Cougar Christmas

  “Drew,” she said, forgetting she was supposed to be saying her vows, forgetting Phillips and the other couples were watching, forgetting everything but the man in front of her. “Drew, I didn’t think this weekend could possibly work either,” she said in a low, choked voice. “I’d been hurt so badly before and I…I didn’t want to trust you, didn’t want to trust anyone ever again with my…with my heart.”

  “Baby…” Drew cupped her cheek in his big warm hand.

  “I didn’t want to trust,” Genevieve went on, lifting her chin to look at him. “But you made me trust. And more than that, you made me laugh and then…then you made me love.” She put her hand to the outside of his, nuzzling her cheek against his palm. “You’re so much more than I thought you were,” she told him. “You’re strong and brave and resourceful and funny. You’re equally good at pottery and painting…” She blushed when she thought of the way he’d used the chocolate body paints on her. “And bear fighting,” she added.

  Drew chuckled and Genevieve heard Mitzie mutter from the audience, “Bear fighting? What is she talking about, bear fighting?” But she paid no attention.

  “I guess what I’m trying to say is…I love you too,” she whispered, looking up at Drew. “So much. More than I ever thought I could. And I know we have a lot of things standing between us—”

  “None of it matters.” Drew pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her and looking down earnestly into her face. “Nothing matters except that we found each other. After all these years I finally found you, Gen—the real you. And I’m never letting you go.”

  “Oh, Drew,” she whispered and then he was kissing her, lifting her up off the ground until her feet dangled and taking her mouth in a kiss so passionate it made all the blood rush to her head and her heart pound until Genevieve thought it might explode.

  Dimly, she heard Phillips saying, “I now pronounce you man and wife.” From the corner of her eye she saw the other happy couples filing out of the chapel but she was too happy to pay any attention. She and Drew stayed locked in each other’s arms, and she knew without asking that he was feeling the same way she was—that he wanted to make this work and they were together—really together at last.

  And then, when the last couple had left the chapel a deep, sonorous voice said, “Very nice, Genevieve…Drew. A very convincing performance, I must say. It’s a pity none of it is true.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Genevieve felt the blood in her veins turn to ice water at the sound of the deep, familiar voice. Looking up, she saw someone rising from the shadows of the balcony. A tall figure, dressed all in white, came to stand at the banister and look down on her and Drew.

  “Stuart?” she whispered, her lips numb.

  “Mr. Solomon?” Drew muttered, sounding perplexed.

  “In the flesh,” their boss thundered, glaring at them both. “I came all the way here on Christmas to be certain that you, Genevieve, were reconnecting with your spouse. Imagine my surprise when I find you here with your assistant instead.”

  “Stuart…” Genevieve shook her head. “I…I can explain.”

  “You’d better.” Leaving the balcony, he came down the spiral staircase to stand in front of the two of them, hands on his hips. “And you’d better do it fast before I fire both of you. What are you doing here with Drew instead of your husband, Charles?”

  For a moment, Genevieve just glared at him. Stuart had the blindingly white teeth and super stylized hair of a televangelist and he almost always wore light or white suits tailored to the nth degree. His appearance didn’t usually bother Genevieve but just at that moment, she wished she could grab him by his expensive silk tie and strangle him. Somehow, though, she managed to keep her voice calm and level.

  “Charles left me,” she said flatly. “Left me for his secretary about six months ago.”

  Stuart raised one white-blonde eyebrow at her.

  “So you thought you’d do the same and run off with your own assistant?”

  “Hardly.” Drew stepped forward, frowning. “This was all my idea, Mr. Solomon. I told Gen she should pass me off as her husband so she wouldn’t lose her job.”

  “No, Drew—you can’t take the blame,” Genevieve exclaimed, putting a hand on his arm. “It was my fault! I never should have tried this. I should have known it wouldn’t work.”

  “You should have come to me for counseling the moment you and Charles started having problems—as it specifies in your contract,” Stuart boomed.

