Mike laughed. “Yes. Come on, Spirit. Let’s go play fetch.”

  Spirit loved playing the game and would play it until everyone was worn out but her.

  Mike returned Spirit to Lexi’s yard, and Kate really began weeding the garden with gusto. Twenty minutes later, a red Porsche she didn’t recognize drove up and parked in front of her flower beds. When she saw the driver, she couldn’t have been more surprised. Randall Roberts. She’d dated him on and off for over a year. She hadn’t really been interested in mating him. They’d had some good times when she’d wanted to be with a wolf, but that was last year’s news.

  Wearing slate-gray dress pants and a light-blue button-down-collar dress shirt, he got out of his car and joined her. She rose to her feet, and he gave her a light hug. For old times’ sake, she gave him just a light one back—albeit a little sweaty—not wanting him to think she was really glad to see him. His curly red hair was cropped short, his blue eyes smiling as he observed her. “You’re looking great.”

  She was dressed in old, well-worn sneakers she wore only for gardening, her legs dirt-splattered from pulling up weeds, her hair windblown, and her light-blue tank top sporting a perspiration stain in the front and under the arms; her blue jean shorts featured holes that she put there as she’d worked and played hard—not commercially torn and sold in the stores that way. This was her gardening look. Not a pretty sight. And she knew she wasn’t “looking great.”

  She despised when people gave compliments they didn’t really mean.

  “I didn’t know where you’d ended up after you moved, and then my aunt was reading one of those tabloids, and here you are.” He sounded enthusiastic to have finally found Kate.

  Had he seen the pictures of her dancing with Derek? Or kissing him? Why would Randall show up here if he thought she was with a guy now? As if Randall had even been looking for her one iota before the big news came out that she appeared to be dating a billionaire. She didn’t think he could have heard about her becoming a partner in the cosmetics firm yet. Though she knew Lexi planned to announce it right away.

  “I saw you were with Derek Spencer at a charity ball.”

  She would have thought Randall’s being excited to see her was all an act, but she suspected he had an ulterior motive. “And now here you are!” Uninvited and unwelcome. But she was moving up in the world.

  “You got a promotion!” he said.

  Randall hadn’t liked that she was going to be working as a bodyguard. He was a financial advisor, and he thought that was the kind of job that was important. After she quit her lifeguard job, she’d drifted from job to job. She had even worked at a zoo for a while until the zoo no longer had wolves. She had a doctorate of life in understanding wolf biology and behavior.

  But she had always liked trying something new until she could find exactly what suited her the best and then stick with it. Once she started working for Lexi as her bodyguard, Randall had been history. Working for Lexi had been a life changer for her. Especially when she began to work for her as her personal assistant too.

  “Promotion?” Kate wondered if he had heard that she was a full partner in Lexi’s business.

  “Yeah, as Lexi Summerfield’s personal assistant. You did damn good. How did that come about?”

  So he didn’t know the really good news. “It came about because of my bodyguard position.” She cast Randolph a smug smile. “It turned out that I was really good working as a personal assistant to Lexi in conjunction with serving as her bodyguard, and I used my marketing training to help promote Lexi’s cosmetics line. So it all worked out really well. Not to mention we have become like sisters. You never know when jumping around from job to job will finally land you in the one you were meant to be in. I’m sure you’ll learn of it soon enough, but Lexi made me co-owner of Clair de Lune Cosmetics.”

  “Hot damn! Things are really looking up for you. I guess that’s why Derek Spencer asked you to attend the gala with him.”

  “Nope. I just signed the paperwork this morning. He doesn’t even know anything about it yet.”

  “Huh.”

  What did that mean? Randall couldn’t see that a billionaire had found her interesting or intriguing enough to take on a date? Despite the fact that she hadn’t had the money and power he did?

  “So you never used your bodyguard training?” Randall really hadn’t believed she could handle it.

  “Oh, sure I did. I’m still trained for protecting her if she needs it.” Kate wasn’t going to explain herself to Randall. She figured he wouldn’t believe her anyway.

  She went back to her gardening. She wanted to pull all the weeds and plant the flowers she had sitting in pots ready for their new beds before it got too hot out. An ex-boyfriend, whom she wasn’t interested in seeing again just because he thought her elevated job status made her more important in his eyes, wasn’t going to stop her from doing what she loved doing.

  Randall took a seat on her wood-and-wrought-iron garden bench, his arms draped across the back as if he were staying for a while and wanted to get comfortable—as if she had even invited him to! He could have at least offered to help her. Then again, she would have had to explain how she wanted to plant her flowers or what weeds to pull, and it would be more effort than it was worth. Not to mention he wasn’t offering.

  “Why are you here anyway?” Kate finished pulling weeds and began digging holes for her flowers.

  Randall smiled. “I thought we could have lunch and celebrate your new job—though it’s even more elevated than I had thought to begin with. I figured you were making good money as a personal assistant to Lexi.”

  That was the crux of the matter—Kate earning more money.

