Page 14 of The Claiming of the Shrew
“Can’t or won’t? Oh wait!” She wheeled as if an idea had struck her, grabbing her other crutch, which had been leaning against her thigh. Her big purse was slung over her shoulder.Fawkes guessed she used it in lieu of hands when she needed to carry something.
He was wildly curious, in a way he couldn’t quite explain even to himself, about everything to do with her. What happened to her, where she was from, did she have any family other than Joy ...
And where exactly was she going? He followed her, struck all over again at how fast she could move on those crutches.
“Where are you taking me?”
“I’m not taking you anywhere, but where I’m going is to check for muddy little raccoon paw prints on the Darling house’s wall sheets.”
“Oh.” Not a bad idea, he supposed, and now he was frantically trying to remember just where exactly he had gone as a raccoon. It wasn’t like raccoon tracks were an unusual sight in most of North America, a convenient fact that he took full advantage of. Raccoons might not be the sort of charismatic megafauna that scored points with the ladies in shifter bars, but there were times when it was handy to turn into something ordinary and easily forgotten, rather than, say, a tapir or an African water buffalo.
Having hands in his shift form was also useful.
“I did not leave muddy paw prints on your sheets,” he said, hoping it was accurate.
They reached the set, which looked much more ordinary and less ethereal in the daytime. As far as Fawkes could tell, it looked exactly like it had the last time he’d seen it. Leah began pulling on the ends of the rolled-up sheets, trying to get a look at the fabric.
“I don’t see any damage,” Fawkes said.
“That’s because we put everything back. The ropes are still down. We’re going to have to get more. They were all cut up, and some were only partly cut through, so if anyone used them, theymight be badly hurt. Maggie wants everything checked before we trust an actor’s weight to them, even during rehearsals. Ugh! I’m too short. Grab that for me, would you?”
Instead, Fawkes caught her arm lightly. “Don’t touch everything. If your mystery vandal left any evidence, you could be destroying it.”
“Oh.” Startled, she dropped her hand to her side. “We, uh—we didn’t think of that.”
“I can see that,” Fawkes remarked wryly, looking around at the Darling set. It was easier by day to see it as a facsimile of a room indoors, with tarps draped over the furniture and rugs to keep potential rain off. “What did it look like when—who found the damage, anyway?”
“I’m not sure,” Leah said. She seemed subdued now, but focused, her scattered manner falling away as she was abruptlyon. Focused Leah was unbearably hot. “Alana, the stage manager, was the one who came into the restaurant to get Maggie. And we all came out to see.”
“So there were people walking around all over.”
“Yeah. That would have wrecked any tracks, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes.” She was sharp, Fawkes could see; she didn’t have any trouble following him from one thought to another. “Did anyone take pictures?”
Leah muttered something under her breath that sounded like “Nice work, Detective Shrew.” Louder, she said, “I’m not sure. I can ask around.”
“That’d be good. But don’t ask everyone. Just people you know didn’t do it. Maggie’s the director, right? She’d be the place to start.”
“You’re good at this,” Leah said, gazing at him.
“Too much CSI,” he said lightly, and began to unbutton his shirt. Leah’s eyes went huge.
“What—uh—what are you doing?”
“I’m going to use my nose,” Fawkes explained. He pulled off his shirt and started on his jeans.
LEAH
Leah’s hindbrainwas fully unprepared for the sight of Fawkes taking off all his clothes right in front of her. It was like a direct wallop to the libido.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Not helping, Shrew.
She wondered if she ought to politely look away, but he hadn’t asked her to, and honestly, given the way he’d complicated her life, she figured she was owed a little ogling. Most shifters weren’t very body-conscious anyway.
But most shifters weren’t built like—well, okay, most shifters probablywerebuilt like that, because they tended on the whole to be in good shape and well muscled. Still, she was riveted.
