Page 87 of Unwilling Wolf

Garret was across the barn, standing next to a stack of hay bales with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the dancers. He looked…happy. Or at ease, at the very least. He’d been different today. Kinder. More possessive of her. More affectionate even, but she had grown to expect the hot and cold. She found herself waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Someone in a white, eyelet dress sidled up beside Garret, and Eliza’s mood plummeted.

Anna Jennings looked up at his imposing height with an overly-innocent expression. She couldn’t tell what the woman said, and she wasn’t the best lip-reader, but Eliza was fairly sure she was asking Garret for a dance. She wished she could stab her right in her stupid eyeball.

Eliza wanted to throw a lantern at the obnoxious woman, and then possibly bite her. Well-bred women knew the importance of decorum though, and she was a lady. Eliza sighed, composed herself, and resumed her original straight-backed position as if she were indifferent to his decision.

Garret didn’t even glance her way before he accepted Miss Jennings’s request, the brute! Her heart sank as they headed to the dance floor.

She was smack-dab in the middle of the group of eligible females the men were eyeing for a dance. One rejection was quite enough, so Eliza shuffled to the back of the crowd to lean on the wall. Burke was teaching Lenny the steps off to the side of the dance floor, and Eliza smiled at his thoughtfulness. They had been cute all day long.

Unwillingly, she turned her gaze to her husband and his recently-intended. This dance was slower, with simplified steps and more physical contact. Though it required just a touch of the hands here and there, that was still far too much intimacy for the awful green jealousy that sprang up in her heart.

She felt someone’s eyes boring into her, and when she turned to the side, Clint Jennings stood against the wall. He tilted his hat slightly and then slid his attention to his daughter, dancing with Garret right in the middle of the dance floor for everyone to see.

By the time she was sure her heart was somewhere between her shins and toes, a man cleared his throat close beside her. She jumped and let out a surprised yelp. One glimpse at the fair-haired man had her heart back in place and pounding at a furious pace. What on earth could Wyatt Jennings want of her?

“I was just noticing what a handsome pair my sister and your husband make.”

And he was right. Garret and Anna did make a handsome pair. He was dark, strong and masculine, while Anna was light, fair, small and fragile. A moment of weakness and insecurity took her. She could never compete with a woman like Anna. It did no good to let him see how affected she was in this moment though. Chin lifted, and stifling the urge to stomp the toe of his boot with the heel of hers, she snapped, “Go away.”

“Tsk tsk. Is that how you reject all your potential dance partners? It’s no wonder you are still sitting out, then.”

She glared at the angry red marks down his throat. “Nice claw marks.”

“Yes,” he said thoughtfully, touching his throat, where four pronounced wounds were etched into his skin. “Ran into a wolf. There are too many wolves around here lately. There is one wolf in particular. He paired himself with a feisty she-cat, and that unnatural pairing is making it…difficult…for my family. I can see the appeal in that cat though. She’s easy on the eyes. She would be fun to own, and no one should ever own a cat without a little fire in them. Don’t you think?”

“Wouldn’t know, as I’ve never owned a cat. Though if you are speaking of a cat as it is a woman, no one would ever own me, sir.” If only he would grow bored and move along.

Wyatt chuckled. “So how about it, Mrs. Shaw?”

“How about what?”

“A dance? Your husband is taking another woman ’round the dance floor, right there for the entire town to witness and talk about. Dancing with another man won’t scandalize you any more than he is doing.”

She clenched her fists at her sides. Stupid Wyatt Jennings. He was right. Everyone would talk about this. One glance around, and she could see the rumors already starting. It couldn’t get much more embarrassing than the blatant disrespect Garret tossed her way.

Part of her wanted to run away. To hide and escape the sideways glances she was receiving from people. He couldn’t scandalize her if she wasn’t here. Another part of her wanted to storm the dance floor and punch that trifling wench straight in her pixie nose. But the biggest part of her…the very biggest…wanted to get even with Garret. He would hate her dancing with Wyatt, perhaps as much as she hated him dancing with Anna. “If I dance with you, will you give me your word you’ll not talk to me for the rest of the night?”

“That’s not very kind, Eliza.”

“That’s Mrs. Shaw to you, and I don’t give a single shite about being kind to you or anyone in your family. Do we have a deal or not?”

He gave her a calculating glare. “Deal.” Wyatt gallantly held out an arm, but she swished around him in her skirts and escorted herself to the dance floor, leaving him to follow behind her.

No doubt Wyatt Jennings was a handsome and sought-after man. With his fair hair, blue eyes, and breadth of shoulder which showed incredible strength, it was not surprising that many a woman’s eyes followed him as he danced with her. She, however, wasn’t impressed in the least. Beneath his handsome exterior slithered a cold-blooded snake. Neither he nor his inner wolf likely had an ounce of honor to them.

As the first notes of “The Virginia Reel” rang out, Wyatt faced her and said, “I’ve noticed something about you.”

“Oh, and what is that?” She danced toward him and curtsied, paying attention to the others on the dance floor to pick up the steps.

“You lack a certain…how do I say it… newlywed glow.”

She gave him a disgusted look and twirled away as the dance required.

“What I mean to say is, you don’t smell like Garret.” He backed away as the dance required, hands clasped formally behind his back, and then he danced closer. “I can smell when a woman is bred, and you, Eliza. You’re not bred. Garret hasn’t claimed you, has he?”

Another twirl, and their hands touched while they moved their feet beneath them. Garret, who danced yet again with Anna farther down the line, glared back in her direction. At least dancing with Wyatt brought out some sort of emotion from him. It would be completely unfair if she was the only one unhappy.

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