Chasing Love (2 page)

Sure, she’d stay buddies with him, tell him her deeds and secrets, but never, never,
ever
again her thoughts of the heart. No sense on wasting that sort of time and emotion on the stupid jerk.

Christiana stormed off without another word. She didn’t think she could bear hearing one more of his words on the subject.
He
might think she was still a child but her emotions had suddenly matured over the last few hours. She couldn’t explain it and refused to even try to put it into words to a man who obviously thought she was simply an annoying kid.

She ran to her favorite tree in the woods and climbed as high as she could, higher than she ever had before. As she climbed, her mind spun with thoughts, decisions and plans.

The plan of tarring and feathering Edward while he slept, although cheering her up immensely, was thrown out for practical reasons. Her mother would not only ground her for a month, but would possibly spank her for the first time in more years than she could count.

Going to her father and uncle’s and asking for help with her revenge was also out. They would help her, had sworn black and blue to beat the crap out of any man who hurt her. But she not only couldn’t do that to the beast, even though he deserved it, but she wanted to work this out herself. She was a
woman
now, she needed to learn how to do things on her own.

She had a knack for people, or
most
people anyway, people with a brain and sound reasoning, not
men
on the cusp of heading off to the all-important
college
. She had a vague interest in the Pack’s businesses. Maybe she should talk to her dad about that.

Her musings and impulsive decision-making lasted until she flopped down on the highest branch that would hold her weight. She had climbed so high the ground was obscured. Her mother would have kittens if she found her.

Christiana sighed and tried to fight the tears. Not even the thought of her mother having kittens could cheer her out of this mood.

But Christiana needed some time to recover and, she felt sure as the tears dripped down her face, to bawl her eyes out and face the world with a smiling face later.

Christiana cried and cried. Finally hiccupping away the last of her tears, she mentally began to prepare herself.

So the jerk didn’t want to tie himself down? That would be fine. She could still tease him and taunt him. Still make him miserable and embarrassed to bring any woman back home with him. Yet it was time to get on with her life. No more mooning over
him
, no more dogging his footsteps or scrawling his name on every sheet of paper she wrote on.

No more.

Christiana was organizing her own life and this new life had Edward Matthews firmly in the position of a friend, a
buddy
, and not her True Mate.

Smiling, Christiana wiped away the last of her tears. She would get hugs and cuddles from her dad and uncles when she returned. That would solve all her sad feelings. It always had and probably always would.

And then she would start her new life as a new woman.

A woman who absolutely,
positively
was
NOT
in love with the beast Edward Matthews.

Chapter One

Ten years later

Christiana touched her peacock-blue satin mask once more—just to make sure it was still in place. She looked out over the huge, extremely crowded ballroom and smiled. It was just after finals and there was a definite air of “party” among the graduates.

A vast proportion of the college had turned out to celebrate. All the different departments were represented at the end-of-year ball. The French doors were thrown wide in the vain attempt to alleviate some of the heat. It wasn’t particularly effective, as thousands of milling ex-students drinking, dancing and generally having a blast created even more heat.

Christiana opened her matching peacock-blue fan and tried to create some semblance of a breeze. She had made her gown herself and she was particularly proud of it.

Off the shoulder, with a corset-style bodice and a flowing, elegant skirt, the material was the same color silk as her mask and fan. It had only taken the entire two weeks since her graduation ceremony to sew it. She had slaved every night and most of her days to get it just right.

The last two weeks had been painful, but informative. There had been more mistakes and things she had learned than most of her college years had given her.

Pricking her fingers, breaking the sewing machine needles, and much swearing was only the beginning. Also involved were over a dozen phone calls back home to her mom for instructions on how to re-thread the needle, cut “with the grain” and other silly tidbits of information the sewing instructions. Whoever assumed a novice would understand all this?

Blood, sweat, tears and tantrums aside, the final product gave no indication of the immense effort she had put forth for her Graduation Ball.

Still, the final product was nothing to be sneezed at and she felt like a million dollars amongst the glittering crowd. She sipped her cola, determined to hold onto the can she had snagged from an unwary tuxedo-clad waiter. She had no desire to get drunk and end up rolling around on the grassy lawns outside with some masked stranger.

Many of the men present wore the traditional tux and mask but some had at least made a token effort for the masquerade. There were men in togas, football heroes, complete with helmets instead of masks, leather-clad bikers and other assorted costumes. Christiana had recognized a large number of the men and women present, held a few “congratulations-aren’t-you-glad-we-made-it?” conversations. But by and large, she felt at loose ends.

