Lydia wasn’t the only one who made a skeptical noise. As an agent in the Shifter Affairs department, Tony had been instrumental in getting all the shifters who had been rescued from the zoo the paperwork and legal documents to return to their lives after a period of long absence and, in many cases, presumed death. Following that, he had been extremely useful in stopping a mob boss that had been hounding Jenny, Laura, and Wrench.
Congratulations were still being exchanged, for Neal’s upcomin
g nuptials and Tony’s impending fatherhood, when Scarlet arrived to start the meeting at one o’clock on the dot.
Graham stared fixedly at the floor, refusing to look at her.
The meeting was lighthearted, centering around the details of the upcoming wedding and the day-to-day considerations of the resort. The lawsuit from Darla’s mother had not materialized, and if money was tight, it appeared that they were at least fairly well set to meet the coming weeks. Scarlet was glad to report that they were going to have a steady stream of guests; the debacle of Darla’s wedding had not only not hurt their guest list, the publicity seemed to have been largely in the resort’s favor.
As Scarlet concluded the meeting and left, nearly everyone else remained and the conversation dissolved into further gossip and talk about the wedding.
“How long are you staying?” Lydia asked.
“Three glorious weeks,” Amber said in delight. “The wedding is the end of next week, and we’ll have a week afterwards.”
“We’ll be leaving the same time,” Tony added. “This is our last chance for a vacation before the baby comes.”
That led to excited speculation about the baby, its gender, and what its shift form might be.
Laura shyly confessed her own pregnancy news to Tony and Neal. “We haven’t told Scarlet yet,” she said, her hand in a beaming Tex’s. “We’re... not really sure what our plans are next.”
Graham squirmed, and looked for a way to leave that wouldn’t be obvious; choosing a chair in the corner had kept him out of the conversation, but it had also trapped him in the back of the room with no polite way of slinking out.
Babies, weddings, mates, and secrets.
He was in hell.
Then Neal turned around in his chair to look directly at Graham and said pointedly, “Speaking of honeymoons...”
And everyone looked at him curiously.
“I hear you and Alice didn’t waste any time,” Neal ribbed.
Graham had liked Neal much better when he said much less.
“Alice?” Breck said, puzzled. “Mary’s friend? The maid of honor?”
“Honeymoon?” Laura said curiously.
There was a moment of silence, Graham wishing he could actually make someone burst into flames with a glare.
Then Neal, oblivious to his efforts at directed spontaneous combustion, laughed. “Mary says you looked like someone had slapped you with a fish. And apparently the kiss was enough to sizzle the plants in the courtyard.”
The staff erupted into congratulations and speculation.
“The last bachelor tumbles!” Travis crowed.
“I’m so happy for you,” Lydia said warmly.
Wrench was sitting close enough to Graham to give him an approving punch in the shoulder and Graham turned on him with a growl.
Now that the attention was on him anyway, there was no point in trying to get out quietly. He stood and shoved through Wrench and Lydia, then plowed through the room, chairs crashing aside to a chorus of surprise.
He slammed the door so hard behind him that it rattled the artwork on the walls outside, and stalked away to find something to drink.
Chapter 9
Alice reeked of sex to her own over-sensitive nose.