Beauty and the Wolf / Their Miracle Twins: Beauty and the Wolf

Frankie gave him an impulsive hug, the familiar scent of his aftershave warming her with affectionate memories. “No, Uncle Harry, it’s not.”

“Well, then …” He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a quick hard hug in return. “Besides, you’ll notice I’m not automatically giving Eli the contract. I’m seriously considering Dean Construction. That’s why Nicholas is here tonight—to see how he fits in with our family and friends.”

“He seems to be doing just fine,” Frankie told him, knowing Harry considered business a family matter.

“Yes, he does.” Harry’s gaze rested on Nicholas for a moment. “He’d make a good husband for some lucky woman,” he commented guilelessly.

“Hmm,” Frankie responded, distracted as Ava, Justin and Lily’s daughter, ran across the room and threw herself at Eli. Eli laughed, swinging the little girl high in the air before settling her on his hip. Ava cupped his face in her little hands and gave him an enthusiastic kiss. Eli’s eyes sparkled with amusement and his mouth curved in a grin, white teeth flashing in his tanned face. Distracted and charmed by the unabashed affection between the big, undeniably handsome man and the dainty, feminine little girl, it was a moment before Frankie registered Harry’s last words. Her gaze snapped to his face. He was eyeing her with an all-too-familiar expression. She nearly groaned aloud. Oh, no. Surely he’s not matchmaking again—and with me and Nicholas Dean?

She lowered her lashes and hoped her expression didn’t give away her suspicions as her mind raced, considering the possibility that Harry had turned his penchant for meddling on her.

“Nicholas has what a woman should be looking for in a husband,” Harry continued. “He’s proven he’s dedicated to business, so he’ll be a good provider. Plus, he’s young enough to have children but old enough to be a settled father.”

Frankie blinked, staring at Harry. “You think that’s all a woman wants in a husband? How did you arrive at this abbreviated list?”

Harry waved a hand dismissively. “I covered the essentials. If a woman wants romance, then I suppose Nicholas qualifies in that department—he’s not a bad-looking guy.”

“Harry, you’re astounding.” Frankie leaned closer, gripping his lapel and staring into his eyes. “You left out something extremely important.”

“What’s that?” Harry’s deep voice rumbled, his voice suspicious, as if he was bracing for a blistering lecture.

“You left out the all important x-factor.”

His eyebrows lifted. “The x-factor? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Some people call it chemistry. Some call it sexual attraction. I call it the x-factor.” And Eli has it in spades. The thought flashed through her mind, startling her.

“And you think Nicholas doesn’t have it?” Harry sounded skeptical.

“I don’t know,” Frankie admitted. “I’ve never been out with him. I was speaking in general terms about women and men.”

“Then you’re conceding you might be attracted to Nicholas Dean,” Harry said shrewdly.

“No.” Frankie let go of Harry’s lapel and shook her head, exasperated. Over the last few months, she’d successfully ducked Harry’s attempts to meddle in her love life, but her sisters Tommi and Bobbie hadn’t been as lucky. Fortunately, they’d managed to meet and fall in love with wonderful men on their own, despite Harry’s interference. There was no guarantee Frankie would be as lucky, however. She did not want Harry focused on finding a husband for her. The very thought was enough to make her shudder and break out in hives. “And we’re not talking about Nicholas and me—there is no Nicholas and me,” she stressed.

“But there could be,” Harry insisted. “As soon as his company was shortlisted for HuntCom’s south Seattle construction, I had the usual background check run. Which is why I know Dean Construction badly wants to win the contract. I’m dead sure Nicholas will cooperate in getting to know you—and you can find out if the two of you are attracted to each other.”

“Harry,” Frankie said with forced calm. “I am not going to date Nicholas Dean. I don’t need my uncle’s help in finding men.”

“It’s not as if I’m out there tracking down men for you, Frankie,” Harry protested. “But—”

“Good,” Frankie interrupted. “Because if I thought you were trolling Seattle looking for men you can coerce into dating me, I’d go hire a hit man and give him your address.”

“Frankie!” Harry looked shocked, but his eyes twinkled. “That’s a terrible thing to say. What would your mother think of her favorite daughter threatening my life?”

“She’s used to you, Uncle Harry,” Frankie said dryly. “She’d probably just ask me what you’d done this time to deserve it.”

Harry threw back his head and roared with laugh ter.

Harry’s booming laugh drew everyone’s attention. Eli Wolf looked up, over the top of Ava’s dark curls and across the room at Frankie Fairchild. She sipped white wine from a stemmed glass, her thick-lashed brown eyes fixed on Harry, an amused smile curving her lips. She was tall at five-eight, with long legs and curves that made a man’s hands itch to stroke her. Caramel-blond hair fell to her shoulders in a sleek curtain, framing her beautiful face. The simple, clean-cut lines of a black cocktail dress clung to her body, the long sleeves ending at her wrists. The dress hem was just above her knees, drawing the eye to sleek calves and the delicate bones of her ankles above black pumps with impossibly high heels.

