Victoria woke earlier than usual the next morning. Winter was her favorite time of the year because the long nights gave her more time to sleep. There was nothing better than waking up cozy and warm in her nest of furs and blankets on a cold winter morning. Did Marty like to lay awake for a few minutes, snuggled under the covers, before getting up?
But spring was just about here, and the flimsy curtains at the window didn’t keep the light out. She sat up in the saggy bed and stretched. Going by the amount of light filtering in, breakfast was still an hour off. Good. Today she was going to spend time with Marty. There was only one thing standing in the way of that, and she was going to take care of it before breakfast.
Dressed in jeans and a pale blue sweater, she went across the hall and knocked on the other bedroom door. “Hey, you guys awake?”
Her brother’s voice sounded. “Yeah, come in.”
When she saw that Rock, Sand, Quill and Colby were there as well as Eagle and Stone, she smiled with satisfaction. “Good morning.”
Sand stood up from his lean on the wall and came to give her a quick hug. His chipped tooth flashed when he smiled. “Good morning, Vic.”
She smiled back, devising her plan of attack. When she was a girl, her mother had taught her that the best way to handle a bunch of wolf warriors was to put them on the defensive at the start and not give them time to regroup. She looked around the room, considering. Rock and Colby were on the bed. Eagle was propped against one corner of the dresser and Quill was on the other. Stone leaned on the wall beside the head of the bed. Taking a deep breath, she marched to the wall opposite the door and folded her arms.
“Uh-oh,” murmured Stone.
Sand closed the door and leaned on it, looking at her with one eyebrow raised.
“I want to talk about our plans for this morning,” she announced.
Colby nodded. “Yeah, we were just—”
She cut him off with a sharp chopping motion. “I’m talking.”
The expression of outrage on Colby’s face almost made her laugh, but she suppressed it. Accustomed to her speeches, Eagle folded his arms over his chest with exaggerated patience.
“Marty Madison will be taking some of us on a tour of Omaha this morning, and I expect him to be treated with respect.” She looked around at her kinsman to be sure they were paying attention to her. “I will walk beside him—” She raised her voice to be heard over their growls “— so that I can hear what he says. I don’t have super hearing like you do.”
“No one needs super hearing to be able to hear you,” Rock muttered sourly.
She ignored that, congratulating herself for finding the excuse of needing to hear Marty as a way to walk beside him. Even her idiotic brother couldn’t argue with it.
“So I don’t want to hear anybody growling or complaining about me being too close to him on the tour. In fact, if I put my hand on his arm so I can keep my balance on the ice, I don’t want to hear one peep out of any of you.”
Into the shocked silence, Stone shook his head with a smile. “She’s just like her mother,” he commented to Quill.
“Scary,” agreed Quill.
Victoria folded her arms over her chest with a scowl. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” Stone held up his hands in surrender. “Your mother is a wonderful woman, with strong opinions and a way of running over opposition.”
“I just want to make sure that everyone has a good time on the tour today.” She jabbed a finger toward Colby and Rock on the bed and a narrowed a glare at her brother on the dresser. “No growling. No howling. No dragging me away if I actually brush against Marty.” She would brush against him, and it wouldn’t be on accident, but they didn’t need to know that. “Okay? Are we on the same page?”
Eagle pushed away from the dresser. “You’re doing this just so you can be with Marty Madison.”
Busted. Her brother had seen right through her plot. So what. She walked around until she stood toe to toe with him. “You make it sound like a crime. I happen to like Marty Madison. I happen to like spending time with Marty Madison. And if I want to be with him, I will!”
“He’s not the right man to be your husband,” Eagle shouted.
“And who decided that?” she demanded. “Dad? I love him, and I love you, but you have no right to tell me who is the right man to be my husband. If it was up to you, I’d never get married!”
“Do you think dad would decide something like that without good reason? Huh?” Eagle was every bit as angry as she was. “Trust him on this.”
She was glad of her height. If she was one of Stone’s daughters, she never could have glared right into her brother’s eyes. “He’s so overprotective I can barely walk across camp without a guard. And you’re no better. Who do you think would be good enough to be my husband? Maybe that little runt Jon Allersen?”
“No,” Eagle began, sounding horrified, but Victoria cut him off.
“I’m the oldest virgin in a thousand square miles. And I’d like to lose that title sometime before I die.”
They all swung around when the door opened. Sand stepped out of the way for Hawk to come in. The eldest of her uncles looked at her with a severe expression. “Do you realize that everyone downstairs can hear your little discussion?”
Victoria froze with horror. “Marty?”
Hawk shook his head. “No, he went out to buy more bacon for breakfast. The little runt is out too. And I exaggerated slightly. You can be heard but not many of your words can be understood.”
She let out a quick breath with relief.
