Free Hard To Bear by Georgette St. Clair Page A

down at a table across the room from them.  She caught Flint’s eye, and waved at him with a big smile.  Then she shot Coral a look of icy disdain.
    “ I’ll have to have a talk with her tomorrow,” Flint said, clearly annoyed.  “This is getting out of hand.”
    “It’s not your fault,” Coral shrugged. “I feel kind of sorry for her. I’m sure it’s not pleasant being hung up on someone who doesn’t feel the same way.”
    Flint called their waiter over and paid their bill, and they headed out.  Coral could feel Melinda’s glare boring into her back as they walked to Flint’s car.
    A light rain was falling, and Coral begged off the boat ride that Flint had planned for them.  When he suggested they could do it the following evening, she politely demurred.
    When he pulled up in front of her house, he insisted on walking her back to her front door.
    Don’t try to kiss me, don’t try to kiss me, she thought.  Her resolve was weak, and she didn’t want to give in to her cravings.
    They reached the front door, and she paused as an unfamiliar scent swirled in her nostrils.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked.
    She tipped her head back and scented the air.
    “Pardon me,” she said, and partially shifted, her face lengthening into a snout, her ears turning hairy and pointy.  She sank down on her knees and sniffed at the door handle, then stood up, puzzled, and shifted back to human form, her fur sinking back beneath her skin and her snout retreating.
    “What is it?”
    “A human has been here today,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting anyone.  The mailbox is by the curb, so it wasn’t a mailman.  It’s not my landlord’s scent.” All the talk about mysterious disappearances was making her a little jumpy, she realized.
    Flint reached out and tried the door handle. It was locked, just as it should be.
    “Let me go in first,” he said. 
    “ I should be fine.” She glanced at the house uneasily.
    “No, I want to make sure.”
    She unlocked the door for him, and he led the way into the apartment.  She partially shifted again, just her head,  to improve her sense of smell even more.   He checked the bedroom and the laundry room and bathroom, before they went back to the kitchen/dining-room, where she stopped at the small round wooden table by the bay window.
    “What do you smell?” he asked.
    She picked up her reporter’s notebook and sniffed at it, then shifted back to human form so she could talk. “Someone human has been in the apartment, and they handled my notebook.  It isn’t a scent that I recognize.”
    “ You should call the sheriff’s office and report it.”
    “And tell them what?  There’s no sign of a break in. I know that someone was here, but I can’t prove it.”  The hair on her arms stood up. 
    Apparently she’d stumbled on something with all of her questions, and somebody was very interested in finding out what she’d learned. Unfortunately, so far, she hadn’t learned anything useful – but whoever broke in to her house didn’t know that.
    He shook his head. “You can’t spend the night here by yourself. Come home with me.”
    A night under the same roof with him? Forget it.  She was already struggling with her conflicted feelings and her desire to rip his clothes off.  She’d just about used up all of her self control for the evening.
    “No,” she said. “I’ll be fine. I’m a wolf.”
    “And I’m a bear,” he said, exasperated. “Lots of shifters are bigger than wolves.  What if someone like me broke in?”
    “I’d call the police. Then I’d shift and run very fast.”
    “I’m not leaving until you come with me.”
      She put her hands on her hips.  “I said no, and I meant it. Thank you for dinner and for checking my house for me, now go home.”
    “Stubborn redhead,” he growled.
    “Obnoxious bear.”
    “I’m sitting outside and waiting for you until you come with me.”
    “Go ahead then,” she shrugged.
    He turned and huffed