Surrounded by Death (3 page)

What she really
wanted to do was crawl in a hole and die. She’d walked in on her
fiancé eating his secretary’s pussy in his office last month. Joel
was such an asshole, but she never saw it. Until then. Amazing how
seeing something like that opened one’s eyes.

Mikaela called
off the wedding, but she hadn’t told anyone at her office yet. She
was a strong career woman and admitting what happened would make
her look like a chump. Would she love to get away for two weeks?
Absolutely. She would love nothing more than to spend two weeks in
Cabo sandwiched between a cold margarita and a hot Miguel, licking
her relationship wounds. Being thrown in the middle of her boss’s
work, a vacation did not make.

“I’m sorry,
Mikaela. I have to be in Washington, and Mr. Woods is one of our
biggest clients.”

She groaned and
crossed her arms.

“It’ll be a
cakewalk. Just go over the changes to his estate and draw up new
papers.”

“Why can’t
Sullivan or Smith handle it?”

“Sullivan is in
the middle of that multimillion dollar lawsuit, and Smith is going
with me.”

She scrambled.
“What about the newbie, Krista?”

“First of all,
I’m not sending someone new to handle matters on one of our biggest
clients. Second, she’s single. Mr. Woods has specially requested
that I send someone taken.”

“I-I’m not
married.” She definitely was not that.

“But you’re
engaged.”

She wasn’t that
either. Not anymore, but she sure as hell wasn’t ready to admit it.
She needed to try another angle. “I’m a corporate attorney, Bill. I
don’t do estates.”

“You do now.
That is, if you want to make partner.”

That was a low
blow. Bill knew she brought this firm in millions of dollars each
quarter. That alone warranted a partnership. But he was her boss,
and she knew how to play the corporate game. And play it she would.
She had no other choice. “Fine. I’ll fly out tomorrow.”

“Now was that
so hard?” Bill smirked. “Take comfortable clothes. You’ll be
staying on his land with his family.”

“Why?” she
asked slowly, feeling her blood pressure spike.

“They own
thousands of acres of timberland, and it’ll be too cumbersome to
get you in and out of the property each day. It’s much easier this
way.”

Two weeks
surrounded by woods. If they didn’t have electricity and indoor
plumbing, she would be staying in a hotel regardless of how long it
took to get on and off the property. Why the hell hadn’t she just
booked that trip to Cabo like she wanted to last month?

*

Mikaela tripped
over her stilettos as she dragged her suitcases into the back of
the truck she’d rented. Bill had informed her that Mr. Woods would
have her picked up at the airport, but something told her she
didn’t want to be stranded on his property with no escape route.
She’d secure her own transportation, thank you very much. Assuming
the terrain would be too rough for a car, she opted for the biggest
truck the rental company had. It was enormous, but it should be
able to get her in and out of the woods with ease.

After hours of
traveling down the highway, she finally came to the small town that
her navigation system refused to acknowledge. She found the turn
off with the directions Bill had given to her before she left and
felt relieved to know she wasn’t really lost. No wonder Bill said
she’d be staying on the property. The last hotel she passed was at
least sixty miles back. With her next turn, she encountered a
massive gate. She stared at it a minute, looking for some intercom
to request entrance. Not seeing anything of the sort, she started
to get out of the truck, but then the gate opened. Shrugging, she
shut the door and drove through. At least the road was still paved.
A lingering sign of civilization. She doubted it would continue to
be that way for long.

*

Josh watched
the truck ease down the road and knew it contained the woman.
Thomas had warned Josh and his brothers about her, about the fact
that she’d be here to do some legal work instead of his regular
attorney. That only meant one thing—she was taken. His father never
allowed an untaken woman on the property because he knew it was too
dangerous with four unmated sons. Josh being the eldest and most
presumptuous of Thomas’s sons.

Whether the
woman was taken or not didn’t really matter to Josh’s libido,
though. She was still a woman, and it’d been a while since he’d
gotten laid. It was too dangerous for the Woods men to just pick up
a woman, so they often went without. Since it was a rare occasion
to have a woman on the property, everything about her presence was
amplified. Without even seeing her, he could sense her. His feline
senses first and foremost alerted him to the fact that she wore too
much perfume. He’d have to cure her of that before she left; there
was nothing sweeter than a woman’s natural scent.

Trying to hone
in on her unique essence, he took another whiff and growled when he
succeeded. His feral side fought to take charge, so he shook his
head to clear it of the prime scent he inhaled, trying to forget
the knowledge he’d just gained. She was ovulating, and he’d never
smelled anything so potent, so intoxicating. He had to fight his
instinct to stalk and mount her. He wanted nothing more in this
moment than to claim her right now. Right fucking now! Feeling his
control slipping, relief washed through him remembering she was
taken. If she wasn’t taken, he knew there’d be no way to stop
himself from claiming her.

Since she was
already taken, his humanity would prevail. It was a curse to his
kind. A mountain lion shifter. His family was the only ones he knew
of in the area, so they had to maintain their distance to ensure
their protection and others’ safety.

Needing to stay
focused, Josh raced back toward his brothers, but one last thought
nagged at him.

If she looked
anything like she smelled, he was in trouble.

~

From the sweet
stories of first young love to the hot, hot, hot erotic stories and
everything in between, Mandy loves to read and write about romance.
She dabbled in writing throughout adolescence and justified
studying it in college under that wonderful umbrella of liberal
arts. Living in Arkansas, she figured writing was a dream and not a
career, so when she went back to get her master’s degree, she
studied business. It wasn’t until she was staying up late to
write—after working full-time, spending time with the family, and
studying mind-numbing business nonsense—when she realized something
had to give. The love of writing prevailed. She still lives in
Arkansas with a few classes shy of an MBA but now with more time to
submerge herself in her craft. Visit her at
http://www.mandyharbin.com
.