Page 14 of A Bear in a Birdbath

“She didn’t tell me that part,” Eva said, trying to force herself to be happy for Margo. Everything he said only made things more complicated.

“Do you know about mates?” Bruno asked, his growly voice more growly than ever.

Eva wasn’t sure how to identify what was happening in her heart. Was it hope? Heartbreak? Longing? “Margo is your mate,” she said faintly.

Even though it wasn’t a question, the answer was exactly what she had dreaded, so gruff that it was barely a word: “Yes.”

Eva closed her eyes and told herself that she could be happy for them. She wouldn’t get either of them for herself, but she was a big enough person, emotionally if not physically, to be satisfied with the fact that they’d found each other. She just had to let go of them both.

But Bruno wasn’t finished. “And you are, too.”

Eva’s eyes flew open. “That’s a thing?” Her irrational attraction had a reason? She felt dismayed and excited and dangerously hopeful, all at once.

“Apparently,” Bruno said with a shrug and a crooked smile. “I’m as surprised as you are.”

It explained so much. She hadn’t once been afraid of Bruno, not even when he was looming in the dark of Frank Wilson’s office. She had known even then that he was no threat to her, that he could never hurt or betray her. Because he was her mate, and mates recognized each other at a level that defied logic and transcended magic.

And Margo was his mate as well.

And that meant…

Eva felt like she was bubbling, and she could only guess that her smile in return was foolish and fizzy. The reservations she had were washing away like bad dreams. This fascinating man, and Margo, and her. All three of them, together. It was all so right. “Does Margo know?”

“I don’t think so? She hit me over the head with a popcorn machine and the whole night is kind of a blur.”

Eva wanted to shake him by the shoulders, but she could barely reach his shoulders, let alone would she be able to budge him with the action. “You have to tell her! We have to find her and tell her! What does it mean?” Could she have them both?

Never in her life had she imagined anything so beautiful.

Bruno was smiling at her, like she was the beautiful thing. “Can I kiss you first?”

She had a choice, Eva realized with joy and relief. She wanted to, but she didn’t have to. She put her napkin carefully to the side and stood. Bruno shoved back his chair, forgetting about his own napkin, and stood to scoop her up into his arms and kiss her.

His kiss was nothing like Margo’s. Margo’s kiss was careful and cautious. Bruno’s was purely to claim her.

13

MARGO

Harriet, or more specifically Tobias, had gone totally over the top in arranging the dinner between Eva and Bruno. He had reserved the entire arboretum and hired a private meal to be catered and served on location for just the two of them.

“This has been a great distraction, Yenta,” Harriet said to Margo as she explained the plan. “Tobias gets to focus on setting his best friend up and I am off the hook for choosing hors d'oeuvres for another week. Weddings are an endless hassle. Anyway, he seems to think that Bruno is the perfect match for Eva, and I’m inclined to agree. He’s delighted to set them up.”

They were utterly ideal for each other, and the more that Margo learned about Bruno, the more it seemed like they were destined to be together. He was shy and good-hearted, like Eva, and he was strong to her slight.

Mates.

They were mates.

So Margo did the adult thing and set them on a path for happiness with each other.

It was slightly less adult of her to sneak into the arboretum so that she could assure herself that she hadn’t screwed this up and that they really would be happy together, and she hadn’t walked Eva into some kind of nefarious trap.

And it went perfectly to plan.

This was what you wanted, Margo told herself, watching Bruno lift Eva up into his arms and kiss her passionately. This was their fairy tale ending, and she could not allow herself to be jealous even though they were each getting what she wanted more than anything else in the world.

They would be happy together, happier than she could ever make either of them, and that would be enough. It had to be enough. It was all she had.

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