When they reached the top step, the two men who had been asking to see Jessie before she arrived greeted them. They were all smiles, as if they were trying to make up for hitting Emerson in the head as bears. This time they smelled of men and bears, no hunter concealment.

  They extended their hands to shake his. “Sorry I hit you too hard. I’m Luke Bier.”

  “I’m his twin brother, Nathan, and I want to apologize also for my brother’s mistake. We were both glad to hear that your uncle is returning here after his untimely death.”

  Emerson smiled and shook the men’s hands. “Any friend of my uncle, is a friend of mine, though I don’t expect friends of his, or mine, to knock me out.”

  “Yeah, it won’t happen again. Your enemies are our enemies,” Luke said.

  “That’s good to hear. This is Jack Barrington, a special agent with the Cougar Special Forces who take down rogue cougars. Bears too, if they have to.”

  The bears smiled.

  “Would you like to join us in having some hamburgers? I’ll grab some more meat from the house,” Emerson said.

  “Hell, yeah, we smell them. That sounds good. What can we do?” Nathan asked.

  “Go on down to the shore where the others are and introduce yourselves.”

  “I’ll go with them,” Jack said, “so they know they’re friends, not foes.”

  “Okay, thanks.” Emerson was glad the men had come by to apologize. He really hadn’t expected that. He grabbed more hamburger from the fridge, and then took it to the shore where everyone was visiting.

  Luke said, “Yeah, we’ve been friends with Paul for a while. We never expected him to come up with this heart-attack scheme, but he was adamant about us helping him to ensure Emerson give up his life of dangerous work and settled down with the little lady.” He smiled at Jessie.

  “But when Jessie didn’t stay with you like we thought she would, we figured we had to break into her cabin, well, use the cougar door to sneak in, let her catch us, and then skedaddle out of there before you came after us shooting. We didn’t expect her to chase after us! And, Emerson, your uncle said you could be just as dangerous as the people who had hurt you the last time.”

  Jessie was frowning as Leyton and Emerson were cooking the bears’ hamburgers last.

  “His uncle didn’t know about his very last mission. Paul was already supposedly dead.” Jessie looked at Emerson, wanting confirmation, but he didn’t want to mention the mission before this one to the bear shifters.

  Luke said, “Well, Paul was telling us about the last time Emerson came home on a mission. He was shot so many times, Paul really thought he had lost him. And it was touch and go, he said, for the first couple of weeks.”

  Emerson was frowning at him. He didn’t want Jessie to hear about that.

  “Like you all, we have enhanced genetics for healing, but were not invincible. That’s when Paul began to think of a way to get Emerson to come home permanently. He really didn’t think his nephew would quit the job willingly, not after the last time—that Paul knew of—and Emerson still hadn’t quit,” Nathan said.

  Jessie raised her brows at Emerson.

  “The team was sent to help get some refugees to safety. Rebel forces overtook us. I just didn’t run as fast as everyone else.” Emerson hoped to bring a little levity to the topic.

  Jessie rolled her eyes, but didn’t smile. Everyone else chuckled.

  “We got the refuges safely out, the team got me out of there, sure, shot up a bit, but I survived.”

  “And went back and got shot again!” she reminded him.

  The bears raised their brows.

  “Just a shot in the arm, no big deal.” But Emerson figured he had to talk about it now. “That time I was ambushed by the man who sent us. That wasn’t the same as the mission before, though I decided at that point, I’d had enough.”

  “Hell, no wonder your uncle wanted you to quit. What kind of work were you doing?” Nathan asked.

  “Sensitive work.” Emerson wasn’t telling the whole world of shifters what he had been working at.

  Luke nodded. “Black Ops. We told your uncle we figured that’s what you were working at. Then he was even more determined to get you to quit your job.”

  “Well, you can untell him that the work I was doing was Black Ops.” Emerson handed the burger in a bun to Nathan.

