Lions and Tigers and Bears (18 page)

Lying on the floor, with Zinsa’s hands on his stomach, Grant fought against the shame trying to overtake him. It took every vestige of courage to meet her eyes, and his heart stuttered when he saw nothing but acceptance. “Zinsa?” Every ounce of his uncertainty resonated in uttering her name.

With a tender smile, she leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “My love.”

He sniffed, filtering out the scent of their mutual passion hanging in the air, looking for any hint of fear from her and finding none. His brow furrowed, and he regarded her with confusion. “How can you be so accepting?”

Zinsa shrugged before sitting cross-legged on the floor, her thigh pressed against his stomach. “You are what you are, Grant. I’ve waited too long to find someone to complete me to throw it away because of fear.” She brushed a curl off his forehead. “I’ve been cursed, you know.”

For a moment, he had no idea what she was talking about, but then the memory surfaced. “Your family curse?”

She nodded, grinning widely. “I’ve found my soul mate and knew him instantly.”

“There’s no curse in my family, but I know you’re the other half of my heart.”

“Darling, I’ve decided it’s not a family curse.” Zinsa stretched forward, her mouth hovering against his. Just before kissing him, she added, “It’s definitely a gift.”

About the Author

Kit Tunstall lives in Idaho with her husband and dog-son. She started reading at the age of three and hasn’t stopped since. Love of the written word, and a smart marriage to a supportive man, led her to a full-time career in writing. Romances have always intrigued her, and erotic romance is a natural extension because it more completely explores the emotions between the hero and heroine. That, and it sure is fun to write.

Kit welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at 1337 Commerce Drive, #13, Stow, OH 44224.

Also by Kit Tunstall

A Christmas Phantasie

A Matter Of Honor

Beloved Forever

Blood Lines 1: Blood Oath

Blood Lines 2: Blood Challenge

Blood Lines 3: Blood Bond

Blood Lines 4: Blood Price

By Invitation Only

Dark Dreams

Eye of Destiny

Heart Of Midnight

Pawn

Phantasie

Playing His Game

Hidden Heart

Kate Steele

Chapter One

“Lindy, your two o’clock is here.”

“Thanks, Cin, I’ll be right there.”

Lindy released the button on the intercom unit and turned back to her work table. “Well, big fella, you’re going to have to wait for that nose after all.”

Her comment was addressed to the large teddy bear that sat on the table in front of her. His eyes conveyed an expectant air as he patiently awaited the stitches that would complete his nose and mouth. Lindy smiled, not at all bothered by the fact that she was talking to an inanimate object. She’d long ago given up feeling silly for doing so and now realized that teddy bear lovers around the world talked to their favorite “friends”.

She automatically put away her tools and moved her new creation back from the edge of the table. Tapping the end of his muzzle, she instructed, “You wait right here, I’ll be back in a little while.”

With a smile she stood and walked to the closed door. Before opening it she stopped to straighten her clothing. She reached under her shirt, grasped the bottom edge of her bra and pulled it down, then did a little shimmy movement designed to shake everything in place. Pulling the hem of her shirt down, she grimaced as she thought, for what seemed like the millionth time, how much she hated having large breasts. Although firm enough, they never seemed to want to remain where she put them. It was as though they were escapees in the middle of a jail break and she was forever recapturing them and sending them back to their cells.

Lindy sighed and opened the door which connected to her office. She walked in to find her two o’clock appointment perusing the glass case that held some examples of Timberlane Teddies’ most popular lines.

“See anything you like?” she quipped, then grinned at her use of a line so often used as a double entendre.

“Actually, I see some familiar faces here,” he answered and turned to face her, his own smile in place as he indicated the displayed teddy bears. “My niece is quite taken with Jethro and Sam.” He walked across the room extending his hand. “Ms. Timberlane, I’m very pleased to finally meet you in person.”

Lindy took the offered hand. “Call me Lindy, please. Won’t you have a seat, Dr. Walden?”

“Thank you, and it’s David,” he replied, sitting in the indicated chair.

Lindy walked around her antique mahogany desk and took her own chair. “So, it’s that time of year again,” she commented as she pulled a checkbook from the top drawer. “How are things going at base camp?”

“Very well, thanks in part to your generosity. We’ve made great strides in determining how the grizzlies use natural resources and just how important certain things like the white-bark pine trees are to their existence.”

“The white-barks provide the last wild food source for the bears before they go into hibernation, is that right?”

“That’s right,” David answered with a pleased smile.

