Naughty by Nature (3 page)

Wolf and Stone
were in the den five, maybe six minutes, each of them with beer in hand as they
watched the Indians pummel the Blue Jays when there was a sharp rap at the
door.

“We’re ready,
guys.”

At Indie’s words,
Wolf felt his heart jerk.  He gritted his teeth, annoyed with himself.  It was
like he was a kid with a crush, reacting to the woman’s arrival that way. 
Shoot.

“Come on, Wolf. 
Food time.  We’ll catch up on the game later.”  Stone was out of his seat and
climbing the stairs before Wolf had even moved.  Dang.  He must be hungry.

Wolf followed at a
deliberately casual pace, not wanting to seem too eager.  Tell that to his
heart.  Stupid thing, its pace had picked up considerably and he had to make
sure his face was set in a grim expression so his anticipation did not spill
over into a smile.

“Can you believe
it?  The idiot tried to cut me off.  The nerve of that guy.”  Tessa’s voice
drifted down the hallway toward them.  They must be in the living room.

“Are you sure it
was his fault?” came Indie’s lower, much calmer voice.  “You know how you
drive.  You’re probably the one who drove down on him.” 

“I did no such
thing,” Tessa retorted.  “And I’m a great driver.  Didn’t I drive us to Buffalo
and back without a single incident?”

Indie laughed. 
“Just barely.  Don’t let me start listing the near misses.”

“Indiana Lane…I
mean Hudson…don’t you dare-”  Tessa stopped short and looked up as Wolf and
Stone entered the living room.

And if Wolf had
thought his heart had misbehaved at the news that she’d arrived, it was nothing
compared to what it was doing now.  Back-flipped, no less.  But how could he
blame it?  He’d thought Tessa had been beautiful at the wedding, but this
evening she was stunning.  He had to literally tell himself to keep his mouth
shut just to keep his jaw from dropping.

At the wedding
Tessa had dressed demurely, in a flowing peach-colored dress that fell down to
her ankles.  Her blonde hair had been curled and twisted and piled high on top
of her head and with the lush bouquet of flowers close to her chest she had
seemed soft and vulnerable, a fairy tale princess looking for a brave prince to
sweep her off her feet.

But tonight she
was the exact opposite.  Tonight Tessa wore a super-sexy black dress that
hugged her every curve, from the fullness of her soft breasts to the hollow of
her narrow waist to the sweep of her hips.  And it stopped inches above her
knees, exposing the smooth, creamy length of her legs. 

Wolf’s eyes slid
back up Tessa’s body to her face, now framed with long blonde hair that fell in
soft waves around her cheeks and down over her shoulders.   And her eyes.  What
the heck had she done to them to make them look so bold and bright in her
face?  It was like they were drawing him in.

And then his eyes
slid over her pert little nose and down to the pretty pout of her lips.  And
then those lips parted in a slightly crooked smile and she wrinkled her nose.

“Oh,” she said
with the tiniest of frowns, “it’s you.”

What the hell? 
What was that supposed to mean?  He didn’t get a chance to ponder that further
because Stone began speaking.

“Tessa, I see you
remember my good friend, Wolf Spencer, best man at the wedding.”

“Yes, I know,”
Tessa said, tilting her chin up and giving Wolf a look that was less than
warm.  “How are you, Mr. Spencer?”

“Wolf.”  Wolf gave
her a nod but he did not extend his hand.  “Very well, thank you.  And you?” 
He hadn’t expected such a cool reception but if that was how she wanted to come
off then two could play that game.

“I’m fine, thank
you,” she said, giving him a cool nod of her own.

“Hey, hey, why all
this formality?”  Stone was smiling as he looked from one to the other then he
waved his hand in the direction of the dining room.  “Why don’t we get started
right away?  I’m sure we’re all hungry.  Well, at least I am.”  He gave a
laugh, probably in an effort to lighten the mood, but only Indie laughed with
him.  Wolf was too busy watching Tessa who was practically glaring at him.

“You guys go on
ahead of us,” Indie said, resting an arm on Tessa’s shoulder.  “We girls need
to powder our noses.  Don’t we, Tessa?”