  “It’s too late now. He would never believe us. Besides, you quit and that’s all that matters.” Nathan took the freshly cooked burger and began to add honey mustard, mayonnaise, and a slice of cheese.

  “But he’ll do contract work for us, if we hear of a rogue cougar up in this area.” Leyton passed off the burger in a bun to Luke. “So what do you guys do about rogue bears? We thought you were some rogue shifters, by the way, and that’s why we came up to investigate.”

  “And you thought to take us on?” Luke laughed.

  Leyton smiled. “We were this close”—he pinched his fingers together—“to catching you.”

  “We have a bear sleuth, a pack, so to speak, and our leader decides the punishment. We take care of our own. Like you do. So if you ever hear of bears causing trouble for you—other than us—just let us know. We can get you in touch with the leader in your area,” Nathan said.

  “You know about all the bear sleuths across the States?” Emerson asked. They didn’t know about different cougar—for want of a better word—packs, unless they ran into some of their kind and met the rest of them in the area.

  “Most of them. When we run into one, we check in and let them know which one we belong to. Not that all belong to a sleuth,” Luke said. “There are a number of lone bear shifters in the States.”

  “Are you from around here then?” Leyton asked the brothers.

  “Uh, yeah, about five miles down the road. Even so, it was a surprise to us to run into Paul. He was taking a night run in our direction and we were taking one in his direction. We met at about the halfway point, shocking us and him,” Luke said.

  “I bet. So what do you do for work?” Leyton asked, and Emerson thought he sounded like he was interrogating the brothers a bit, not just being social.

  “Bear Relations,” Nathan said, smiling.

  “Bear Relations,” Leyton said, then took another sip of his wassail. “This is great, by the way, Jessie.”

  “Thanks. It’s perfect for the holidays and cold days and nights.

  “Yeah, Bear Relations is kind of like your CSF, I imagine,” Luke said. “We deal with unruly bears, investigate new bears in our territory and we’ll be mentioning about our encounters with your kind too. We already informed our sleuth about Paul, Emerson, and Jessie. Just as a heads-up. We stick together, you know.”

  “You know how to fight?” Leyton asked.

  “Yeah. Just like you do, both in our fur coats and in our human skin,” Nathan said.

  Leyton looked at Emerson and it dawned on him that Leyton thought he should mention about Smith and how he might show up here. But the bears had a sleuth to protect. They weren’t here to deal with a rogue cougar, if Smith learned where Emerson really lived. He hadn’t planned to tell the bears about his last mission. He would have to tell his uncle, however. Which made him think that it really would be good if his uncle found someone to love and live with in Yuma Town. The cougars there would make sure he stayed safe.

  “Why did you quit your job?” Luke asked. “Your uncle said you had before you returned home. He didn’t know why but he knew something had to have gone down or you would never have left it. He asked if you were walking with a limp or anything. I didn’t want to mention my hitting you again. Why did you quit your job?”

  “We’re not supposed to discuss our missions with anyone.”

  “Right, but you’re going to tell us anyway. We’ll learn about it sooner or later,” Luke said.

  Emerson raised a brow in question.

  “Paul will tell us—if only to keep you safe.”

  Jessie sighed. “Just tell them.”

  Emerson told them what had happened, and Luke shook his head. “That sounds just like what happened to one of the guys in our sleuth. He was Black Ops too and quit for the same reason.”

  “Was the guy who contracted your team named Smith also?”

  “Sharp. But he fits the description you gave us pertaining to Smith,” Luke said. “Barrett Grison is still keeping an eye out for the guy. When we tell him what happened to you, he’ll want to talk to you about it. Don’t be surprised if he wants to team up with you to eliminate the traitor. We assume Sharp took money to have the team killed. Barrett and his team members were luckier than you and your team. It happened a year ago and only two of his men were wounded, but they made it out alive. They didn’t see any sign of Sharp there, but they all vowed revenge.”

