Wilder Than the Rest: MacLarens of Fire Mountain Read Online Free PDF Page A

show you to your room.”
    Room. The word hung in the air between Pierce and Mollie. Both knew one room would never work.
    “Hello, Penelope. I’m Pierce and this is my, uh, wife, Mollie.” He’d almost choked on the word wife , and hoped the housekeeper hadn’t noticed. He carried his own bag, letting Penelope assist Mollie with her small trunk. “If it’s not too much trouble, we’d like to have separate rooms.”
    Penelope split a look between the two, not commenting. It wasn’t unusual for married couples to have separate rooms, yet when she’d mentioned individual bedrooms to Miss Victoria and her husband, Jamie, he’d about bit her head off.
    “No trouble at all, Mr. MacLaren. Follow me and I’ll help you get settled before supper.”
    She set Mollie’s trunk down in a beautiful bedroom with rose, soft green, and gold flowered draperies and matching bedspread. Mollie’s breath caught at the lovely furnishings. She stepped to the window and pulled back the sheers to look out on a magnificent garden with walkways and a large gazebo covered in vines.
    “I’ll be right back, ma’am, to help you get settled.” Penelope left the door to the hallway open as she showed Pierce his room.
    “Here you go, sir,” she said to Pierce. She walked to the large window and drew open the heavy fabric curtains. It was larger than Mollie’s room, with dark wood furnishings and draperies of deep green, blue, and burgundy. The bedspread was of similar colors with a different pattern. “Shall I help you unpack, sir?”
    “No, thank you, Penelope. I’ll take care of it.”
    The servant nodded and closed the door behind her.
    Pierce looked around, trying to imagine his taciturn cousin in this room. He grinned, thinking of what Jamie’s reaction would have been the first time he’d seen it. He thought of the smaller home Jamie and Torie shared in Fire Mountain, wondering how a woman coming from this had been able to accept life on the ranch, which offered so little in the way of comforts compared to the opulent mansion overlooking the sprawling San Francisco bay.
    He gave Mollie some time to unpack then walked down the hall to knock on her door. She pulled it open, not offering to let him enter.
    One hand on the doorknob, the other on a hip, she looked him up and down. “You need something, MacLaren?”
    His eyes narrowed. “We need to talk, work out some details before tomorrow. Meet me downstairs.” He turned to leave and chuckled at her mumbled reply.
    “Yes, sir, MacLaren. Whatever you say.”
    He ignored the sound of her slammed door and made his way downstairs thinking that this was going to be a very long few weeks.
    Mollie leaned against her bedroom door, taking a deep breath to still her racing heart, and closed her eyes. She needed to figure out a way to control her reactions to the handsome MacLaren. She hated the feelings that rippled through her when he was around. The train ride had been excruciating. She just couldn’t seem to relax when he was anywhere around.
    “Damn him,” she murmured, and vowed to find a way to keep her attraction to the man concealed, whatever the cost.
    ******
    Eva Gagnon glided down the wide staircase of the opulent San Franciscan Hotel and walked toward the large dining area. She’d been staying in Canada, taking time off after her last assignment, when Noah contacted her.
    She stopped to check her image in the gilded mirror to the left of the dining room entrance. Tall, at five nine, and slender with jet-black hair hidden under her fashionable hat, Eva knew she created a presence. It was her job to turn heads, distract, and occupy those under suspicion while her associates dug into their affairs. This assignment would be much the same.
    “May I help you, madam?” the maître d' inquired, his eyes fixed on the statuesque woman.
    “Yes. I am meeting Mr. Theodore Crow.”
    “Of course. Mr. Crow is waiting for you.”
    She followed him toward a kind-looking man in a