No answer from
that august person.  She just kept staring at him with those biting brown eyes
of hers.

“I said, don’t we,
Tessa?”

Wolf didn’t miss
the slight squeeze that Indie gave Tessa’s shoulder.  Only then did the girl
speak.  “Oh, yes, powder our noses.  Of course.”

As Wolf and Stone
were turning to go, Indie grabbed Tessa’s wrist and practically dragged her out
of the room.

The men watched
them leave then Stone shook his head and chuckled.  “Women.  I won’t even try
to figure that one out.  Come on, Wolf.  I know where the food is and right now
that’s all that matters.”

Wolf nodded then
followed Stone out of the room but as he walked along his thoughts were on
Tessa.  Obviously, the girl had not a lick of interest in him.  He’d been
stupid to even entertain the thought.  He would play polite and stay and have
dinner but as soon as was reasonable he’d be out of there.

After this second
meeting any interest he’d had in Tessa Tyndale was now good and dead.

******

“Hey, I can’t walk
so fast in these shoes.”  Tessa tugged at her arm but Indie’s fingers were like
a Vise-Grip around her wrist.  “ I can break my ankles in these high heels.”

“Well, you
shouldn’t have worn them,” Indie growled and, wicked witch that she was, she
didn’t slow down.  In fact, she didn’t stop till they’d gone all the way to the
library at the end of the hall.  Only then did she release her hold on Tessa.

But she released
it only to turn on her friend with flashing green eyes.  “What the devil was
that all about?” Indie jammed both fists on her hips and glared at her.  “Where
do you get off being so rude?”

Her feelings hurt
by Indie’s rough handling, Tessa rubbed her wrist and pouted.  “You’re a
bully,” she said with a sniff that told of her injured feelings.

“Tessa.”  Indie’s
look told her she was fast losing patience. “If you don’t want to know what
bullying really is, start talking.  Now.”

“Okay, okay.” 
There was no reasoning with Indie when she got this way.  She heaved a sigh. 
“I don’t like that man.”

“What?”  Indie
stared at her, a look of disbelief on her face.  “What do you mean, you don’t like
him?  You hardly even know him.  You met him once, at my wedding, and you know
from that one little meeting that you don’t like him?”  Then her gaze
narrowed.  “Or is there more to this than I know about?  What are you hiding
from me, Tessa Tyndale?”

“Nothing,” Tessa
said with a giggle.  “Well, almost nothing.”  Then she gave a shrug.  “It
happened when we were at the wedding and, well, I just don’t think he’s a nice
man.”

Indie’s eyes grew
round.  “What happened?  Tessa, what could have happened in that short space of
time?  He only spent one night at the compound.”  Then her eyes grew even
bigger and her jaw dropped.  “You didn’t…sneak off somewhere and make love to
him?  You didn’t do something crazy like that?” 

Now it was Tessa’s
turn to look at Indie with huge eyes.  “Indie, I am shocked.  What do you take
me for?  I hardly even know the man.”

“Which is my point
exactly.”  Indie’s shoulders sagged with obvious relief.  “That would have been
too crazy, even for you.”  Then her eyes narrowed again.  “So, what is it? 
What in the world could have happened to make you act like a bitch to him just
now?”

Tessa gasped. 
“You used the B word.”

Indie rolled her
eyes.  “Yeah, yeah.  I’ve used worse.  Now start talking.  We don’t have all
day.”

Tessa sighed again
then she glanced down at her shoes.  “Can I take these off?  They’re killing
me.”

Indie tightened
her lips and shook her head.  “Nobody told you to go put on those mini-stilts. 
I don’t even know why you bother.  You’re still a runt.”

“Hey.  Not nice.” 
That called for another pout.  “I’m almost five foot five in these heels-”

“Try five foot
three.  But that’s beside the point.” Indie folded her arms across her chest. 
“You came dressed to kill tonight because you wanted to impress.  Okay, so Wolf's
not a movie star but where does that give you the right to be rude?  What did
he ever do to you?”

“A lot,” Tessa
said hotly, but then Indie shot her a look of curiosity and she sighed.  “Okay,
a little.”  She reached down and slipped the shoes off her feet then flopped
down in the nearby La-Z-Boy recliner.  “He pissed me off at the wedding.”

