I still miss the hell out of them,” he admitted. “Raising Grady and Dean through high school was a bitch, as I’m sure you can imagine.” He met her laughing gaze. “And the holidays are never the same. But I guess unlike you, I went in the other direction.

Instead of looking for someone, I kind of hid back here at the ranch. I mean, who wants to find love when it can leave you in an instant?”

As soon as he said it, he realized he spoke the truth…and that he sounded like a complete, emotional asswipe.

Embarrassed, he turned her attention to an eagle cresting in the distance. But her touch on his face startled him into turning back to her.

“Burke?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.” The kiss she gave him was nothing like anything he’d ever experienced.

Full of promise, tenderness and affection, it pulled him deeper into the quagmire of emotion he didn’t want to feel for this woman, yet was helpless to deny.