“Your father does have his reasons for not wanting you and Marty to be together.” Hawk shook his head again. “If you want to spend some time with him while we’re here in Omaha, you can. But never alone. Do you hear me, Victoria? Don’t forget you’re not here for romance. You are representing the clan to the Omaha Legislature. That has to come first.”
Chastened, Victoria nodded. “I know.” A hot thread of shame worked its way down her back. She had manipulated her way into being the clan’s delegate in order to see Marty. But she would do her best to speak for the clan. “I’m sorry.”
Hawk nodded and held a hand out palm down to indicate the subject was closed. “Breakfast should be ready in a few minutes. Let’s go grab a table.”
Marty hefted the fifty-pound slab of bacon in its waxed linen bag higher on his shoulder. “Come on,” he said to his nephew. Ray was only a year younger than he was, so they were more like brothers than uncle and nephew. “Mrs. Renee needs this bacon to finish making breakfast.”
“Mmm,” sighed Ray, licking his lips and hefting his own sack of bacon to his shoulder. “I love eating her bacon. Or anything else she makes.”
They left the butcher and hurried up the street. Marty cast a teasing glance at his nephew. “Do you think that marrying Patia will let you eat Mrs. Renee’s cooking every day?”
“No.” Ray sounded hopeful. “But I’ll get to eat it sometimes, and Patia learned to cook from her aunt. Even if Patia cooks only half as well it’s better than what I make.”
“Have you set a date for the wedding?”
Ray shook his head. “Actually, we’re still just courting. Dad thought I should wait until after all this business here in Omaha is settled before I asked her to marry me.” He was quiet for a minute. “I wish we were already married. We could be here on our honeymoon.”
Marty cocked a brow. “With her brother in the same house?” He shook his head. “With his wolf hearing, you’d never have any privacy. Some honeymoon that would be.”
“That’s a good point.” Ray gave an exaggerated shudder. “No, thank you.”
They paused on the curb to allow a car to pass in a billow of suffocating fumes. The early morning air was brisk, but spring was here. Dawn had broken while they were in the butcher shop and now the golden light of morning made everything seem new and fresh. It would be a beautiful day for the tour he was going to give to the woman he wanted to marry. Just remembering his first sight of her last night made his heart beat faster. Ray must have read his mind, or maybe he just scented his excitement. His nephew nudged his forearm.
“So, when are you proposing to Miss Victoria?”
“As soon as I’m sure she wants to marry me.”
Ray skirted an icy puddle on the sidewalk and smirked at him. “Even though her father told you he would never allow his daughter to marry you?”
“Yeah.” His mouth compressed in a flat line when he remembered Wolf’s Shadow and a bunch of the other Wolf Clan men confronting him at the gala in January. “Yeah, even though. It’s Vic’s decision. I’m betting she’s not the woman to let anyone else make decisions for her. If she wants to marry me, she will.”
At least he hoped she would. Her father’s concerns about his fitness to be a husband were invalid. ‘Invalid’ was his politician-polite term for it. Stupid was the better, if not wiser, word. And if Vic asked, he’d tell her so.
As they walked up the drive to the Limit’s gate, Ray shook his head. “I don’t get it. When I spoke with Taye Wolfe about courting his daughter, he was okay with it. But Shadow won’t let you court Victoria? I have the same, uh, issue that you do. So why will Taye accept me as a son-in-law, but Shadow won’t accept you?”
“Because your intended father-in-law is sane and reasonable, unlike the father of the woman I want to marry.”
Ray slanted a look at him. “That must be it.”
“Do me a favor, Ray. On the tour, try to get me a little time alone with Vic. You know, talk loud and keep the men’s attention on you.”
“I’ll try.” Ray laughed out loud. “This is going to be a very interesting morning.”
Victoria always enjoyed breakfast. It was the most important meal of the day, and a woman of her height and figure needed plenty of calories to maintain her curves. She enjoyed this breakfast, too, but half of her attention was on the table behind her where Marty and Ray sat with Jon and Tanner from the Brotherhood Commune.
Over the clatter of cutlery and the morning chatter in the dining room, she couldn’t make out many words from Marty’s table, but the tone of his voice when he chatted with Jon and Tanner was friendly. Ray sounded reserved but pleasant. Marty couldn’t like those two idiots, could he?
Her brother’s hearing was far sharper than hers. Eagle, seated on her left, paused and cocked his head as if listening. Colby, on her right, did the same. Eagle and Colby threw down their forks at the same time and leaped to their feet to face the table behind her.
“No!” they snarled in unison.
Sand, the fourth person at the table, stood up more slowly, but only watched the two younger wolf warriors without speaking. Victoria jumped up too, to see what was going on.
Jon rose to his feet, face set. “No? What do you mean, no?”