Eli wondered how women walked in those things.

He’d known Francesca Fairchild since she was a little girl. Also, her cousin Justin was his best friend. Unfortunately, those two facts meant Frankie was strictly off-limits for all the things he’d like to do with her—something he’d regretted more often than he cared to think about. Especially over the past four months—ever since that unforgettable kiss at her birthday party.

“Unca Eli?” Ava’s small hand tugged his face around until she could meet his gaze. “Mommy says I can have a pet bunny, but first we have to get a cage for him. Will you make one for me? And can I come visit and help you hammer the nails and boards when you make it?”

Eli grinned, glad to be distracted from thoughts of Frankie and charmed as always by the little girl’s green eyes and hopeful smile. “Sure, honey. Let’s go ask your mom and dad when we can do that.”

With Ava perched on his hip, Eli strode across the room to join her parents and settle into a leather armchair. The seat gave him an unobstructed view of Frankie and was placed at right angles to the sofa where Justin and Lily chatted with Cornelia Fairchild, Frankie’s mother.

“Mommy.” Ava’s clear voice piped up. “Unca Eli’s going to help me build a bunny house.”

“That’s wonderful, honey.” Lily’s rueful gaze met Eli’s. “And how does Uncle Eli feel about this?”

“We have a plan,” Eli told her with a grin. “And it includes Justin’s barbecuing steaks for my granddad to pay my carpenter fee.”

“What? How did I get caught up in this?” Justin demanded, his eyes amused.

“Hey, you’re the dad,” Eli told him with a shrug. “I’m just the uncle.”

“I love you, Unca Eli.” Ava wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek.

“I love you, too.” Eli barely had time to register the swell of affection that filled him before the little girl jumped off his lap and climbed onto her father’s. Both Justin and Lily received hugs and kisses, the adults exchanging amused looks.

Ava launched into an excited description of plans for the rabbit hutch.

Only half-listening, Eli leaned back in the comfortable chair, his gaze going past the trio and across the room, drawn inexorably to Frankie once again.

The interplay between her and Harry as they conversed held the ease of comfortable familiarity. Frankie’s smile was affectionate as she smiled up at Harry, whose black hair and shrewd eyes, hidden behind dark-framed glasses, belied his age. Eli knew Frankie’s father had died when she was a child and if one could judge by appearances, it seemed Harry had stepped in to fill the role.

We have that in common, except it was my grandfather who took over my father’s role, Eli mused. And Frankie still has her mom while I lost both parents.

Cornelia was a force to be reckoned with, Eli thought, glancing at the older woman’s serene face as she listened to Ava describe her rabbit.

But then, so was Jack Wolf. Eli’s grandfather had taken in Eli and his three brothers, Conner, Ethan and Matt, a short two hours after a car crash on Seattle’s I-5 had taken their parents’ lives. Already a widower, Jack became a substitute parent to the four grieving boys, and his fierce commitment and support had created a family to heal their shattered lives.

Frankie watched Eli and Ava cross the room to join Justin and Lily, the little girl waving her hands excitedly as she talked.

“Why are you so determined to fix me up with Nicholas?” she demanded in an attempt to distract Harry, gesturing with her glass. “What about Eli? He’s single, he and his brothers own a successful construction company—isn’t he on your list of potential suitors?”

Harry glanced over his shoulder. “I’d be happy if you dated Eli. I like the boy,” he told her. “But he shows no signs of wanting to settle down. I suspect he’s a confirmed bachelor—I doubt he’ll ever marry.”

“You felt the same way about Justin once,” Frankie reminded him. “And look at him now—devoted father, loving husband. He’s a contented, happy man since he married Lily.”

“True,” Harry conceded with a dismissive shrug. “But Eli’s different than Justin. Justin hadn’t dated for a year or more before he and Lily got back together. He clearly needed Lily and wanted a wife and family. But like I said, Eli’s never given the slightest indication of being ready to settle down.” He nodded in Nicholas’s direction. “Now, you take Nicholas—he seems much more the type to marry and start a family.”

Frankie only half listened as Harry continued to list Nicholas Dean’s virtues. Unfortunately, she had to agree with Harry about Eli. He’d spent most of the last year recovering in stages after an accident on a construction site that snapped the bone in his lower left leg. Prior to that, however, if rumor was true, he’d been perfectly happy running his company and dating a variety of women. He’d been the poster boy for the quintessential bachelor before his accident, and Frankie assumed he’d returned to his active dating life now that he was recovered.