Hard To Bear by Georgette St. Clair Read Free Book Online Page A

her seat with a martyred sigh.  What a surprise that Flint McCoy was here – not.  He’d probably been flirting up a storm with every woman in the place, she thought resentfully.
    Suddenly she heard th e sound of rustling fabric, and Blanche sat down next to her.
    “What are you doing here?” Coral asked, surprised.
    “There’s a hot veterinarian working at that wildlife rehabilitation center, and I’m going to buy me a date with him,” Blanche said cheerfully.
    Coral remembered seeing the man Blanche was talking about, Doctor De Rossi.  He was a handsome silver haired human in his seventies. 
    “No, I am.” Maybelle sat down in the seat to Coral’s right.
    “If you two ladies get into a knock-down drag out fight, I swear to God I will make sure it’s on the front page of the paper tomorrow, complete with pictures. So behave,” Coral threatened.
    “Really?” Blanche said eagerly.  “I haven’t been on the front page in ages.”
    “There was that time that you drove into the fountain,” Maybelle reminded her.  “That was only three months ago.”
    “Stupid place to put a fountain.”
    “Maybe if somebody wasn’t too vain to wear their glasses-”
    “ Shhh!” Coral hissed. “It’s starting. Behave.”
    She leaned back in her seat, scribbling notes on her reporter’s notepad as the men began parading down the runway.   The announcer described each man, and the women in the audience whooped and hollered appreciatively.  If Coral hadn’t been in such a ba d mood, she would have laughed at the scene. It was like being at a male strip show – she’d been to several for her friends’ bachelor parties.
    “And now, get ready to meet Derek Polark. This handsome panther shifter owns his own jet ski rental business.  He’s 6’2”,  240 pounds of pure muscle, and his hobbies are working out, cooking gourmet French meals, and making the ladies purr.  He’s your dream date, ladies! Do I have an opening bid? $100? Come on, ladies, don’t let this one get away! $250? Now that’s more like it!”
    Coral kept her head down, scribbling frantically on the notepad.  Frederick was standing in the aisle snapping pictures.
    Blanche and Maybelle actually tied in their bid for Dr. De Rossi, each simultaneously bidding $500.  He bowed gallantly and offered to take them both out.
    Coral would have given anything to be a fly on the wall at that dinner date.
    Bachelor after bachelor paraded down the runway, both human and shifter, and ladies from Blue Moon County and all the surrounding counties enthusiastically raised their hands to bid, hollering their approval.
    In the meantime, the room got hotter and hotter with the throng of bodies crowded into it. Coral’s dress was too tight and her bun kept falling out of its safety pins. That was typical of her hair; it had a “I am a wild creature, and you can’t tame me!” attitude, usually when it was most inconvenient.
    Oh, great , now it was Flint McCoy’s turn.  I hope no one bids on him, she thought; he needs his ego taken down a peg or three. 
    Unfortunately, given the crowd reaction, a bidding frenzy was probably in the making.  The women shrieked and catcalled, and Flint looked extremely uncomfortable, which made Coral smile for the first time that evening. 
    “Ladies, this is Flint McCoy, 6’4” and 260 pounds of bear shifter, and believe me, he loves the honeys! Flint owns an international import-export business, and he’s recently come back to Blue Moon Junction to expand his family’s honey and jam business.  Who doesn’t love a little sweet stuff, ladies? What do you bid?”
    Flint strode down the runway, looking not particularly thrilled to be there.
    Even so, the sheer animal magnetism radiating from him was mesmerizing.  He moved with incredible grace for a man of his size, walking down to the end of the runway as if he owned the room. When he reached the end of the runway, it looked as if he was trying to catch her eye, which