  “It sounds to me like he planned the operation better this time. And he wanted to be sure the mission was a success, so he came to observe this time. I wonder if he’s done this to other teams in between my operation and Barrett’s, perfecting his crime in the pursuit of money,” Emerson said.

  “That’s entirely possible. We all thought it was a one-time occurrence, he had a grudge against someone on the team, just something, and when he was offered money, he was ready to sell out the group.” Nathan exchanged his cell number with Emerson and then Luke did the same. “If you learn where he is, let us know. Even if he’s not the same man, we’ll all take him on. He’ll most likely keep doing it if there’s easy money in it for him.”

  “Was Barrett the only bear shifter on his team?” Emerson asked.

  “Yeah. I guess like you were the only cougar shifter on yours,” Luke said. “But he was a cougar, just like Smith was.”

  “Smith knew I was. He must have known about Barrett too, if Smith and Sharp are the same man.”

  “He did. He was really surprised about it at first, but then acted like it didn’t change anything. No one else knew about their mission, according to Barrett, so the team members were certain Sharp had sold them out.”

  “Same with our team. It seems like too much of a coincidence that two different rogue cougars were facilitating hits on Black Ops teams. What does Barrett do now?” Emerson asked.

  Luke and Nathan cast each other amused glances and Luke said, “Childcare Development.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful,” Jessie said, jumping in right away to comment, as if she was afraid the guys would laugh about it.

  Emerson smiled at her and rubbed her back. He couldn’t imagine taking care of a bunch of kids after doing the kind of job he was doing. Managing the resort was more his style.

  “With five kids of my own,” Jack said, “I don’t envy him.”

  “I’m putting off the inevitable,” Chet said.

  Leyton shrugged. “The kids make me feel young again. I think it’s great.”

  “That’s because they’re not your full-time job,” Chet said.

  Jessie looked up at Emerson and smiled, appearing to be waiting for his take on this.

  “I think it’s great that Barrett’s taken on another challenging job after his retirement from the kind of work he was doing,” Emerson said.

  Everyone laughed.

  “I think you wormed your way out of that one nicely,” Leyton said.

  The way Jessie hugged him and laughed, Emerson thought so too.

  Chapter 17

  “Hey, we’ve got to get on our way,” Luke said to the gathered cougars, as if he realized he and his brother needed to head out so that the cougar friends could enjoy their visit in private.

  “The other agents and I are leaving tomorrow morning for home,” Leyton said. “If you could watch out for Jessie and Emerson if you’re in the area, we would appreciate it, just to give them some additional backup.”

  “Yeah, we had the same idea. That’s why we wanted to know if the trouble with the last mission had followed Emerson home,” Nathan said.

  “Hopefully not. I would much rather fight Smith somewhere far away from Jessie,” Emerson said as everyone rose to their feet to say good night.

  “Well, if he does show up here, just let us know. Believe me, you’ll have a whole bear-fighting force at your back,” Luke said.

  “The cougar wouldn’t know what hit him,” Nathan agreed.

  “Thanks. I really appreciate it.” Emerson gave Jessie a squeeze and she knew he was glad he would have some backup for her, more than anything.

  And for his uncle, when he arrived.

  The men shook hands, the bears gave Jessie a hug, and then the bear brothers took off.

  “Not to break up the party or anything, but I’m getting cold.” Jessie was ready to take a really hot shower and jump into bed with a really hot cougar to get even more warmed up.

  “Yeah, we need to get packed up and call it a night,” Leyton said.

  “Yeah, I’ve got another mission calling to me,” Chet said. “So I’ve got to get my mind back on business and not so much on party time, though I have to say I’m sure glad I came up here to join you all.”

  “We’re glad too,” Jack said as they gathered up their things and headed across the rocks to the stairs. “That way you all know just how easily I beat you at the lighthouse stairs to the shore.”

  Everyone laughed.

