Part 16 (1/2)
”Here, let me do that. I'll salvage what I can. You better watch the eggs.”
”Eggs!”
s.h.i.+fting to give him room, she sighed with relief as she stirred the eggs. They, at least, hadn't burned. Wrapping the handle in a towel, Bleddyn lifted the pan and carried it to the sink.
”Only a few pieces are burned.”
A low whine came from the other side of the kitchen and Keri licked her jowls.
Bleddyn didn't even look at her as he picked the unburned bacon out of the pan. ”No, you may not have it. You're watching your weight, remember?”
After a low growl in his direction, the wolf disappeared in the direction of the study.
Meredythe glanced toward Bleddyn. ”How did she understand you?”
He placed the last of the bacon on a plate. ”Dogs learn the word 'no' fairly quickly, and wolves are smarter.”
After one more quick stir, she divided the eggs onto two plates, placing the larger portion on his. ”They are?”
Bleddyn smiled at the seemingly innocent inflection of her words. She was fis.h.i.+ng for information. Well, he'd give her some.
The toast popped up. ”To a certain extent. And, like any animal-including humans -some are smarter than others. There's jam in the refrigerator. Would you like orange juice or a cup of coffee?”
She set the plates on the table and opened the silverware drawer. ”Coffee. No cream -I drink it black.”
”So do I,” he murmured.
Meredythe poked her other hand with the fork she was lifting out of the drawer. His husky tone nudged all of her defenses awake.
When she glanced his way, he was sitting at the table b.u.t.tering a slice of toast. ”Thank you for making breakfast. I usually make do with toast and coffee.”
Without breaking eye contact, she slid into the seat across the table and shrugged. ”It's the least I can do. You've been very kind. Not everyone would have spent almost two hours digging my car out of a s...o...b..nk just to get my luggage.”
His eyes were soft and his smile was tender. ”Anything for you, Meredythe.”
She simply stared. Why did he look at her and talk to her like she was his long-lost love? She didn't even know the man. She glanced down at her plate then looked up again. He was shoveling food into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in a week.
Glancing up, he swallowed and said, ”Finish your breakfast and I'll introduce you to my wolves.”
She tried to hold her eagerness in check. At last she was getting somewhere. ”You have more than just Keri?”
”Besides Keri, there are six here now,” he answered between bites.
Meredythe's mind began to sort through all the information she'd gathered. Maybe one of them was black. ”Where do you keep them?”
”I have two hundred acres of woodlands and meadows enclosed with a fifteen-foot fence. They roam free inside.”
She swallowed a piece of bacon. ”They roam free? Have any of them ever gotten out?”
He started on his second piece of toast. ”Only once, and I found him on my front porch. I have two men who patrol the fence on a weekly basis to check for breaks. I'll have to go out and check it today. They won't be able to get here.”
She swallowed another bite. ”What happened to that wolf who got out?”
”He died three months later in his sleep in front of the fireplace. He was an old wolf.”
Keri wasn't the only wolf he let sleep in his house? ”How long ago was that? Did you have Keri then too? What color was he? How did you know he wouldn't attack you?”
His gaze locked with hers as he sipped his coffee. ”Five years ago. He was gray. Keri's been with me since I've lived here, and wolves don't attack people. They'd rather run away. There's not one doc.u.mented case of an unprovoked wolf attack on record. Those few wolves that did attack humans were rabid or protecting themselves or their cubs.”
Meredythe dropped her gaze and pretended to concentrate on her food. If wolves never attacked people unless they were provoked, what was the explanation for the murder in Central Park? According to Sally, that wolf appeared out of nowhere. Maybe it wasn't a wolf. Maybe it was a hybrid. But Frank had seemed so sure when he said the prints came from a wolf. This story would definitely require closer investigation.
She stabbed a piece of bacon. Could Dr. Glyndwr be involved? She glanced up and then quickly dropped her eyes back to her plate. He'd been the perfect host so far and seemed to be cooperating. But then she hadn't asked him any really tough questions yet.
Leaning back in his chair, Bleddyn pushed his empty plate away and sipped his coffee. Her face was so easy to read. His statement about no unprovoked wolf attacks had her mind whirling. He wondered how long it would take for her to admit exactly why she was here. James King hadn't given him all the details when he called the day after she decided to come to Winterbourne.
Laying her fork on her now-empty plate, Meredythe rose and carried it to the sink, mentally compartmentalizing her newest information. She better slow down before she let something slip. Bleddyn Glyndwr impressed her as being pretty intelligent, and she didn't want him becoming suspicious of her motives. ”I'm glad to see you have a dishwasher.”
He finished his coffee and rose with her. ”I'm even worse at cleaning up after myself than I am at cooking.” At her raised eyebrows, he continued, ”I have a housekeeper come in once a week. I had the dishwasher installed when she told me she didn't want to find a week's worth of dishes sitting in the sink.”
Her back to him, Meredythe grinned. ”Just how big is your house? I couldn't see much last night.”
He stepped closer. ”Forty-eight rooms.”
The silverware she was rinsing clattered into the sink. ”Forty-eight? What do you do with all of them?”
”Nothing. I only use three or four, not counting the kitchen. The entire west wing is closed off. And I've never used either tower.”
She spun around. He was right behind her. ”Either tower? This place has towers? Like a castle?”
He nodded and reached around her to put his own plate in the sink. His chest brushed against her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Then he stepped away and returned to the table. Picking up the b.u.t.ter dish, he returned it to the refrigerator. ”It looks a lot like one. The original owner was the youngest son of an English duke and modeled this place after his home in England. The family pretty much died out and the last descendent sold the estate to me. It met my requirements for forest and open land perfectly.”
She set the frying pan with burned bacon in the other half of the double sink to soak. ”This will be easier to clean later. Why did you locate here in New York State? Why not out west somewhere?”
He brought his coffee cup to the sink and handed it to her. ”Westerners are less tolerant. There aren't any large cattle or sheep operations around here-just dairy farms, and the cows are mostly kept indoors.
She rinsed it and put it in the dishwasher. ”So the residents of Winterbourne aren't bothered by your wolves?”
”They were leery at first, but they've accepted me. It's amazing what a few judicious donations to the local high school and community library will do. Are you ready?”
He s.h.i.+fted sideways and leaned against the counter. Turning her head, Meredythe realized that he was only inches away. c.o.c.king her head, she looked up and fell into his misty gaze. Her eyes dropped to his lips.
”For what?”
When her tongue flicked out of her mouth and moistened her top lip, Bleddyn pushed himself away from the counter and retreated to the back door. ”To meet my wolves, what else? I think there's a pair of boots out back that will fit you. I have a couple of extra parkas out there too.”
Meredythe blinked and remembered where she was. A s.h.i.+ver raced up her spine.
Why did he keep having this effect on her? ”What? Oh yeah, the wolves.”
He glanced back over his shoulder. ”Are you coming?”