Tuesday Teaser 3/20/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 7

Happy Spring!

Today is the first day of spring here in my part of the world. Not that you’d think so from the weather. humph. But the snow will be gone soon. Even I, who loathe summer heat with a passion, am excited by spring. How about you?

Here is the teaser for this week. I am going add more dialogue between Cole and Gina as he is carrying her so he will be caught up on what happened after he was shot. Right now they are at the farm house, with Nikki, who was on the plane, and her husband. As always this is not edited or even read through for typos. Enjoy anyway!

Chapter Four

Gina barely heard what the woman said. The aroma of ham sizzling on the stove pushed everything else out of her mind. But she noticed Cole’s arms stiffening around her and immediately relaxing, so she forced herself to pay attention to what was going on around her. The woman was not young, but her face had the timeless beauty that perfect bone structure preserved. Her soft brown hair was frosted with silver, the corners of her blue eyes edged with crow’s feet wrinkles, but her expression was lively and warm.

“Come in,” the woman urged. She put out one hand to push her husband back and lightly touched Gina’s shoulder with the other. “Oh, my dear, you’re frozen.” She looked up at Colby again. “Please, bring your mate in from the cold. I’ll take her into the kitchen while you get dressed.”

How did this stranger know that Cole thought of Gina as his ‘mate’? Cole stood silent a moment, and then gently put Gina on her feet. “Thank you.”

Gina’s feet almost failed to hold her up. She clutched Cole’s arm for balance. He steadied her until the farmwife hooked an arm around her waist and guided her into a short hallway that led to a roomy kitchen. The woman’s arm was warm and steady, but Gina was aware of a sense of loss. Cole was warmer and steadier.

Cole didn’t smell like ham and potatoes, though, and the kitchen did. Gina was suddenly ravenous. The woman pulled a chair over to the stove and pushed Gina into it. The stove was blessedly warm.  In a few seconds the woman brought a wet washcloth and applied it gently to Gina’s forehead. The pain from the bump flared back to life.

“Sorry,” the woman murmured. “We need to get this cleaned up.”

Gina tried to distract herself from the pain. “Do you know Cole?” she asked, trying to remember what the woman had said. “His name is actually Colby, but he told me to call him Cole.”

“Colby.” The woman paused, obviously thinking. “No, the name is familiar, but I don’t think I ever met him. He would have been just a baby when I married John and left the House to move here. There were many babies born around that time.”

She said the word ‘house’ as if Gina should know which house. Gina didn’t. Cole came into the kitchen, dressed in threadbare jeans too wide in the waist and too short at the ankle, and a button up summer weight cotton shirt a bit too narrow in the shoulders. His feet were still bare. The farmer followed him in, still holding his shotgun, but no longer looking threatening.

“I don’t remember you,” Cole confirmed. “My dad is Taye, from the pack north of Kearney.”

“Oh, sure, Carla is your mom. We were on the plane together. I’m still in contact with Connie and Kathy. We exchange a couple of letters a year.”

Gina was completely lost by this conversation.

“John,” the woman said, wringing out the washrag, “get the extra blanket from the closet.”

Cole came directly to Gina and crouched in front of her. “Are you okay?”

“Sure.” The pain in her head was better now, but her feet and hands were being stabbed by a million red hot needles. That was good. She was still alive. “How about you?”

“Fine.”

The man came back with the blanket but not the shotgun. Cole helped the woman drape it around Gina. She clutched it tightly under her chin, so grateful for its comfort that tears stung her eyes. Cole looked alarmed.

“Are you okay?” he asked again.

“Yes.” She scrubbed the tears away and told a fib. “It’s just the, uh, smoke. Breakfast is burning.”

“I’ll finish breakfast, Nikki,” the man said quietly. “You take Mrs. Wolfe to the bedroom and get her some warm clothes. I’ll finish chores after we get things settled.”

The small bedroom was crowded with a large, neatly made bed and two wooden bureaus. Nikki guided Gina to the bed and turned to rummage through a drawer. She pulled out a pair of jeans, a bright red sweater, and two pairs of wool socks.

“I’m a little taller than you,” Nikki said with a smile, “but we’re about the same size so these should fit.”

