Werewolf in the North Woods Read Free Page B

freckled cheeks grew pink as if she liked what she saw, too. He’d have to be made of ice not to react to that kind of obvious feminine approval. Roarke was a lot of things, but stoic he was not. He gave her his best winning smile.
    She smiled back, revealing an adorable little gap between her two front teeth. Then she held out her hand. “Dr. Wallace, I’m Abby Winchell.”
    The name wasn’t familiar, but her hand in his felt perfect—warm, soft, and slender. He breathed her in and barely kept himself from groaning with pleasure. “When someone calls me Dr. Wallace I always feel as if I should be wearing a stethoscope,” he said. “Plain old Roarke’s fine.”
    She beamed at him. “All right, Roarke. I’m looking forward to your talk.”
    Despite struggling with sensory overload, he managed to say something halfway appropriate in response. “So you’re interested in cryptozoology?”
    “I was as a kid.” She glanced down and gently extricated her hand from his.
    Great. Apparently he’d held the handshake longer than the socially acceptable two seconds. At least he hadn’t hauled her into his arms. “Would you like to sit down?” Would you like to leave with me right this minute and check into a hotel room upstairs?
    “I’m afraid your table is already filled.”
    He glanced at the head table and sure enough, every seat but his was taken. He should be glad of that because he needed to nip this instant attraction in the bud for many reasons.
    He wasn’t forbidden to have a romantic liaison with a human, but he had to be careful about it. If a woman got too close and began to suspect that he was not quite the man she’d bargained for, that was a potential security breach for the pack. Roarke’s brother, Aidan, had landed in exactly that fix and there’d been all kinds of trouble, even if he was now married to a human.
    Roarke had no intention of following in Aidan’s paw prints. He didn’t believe Weres should mate for life with humans. It was just too complicated. That issue aside, Roarke had two important assignments here in Portland, and allowing sex to overrule duty was frowned upon in the Wallace pack. Translated, that meant he didn’t have time to fool around on this trip. He had a mated Bigfoot pair to find, and no telling how long that would take.
    “I’d better find a seat before they start serving the meal,” Abby said. “I just wanted to introduce myself and see if you’d be available after your talk in case I have some questions.”
    Now there was a really bad idea, but his libido trumped his brain. “Sure, I have some spare time.”
    “Great. There’s a quaint little bar called Flannigan’s in this hotel. I’ll buy you a drink.”
    He heard himself agree to that suggestion, too. But it was only one drink. One harmless drink with a beautiful redhead. A beautiful, tall redhead with eyes like sapphires, who had spied him roaming the Gentry property as a wolf.
    Maybe having a drink with her was actually a good idea. He could plant some story about the Gentrys offering to dog-sit for a friend. That would solve any lingering issue over what she might have seen this morning. So meeting the willowy, wonderfully scented Abby for drinks was okay. Provided, of course, that he kept his libido under control.
    But as he watched her walk away, her hips swaying gently, he realized his libido had been in charge all along.

Chapter 2
     
    She was in luck. Under that cheesy getup, Dr. Roarke Wallace was one hot guy. Give him a surfboard and a wetsuit and he could be a California surfer dude, complete with the sun-streaked blond hair and killer green eyes. She’d love to see what those eyes looked like minus the wire-rimmed cheaters.
    Even better, Roarke had reacted well to her quickly created outfit. She’d packed only jeans and sweatshirts, her usual Portland gear. Consequently she’d had to spend the morning on a power shopping spree at Pioneer Place, change in a public bathroom, and then