she typed another message. i know you're hurting right now, but don't toss me aside just to ease your pain. i never took you for a coward!!

with a wince, she deleted that. she shouldn't let her anger show. but dammit, she was angry!

she tried a fourth time. don't give up on me. you proved you are worthy, and i trust you.

should she tell him she loved him? no, she'd rather do that in person. she studied the message, then took a deep breath and pushed send.

she waited, but there was no response. her mind raced, replaying what he'd said earlier on the phone. he thought she would regret being with him.

no, she would regret living the rest of her life without him.

she had to get him back. luckily, she had an ally. she sent a long text to shanna draganesti. if all went according to plan, howard would come to the gatehouse tomorrow afternoon.

howard watched the sun set from his office window. ian would be here soon to relieve him. and the twins should be back soon from their trip to cranville. he'd loaned them his car and given them enough money to buy some tools and tool belts at the local hardware store.

he checked the time on his computer. they'd been gone over an hour. the town was a straight shot down the main road. they couldn't be lost. they were probably roaming around the small town, looking for girls. or spending the rest of his money at the diner.

he'd spent the afternoon compiling his proof of rhett's embezzlement from his late father's companies. when the report was complete, he e-mailed it to the editor-in-chief at northern lights sound bites. then he called the editor and asked him to continue the paper's expose on rhett bleddyn.

mr. west had agreed. he was worried about further retaliation from rhett, but he thought he could solve it by writing an article himself that stated if anything happened to anyone at his paper, the police should immediately arrest rhett. using that as an insurance policy, the editor was eager to wage war on the villain who had killed his ace reporter harry. howard promised to send him all the ammunition he had.

he picked up his phone, and for the hundredth time, he read the text elsa had sent. don't give up on me. you proved you are worthy, and i trust you.

was he making a big mistake? was he throwing away the best thing that had ever happened to him? he rubbed his brow. there was no doubt that he loved her. and wanted her. he ached for her.

but how could he live with himself if something happened to her? it had taken him years to get over carly's death.

"howard." shanna rushed in with a glass of synthetic blood in her hand. she had obviously dressed in a hurry, by the looks of her t-shirt and sweatpants. "tino tells me you stopped eating donuts."

he snorted. "it's not the end of the world."

"this is probably not a good time for you to go through sugar withdrawal."

"i'll be fine." he strode to the door. "you should finish your breakfast."

she took a sip from her glass. "i received a text from . . . alastair."

howard stopped, noting the hesitation in her voice. was she up to something?

she lifted her chin. "he wants you to stop by the gatehouse tomorrow afternoon at two for an interview."

"i'm too busy."

"you have to!" shanna's eyes widened with alarm. "the camera crew is in town, and they won't be back for another two weeks."

he hesitated.

"you promised you would represent me," she added.

he nodded. "all right. i'll be there." he smelled a trap.

she grinned. "great!" she downed the rest of her glass, then hurried back down the hall.

he sighed. no doubt elsa would be at the gatehouse. and she'd insist on talking to him.

definitely a trap. he should avoid it, even though there was a part of him that desperately wanted to be caught.

chapter twenty-three

tall, long-legged, broad-shouldered, thick brown hair, and twinkling blue eyes. no doubt about it, elsa thought, those two boys were howard's cousins. a pang shot through her chest. she couldn't lose howard.

it was the next morning, and all the workers had gathered in the parlor at the gatehouse. aunt ula was parked outside in the driveway. aunt greta would be taking her turn in the afternoon.

alastair introduced howard's cousins to everyone. "thank you for bringing the donuts."

"no problem," one twin said. elsa thought it might be jesse, but she wasn't sure which one was which.

"are you lads up to knocking down a few walls?" alastair asked.

the boys smiled. "sure."

elsa figured they could knock down an entire house if they shifted into were-bears.

"good. you'll assist the b boys today," alastair told them. "they'll be busting down some walls upstairs to enlarge a few rooms. elsa, i'll give you the floor plans so you can supervise."

"okay." she noticed the twins were grinning at her. had howard mentioned her to them? if so, that was a good sign.

"oskar, make sure the wiring is completed for the basement and ground floor," alastair continued. "did you finish sectioning off the basement?"

"ja," oskar replied. "we have the walls up for the bedroom suite and storage room."

"excellent." alastair strode toward elsa and handed her the upstairs floor plans. "let's make some progress before madge shows up at noon with the camera crew. jimmy and jesse, would you mind putting the leftover donuts in the kitchen?"

with that, everyone split up to get to work. the wiring and plumbing crews were concentrating on the basement and ground floor. elsa headed up the stairs behind the b boys. the twins hurried off to the kitchen with the last two boxes of donuts.

with one more stair step to go, she felt a tap on her shoulder from behind. an instant burst of red-hot pain shot from the birthmark on her shoulder. she stumbled onto the second floor landing and turned to see howard's cousins right behind her.

"i'm sorry," one of the twins said, his eyes wide with worry. "i didn't think i tapped you that hard."

"yeah," the other twin said. "sometimes we don't know our own strength."

"howard would probably kill us if we hurt you," the first one added.

"i'm fine," elsa assured them. "i just lost my balance." so these two boys had the same effect on her birthmark that howard had. not surprising, really, since they came from the same berserker family. but she didn't feel immediately drawn to them like she had with howard.

another good sign, she thought. it meant she was attracted to howard not because he was a berserker but because he was howard. huge, handsome, hunky howard.

"we wanted to introduce ourselves," said the one who had tapped her shoulder. "i'm jimmy."

