Down & Dirty (Bundle) (6 page)

When they stepped out onto the front porch,
it wasn’t Roy riding up. It was Hazel, on one of Lottie’s best bay
mares. Ginny raised a hand in greeting, her cheeks turning
pink.

Hazel raised a hand in return, but her eyes
were all for Jack, as was, he suspected, that tiny, amused smile.
“Well. This is a surprise.”

“
Is it?” Ginny turned to
Jack, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Hey, maybe after breakfast
Hazel could ride over to Ollie’s place with you. I’m sure she’d
like that.”

Ginny’s blush had nothing on how pink
Hazel’s cheeks could turn. Jack shot his new lover a quelling look
before he stepped off the porch and strode forward to catch the
mare’s bridle. “Why don’t you hop down and have breakfast with us,
Hazel?”

The girl would be every bit as dominant as
Ginny once she’d grown up a little, but for now she followed his
suggestion, sliding easily from the horse’s saddle. She was tiny,
the top of her head barely coming even with his shoulder, which was
probably why he kept forgetting how old she was. “Here,” she said,
holding out her hand. “I’ll put the horse in the stable and come
along in a few minutes.”

Ginny had already gone back inside when he
turned toward the porch. He found her in the kitchen, transferring
an omelet to a stoneware plate. “Ready for breakfast?” she asked
brightly.

Jack glared at her. “What in holy hell,
woman? I am not dragging that girl over to Oliver’s ranch with me,
for about five hundred reasons you can probably figure out.”

“
I know.” She handed him a
steaming mug of coffee and kissed him gently. “But she deserved it.
Sit down and eat before it gets cold. I’m not making another
batch.”

He set the mug on the table with a soft thud
and reached out to grab her arm. He dragged her back against his
chest with a growl that turned into a moan when his lips found
hers. She was impossible… and he loved it.

She kissed him hard and bit his lip, then
wiggled out of his arms with a wicked smile. “Breakfast now. More
kissing later.”

“
Fine.” He dropped into the
chair as he heard Hazel’s footsteps on the porch. “Do me a favor,
Ginny. Stick close to home and your rifle today, except when you’re
out with Oliver. None of those assholes are going to risk pissing
him off, but if some of them slip by me, I don’t want you getting
hurt.”

She cracked an egg into a bowl and arched an
eyebrow at him. “Fair warning, Jack. I’m shooting the first son of
a bitch who tries to start something with me.”

He hadn’t expected anything
less, but it wouldn’t help if they came at her as a group.
Which they would, the sorry bastards.
“That’d be great if they were going to line up and
wait for you to shoot them.”

She waved her cheese grater at him. “Don’t
start with that. I’m not some helpless little flower.”

“
She’s not,” Hazel supplied
not-at-all helpfully from the kitchen doorway. “She shoots pretty
damn good, too.”

Jack ground his teeth. “How well she shoots
is not the question, Hazel. It’s how many people she can stop.”

Ginny pointed to the table. “Omelet, Hazel.”
Her gaze slid back to Jack. “Would it make you feel better if I got
my stock settled and spent the rest of the day in town at
Lottie’s?”

Even if Hazel hadn’t nearly tripped over her
chair in shock, Jack would have recognized what a large concession
she’d just made to his protective instincts. “That would make me
feel considerably better.” And considering the conversation he was
planning on having with Oliver… He shot Ginny a sly look.
“Especially if you’d let Oliver accompany you and Hazel on your
ride over.”

Her eyes twinkled, and she nodded solemnly.
“I think that would be wise, Jack.”

In retrospect it was hard to understand how
he’d never noticed Hazel’s crush before this. Her cheeks flushed
again at the mere mention of Oliver’s name, and she dropped into
her chair with a little annoyed noise. “You told him,” she accused
Ginny. “That’s not very nice.”

She snorted. “He couldn’t figure why none of
his and Lottie’s machinations could persuade you to fuck some nice
little boy in town. Trust me, I did you a favor.”

The color in Hazel’s cheeks deepened and she
scowled. “Who says I haven’t fucked some nice little boy in
town?”

Jack froze, his gaze darting back to Ginny
as his eyebrows climbed high enough he imagined they were about to
collide with his hairline.

But Ginny ignored his
stunned look as she passed Hazel a mug. “I’m not talking about some
human you’re amusing yourself with, though I’d wager a year’s
profits there haven’t been any of
those
, either.”

“
There are some,” she
retorted, but Jack could smell the lie. She knew it, too. She
wrapped her fingers around the mug and sank lower in the chair.
“There was one. I still don’t see what makes humans so
different.”

There were plenty of reasons having sex with
a human was nothing like sex with another werewolf, but Jack wasn’t
sure he was up to listening to a recitation of them over breakfast.
“This sounds like the sort of thing you ladies can talk about
without me.”

“
We’ll save it for later,”
Ginny offered. “Eat and get out to Ollie’s. Roy should be here any
minute.”

Twenty minutes ago he never would have
believed he’d be anxious to escape Ginny’s house, but there were
some things even an alpha retreated gracefully from. Frank
discussions about sex with twenty year old near-virginal werewolves
were somewhere near the top of that list.

But he couldn’t help the
fleeting thought that came to him as he saddled up his
horse.
If Ginny were my mate, I’d never
have to worry about this shit again.

Chapter Four

Ginny listened to Jack’s horse follow the
trail south toward Ollie’s spread and turned a sharp eye on Hazel.
“Go ahead. I know it’s killing you.”

“
Well, it
was
before you decided to
bring up my sexual history in front of the damned
alpha
.” Hazel stabbed at
her omelet with her fork but didn’t take a bite. “Just because you
apparently like discussing sex with him doesn’t mean the rest of us
want to.”