  “No, she never should have had to sign that piece of shit contract in the first place,” Drew growled back. “Look, Solomon—you might be too busy to notice but I’ve been with Genevieve for years now and I’ve seen first hand how hard she works for you. She’s at the office seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year and you wonder why her marriage fell apart?” He glared at Stuart. “It’s because nobody can stay married to someone they never get to see. Gen sacrificed her relationship for you and the Spiritual Soul Mates company and now you want to penalize her for it? I don’t think so—that’s not fucking right!”

  “Drew!” Genevieve looked at him a little apprehensively. His broad chest was heaving and his eyes were narrowed as he glared down at Stuart Solomon, who was rather short, despite the lifts she knew he wore in his expensive Italian leather shoes. Drew put himself protectively between herself and their boss and for a moment she thought he might actually take a swing at the other man.

  “Drew has a point, you know.” Dr. Phillips, who had been standing, forgotten, behind them on the dais, walked forward. “You do work your staff extremely hard, Stuart,” he told Stuart, frowning.

  “Phillips?” Stuart blustered, frowning at the other man. “I ought to fire you, too! You’re also to blame here, letting these two fool you! What in Heaven’s name would make you believe that Drew and Genevieve were actually a couple?”

  “Because I sensed genuine emotion between them,” Phillips said mildly. “Even right at the beginning when they were still just pretending to care about each other, I sensed a real connection.” He shrugged. “I wanted to see what might happen…how it might grow.”

  “Wait a minute…” Genevieve narrowed her eyes and stared at the therapist. “Are you saying you knew Drew and I weren’t really together all along?”

  He nodded. “Do give me some credit, Ms. Wells—I research all of our clients here at Whispering Pines most thoroughly. I knew Drew wasn’t your husband…but I sensed that he might be your soul mate, if only you two could give each other a chance.” He shrugged his stooped shoulders. “So I decided to give you some time and see what happened.”

  “What happened was we fell in love.” Drew put an arm around her shoulders and Genevieve leaned into him gratefully, glad to feel his solid, comforting presence at her side.

  “Drew’s right,” she said, looking at her boss. “We might not have been a couple when we first came to Whispering Pines, but we are one now. You…” She cleared her throat. “You can fire me if you want but even knowing I would lose my job, I would do this all again. It’s been worth it to connect with Drew.” She looked up at him and gave him a trembling smile.

  Drew smiled back and squeezed her shoulders.

  “Gen’s right,” he said firmly. “And if you fire her, you have to fire me too. We’re a package deal—where she goes, I go.”

  “The very definition of love and sacrifice,” Phillips remarked, smiling a little. “I must say, I’m very pleased to see how far the two of you have come.”

  “Well, I’m not!” Stuart Solomon sighed and ran a hand through his immaculately coifed hair. “Genevieve, you must see what an awkward position you’re putting me in! You’re my senior marketer—my right hand man! I don’t want to lose you but the contract you signed specifies that you and your spouse will come to me for counseling if you feel your relationship is in trouble.”

  “And so they will,” Phillips said mildly. “Since Drew and Genevieve are married now.”

  “We’
re what?” Genevieve looked at him, feeling slightly dazed.

  “What did you say?” Drew asked, frowning.

  “I said, the two of you are married. I performed the ceremony myself not ten minutes ago,” Phillips motioned with both hands. “Right here in the Whispering Pines Chapel of Love.”

  “We…we are?” Genevieve looked up at Drew.

  “Are we really?” A small, incredulous smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. “But we thought this was just for show.”

  “I assure it, it’s all quite legal—I’m a justice of the peace, you know, in addition to being a licensed therapist. You just have to get the marriage license signed, and you’re all set.” Phillips smiled complacently. "And don't worry--I used your correct names on it so it's all legal and binding."

  “But I…but we…” Genevieve couldn’t take her eyes off Drew, who was looking at her with something like wonder on his face. “Drew,” she said softly. “How…how do you feel about this?”