"and i'm jesse."

she smiled, hoping jesse wouldn't realize she was avoiding shaking hands with him. his touch would probably burn as badly as jimmy's had. "i'm delighted to meet you."

the b boys gathered around to introduce themselves, then unfolded elsa's floor plans to study them.

jimmy slanted a grin at her. "we heard you were howard's dream girl."

her heart lifted with a surge of hope. "did howard say that?"

"no, it was the little dude," jesse said. "howard just growled at us."

"he's not his usual self," jimmy whispered.

elsa nodded, her heart settling back into its current condition of pain and despair. "buff, can you and the others go ahead and get started? we'll join you in just a second." when the b boys sauntered off with the plans, she turned back to the twins. "i wanted to talk to you in private."

"awesome." jesse exchanged an excited look with his brother. "this sounds like a conspiracy."

"cool," jimmy whispered, then turned to elsa. "it's about howard, right?"

"yes. he's supposed to come here today at two to videotape an interview."

"yeah, he mentioned that," jesse said. "dudette, he's on to you. he called it a trap."

"the interview is real," elsa assured them. "madge will be here filming today."

"and you'll be here to see howard?" jimmy asked.

"he probably assumes i'll be here," elsa continued. "but i won't be. i'm hoping he'll be disappointed enough to realize how much he does want to see me."

"oh, tricky," jesse said. "i like it."

elsa sighed. there was a very big danger that her whole plan could backfire and howard would be relieved she wasn't here. but if the plan worked, she would be successfully luring howard back into the role of the pursuer. "would you mind helping me?"

"what can we do?" jimmy asked.

"if howard asks where i am, tell him i'm cooling down at the stream. he knows where that is."

"you're going to reel him in like a fish?" jimmy grinned. "cool."

jesse nodded. "awesome."

where the hell was she? howard had showered and shaved and put on some of his best clothes before walking into elsa's trap. dammit, here he was, a willing victim, and she didn't bother to show up?

he hid his frustration behind a forced smile as he exchanged pleasantries with madge in front of the camera. in the course of the interview, she'd walked him through the basement, where the plumbing and wiring crews were hard at work. but no elsa.

madge had escorted him around the ground floor, even going into the kitchen to inspect elsa's progress on the cabinets. she wasn't there.

she wasn't upstairs, either. it didn't make sense. she had to be around here somewhere. her aunt greta was parked outside in the driveway. he'd spotted her when he'd parked his suv behind the sporty convertible his cousins had borrowed from ian.

so where the hell was elsa?

it didn't matter, he told himself. it was best not to see her again.

there will never be another elsa, you fool.

the interview ended, and he gave madge a strained smile as she thanked him.

he hesitated, watching madge and her crew go down the stairs and out the front door. should he leave, too? the interview was over.

"hey, dude." jesse sauntered toward him with his brother. "you were good."

"yeah," jimmy agreed. "real smooth."

howard shrugged. "i used to do a lot of interviews when i played football."

"cool." jimmy eyed him curiously.

"awesome." jesse crossed his arms, watching him.

what did they want? "are you working hard?" howard asked.

they nodded.

"you brought everyone donuts like i asked?"

they nodded.

howard raked a hand through his hair. "it seems a little . . . odd."

"what?" jimmy asked.

"elsa's aunt is out front to guard her, but she's not here."

"hmm." jesse looked at his brother. "didn't she tell us she was going somewhere?"

"yeah." jimmy scratched his head. "where was that?"

the twins exchanged an amused look.

howard gritted his teeth. "where is she?"

"well, if you insist." jesse's mouth twitched. "she said something about cooling off in a stream."

howard had an instant vision of elsa splashing around in the pothole where the water was deep.

jimmy heaved a sigh. "it's a shame you missed her."

"yeah. i guess you have to get back to work." jesse patted howard on the back. "tough luck, old dude."

howard clenched his fists. so this was the trap. elsa alone at the stream. "i'll see you guys later." he marched down the stairs, ignoring the snickers from his cousins.

so they were in on it. shanna, too. did everyone think he was that easily manipulated?

he'd show them. he'd go back to work at dragon nest. and elsa could splash around in the damned stream all afternoon, waiting for him.

he reached the bottom of the stairs. it was a tempting trap, he had to admit, but he wouldn't fall for it. cooling down in the stream, my ass.

skinny-dipping? he paused by the front door. was she waiting for him naked? did she think he was that easy to entice? damn.

he spun on his heel and strode toward the back door. his cousins on the second-floor landing cheered, then laughed when he shot them the finger.

he'd show elsa not to toy with him.

elsa paced in front of the stream. could she do this? she'd never played the seductress before. she knocked down walls. she built cabinets. she wielded hammers. even sledgehammers. she didn't seduce big, hunky men.

the problem was probably moot. if howard was serious about rejecting her, he wouldn't come.

on the way to the stream, she'd acquired an entourage of deer, raccoons, foxes, and squirrels. what if howard did come? she didn't want to put on a show for the woodland creatures.

she lifted her hands. "go in peace."

they slowly ambled away, except for a squirrel who had found a yummy acorn to munch on.

"hey there," she called out to the squirrel. "if the were-bear comes this way, could you let me know?"

the squirrel tilted its head, regarding her curiously. she wasn't sure if her request had registered.

with a sigh, she decided to take matters into her own hands. she twisted her hair up and clipped it on the back of her head with a plastic claw. then she removed her work boots and set them beside the big boulder that would serve as her dresser. she removed her socks and tucked them into her boots.

the small rocks along the creek bed were smooth and cool against her bare feet. she pulled off her t-shirt and folded it on top of the boulder. in preparation for today's attempted seduction, she'd worn her best underwear - a lacy red bra and matching red panties.