“
You think you’re mortified
now?” Ginny sat down in the chair Jack had vacated, her hands
wrapped around her own mug. “If you wait too long to mate, take a
wild guess who’ll have to be in
your
bed instead of mine.”

All the blood drained from
Hazel’s face as her gaze darted toward the door. “That’s stupid.
Why would he -- there’s no reason for that. He doesn’t
have
to do
anything.”

“
He’s the alpha, Hazel.
It’s his
job
.” She
stared down at the dark brew in her mug and tried to contain her
irrational jealousy. “If you can’t find a suitable mate before your
heat cycle peaks, then it’s the alpha’s responsibility to bed
you.”

Hazel scoffed. “He wouldn’t have to. One of
the boys in town could just take care of it, if it came to that.
Besides, with the way Jack was looking at you, I really doubt
sleeping with me is anywhere on his to-do list.”

“
I didn’t say he’d want to,
Hazel. I said he’d do it.” She obviously wasn’t understanding
Ginny’s point. “The boys in town are going to circle more and more,
honey, the closer you get. By the time the situation turns dire,
they’ll have torn each other up over you. Jack can’t let that
happen.”

“
Oh.” She looked a little
queasy at that. “So… I just have to pick one, I guess.”

Ginny reached across the table and squeezed
Hazel’s hand. “You have to get right with the fact that Oliver
Russell isn’t gonna do it, sweetie. He hasn’t taken a mate, even a
temporary one, since his wife died.”

“
I don’t want any other
wolf,” Hazel whispered, her fingers tightening. “I try, Ginny. I
keep trying, but she won’t have anything to do with them. And I
know Ollie’s not interested, so I just figured… I figured if she
got desperate enough she wouldn’t care anymore, and at least it’d
be over with.”

Ginny’s own first mating had been
unremarkable and something of a relief. Then again, she hadn’t been
in love with a man she couldn’t have. “I’m sorry. The whole thing
just sucks, and I don’t know what to tell you.”

Oddly enough, Hazel managed a smile. “Hey,
you told me what I needed to know. Lottie’s been talking circles
around me for a month now, but she never got around to the
indelicate stuff.”

Ginny finished her coffee.
“One good thing about it is that mating doesn’t have to be a
commitment. Sometimes, the wolves inside us just
need
it.” She felt her
cheeks heat. “I mean, why do you think Jack spent the night
here?”

“
Uh, because he’s been dumb
for you for years and you finally let him?”

She ignored the flash of pleasure the words
brought. “Because he was feeling protective and I was feeling…
lonely. That’s all.”

Hazel laughed. “Uh-huh. Sure. You keep
telling yourself that while we’re being escorted to Lottie’s.”

Ginny rose and began clearing the table.
“We’re being escorted to the saloon because Dawson and his cronies
have been at it again. They cut my south fence yesterday.”

“
Shit. Do you need some
help fixing it?”

“
I’ll get around to it. The
more pressing problem is what bit of harassment those bastards are
planning next.”

Hazel seemed unconcerned. “Probably nothing,
once the alpha’s done with them. If he even leaves enough of them
to make plans.”

His anger the night before notwithstanding,
Jack had seemed calm enough that morning. “Hopefully it won’t come
to that.”

“
He’s the alpha, Ginny. And
he isn’t a big fan of people who put his pack in danger. Especially
the women.”

“
Mm-hmm.” She flashed Hazel
an amused look. “Except I’m not part of his pack.”

Hazel tilted her head to the side, her gaze
dropping to Ginny’s neck. “Yeah. You keep telling yourself that,
Gin. I’m going to go pull weeds for a while. Calvin’s been driving
me crazy for the last few days, so I don’t feel like going back to
town yet.”

“
Ollie will probably be
here before too long,” Ginny warned. “Though you could always ask
him to take care of your persistent little suitor.”

“
No
.” Hazel jumped to her feet and shoved her chair back under
the table with enough haste to show her agitation. “And don’t you
say anything to him about it, either. If I have to convince myself
to go pick one of those men, the last thing I need is Oliver
crashing around playing hero and scaring them all off.”

Ginny kept her tone breezy. “Hey, protective
instincts put Jack in my bed last night. Who’s to say it couldn’t
work for you and Ollie, too?”

“
Oh, Jesus, Ginny. Quit
kidding yourself.” Hazel stopped at the door to the hallway and
turned around to give Ginny a serious look, one at odds with the
girl’s usual carefree demeanor. “Everyone in this town knows he’s
been waiting for you forever. He’s in your bed because he’s half in
love with you, and if you haven’t got
that
figured out, then do him a damn
favor and kick him back out.”

She disappeared down the hall, leaving Ginny
staring down into the sink. If Hazel was right, then Jack would
never understand that, her fondness for him aside, the last twelve
hours hadn’t changed her mind. She still couldn’t be his -- or
anyone’s -- mate. It wasn’t in her nature, and trying would only
leave him disappointed and her…

Heartbroken.
Ginny ruthlessly shoved the thought away. Nothing
had changed. Nothing.

Now she just had to make Jack understand
that.

In spite of the early hour, Jack knew Oliver
would be done with most of his chores by the time he reached the
nondescript two-story farmhouse the man called home. A yearling
calf grazed near the front porch, and half a dozen chickens pecked
at dried corn strewn near the henhouse.

He found Oliver in front of the recently
painted barn. “Morning, Oliver.”

The man tipped back his hat with his thumb.
“’Morning, Jack.”

“
I know you’re probably
busy, but I need your help. Dawson and his group have been giving
Ginny grief again, and I mean to put a stop to it
today.”