“I try to keep up on things, even though the teddy bear business keeps me pretty busy.” Lindy took up her pen and began making out the check. “So, will you be returning to camp after your business here in town is completed?”

“In about a week, yes I will, and that brings up the reason I came to see you, instead of having you mail the check as usual.”

Lindy looked up curiously. “And that reason would be…?”

“I’ve come to issue an invitation. Over the last few years you’ve been so generous in your contributions—the added funding has allowed us to really step up our research. We, as a group, would like to invite you to come and see how your money is being spent. We thought you might enjoy a couple of weeks in the woods to get to know the group and see in person just exactly what it is we do.”

Lindy was filled with stunned delight. “I’d love that! So I’ll have a week to organize things then return with you?”

“Will that be enough time?”

“Definitely. For this I’ll make it enough time. You’re going to have to tell me what I need to bring as far as clothes and things.”

“My wife, Nancy, is way ahead of you there,” David replied as he reached into his jacket pocket. “She sent this note and a list.”

Lindy laughed. “I see she anticipated my acceptance.”

“Nancy’s the voice of practicality and reason in camp, she always looks ahead and seems to have an uncanny ability to see what things we might need in the future. Knowing your deep dedication to our project, she was fairly certain you’d want to come.”

“Well, she certainly was right there,” Lindy said as she finished writing out the check to the foundation. She handed it to David who looked at it, then did a double take. “The business did quite well last year,” she explained with a sheepish shrug. “I’ve increased our other donations as well.”

David shook his head in amazement and beamed. “I can’t tell you how much this means to us, but then, you know that without all the research we’re doing, animals such as the grizzly bear and the wolf might be extinct by now.”

“I know,” she answered. “And that’s something I want to help prevent. My grandparents, especially Grandpa, had a great love for the outdoors and all its inhabitants. They instilled that same love in me. When they died and left their estate to me, I started this business. Between my inheritance and the success I’ve enjoyed, I’ve got more than any one person needs.” She smiled. “So I decided to spread it around.”

“Well, we’re certainly grateful you’ve spread it in our direction.”

“Believe me, David, it’s my pleasure.”

David rose, pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and ran a hand over his tousled brown hair. Lindy studied him briefly, deciding she liked him. He seemed a sensible and sturdy person, just the sort who should be in charge of a research team. There was also an air of gentle humor about him, something that made her relax in his presence.
He has kind eyes
, she mused.

“Well, I’d best be going so that you can get back to work,” he commented, putting the check she handed him in an inner jacket pocket. “I’ll deposit this right away, so as not to lose it. Nancy would scalp me if I did, and I don’t believe I’d look quite right bald.”

Lindy smiled appreciatively, he
did
have a sense of humor.

“I’ll contact you toward the end of the week to see how you’re progressing in your preparations and give you our travel information, flight times, etcetera. If you should need to contact me before then, I can be reached at either of these numbers,” he said, handing her a card.

“Thank you, David. I really appreciate this opportunity to spend time with your team,” she told him, shaking his hand.

“It’s our pleasure, Lindy. And thank you again,” he said, patting his jacket pocket. “Goodbye.”

Lindy watched him head for the elevator, sighed and closed her door. A big grin spread over her face. “Grandpa, I wish you were here,” she murmured. “I’m going camping with the bears!”

* * * * *

A week later Lindy found herself unpacking in her very own cabin. She had been pleasantly surprised to find that the base camp was made up of cabins and not tents. David Walden and his wife Nancy, a wildlife conservationist, shared one, Sandra and Paul DiAngelo, both wildlife ecologists, shared a second, and Rafe Kutter, a wildlife biologist, was in yet another.

The cabins were all of similar makeup. The main room contained the bed, a dresser and a table with a couple of chairs. There was also a tiny closet and a small bathroom. The bathroom was equipped with a shower stall, toilet and sink.

In addition to the cabins there was a larger communal building, the Lodge, that housed a combination kitchen-dining room and several other rooms. One was designated as the library and used to store the research data, another was used for equipment storage and a third was dominated by a large fireplace, and had thickly padded sofas and chairs which one could sink into and spend a dreamy hour or two contemplating the fire. Everyone had to go further afield to actually find their research subjects, but there were tents and other equipment to make overnight or longer trips possible.

Putting the last of her things in the dresser, Lindy straightened and looked at herself in the mirror. She shook her head and through critical green eyes watched locks of her long, honey-blonde hair settle into place. They framed a face she wished could be termed beautiful, but cute was closer to the mark. She turned her head first this way, then that, studying her even, average features. Wrinkling her nose, she stepped back and examined her clothing.

