Seal Wolf Hunting (9781402293832) (27 page)

Of course, they said it all had to do with getting the place ready, and they were too busy or too tired afterward to participate. But he'd noticed the looks between the three sisters when he'd asked them why they chose this hotel to buy. It was as if they had some deep, dark secret, and they had to keep it that way.

So yeah, he was definitely interested in Laurel, but not just because she was a hot she-wolf. He wanted to know what she and her sisters were
really
doing here.

* * *

Laurel MacTire's luck hadn't been so hot lately. Tomorrow, both her sisters had to go out of state to ensure the shipment of furniture had arrived from Paris and then was safely transported here. When she and her sisters had tracked down the auctioned highboy and blanket chest that had belonged to their aunt Clarinda, they were afraid something bad had happened to her. In her will, their aunt had promised the furniture to their mother, her twin sister, Sadie.

But they'd learned from their mother six months earlier that Clarinda had vanished fifty years ago. Someone had auctioned off the furniture around that same time. It had taken the sisters all this time to finally locate the pieces and buy them back.

Clarinda had said in a letter to their mother that the furniture was unique, with an added feature. Their mother thought one or both of the pieces might contain a secret compartment. Maybe a clue hidden in a secret panel in a drawer would help them learn what had become of their aunt. Pictures documenting the initials of the furniture designer,
ELS
, and the fact that each piece had been made specifically for its owner, had helped the sisters to prove the items had belonged to their aunt.

No matter what else happened, the sisters wanted to keep the furniture in memory of their aunt.

That meant Laurel had to manage everything on her own for a couple of days, starting early tomorrow morning—and including the grand opening ceremony and the first hotel guests' arrival. What made it worse was that, according to Darien Silver, three of the men who had booked rooms for a week were supposedly ghost busters. That was
all
they needed!

What if the three men told the whole world the hotel was haunted? There would go the business. They'd either not get any guests, or they'd have a bunch of paranormal thrill seekers wanting to stay there. Maybe even a well-known author like Stephen King, staying there to gain information and planning to use the setting for a new book. Well, on second thought, she supposed that could be a boon.

She opened the buffet drawer in the lobby and pulled out the fifty-year-old postcard, the last communication that her missing aunt had sent to Laurel's mother. Laurel reread the note for the millionth time, as if she'd miraculously get more clues from it.

Silver Town Hotel. Miss you. Falling in love. Kiss girls for me. See you at Christmas. Love, C

Ellie was headed for the stairs, a box of blinds in hand, when she saw Laurel reading the postcard again. “Hey, no matter how many times we look at it, it's not revealing anything new. We know for sure these were our aunt's last words to our mother—that she was staying at the Silver Town Hotel. And she sounded like she was involved in a romance. When she failed to show up at Christmastime, Mom got worried. But though she investigated, she didn't find any sign of her sister. We were too little to really understand what was going on. Just that our aunt wasn't coming to play with us. She was always so much fun.”

“Right.” Laurel tucked the card back in the drawer. “I wish Mom hadn't waited until she was dying to tell us this about Aunt Clarinda.”

Meghan came around the banister with a drill and a couple more boxes of blinds. “Are we talking about the postcard again? Mom was worried that something sinister might have happened to her sister—and that we'd learn about it and go looking for her, which could get us in trouble. But in the end, Mom wanted us to discover what happened to her sister. It was her last dying request. You know it had to have weighed heavily on her mind all these years. I think she figured her sister had been murdered, but it had been so long ago that we were safe now.”

Laurel agreed. “I hope we can learn the truth sooner than later.” She closed the buffet drawer as her sisters headed up the stairs to hang the faux wooden blinds in the windows.

So far they didn't have anything to go on but the postcard and a lot of supposition. What if one of the Silver Town pack members had something to do with Aunt Laurel's disappearance? He could still be here. That was one of the things about the wolves' longevity. Their aging process was so much slower, or at least it had been. Recently, something had changed the dynamics and now their life spans were closer to humans'.

That meant anyone could be suspect—even CJ Silver, who was so eager to please her in his own way. She'd caught herself a ton of times letting down her guard with him. She needed to remember that she couldn't trust anyone but her sisters.

Now Darien was assigning CJ to watch the ghost busters? She'd never expected that to happen.

As soon as CJ walked in the door, all six feet of him, his amber eyes immediately sought her out as she worked on varnishing the countertop of the check-in desk. His sable hair complemented his tan face, and his muscular but wiry build had definitely turned the head of more than one she-wolf. She reminded herself that getting involved with any of the wolf pack members could be a bad idea.

“Did Darien tell you that I'll need to stay here when that ghost-busting crew arrives?”

“Yes.”

“I heard you had trouble with the painters. Do you want me to finish the painting for you?” CJ looked perfectly willing.

Against her best judgment—because she was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that still needed to be done—she nodded. “Thanks. You're…not afraid of ghosts?”

CJ smiled. “They don't exist. I'm ready to paint when you are. Just let me know what I need to do.”

“The painters left the paint, brushes, plastic, everything, and won't return. So it's all over there.” She pointed to the corner of the lobby.

“Great. I'll get right on it.”

He was cute, but he looked so restrainedly pleased, she smiled. Until she saw her sister Meghan walking down the curved stairs and staring at CJ. Meghan shot her a look, as if to say she shouldn't have invited him to paint. Laurel hadn't had a chance to tell her sisters that Darien wanted CJ staying with them to watch over the ghost busters.

“What's Ellie doing?” Laurel asked.