  He’d never wanted to celebrate any of her new jobs with her before. In fact, whenever she had started a new one—that he felt hadn’t been financially acceptable—he would stop dating her for a while, a passive-aggressive tactic to show he disapproved of her job choices. But she hadn’t cared. He’d only been fun to date when she wanted a wolf to see, but not for anything long-term.

  She wasn’t naive either. Now she was going to be a full-time partner in Lexi’s successful business and Randall probably believed she needed a financial advisor. Lexi had one, and Kate would use him before she ever considered using Randall to take care of her investments.

  “You’ve never wanted to before,” Kate said. “Celebrate with me when I’ve had a new job.”

  “I was really busy.”

  “You didn’t think the jobs I had were worthwhile before. And now you do? So now what? You want to be my financial advisor?”

  His lips parted, and she knew she had surprised him that she realized just why he was here. She would have to have been clueless not to figure that out. “You’re transparent if you didn’t realize that.”

  Randall opened his mouth to speak, but then someone else drove up her driveway in a blue Jeep and parked next to Randall’s car, and she wondered who that was now! She wanted to garden in peace.

  A dark-haired man got out of his vehicle, and he was wearing khaki pants, brown shoes, and a short-sleeved shirt—giving her the impression he was a salesman, except he had a camera in hand. She suspected he had a recorder hidden on his person. He headed her way, smiling as if he were her friend—when he wasn’t.

  Randall frowned at him, but he didn’t leave his relaxed pose where he sat on the bench. Still, if the guy was trouble, she knew Randall would come to her aid. He was a wolf after all.

  “I’m Watson Brown, but everyone calls me Watt. I’m a reporter for the Stargazer. I would like to do an exclusive story on you about how you’re seeing Derek Spencer now.”

  “Sorry, this is my reporter friend, and he’s getting the exclusive interview with me. You’re a little too late,” Kate said, motioning to Randall.

  The reporter frowned at Randall. “Which paper do you work for?”

  “The New York Times. You can read the story when it comes out.”

  She was glad at least Randall could play along and didn’t tell the guy to get lost.

  “That doesn’t seem to be something The New York Times would be interested in.” The reporter sounded like he didn’t believe Randall. His relaxed posture and the fact that he had no camera, no recorder, no notepad, or anything else probably didn’t help.

  “You’re right. The story will be about the new partnership Kate’s in. Whom she’s dating at the moment wouldn’t be the focus of the story.”

  “New partnership?” the reporter asked.

  Thank you, she wanted to tell Randall. At least he was good for something. Neither she nor Randall said anything further about what the partnership was all about.

  The reporter snapped a shot of them and then got into his car.

  Great. Now the reporter would undoubtedly make something up about her and Randall, or maybe he was going to try to learn who Randall really was. Then make something up.

  Then the reporter drove off.

  Randall smiled. Kate didn’t.

  “About lunch to celebrate my promotion… Sorry, I’m busy.” Kate finished planting the last of the zinnias. Except for just chilling, she didn’t have any plans other than getting some exercise in. “I guess I’ll see you around sometime.” She gathered up her garden tools and carried them into the garage.

  Randall rose to his feet and followed her into the garage. A stalker came to mind. She guessed Randall was so eager to get some money out of her that he thought he could continue to pursue the notion and maybe soon convince her of it. Which wasn’t happening. She might be easygoing about a lot of things, but she didn’t like it when someone was only interested in her because she could do something for him.

  When she knew him before, he was only a convenient wolf date. Now, she realized—just like Lexi had been concerned about with herself—that Randall could be after her money. In Kate’s case, if not just as a financial advisor, as a mate.

  She suddenly got a text from Mike: Hey, do you need my protection?

  She smiled. Mike to the rescue. “I’ve got to go, Randall. I’ve got to take this. Talk to you later.” She waited for Randall to leave the garage so she could clean up and answer the text from Mike.

  Randall hesitated. Here she was the goose with the golden egg; he had dated her, and he didn’t want to let her go. He’d never said or done anything that had made her want to deepen their relationship. She sure wasn’t interested in going out with him any further. Not when she knew why he wanted to see her now.

  He finally sighed. “Okay, I’ll check with you later and we can get together. I knew I should have called first, but since we have a history, I thought I could just drop by and congratulate you.”

  She suspected he hadn’t wanted to call her, afraid she would have turned him down over the phone. Which she would have done.

  “Let’s be honest with each other, Randall. If I had been working as a lifeguard still or only a bodyguard, would you have been interested in doing anything with me? No,” she said before he had a chance to answer her. “Bye. Have a great day.”

  Randall belatedly responded, “Yeah, I would have. We have chemistry. We’re both wolves. We have fun together. But you think you’ve got a chance with Derek Spencer now, don’t you?”

  She laughed. “He’s a confirmed bachelor, if you didn’t know. Do you know how many countless women he has dated over the years?” She didn’t know, but she figured there had been lots. “Before you ask, he has a financial advisor already, and so does Lexi. So if you think knowing me is going to give you an in now with either of them, I don’t believe so. As for me, I’ll be talking to Lexi’s advisor to see about investments.” Kate figured she better just be clear about it all in case Randall thought he could continue to pester her for dates or something.

  Randall scoffed. “You’re after him, aren’t you? I should have known you were a gold digger.”

