Foxy Lady by Marie Harte Read Free Book Online Page B

small talk.
    Julia couldn’t eat any more. She wanted a drink, preferably something stronger than a cola. Then again, the last time she’d had alcohol, she’d tried, unsuccessfully, to molest Ty. She had no head for booze. One beer and she grew tipsy.
    “So, Gabby,” Ty said when Jason paused to engage Meghan in conversation. “I’d like to apologize for anything you saw earlier. Your sister makes me lose my head and I—”
    Julia slapped a hand over his mouth and pointed at her sister. “Not one more word.”
    Gabby shrugged in innocence. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Exactly.”
    Ty licked her hand and she hastily withdrew it. “Hmm, tasty.”
    Meghan smiled. “Think of it this way, Julia. You’re not the cat lady anymore.” She laughed so hard she cried.
    Gabby looked smug. Jason wanted to know what was so funny.
    Julia couldn’t take any more. “Jason, did you drink all those beers you brought over the other day?”
    “Nope. There are still a few in the fridge.”
    “Good.”

    Gabby watched her sister and Ty, pleased beyond measure Julia was finally living a little. She knew better than anyone how much Julia had sacrificed to keep their family together.
    Meghan had been so young when their father left for good. He refused to stay where he wasn’t wanted, not that Gabby could blame him.
    After Dad left, Mom struggled to keep it together, but her heart had been broken. When she’d left Cougar Falls, no one had been surprised to find her dead, shot and stripped of her luxurious pelt. Foxes didn’t live long by themselves outside the town. They’d all been devastated, but Julia had taken her death harder than any of them.
    Once a curious, rebellious silver fox, she’d grown into a much more cautious, reserved Shifter who shied at anything resembling a serious relationship to keep their guardians happy. No thanks to Aunt Lynn and Uncle Harry, two frigid, snotty silver foxes masquerading as caring guardians. The whole clan wasn’t as bad as her aunt and uncle, but Julia refused to look beyond her carefully placed boundaries, worried about getting her sisters kicked out of town.
    Ty had been sniffing around her sister for years, but Julia didn’t see it. Gabby had, and she’d subtly encouraged Ty whenever she could. Unfortunately, he had a head full of pride. Typical male. Still, he had a generous heart, standing in the community and the backbone to do the right thing even in the face of great opposition.
    He’d been elected to sheriff a few years ago. The youngest one Cougar Falls had ever had. Gabby couldn’t fathom the degree of patience it took to keep the peace in their nutty little town.
    Sitting across from them, she watched Julia whisper something in his ear that had him frowning. They were so perfect for each other. Both gorgeous, in man’s form and as foxes. Both responsible Ac-taw who cared for rules and the town as much as anything else. Ty’s levity and sexy charisma tempered Julia’s seriousness and her prudish mien when it came to sex. Personally, Gabby blamed Aunt Lynn for that.
    Gabby could care less about what her relatives thought. But perhaps that was because she knew she’d never belong.
    Unfortunately, silver foxes had a reputation for not tolerating differences. If one of her relatives had been a bear, she could have found solace with the Bear Clan. They accepted anyone with even a hint of bear in them. The Catamounts had several kinds of Shifter in their clan. But those other Ac-taw were good friends of Burke Chastell, men he’d known for years. Gabby didn’t know Burke well, and she wasn’t normal, even by Ac-taw standards. And neither were her sisters.
    “What are you staring at?” Julia asked, defensive.
    Gabby realized the table had grown silent while she gazed at her sister, woolgathering. “Oh, nothing. Just contemplating the glow of love between you two. Or should I say, you four?”
    She ignored Julia’s scowl and Ty’s raised brow.