“She's finishing up the blue room, still hanging the new blinds in there.
We
were going to finish the painting down here, I thought.”

“We have to decorate the whole place for Christmas next. We don't have time to finish the painting too. Not with the two of you leaving tomorrow to take care of other business. Plus, we sort of have an issue.”

Meghan narrowed her green eyes at her sister. “What
sort
of an issue?”

“You know the three men who were the first to rent rooms?”

Folding her arms, Meghan nodded.

“Darien learned they're self-professed ghost busters. They even have a TV show.”

“
Great.
” As if they hadn't had enough problems.

A frozen, then broken water pipe that flooded the basement, the painters getting spooked by ghosts, and half of the windows arriving in the wrong size were only a few of the minor disasters they'd had to deal with.

CJ had already started painting one wall. It was white, but the pictures that had hung there had left rectangular shadows on the walls. Even with the start of a fresh coat of paint, it looked better. “Darien is checking our guest list to make sure we're not going to have any other trouble. That's how he discovered who these men are and why they wanted rooms. He's concerned about them.”

Meghan frowned. “Darien isn't doing background checks on all our guests forever, is he?”

As if Laurel and her sisters were staying in Silver Town forever. This was their business—buying, renovating, and selling hotels. They never stayed long. “He's the pack leader. If he thinks we might have any trouble, or that the rest of his pack might, he'll keep a close eye on the hotel. So with regard to that, he wants CJ to stay with us until the men leave.”

Openmouthed, Meghan stared at her. Her gaze switched from her to CJ to Laurel again. “
You're…kidding
. Stay with
us
?”

“Yep. Darien gave him the job of watching the ghost busters to ensure they don't see anyone shifting. If they do, then the pack will handle it.”

“
Just great
.”

“Yeah, I know. Tell Ellie, will you?”

“Sure. So which room is he staying in?” Meghan smiled a little evilly. “The maids' quarters?”

“No way. He can have the attic room. Hopefully nothing will bother him up there.” Laurel frowned as she stared at the center of the wall that CJ had already painted over. “Do you see a letter in the center of the wall?”

Meghan studied the wall. “I was hoping I was just imagining it.”

They moved closer as CJ considered the section he'd just painted.

“Okay, so your name is CJ and you're being cute by painting a
C
on the wall?” Meghan asked, her voice sharp and on edge.

Laurel knew very well CJ hadn't done it. Not considering how much he seemed to want to please her and her sisters. If he was going to initial his paint job, why not make it
CJ
? The letter was a foot and a half tall, maybe a foot wide, about six inches thick, and whiter than the white wall he was painting. It hadn't been there before he started painting, and he was using a paint roller. It would have been impossible for him to paint the letter without using a paintbrush and a guideline, a stencil, or something, considering how crisp and clean the lines were.

CJ stepped back from the wall and stared at it. “If the letter is still there after I paint the wall and it dries, I'll us some special paint that covers water stains and the like.”

Laurel pointed to the corner. “A can of that kind of paint is over there.”

“Okay, I'll take care of it.”

Meghan headed for the stairs. “I'll tell Ellie about the trouble we might have with the ghost-hunter TV personalities.” She glanced warily at CJ.

Laurel went back to work varnishing the old oak countertop while her sisters put the finishing touches on the rooms. The Silver pack had planned a grand opening ceremony, and all eight rooms were booked, now including the attic room. It only had a small table, a chair, a three-drawer bachelor chest, and a twin-size bed. They'd fixed it up but hadn't really thought they'd have anyone staying there—unless someone desperately needed the lodging, was single, and wasn't overly tall. Which made her realize that CJ would be too tall for the bed.

Where else could they put him? The basement had four rooms and a shared bathroom for the maids' quarters, but Laurel and her sisters had put off renovating those until later because of all the other plumbing, painting, and electrical problems they'd had to deal with. They lived in the guesthouse out back, a lovely four-bedroom home with gingerbread trim to match the hotel. The nearby gazebo, fountain, and gardens were perfect for guests during any season, though the fountain couldn't run until spring now. For winter, they were decorating everything for Christmas. That way the rooms that had a garden view would see festive touches everywhere.

“
What?
” Ellie said, her voice elevated as Meghan talked with her upstairs in the blue bedroom.

Laurel didn't know if Ellie was outraged about the ghost busters staying with them or one of the members of the Silver pack lodging here, or maybe a little of both. In any event, they had to deal with it.

She and her sisters felt like they were walking on the edge of a cliff. One wrong turn and they would fall off, without a safety net to catch them. She was certain the pack wouldn't be happy if she and her sisters discovered that one of its members was involved in her aunt's disappearance.

Laurel looked up from her varnishing work and saw that CJ had started painting over the
C
with the stain-killing paint—three feet out in every direction to hide the letter.

Morbidly fascinated, she watched as the whole area became one block of white. As the paint began to dry, the letter reappeared as bold as day—white on white, as if it was meant to be there. Or Clarinda MacTire was trying to tell her nieces she had been here.

Maybe she still was here.

Order Terry Spear's next book
in the Heart of the Wolf series

A Silver Wolf Christmas

On sale October 2015

Lanny Wilkinson, for advice on removing a skeleton from the lake. Also, Alaina Armbruster, Tori Scott, Stephanie Shaw, Barbara Wilt Gerber, Carolyn Wain McCanna, and Donna Fournier, who all helped me with diving and skeleton questions. As always, my beta readers are the best! To Loretta Melvin, Bonnie Gill, and Dottie Jones, a big thanks! And to Deb Werksman, my editor, and the cover artists who do such a beautiful job!