Page 3 of Beau (Sheppard’s Shadow #5)

Carrie, Archie’s wife, could see ghosts and had dealt with her family before they crossed over to the next place.

She’d told her that her dad had sobbed about being dead and wanted to know if she could send him back for two months so that he could live a few weeks more without his mother’s constant harping on him.

The poor man hadn’t anything else to hold him here, so he had left when Carrie had told him she couldn’t do that for him.

To be under such restraints, like he’d been only to be killed a few hours after he’d killed his family, would make her sad when she thought about it. Poor, poor man, her dad was.

Opening the door when her new doorbell sounded—her grandmother had had a herd of elephants running through a forest as the sound when she’d moved in—she was surprised to see Amber, Wrangler’s wife, there on the stoop.

Inviting her in, she said she didn’t want to mess up her time there.

Danielle assured her that the only thing she was doing was thinking, and that might get her into trouble.

“I know how that is. I get myself in trouble a great deal when I have nothing to occupy my time.” She laughed with the other women.

“The reason I’m here is that I wanted to invite you to have lunch with us tomorrow.

The women in the family get together once a week when we can to have lunch and to talk about life in general. ”

“But I’m not part of your family.” Amber waved her off, saying that she might as well be for as much as they all loved her already. “I’d love to have lunch with you and the other ladies then. I have an appointment in the morning with Jameson at the bank, but other than that, I’m free all day.”

“I heard that you were going to talk to the farmers who are renting your land from you. Jameson said that since you’ve decided to allow them to continue renting it, he said you’ve made a lot of people happy.

” She told her that as long as they continued to pay on time, she didn’t want them to leave her.

“Jameson said that as well. Now that you’ve met all the brothers, we figured that you’d enjoy a day out with us. ”

“I’ve not. Met all the brothers yet.” She cocked her head at her when she entered the house.

“Not that it matters, but I’ve not met Beau.

He’s been taking college classes, I was told, so that he could cook for himself.

I think that’s commendable. Maybe I’ll do the same now that I have time to devote to some more college classes to learn the basics.

I can’t cook at all, but for a few basic things like grilled cheese and maybe some tomato soup from a can. ”

“He’s learning how to cook so much more than that.

He had Wrangler and I over for dinner the other night, and we were both impressed with his skills.

You should do it.” She said she was just enjoying the freedom of life right now.

“I can well imagine that too. You’ve not had a great year from what I’ve heard from Jameson. ”

“What did you mean about me meeting all the brothers? And what does that have to do with having lunch with you guys?” She said that she’d hoped that she was one of their mates.

“Mates as in wives or something? No thanks. If I had wanted a husband, I could go to any police station and find myself a man who would do that for me.” Amber asked what she meant by that.

“It’s just that I don’t want anyone to take my freedom away from me now that I have it.

I’ve heard about mates all my life, and I want nothing to do with them. ”

“The Sheppard men aren’t like that.” She only nodded. “They aren’t. I swear. They would die for their mates, and it would be something small to them. The men in this family grew up with a person worse than your grandmother and managed to turn out all right.”

“I know that Jameson has, and the others seem to be really nice, but I’ve only just gotten things to where I don’t have to work for a while, and it’s all mine.

To have someone come along and tell me that I have to have him run things for me just doesn’t appeal to me.

Thanks, but no thanks.” Amber just smiled at her.

“Am I still invited to lunch tomorrow? I can understand if you say no.”

“We want you there. And the sooner you meet Beau, the better if he’s your mate.

” She didn’t say anything about her not meeting Beau because she was going to avoid that as much as he could.

As she’d told her, she didn’t want a man coming along that was going to ruin things for her when they were perfectly fine the way that they were.

“I’ll pick you up since I don’t know where it is that we’re going yet. ”

They made arrangements for what time she was going to pick her up, and Amber left.

After closing the door, Danielle made her way to the kitchen to read the instructions again on how to microwave her lunch.

The instructions were plain enough, but she didn’t know what wattage her microwave was, so she was having a hard time figuring out what time she should cook it for.

It had taken her fifteen minutes of reading the manual that had come with it when she bought it to know how to set up the power settings.

Putting it in the thing, she decided to watch it carefully to make sure she didn’t burn it like she had her supper last evening.

She’d gotten distracted and had forgotten about it until it was too late.

And she wasn’t going to think about the burnt popcorn that she’d decided to have after the meal disaster.

She’d done all right for herself this time and was eating her lunch when the front doorbell rang again.

Going to the door, she was surprised to see Jameson there with one of his brothers.

She just knew that it was going to be Beau and that Amber had sent him here so that she could test the theory about him being her mate.

“I’m staying right here, and you two are going to go home.

” Jameson laughed and told her that he had been sent by Carrie, the leap bitch.

“I don’t care what she is, I’ve decided to not have a mate, and while the idea is probably nothing I can do anything about, I’m not going to allow you anywhere near me. ”

“Sounds like a plan that I can get behind. However, I don’t have a choice in the matter.

I have to make sure.” She simply stepped back into her house and closed the door behind her.

There was no way she was going to allow anyone to do anything with her new life without a fight.

The doorbell rang again. When she opened the door, it was Beau at the door, and it was too late for her to do anything when he touched his hand to her arm. “I’m sorry.”

Leaping back from him, she was surprised when he moved when she did. Had he not been there for her, she would have fallen to the floor, down the stairs that led to the doorway, and busted her head. All she could do was look up at him when he held her in his arms.

“Well?” He only had to nod when she asked if she was his mate or not. “Great. Just what I needed. I don’t suppose you’ll give me a month to get used to living here by myself, will you? I’ve only just moved in and I haven’t even had my first meal in the house.”

“I heard what you think of having a mate, and you can take all the time you need.” She asked him if he was always a bastard.

“I don’t think I’m being one now. I belong to you, and you tell me when it is that you want me to be a part of the life that you’ve carved out for yourself.

I don’t have a house as yet, so I couldn’t tell you how you feel about owning your first home. ”

“I’ve heard that you won’t make me do anything that I don’t want to do, but I’m having a hard time believing it after all the mates I’ve seen together.

” He said that he wouldn’t dare make her do a thing that she didn’t want to do.

“I guess time will tell. Now that you’ve worked your way into my house and life. ”