“Watch me!” Angela stomped down the stairs and hurried across the field, towards where Craig was now doing pushups. Jarrod tried hard to smother his laughter behind his hand.
“Wow,” Mary said, shaking her head in reluctant admiration. “Well played, sir, well played indeed.”
“You can’t be Alpha without learning some finesse,” Jarrod said.
“I thought it was all brute force and making sure that people are afraid of you so they always follow your orders without question.”
“Nah. That’s my uncle’s style. It wasn’t how my parents did things, and it’s not how we will.”
Mary started. He’d just saidwe. As if she’d be ruling the pack by his side.
“Force is a last resort. I prefer to consider what motivates people and approach each situation individually.” He smiled at her smugly. “For instance, you’re motivated by concern for others, which is why I was able to win this dinner bet tonight.”
The grove he led her to was a ten minute walk from the house. In the center of a grassy clearing was a stone table, already set for two. There was a bottle of Chardonnay, two wine glasses, and platters of prime rib and mashed potatoes and a tray of desserts.
Mary described the events at the hospital as they ate.
“I’m very concerned,” she told him. “Something’s really wrong there. What was that whole deal with her saying they were being treated like criminals?”
He sighed. “Well, there have been a couple of incidents. One of them was a couple of months ago. In both cases, a woman claimed they’d returned a different baby to her. She insisted the baby wasn’t hers. We had the babies DNA tested – and the babies were definitely theirs.”
“Still. That combined with the way Petra was acting…”
He nodded. “I know. It’s just hard for me to tell if she’s trying to hide something or if she’s afraid of displeasing Earvin. She’s always been under his thumb. Earvin’s bullied a lot of people, and he expects every single order he gives to be obeyed immediately and without question. “
“How did the meeting go?”
He shrugged. “Earvin bitched and whined about me not bridenapping Regina and about what happened at the hospital. The council is split almost fifty-fifty, with slightly more in my favor. Ever since my uncle took over as Gamesmaster, we’ve won a lot of games and it’s brought an enormous amount of prestige to the pack. So that’s influenced some members to stand behind him no matter what he does. On the other hand, he’s a grade-A asshole, so a lot of people can’t wait until I’m Alpha and he’s off on the sidelines just handling the games. This evening, Earvin tried to pass an emergency motion to have you disqualified as my bride because of what happened at the hospital, claiming that you were a danger to the pack, but it failed sixty-forty.”
Jarrod had a slight frown as he poured himself another glass of wine.
“What is it?” Mary asked.
“In the past, my uncle has lobbied for the rule about disabilities to be changed so he’d have the option of challenging me for the position of Alpha. He was turned down. However, with our continued success in the Pack Games, he’s built up a lot of alliances in the Alpha Congress. He might almost have enough votes.”
When Jarrod saw the stricken look on her face, he shook his head. “It’s nothing for you to worry about. I could kick his ass in a fight. I’d rather talk about the wedding planning.”
She shrugged, chewing and swallowing a delicious, salty piece of prime rib.
“And why you actually believe I’d carry out a fake bridenapping,” he continued.
She set down her fork, tension tightening in her stomach. Might as well get this over with. “All right. When we dated, you’d never be seen with me in public. All my friends said they saw you dating other women. When you finally agreed to meet me for an actual dinner, you not only completely stood me up, I arrived to find all the jocks and cheerleaders sitting there waiting for me. Laughing at me.” Tears burned in her eyes.
“I… I’m sorry.” He looked shaken, and she could have sworn he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t.
“That, coupled with the fact that you keep dating women right up until the point when people expect you to propose to them and backing out of it, makes me doubt that you can ever commit.”
“You’re the one I bridenapped,” he pointed out, his expression serious. “Those other women…there was enormous pressure on me to make a political alliance. You had moved away for school, and I tried to put you out of my mind. But I couldn’t. You were the only one for me. Always.”
If that were true, she thought impatiently, why wasn’t he offering her any explanation for his actions years ago?
She glanced at her watch.
“I should go,” she said, pushing her chair back.
He flashed her a winning smile. “But you haven’t sampled the mousse yet.” He plucked a goblet from a bucket of crushed ice and slid it across the table to her.
She looked down at the silver cup, beaded with little dew drops from the ice. The delicious chocolate mousse, mounded up in there like a heavenly cloud of sweetness… Bastard. Mousse was her kryptonite. How had he known that? He couldn’t know that about her. It must just be coincidence that every single dish he’d served her was her favorite.