  “I love it.” He cupped her face in his hands and looked at her earnestly. “I mean, I was going to ask you to marry me anyway…if I ever got the nerve to say how I really felt. Which I just did when we said our vows—I meant every word.”

  “I did too,” Genevieve admitted, smiling.

  “I’m glad, baby.” Drew smiled back. “I know this is kind of sudden and really, really unexpected but I think it’s great.”

  “Me too.” Genevieve thought of her big, empty house and how she’d felt so lonely and unwanted after Charles moved out. Now the house would be alive again—filled with Drew’s presence and the love they shared. Or they could sell the house and start over again someplace new. Why not? As long as they were together, she didn’t care where they went or what they did.

  “So that means you want to sign the contract?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

  “I do.” Genevieve felt tears in her eyes and tried to blink them away. “Oh, Drew, yes…yes, I do.”

  “I think that’s settled then.” Phillips gave both of them a pleased smile. He looked at Stuart Solomon. “Stuart, I think you should give these two another chance. Or, if you want to fire them from the home office in Sarasota, I’d be happy to have them working for me here.”

  “No…no, that won’t be necessary.” Stuart looked thoughtful. “Perhaps I was too hasty in my decision. But Genevieve…Drew, I really must insist that the two of you come to me if you have any problems in the future.”

  “The only problem I can think of right now is where to spend our honeymoon,” Drew remarked, grinning at Genevieve. “I mean, Whispering Pines is nice, but I think Gen and I would like to get away from it all for a little while…maybe take a cruise to Alaska to see the bears. I hear they grow them really big up there.”

  “Drew!” Laughing, Genevieve stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. “I love you,” she whispered, looking into his eyes. “I love you so much.”

  “I love you too, baby.” He was suddenly serious, his eyes holding hers with a deep certainty. “And now that I’ve got you, I’m never letting you go.”

  End

  *And now here’s a sneak peek at the next Brides of the Kindred book, Uncharted, coming in January 2017, followed by an excerpt from Big Package by Opal Carew and A Manhattanite’s Christmas by Avery Aster.*

  Brides of the Kindred #18: Uncharted

  Chapter One

  “I’m so glad you decided to let me replace your missing eye and thumb, Commander Terex. Yes I am, yes I am!” Yipper, the Tolleg surgeon bounced excitedly around Terex’s feet, his long, furry ears flopping. With his shaggy gray brown fur and long face, he looked like a cross between a baboon and a hound dog—or so said the humans who inhabited the Mother Ship—but he was the best prosthetic surgeon around.

  “Yes, well…” Terex blinked his new prosthetic eye, which was indistinguishable from the other, and flexed the thumb the little surgeon had grafted seamlessly to his hand.

  He had lost his original body parts in a struggle with Two, the Dark Kindred, who had maimed him in order to gain access to the Mother Ship’s restricted areas. Two had needed the thumbprint and retinal scan of a Council member in order to gain access to the water processing area, where he planned to dump a toxic virus into the entire water supply and take over the ship. He had ultimately been stopped before he was able to carry out his evil scheme but not before he’d gotten to Terex who had, unfortunately, been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  At least, that was what Terex tried to tell himself when he thought of the shameful episode.

  But try as he might, he couldn’t forget the way Two had overpowered him, shot him up with a paralytic agent—and mutilated him. With the paralytic in his system, Terex had been helpless to stop him. He still woke from nightmares, drenched in sweat, where he felt the bite of the Dark Kindred’s knife sawing through his thumb…felt the sharp tip gouging into the flesh of his eye socket.

  Stop it, he told himself angrily, flexing his new left thumb again. It was a traumatic experience but it’s over now. Get over it!

  It was good advice but Terex was having a difficult time taking it, possibly because the incident with Two wasn’t the only time in recent memory when he had been overpowered. Previous to his struggle with Two, he had been inhabited by Ur, a demon from the Black Planet, who had used his body as a host for his evil designs.

  These two very personal attacks, coupled with the death of his beloved mate Solange, now dead for ten solar years, had made Terex seriously question if he wanted to continue living. The answer, he had decided, was no. But before he died, he had a mission—a quest of vengeance that could not go unfulfilled.

