Santa Claws

“Giselle, darling.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’ve never known a woman so smart and so silly at the same time. You’re coming toScotland . To put it another way, I’m not leaving without you.”



“Bossy putz,” she muttered. Then squinched her eyes shut as he turned on the bedside light. “Aggh! I think my retinas just fused!”



She could hear him swallow a laugh. “Sorry, love. I just wanted to get a good look at your neck.” She felt him push her hair back and gently touch the bite. “A bite’s a serious thing...I’m really sorry if I hurt you. You know that, right, Giselle?”



“Don’t worry about it. At the risk of making you more arrogant than you already are—though how that’s possible I just can’t imagine—I loved it. Hardly even hurt.”



“Oh.” She could hear the unmistakable relief in his tone. “I’m glad t’hear it. I don’t have an explanation except...I don’t want you to think I go around biting just anybody. I just...lost myself in you.”



“That, and you wanted to mark me,” she added drowsily. Ah, even with that obnoxious light on, she was going to be able to get to sleep quite nicely. Take that, bedside lamp! “It’s all right. I don’t mind wearing your mark for a while.



“What did you say?”



“Marked me.”



“What?”



“Arked-may E-may! Jesus, for a guy with heightened senses you’re really slow.”



“What?”



“Don’t yell, I’m right here. I forgot werewolves were so touchy.”



“Oh my God .”



“Steady, pal.” Concerned, she sat up. He looked like he was going to pass out. “Hey, it’s okay. I said it was, right? You marked me so another werewolf won’t take it into his head to jump me. Theoretically, they’ll see your mark and steer clear. Or lose their minds and decide, of all things, to fight for me. Ha! Like that’d happen.”



She saw him lurch into the chair—sitting down before he fell down. Very wise. “You know? About me?”



“Sure. Not right away,” she added comfortingly, since he looked so shattered. “Took me a while to figure it out. But come on, you’re a little too quick and too strong for a guy in his—what? Early thirties?”



“Thirty-one,” he said absently.



“Plus, your stamina between the sheets was—was really something.” Was she blushing? After what they had just shared? You’re obviously overtired. Go to sleep, Giselle. “I’ve never met one—a werewolf—but my mom used to work for Lucius Wyndham.”



He was staring at her with the most priceless look of astonishment on his face. “Your mother worked for the former pack leader?”



“Will you stop with the yelling? Yes, she managed his stables for him. ‘Course, he couldn’t come near any of his horses without them going crazy trying to get away from him. He finally had to tell her the truth, because she thought he’d abused them, and was getting ready to sic the ASPCA on him.



“Well, of course he wasn’t hurting them, it’s just instinctive for horses to stay the hell away from werewolves. So he told her, and proved it to her, and she liked the horses, and liked him, and stayed on. ‘Til she married my dad and moved toBoston . But she’d seen a lot by then. My mom,” Giselle added with satisfaction, “tells the best bedtime stories. I figured you out a little while ago. I said so...remember?”



He was shaking his head, his mouth hanging open. “I just can’t—all night I’ve been trying to figure out if I should just kidnap you t’Scotland and tell you the truth over there—”



“Typical werewolf courtship,” she sneered. “You guys really need to work on the romance thing.”



“Or try to explain it to you tomorrow. Later today, I mean. Or wait until we knew each other better—but you knew!”



“Yup.”



“And you didn’t say anything!”



“It didn’t seem polite, since you didn’t bring it up.” She blushed harder, like that was possible. “Besides, we...had other things on our minds.”



He burst into laughter, great, roaring laughs that made her ears ring. “Giselle sweet, you’re for me and I’m definitely for you. I knew it the moment I smelled you. Ripe peaches in the middle of all those street smells and slush. The only Santa who was ovulating.” He pounced on the bed and pulled her into his arms, kissing her everywhere he could.



“Jeez, cut it out!” She was laughing and trying to fend him off. “Can’t we do this later? We ordinary humans get tired after making love all night.”



“There’s nothing ordinary about you, sweetie.”



“Oh, come on. You can’t tell me that on that whole street, where there were probably a couple hundred people, the only one ovulating was me?”



“No, I can’t tell you that.” He kissed her on the mouth. “What I can tell you is that the only woman for me was ovulating.”



“Oh. Sleep now?” she added helpful, groping for the bedside lamp.



He shut the light off for her. “Scotland?”



“Yes.”



“Forever?”



“Nope. Sorry, my parents are from here. I have friends here, too. A life I made before I ever laid eyes on you, pretty boy. And, hello? Courtship, anybody? It’d be nice to date a little, before we got married.”



He mock-sighed. “Humans, oh, Lord help me. A house inBoston , then, but at least half the year at my family home. After,” he sighed again, “an appropriately lengthy courtship.”



“Done.”



“Naked courtship?” he asked hopefully.



She laughed. “We’ll work out the details. Doesn’t really matter, though. Wither thou goest, I will go. And all that.”



“And all that,” he said, and kissed her smiling mouth.



The End