“He pissed
you…how?”  Indie’s face was a study in confusion.  “The man was there only long
enough to hand over the ring, stay for the reception and then go off to bed. 
He left first thing next morning. How and when could he have pissed you off?"

“When you and
Stone were exchanging wedding vows.”

Indie stared…and
stared…then she put her hand to her forehead.  “Okay, you had me confused
before but now I am totally lost.”  Her hand still on her head she peered down
at Tessa.  “Explain that one.”

“There’s not much
to explain.”  She began fiddling with the control on the chair but stopped when
Indie slapped her on the hand.  That was when she looked up at her friend. 
“I’m kind of ashamed to say this but just after you guys said ‘I do’ and then
you ducked your heads to kiss, my eyes met his as we stood there and I…sort
of…made googly eyes at him.”

Indie frowned. 
“Sort of?”

“Well, I did,
okay.  I batted my eyes at him because I thought he was…attractive.  And I’d
already checked out that he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring but then…” she folded
her arms across her chest, “…he totally ignored me.  He even turned his face
away.  Can you believe it?”

“That’s it?” 
Indie looked like she was ready to strangle her.  “You batted your eyes at the
man and he didn’t jump all over you and you’re pissed at him for that?  He was
the best man, for heaven's sake.  What did you expect him to do?  Come on to
you in front of everybody?”

“Of course not,”
Tessa said, giving her a sullen look, “but he could at least have spared me a
smile.  I mean, I was wearing the perfect set of false eyelashes.  My eyes were
so big, how could he have missed my ‘come hither’ look?”

Indie gave her a
withering glance.  “Probably because he was standing in front of the minister
and couldn’t very well respond in kind.  Not everyone is as daring as you.”

Tessa shrugged. 
“Okay, I’ll give him that one.  But there's more-”

“Tell me later.” 
Indie cut her off mid-speech.  “We’ve been in here more than five minutes. 
They’re probably wondering where we are.”

“Yes, but he-”

“Come on, Tessa.” 
Indie reached out and took Tessa’s hand and pulled her to her feet.  “Tell me
while we’re on our way.”

“I tried again at
the reception.”  Tessa’s voice was breathless as she tried to keep up with
Indie.  “When you guys were cutting the cake…I looked at him across the
room…and even gave him a smile…and all he did was glare at me.”

Indie gave a hiss
and Tessa couldn’t figure out if it was a hiss of impatience or annoyance. 
Probably both. 

“Tessa, that’s
just Wolf.  Half of the time he looks like he’s angry at something.  You can’t
take it personally.  That’s just who he is.”

“Well, I don’t
care.  He’s rude and I don’t-”

“Just be nice,”
Indie whispered.  “We’re here.”

And then they were
stepping into the dining room where the two men were already seated at the
table, their plates piled high with fried chicken, coleslaw and baked potatoes.

“Hey, you started
without us.”  Indie’s voice was super bright, probably to hide any funny look
on Tessa’s face.

“Sorry, couldn’t
wait.”  Stone picked up a piece of chicken and took a bite.  “Who knew how long
you ladies would be powdering your noses?”  He gave Wolf a knowing look. 
“Gossiping, more likely.”

“What did you
say?”  Indie went to stand by his chair.

“Uh, nothing.”  He
ducked his head and attacked his baked potato with gusto.

“I thought so,”
Indie said, cracking her knuckles menacingly.  Then she grinned and bent down
to kiss Stone on top of his head.  “You go ahead and eat all you want, honey. 
You're growing boys.”  

Tessa paid no mind
to what Indie and Stone were saying.  She was focused on Wolf who had turned
toward her, the usual scowl on his face, and then he was staring down at her
feet.

And that was when
she remembered.  No shoes.  Great.  So much for looking classy and elegant.

Then a thought
came to her.  What did it matter, anyway?  Heck, it was only Wolf Spencer and
he wasn’t even interested in her so why bother trying to impress?

So as he stared
down at her feet, the pink-painted toenails winking at him, Tessa sauntered
over to the opposite side of the table and sat down.  Then she looked him
straight in the eyes, daring him to say a single word.