Nikki said nothing about the party dress as she helped Gina out of it, but her brow furrowed briefly as she set it aside. Gina wondered what she should say if she was asked why she was outside in a dinner dress and nothing else. She groped for a logical lie in vain. Nothing could explain this bizarre situation. Even the truth was ludicrous.

Nikki didn’t ask. She carefully examined Gina’s toes, fingers, nose, and ears as she helped her dress. “No frostbite,” she said with relief. “Let’s go back out to the kitchen. You need to sit close to the stove to thoroughly warm up.”

Heaven would have thick wool socks. Gina was sure of it. She followed the woman back to the kitchen, each step driving pins and needles through her feet, but by the time she came in the kitchen, the pins and needles were fading. Cole visibly relaxed when he saw her. He took her hand and gently tugged her back to the chair by the stove.

“I want to sit at the table,” she protested.

In answer, he went to the large wooden table, slid one hand under it and lifted it. With no sign of effort, he carried it three yards and set it down in front of her so gently that nothing on it was disturbed. Gina gaped at the sugar bowl and the two place settings before raising her gaze to him. No wonder he could carry her for miles without panting.

The farmer was staring too, but his wife calmly brought more tableware and made two more place settings. “Coffee?” she asked placidly.

Gina giggled. It was a nervous, half-hysterical giggle, but Cole smiled at her and brought the chairs over. He put one chair next to her and sat in it. Somehow, he was just as warm as the stove. Between the stove at her back and Cole at her side, Gina could literally feel herself thawing.

Nikki served them. She apologized for the potatoes, which were a bit scorched, but the ham was perfect, and the eggs plentiful. The bread was toasted, and the butter was rich and thick. It reminded Gina of her stepfather’s dinner party last night.

Gina froze. That was just last night?

“What is it?” Cole asked.

“Nothing.”

The farmer paused in shoveling in eggs. “We should introduce ourselves.  I’m John Andrews. My wife, Nikki. I met Nikki in Kearney, when she was working at the Eatery in the Plane Women’s House. We married three months later, after I proved to Des and Connie Wolfe that I would be good to her.”

Cole nodded. “Cole Wolfe. I’m a member of the Pack north of Kearney. This is my mate, Gina.”

Gina made herself small, bracing herself for their disgust when he told them who she was. But he didn’t.

“I came to Omaha with kin for the spring legislative session. That’s where I met Gina. I need to go to back to Omaha,” he went on. “Will you look after Gina for a day?”

“Of course,” Nikki began.

Gina cut her off. “You’re going to Omaha now? Without me?”

“Yes,” he said. “You need to rest.”

“You need to rest, too,” she countered.

“You worry about me?” There was something tender in his dark eyes when he looked at her. That look melted her insides. The melting froze when the tenderness was drowned by arrogance. “Don’t. I am a wolf warrior. You are not. When did you last sleep? I can travel faster without you. I will find my cousins and we will bring you safely home to the den.”

She opened her mouth to argue, drew a breath, and closed it. Why argue? Now that she warm, she was so tired she could hardly sit at the table.  “Be careful,” she told him.

His eyes warmed again. “I’ll be careful,” he promised. “Finish your breakfast.”

“Bossy,” she muttered, but continued to eat. She noticed Nikki’s lips were pressed together as if suppressing a smile.

They finished breakfast quickly and Nikki collected the plates and stacked them in the sink while water heated to wash them. John went back to the barn to continue his interrupted chores. Cole led Gina out to the mudroom.

It was cooler here than in the kitchen, so she didn’t object when he put his arms around her. He smelled like lavender and cedar, probably from his borrowed shirt, and something else, something that just him. She buried her nose into his chest.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he whispered into her hair. “Will you miss me?”

She snorted and leaned back to look into his face. “Maybe.”

“My sweet mate.”

He leaned down as if he would kiss her. Gina swallowed irrational panic. “So, what’s with this Plane Women’s House Mrs. Andrews is from?” she blurted “And how does she know you’re a wolf?”

He was even more handsome when he laughed silently. “Ask her to explain it. Now hold still. I need something to keep me warm on the run to Omaha.”

He was going to kiss her! He bent his head slowly, watching her closely. She realized he was giving her time to tell him no. That fact erased her reluctance, giving curiosity room to grow. She lifted her face up and waited for his lips to touch hers.