calculated move, doubt assailed him. What the hell was he doing?
She pressed her full lips against his and groaned softly. The sound undid him—it had been too long since he’d been with a woman. He placed his hands on the sides of her waist and drew her even closer. Damn, she felt good. No, not good...great. Fantastic. They’d be perfect in bed together.
“Stop.” Tallulah stepped out of his arms.
Payton blinked at the unexpected emptiness and his hands fell to his sides. Even for him, he’d assumed too much, too quickly. He’d been carried away with passion from a mere kiss. What was the matter with him? “Sorry. Too much, too fast?”
She regarded him for several heartbeats. “You don’t know me. You don’t even like me.”
No denying that. He gave her a lopsided smile. “You’re growing on me.”
Her mouth trembled, as if she were about to smile, but she pressed her lips into a frown. “I have my own doubts about you, too. Am I crazy, or did a wolf enter your farmhouse about ten minutes ago?”
Chills doused the fever her body had created, and he became aware of the rain running in rivulets down his arms and face. Tallulah’s words plunged him back into reality. Apprehension replaced desire in a heartbeat.
“A wolf?” he repeated stupidly, buying time. “Not supposed to be any wolves in this part of the country.”
She crossed her arms. “Exactly. That’s what I thought. But I know what I saw.”
So someone had slipped out into the woods and shifted. A violation of the new pack rules. As a precaution, Matt had ordered that they only shift in pairs. That way, if one of them developed the lycanthropic fever, it would be impossible to hide the symptoms of their bloodlust from each other while in wolf form. Yet someone had violated the alpha’s edict. Why?
“You thought wrong,” he stated flatly, trying to create doubt and throw her off. “A wild animal wouldn’t let you get that close. It’d smell you a mile off.”
How had she managed to see this? Now that he thought of it, her human smell had been faint when he stepped outside. It should have been much stronger. Tallulah held his gaze, unflinching and challenging. He rubbed his chin, studying her exotic beauty. She was a mystery, a most unusual female. “I’ve never met a woman quite like you.”
“No,” she quickly agreed. “You have not. Now about that wolf—”
“There is no wolf.”
“Was.”
“Wasn’t.”
The rain picked up, and leaves rustled in the heightened wind. They stared at each other, bristling like wary dogs.
“We appear to have reached an impasse,” he said at last. Apparently, there was no changing her mind with mere words.
Tallulah held up a hand and stared up at the rain. “For now. I’ll be on my way.”
He couldn’t let her escape so quickly. Know your enemy. He had to win her trust, find out more about her. Ensure her silence if needed. “Wait. We started off on the wrong foot. It’s ugly out here, let me make it up to you by giving you a lift home.”
Tallulah hesitated. Was his presence so distasteful now that she’d rather wander home—alone at night—in the rain? “C’mon,” he said cajolingly. “Don’t be stupid.”
Her chin jutted forward in a now-familiar gesture, and she opened her mouth—no doubt the precursor to some sharp retort. Calling her stupid was no way to win her over. Time for damage control. Payton flashed his most charming smile. “What kind of gentleman would let a lady walk home at night in a storm?”
“How about the same gentleman who called a lady stupid?”
He bowed gallantly. “My bad. Please let me drive you home, or I’ll worry about you all night.”
“Yeah, right,” she said with a snort. “You’re not exactly my idea of a knight in shining armor.”
He kept his smile in place, although it took great effort. “I have a feeling your standards run extremely high. Besides, no one could mistake you for a damsel in distress.”
“Damn right. I can take care of myself.”
With that, she turned on her heel and started down the gravel driveway, her back ramrod straight. Same posture as that morning when she’d left the work site in a huff. The rain picked up, saturating her hair and clothes, making her appear sleek and even more sexy. Tallulah didn’t even hurry her pace. A woman used to the elements, impervious to nature’s nuances.
It appealed to his inner, primal wolf. That hidden part of himself that was also at one with the night and the land. His pulse raced as he imagined the two of them in some hidden forest glade, naked and wet, making love under a full moon as rain caressed their bodies.
He blinked, coming out of his hormonal trance. Damn, if she didn’t do the weirdest things to his mind. Tallulah was already at the end of the drive and stepping out onto the road. Payton ran a hand through his soaked hair and dug the truck keys out of his pocket. Quickly, he jumped in the truck, cranked up the engine and eased out of the tangle of vehicles.
Tallulah never even turned around as he pulled up beside her on the road. He unrolled the passenger side window.
“Get in,” he barked.
She kept her face forward, her angular profile set in stone. “No, thank you.”
Son of a bitch. Payton shifted to Park, scrambled from the truck and marched in front of Tallulah, blocking her direct path. Just as she had blocked him this morning on the skidder. “C’mon, Tallulah. This is ridiculous.”
It wasn’t just a matter of getting wet. It was dark, and a member of the pack had violated house rules by roaming in wolf form, so who knew if others were doing the same, and damn it, he couldn’t stand seeing a woman walk the streets alone at night. Even one as strong and stubborn as Tallulah.
A sudden thought floored him. “You aren’t afraid of getting in the truck with me, are you?”
“’Course not.” Her chin lifted.
Payton hid his smile and opened the passenger door. “Well then,” he said, gesturing her to enter. If he guessed correctly, she wasn’t one to back down from a challenge.
“I guess I could use a lift,” she said ungraciously, her mouth twisting. “If you’re sure.”
Tallulah climbed in the old Chevy and he shut the door, hurrying to the driver’s side and getting out of the pouring rain.
She sat as far from him as possible, her body jammed against the door. “Does the entire timber crew live out here?” she asked with a nod toward the farmhouse.
Payton shot her a sideways glance as he shifted into Drive and pulled away. Evidently, he wasn’t the only one fishing for more information. “We do. It’s more convenient that way. What about you? Do you live alone?”
“Yes.”
“No,