  Two had left behind a single scion—a huge warrior grown in the flesh vats of the Scourge Father Ship. When Two had died, this scion had fled to parts unknown. At first it was thought he might be on the Scourge home planet, but several probes sent to scan the surface of the toxic world had revealed no life signatures.

  Two’s scion was still out there, somewhere, and Terex was determined to seek him out and rid the universe once and for all of the evil bastard. Then he could die in peace—either in battle or by his own hand, after the deed was accomplished. He cared little which way death came—only that it came swiftly and honorably after his vengeance was complete.

  “Tell me, Commander Terex, if you please, if you please,” Yipper said, breaking into Terex’s his morbid thoughts. “Why did you change your mind and decide to have your body parts replaced after all? I was told that you were dead set against replacements at first. So I was, so I was.”

  “It wasn’t out of vanity, I can tell you that,” Terex said dryly. “I don’t give a damn for how I look any more—it isn’t as if I’m courting a mate. But Commander Sylvan pointed out that I would be at a disadvantage if I allowed myself to stay maimed. When I thought of it, I realized he had a good point. I am hunting an enemy who is larger and stronger than myself—I need every advantage to take him down.”

  “A good point, yes it is, yes it is.” the little Tolleg nodded eagerly. “And the parts I’ve given you will put you at a distinct advantage when it comes to battle. They aren’t just exact replicas of your own lost bits and pieces, no they aren’t, no they aren’t!”

  “They’re not?” Terex frowned and looked down at his thumb. “How are they different?”

  “Your new ocular piece has an extraordinary range of vision,” Yipper explained. “You’ll be able to see four times as far as you would with your normal, organic eye. And you’ll also be able to focus on small objects and magnify them if you so choose.”

  “That’s useful.” Terex closed his right eye and focused his left at a spot on the far wall. Since they were standing in Yipper’s surgery slash repair shop, what he saw was a white rack filled with prosthetic hands, legs, feet, and arms. When he concentrated, he found he was able to focus on one particular body part—a foot—and see it in great detail, down to the curving, lifelike ridges on the toenails. “Yes, very useful indeed,” he murmured.


  “Oh, and before I forget, your new retina can mimic the retinal pattern of any creature or person living or dead,” the little Tolleg said. “And your new thumb can mimic any print as well. So no door should be locked against you in your quest.”

  “Is that right?” Terex frowned thoughtfully. It seemed cruelly ironic that he should have been maimed because of Two’s need for his unique print and retinal pattern and now the replacement parts he had been given could, in turn, mimic any pattern he might need in his quest to kill the bastard’s scion.

  Ironic but fitting.

  “Yes that’s right. Yes it is, yes it is.” Yipper nodded eagerly, his ears flopping again. "And I've even installed a pigmentation control that will affect your hair, eye, and skin color."

  "What? But why?" Terex raised an eyebrow.

  "In the outer reaches of space, it is often advantages to be able to blend in with others of an alien race. Yes it is, yes it is! Observe." The little Tolleg guided him to a 3-D viewer which standing against one wall. "Now put your new thumb against the temple closest to your new ocular implant. Then imagine yourself with a different colored epidermis or hair," he instructed.

  Terex stared at himself. In the viewer he saw what he had always seen--an older warrior but one who was still in his prime with hard muscles and piercing dark blue, almost purple eyes. As he was a Blood Kindred, he had the double set of fangs where a human would have their canine teeth. He also had dark blond hair, like most Blood Kindred.

  "Try something new--yes you should, yes you should!" Yipper said excitedly.

  Terex had no heart for any kind of foolishness but he didn't like to disappoint the little Tolleg who had done such an excellent job of restoring his body, if not his spirit.

  Placing the pad of his new left thumb against his left temple, he pictured himself with silver skin and black hair like a Yalen.

  At once, his image changed in the viewscreen and his skin turned shiny silver all over while his hair turned black.