  “Me? Since when have I ever dated anyone who had a lot of money—besides you—and wanted more than a fun date? Besides, who came to see me suddenly to ask me out?” Randall was only interested because she made more money now and she could possibly be another of his clients.

  She hadn’t heard Mike arrive, but suddenly he was standing outside her garage, looking like he was ready to convince Randall he shouldn’t be here if he needed to be convinced. And Spirit came charging in to greet Kate, and once she’d petted her, the wolf dog sat next to Kate in protective mode, panting, watching Randall, not greeting him. Spirit was good with people, but Randall hadn’t even made the attempt to ask about her or pet her or talk to her, so she wasn’t going to be friendly with him either.

  “Is everything all right, Kate?” Mike asked, looking and sounding growly.

  “Yeah, thanks, Mike.” She figured he had come because she hadn’t responded to his text and he was worried about her when he saw the vehicle parked out front that he wouldn’t have recognized. “Randall is just leaving.”

  Randall scowled at Mike and then got into his car to leave.

  Kate put her garden tools up on the rack in the garage. “Thanks for the save. I dated Randall on and off, but I haven’t seen him in over a year. He’s a financial advisor and saw my name in the tabloids when I was at the ball with Derek.”

  “One of those.”

  “Yep. And he had the nerve to call me a gold digger. As if anything else would come of being with Derek at one ball. Anyway, I couldn’t get rid of Randall easily, so I appreciate that you came out here to help me send him on his way.”

  “You’re welcome. I worried when you didn’t text me back.”

  “I meant to, but I kept thinking Randall was leaving and I would text you then.”

  “Well, I’m just glad to be of service.”

  They watched Randall drive off the property, and then Mike asked, “Did you need me to help you with anything?”

  She looked at the freshly planted flower bed. “Now you ask me?”

  Mike chuckled. “I guess I got out of that, didn’t I? Seriously, if you need help with digging holes for your plants later or moving bags of mulch or anything, just let me know.”

  “Thanks. Next time.”

  Then Mike headed back to Lexi’s house, and Kate closed her garage door and went inside her house to clean up and get a cup of iced tea. She liked the long summer days and nights because she could get so much done outdoors. She’d been up at six this morning and raring to go despite the late-night gala. That was one thing about her: she was an early riser, no matter what time she went to bed at night, which made her wonder if Derek was too. Or did he like to sleep in late?

  And why she was even thinking of that, she hadn’t a clue.

  Chapter 7

  After a restless sleep dreaming of Kate last night—enjoying the wolf comradery they had shared—Derek really wished Kate had agreed to go with him to the dinner on Monday night. At eight that morning, Derek had barely gotten his first cup of coffee when his bodyguard, Will Wolfson, showed him the tabloid photos featuring Derek and Kate. He smiled. Brenda was old news. The tabloid was having a field day with the news that Derek already had a new girlfriend. He flipped through the pages of the tabloid and didn’t see one photo of Brenda with her new boyfriend. Even though she said she was just filling in for the guy’s date and not really seeing him for anything beyond the gala. Derek suspected she still held out hope that Derek would change his mind about her.

  “There were others, some with different shots of the two of you.” Will smiled. “When you parked at the clubhouse and she pulled you inside the building so fast, Allister and I hadn’t expected that. You looked so surprised, I guess you hadn’t either. We had to race after you to keep up with the two of you.”

  “She was eager to see everyone.” Though Derek was certain that wasn’t the reason.

  “She was trying to avoid the paparazzi photographing the two of you together.”

  Derek sipped from his coffee and smiled. Will was a great bodyguard. He was observant, and no one got by him if Derek didn’t want to deal with someone’s unwanted attention. “I tried to warn her. I think she’s used to Lexi being in the limelight, but not herself. She might be in photos with Lexi, but the focus isn’t on her.”

  “Well, the limelight’s going to be on her now,” Will said.

  “It was only one time.” Derek wouldn’t presume he could change Kate’s mind about going out with him again.

  “No, boss, she’s just getting started on her own claim to fame.” Will showed him his cell phone. “She has just become Lexi’s partner in Clair de Lune Cosmetics.”

  “What?” Derek couldn’t have been more surprised. He read the news on Will’s phone. “Well, I’ll be damned. I knew they were close to each other, as much as they worked on the business together. I just never suspected Lexi would hand over half the business to Kate.”

  “That changes things,” Will said. “Even if she never goes out with you again, though I thought from the way she kissed you and danced with you the rest of the night, that might be an indication there were more dates coming up. But she’s going to be inundated with date offers herself now.”

  Now why did that notion bug Derek? He refilled his coffee mug. “Did one of you guys get the car door for her when she bolted out of Lexi’s house before the dance?”

  Will chuckled. “I did. I saw her coming out of the house, heading straight for the car, and you were nowhere in sight. I jumped out of the Land Rover, sprinted to your car, and opened the door. She saw me coming and waited for me at least.”

  “Good. Lexi and Ryder held me up.”

  “Have you asked Kate out on a date again?” Will asked.

  “We’re camping with Rafe, Aidan, Lexi, and their mates next weekend.”