“No, you’re not going on the tour with my sister,” Eagle snapped.
The arrogance in the tilt of Jon’s head almost made up for his lack of height. “There is no law against it. If I want to go, what will stop me?”
Victoria’s eyebrows climbed up her forehead. Was he blind? Or just stupid? Anyone who knew anything about the clan knew that the men lived for opportunities to crush would-be suitors. Almost entertained, she folded her arms and waited for her brother’s reply.
At six feet and five inches tall, Eagle was nearly a foot taller than Jon. He stepped close, kicking a chair out of his way. To give him credit, Jon didn’t retreat.
“I’ll stop it, moron.”
Colby stepped up beside Eagle. “And I’ll help him.”
Tanner jumped up. “You can’t do that!”
He might have said more, but a voice from the door rang out with authority. “Stop,” said Renee.
Incredibly, Jon proved he was indeed the moron Eagle had called him. “I don’t listen to a cook,” he said, flicking his fingers dismissively toward Renee.
An awful silence fell, laden with a combination of shock, horror and disbelief. Victoria simply gaped at the fool, waiting for thunderbolts and lightning to strike him down. All over the dining room she saw the men of the clan stand and prepare for battle. Hawk advanced like grim death on the table where Jon stood.
He was cut off by Ms. Mary. The tiny, frail lady stepped right into his path without seeming to notice him. Even an enraged mate of the wolf clan gave way before a lady, especially an elderly one. Her dainty, tottering steps took her to Jon and her lined face was set into an offended frown as she shook a finger in his face.
“I’ve never heard such rudeness,” she announced. “If you wish to remain a guest in this house, you will apologize at once, young man.”
Jon cast an angry look around the room. The men of the clan stared back with a silent promise of retribution. The scattering of other guests simply stayed still, like rabbits hoping the predators wouldn’t notice them.
Into the silence, Stone spoke in Lakota. “I wonder if this is how he treats the women at his village? Perhaps that is why he must come all the way to Omaha to find a wife.”
Colby snorted with reluctant amusement. Rock gave a harsh bark of laughter, and Sand showed his chipped tooth in something that was not quite a smile. Jon’s square face turned red, but Victoria was sure it was rage, not embarrassment. He turned stiffly toward the door where Renee stood. Hawk shifted half a step to block his mate from the younger man’s line of sight.
Jon’s face underwent a transformation from sullenly angry to charmingly rueful. He lifted his hands and blinked puppy dog eyes at Renee. “I am so sorry,” he said with every appearance of sincerity. “I’m a bear first thing in the morning. I shouldn’t have let my temper get away from me like that. Please forgive me.”
Renee jerked her chin and disappeared back toward the kitchen. Hawk gave Jon one long, hard look, and then followed his mate. One by one, the men of the clan returned to their breakfasts, but Victoria noticed they positioned themselves so they could still see Jon. Last of all, Eagle and Colby came to their table and sat.
Ms. Mary patted Jon’s arm. “There now. That’s better. You have a nice breakfast, dear.”
The clatter of forks and spoons and the murmur of voices rose again as the elderly lady left the dining room, but the noise was more subdued now. Victoria could clearly hear Marty say that maybe the Allersen boys could ask their father to give them a tour of Omaha. The leader of the Falls City commune had been to Omaha many times. A few minutes later, he and Ray excused themselves and came to Victoria’s table.
“Good morning, Miss Victoria,” Marty said warmly. He nodded at Colby, Eagle, and Sand. “We can leave on the tour anytime you’re ready.”
She waited for one of the men to make some protest, but they were silent. Maybe they were comparing Marty and Ray with Jon and Tanner and deciding that Marty was the far lesser evil. Cheered greatly by that thought, she smiled at the man she planned to marry.
“I can be ready in ten minutes.”
“Perfect.” Not being a fool like Jon, Marty nodded again at the men. “We’ll meet you in the foyer.”
“Ten minutes,” Victoria agreed. She watched him saunter up the stairs and tried to keep her pulse steady. The way he moved made her mouth water. The curse of having wolf warriors for watchdogs was that they could smell when she was excited. She turned back to the table. “Are you coming, Sand?”
He shook his head, biting into a piece of toast. “I’ve been in Omaha before. But Colby and Eagle are going, aren’t you?”
Both young men nodded eagerly. “She won’t be alone with the Madisons.”
She dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “But better the Madisons than the Allersens?”
Colby looked sour, but admitted, “Much.”
Victoria, as she went to up to her room to freshen up, chalked up a major victory in her campaign to win approval for her marriage to Marty Madison. Jon truly was a moron extraordinaire, but his idiocy had done wonders to show what a good choice Marty was. She smiled as she combed her hair. Now to move on to the next skirmish.