  When they reached the top of the stairs, they all went their own way and Emerson unlocked the door to the house. “Did I dig a hole for myself when we were talking about the bear who works in child development?”

  Jessie laughed as she entered the warm house. All the Christmas lights were so cheerful and made her think of when she first had arrived, and nothing was decorated. She should have realized right away things weren’t as they usually were. But now it was and with Mr. Merriweather coming home tomorrow night, she thought he would be really appreciative and it would be even more like when she had visited in the past. Well, kind of. She had a new romance going on with his nephew she would never have envisioned.

  “Oh, I need to make another German chocolate cake for your uncle. And we can’t eat a bite of it until he has some—this time,” Jessie said.

  “Hey, if he hadn’t run off, he could have had some of the first cake you made.”

  “True. I bet you don’t have any ingredients for one.”

  “We can check and if not, we can go to the store in the morning and pick some up. I want to get some steaks to welcome Uncle Paul home.”

  “Okay, that sounds like a good idea. We won’t want to have a lot of food that we need to eat up before we leave. We need to leave in three days to drive home, which will be a two-day drive. We need to make reservations also at a hotel on the way down. I found one about midway between Loveland and here that’s really nice and has an indoor swimming pool also.”

  “That sounds good.”

  She went ahead and made reservations for two rooms at the hotel then, thinking how much more fun it would be having company all the way home—and back, because she already knew she was going to be returning with Emerson and maybe his uncle, so she could have more fun writing and spending the time with Emerson.

  She took Emerson’s hand and said, “Ready for bed?”

  “Hell yeah.”

  The next morning after a wild night of passionate lovemaking—which was getting to be something Jessie was really looking forward to—they had breakfast with the agents and then saw them off. Jessie would miss them! Here, she thought she was fine being with just Emerson, but they’d all had so much fun, it had added to the experience.

  After that, they drove to the grocery store to pick up everything they needed for the next couple of days. She hadn’t realized how domesticated or fun it would be shopping for groceries with Emerson. She figured he would just go his way and she would go hers to pick up what they wanted, but while she was pushing the basket and pausing to look at groceries they might need, he was kissing her cheek, rubbing her back, telling her he enjoyed this as much as she did.

  Once they were done, they returned home and unpacked the groceries. She helped him put them away and was about to set out the ingredients for the cake when Emerson said, “I’m going to run over and change sheets and clean the cabin while you’re baking and writing.”

  “Wow.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “And you clean. Now that’s a real change from the guys I normally date.”

  “I’m one of the good guys, remember?” He settled his hands on her hips. “I can’t tell you how much good you’ve been for me. I’d been trying to figure out a way to discover where Smith was now—and eliminate him before you got here. Forget about Christmas and anything good. But you changed my focus entirely—on the positive things in life. I want you to know, if you decide to stay with me, I’ll be keeping up the place, just like my uncle did before me. You can spend all your time writing your books.”

  “Just in case my books can help sell the resort?”

  “Oh, you bet.” He kissed her mouth. “I need to get to work. We can move our stuff over to the cabin in the meantime. I know my uncle would tell us to just stay here and he’ll stay in the cabin, but this has been his home forever.”

  “I totally agree. And yeah, I want to stay with you. You’ve been the best inspiration for my book and that sure counts for something.”

  He smiled.

  “And I don’t mind helping with anything that needs to be done around the place. I need breaks from the writing too.”

  “I’m going to ask your dad for your hand in marriage, just as a courtesy, at Christmastime.”

  “No way.”

  Emerson laughed. “Do you think he’ll say no?”

  “I’m sure after he gets a special report on your behavior from the other guys, no, but we’re not waiting that long.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  She frowned. “Did you propose a question?”

  He laughed. “Hot damn, yes, Jessie, I want you to be mine forever. I love you. You are the light in my darkness, and I don’t want to lose you for any reason.”

  “You don’t want to wait and ask your uncle first, or tell him what we’re planning to do?”