Following Nancy Walden’s advice, she’d packed plain, sensible clothing that could be layered for any changes in the weather. At the moment, she wore a pair of her favorite well-worn blue jeans, a smoky-blue Henley topped by an open olive-green chamois shirt and low hiking boots. She turned sideways, liking the way the shirt fell, as it hid some of her more obvious curves.

Standing five-foot-ten-inches tall, Lindy was grateful for the height that gave her size eighteen body a well-proportioned look. Even so, she’d spent her life very conscious of the extra pounds, and had done all sorts of diets in an effort to reach a weight that in the end had proved to be unattainable and truthfully unnecessary. At thirty-five she was ready to admit that this was it, she was never going to be glamour-girl thin, but at least she was healthy and finally comfortable with herself.

She ate reasonably well-balanced meals, walked two or three miles a day, worked out with weights and even had a heavy punching bag installed in her apartment. It was great for those days when the frustrations of work had her tense and on edge. It was especially effective when she pictured it as her ex-fiancé, Richard, who’d turned out to be a two-timing fortune hunter. There was something quite savagely satisfying in pretending to pulverize those haughty, patrician features.

With a wry smile she stepped away from the mirror, walked out of her cabin and headed toward the Lodge. The building was fairly large, with a front porch that was reached by climbing up two steps. A soft breeze whispered through the boughs of the trees that shaded the clearing and brought the fresh scent of pine to her appreciative nose.

Lindy crossed the porch and opened the front door. Peering in, she quickly ascertained that no one was there. She walked in, closed the door behind her and looked around the room. It was very rustic and oddly welcoming. She sighed and relaxed a bit. Running her own business, she’d learned the niceties of meeting new people, unfortunately it didn’t make the doing any easier. She was, by nature, a more solitary creature.

Drawn to a pile of papers laid out on a low table in front of one of the sofas, she sat and curiously perused those that were visible. They were obviously someone’s research notes and were written in a strong, bold script. A large, open sketchbook lay by the notes. The two visible pages each held a photograph of a grizzly bear, accompanied by a number, a name and statistics. It was what the rest of the pages held that fascinated her.

Beautifully detailed drawings had been rendered of each subject bear as it was engaged in various activities. The drawings were so intricate and realistic one almost expected the bear to move. The artist had captured the very essence of his subjects.

She sat and slowly turned the pages, totally entranced. Lost in her study of the drawings, Lindy didn’t notice that she was no longer alone.

“Do you always snoop through other people’s personal property?”

She gasped and started guiltily. The question came from behind her, expressed in a deep voice, a silky growl that sent a shiver coursing down her spine—a shiver that unexpectedly caused her nipples to pinch tight.

“I’m sorry,” she replied breathlessly, turning the pages back to their original position. “The sketchbook was open and the pictures were so beautiful.” She rose and turned to face the speaker. “I just…” She stopped cold, her mouth open.

Standing before her, larger than life, was a flannel-clad God.

Tall herself, Lindy felt dwarfed by his presence. Her gaze slowly traveled the length of his six-foot-six-inch frame. Dressed in hiking boots and worn, faded jeans, with a tucked-in, dark blue flannel shirt, his clothing only served to emphasize the hard-muscled body beneath. His sleeves were rolled up to just below the elbow, and his forearms—lightly sprinkled with dark hair, and wrapped with a few prominent veins—were well-defined. His hands were large, the fingers long and tapered and his skin was dark, not just tan, but brown, a rich, deep color that radiated warmth.

Lindy’s heart actually fluttered when her gaze reached his face. The planes and hollows were precisely sculpted, on the verge of being hawklike, yet softened by an unknown ancestor. His face was framed by black hair pulled severely back and bound by a leather tie. His eyes were dark, almost black, two pools of coffee that should have promised heat and stimulation, but now were hard and cold. His full lips were taut, his ire thinning them.

A dark brow rose. “You just…what?” he asked sarcastically.

Lindy blinked at his tone, attraction suddenly replaced by rising irritation. “Look, I’m sorry. No, I don’t normally snoop through other people’s belongings, but the book was out and open. I have to assume if it was private it wouldn’t have been left where anyone could see it. Can we start over? I’m Lindy Timberlane.” She stepped forward and held out her hand.

It was rudely ignored. “I know who you are, Miss Timberlane, and I may as well tell you that I don’t approve of your being here.” The irritable hunk moved passed her and leaned down to gather his papers.