She had danced most of the night away and was glad to rest her aching feet, yet she wasn’t quite ready to pack up her gear and head on home. Her business degree would come in great use to help lead her Pack into its future, yet she was still young, she had only just turned twenty-four.

Working part-time, stretching the fourth year of her degree into two by studying part-time, she had learned some of the fundamentals of her father’s wide-ranging business. It made her feel far more confident to be entering the ranks of her father’s employees with
some
working knowledge of how the business ran.

Even so, she didn’t know
where
in the business she wanted to fit herself—or indeed even
if
she wanted to spend the rest of her life working in this business.

She wanted to live a little more before trying to find a mate—
groan
—and committing herself to learning the ropes of leadership from her dad.

Sure, she had dragged her feet these last two years—playing at being the student and getting a very ground-level look at the business…but somehow Christiana couldn’t help but wonder if there weren’t
more
to life than her college and work.

She had no desire to escape her fate, yet was this all there was to life? What happened to the romance? The excitement? The daring games and pranks she had enjoyed pulling with her roommates?

Scouting the crowd, she located Maggie, her roommate. Christiana had to smile as she located her over in the corner, practically having sex in the darkened alcove. Even from clear across the room Christiana could see both of their tongues diving and hands groping. She shook her head at her much-loved roommate’s antics.

Maggie had confided her plans of getting pregnant, marrying her partner and setting up a home-based business. Christiana found it highly ironic that this less-than-pure feminist friend’s plan would actually use her damned degree
more
than most of the people present in this room.

Strange how, for every step forward women made, they seemed to take another three steps backward.

Sighing, she looked away from the madly kissing and groping couple and sipped her cola again. She loved Maggie to bits but she was determined to live some of her life before she truly settled down. College had been fun but she had worked hard to earn her degree. She hadn’t had enough of a taste of adventure and romance to settle her just yet.

Maggie was looking forward to returning home, to organizing a huge white wedding and buying the proverbial white picket fenced home and having three-point something children. Yet, Christiana itched for something
more
. She had no idea what more was but it wasn’t to return home to her family’s not-so-veiled hints at marrying Edward!

She loved Edward, really she did, but how could one marry the boy one grew up with? She and Edward had been as close as close could be for most of their lives. She had tried her teenage seduction skills out on him—failing miserably—and had afterwards resolved to truly save herself for her True Mate, someone who would not only understand her pathetic attempts at seduction, but also appreciate her and her saved virginity.

Her father and uncles had no problems with her attitude but, strangely enough, they didn’t really understand her philosophy either. Yet who were they to argue with keeping their eldest daughter/niece chaste? Certainly not them!

It had been hard—she simply
burned
with lust at times—yet a smart worldly woman knew the power of Ebay and online shopping and could get any number of toys and manuals and learn how to satisfy oneself without breaking the all-important hymen.

But somehow, in her self-explorations and desire to graduate with honors, she had missed something important. Men around college would only go so far with a woman who flat-out refused sex—and wasn’t afraid of saying so up front.

Soon it was well-known she was a great
buddy
—how she hated that word—a kick-ass date to the football, as long as
her
team won, and generally a great pal. You just couldn’t push her into bed or ask for more than a casual groping session. So she found herself either treated as one of the boys or, worse, like a kid sister.

And so she had missed huge chunks of the romance a budding relationship could offer, the daring and adventuring her still-young soul craved.

Stupidly, she had thought tonight would be different. She would dress up, dress alluringly, be masked so no one would know who she was. She could flirt and play and tease and explore that more mysterious side to romance she had been missing.

The sexual side of things, she knew as well as any virgin possibly could. But the romance and mystery, that getting-to-know you flirting side of relationships, she had missed, and damned if she would return home to her responsibilities without a taste of romance and adventure!

Christiana finished her cola and put the can down on a nearby table. She resisted the urge to pace. Pacing in these stilettos and long gown would undoubtedly end up with her flat on her face making a fool of herself. Sighing in resignation, she saw Benjamin,one of her management buddies. Maybe she should get back out onto the dance floor.

While romance and passion might
still
be missing tonight, she could nevertheless enjoy herself being swept around the dance floor by a good friend.

“Excuse me,” a deep, husky, masculine voice interrupted her internal monologue, “but may I request this dance?”

Frowning, Christiana realized she didn’t immediately recognize whose voice it was. Turning around, she looked up—a rare enough occurrence, being naturally five-foot-nine and tonight wearing three-inch stilettos—to be grinned at boldly by a masked pirate of all things!

A blue bandana held back what looked to be wild, black curls. A black silky looking mask obscured the rest of his face down to his chin. A few days’ worth of growth was stubbled around the chin, so she couldn’t get any indication of what his face looked like. His eyes were dark brown, a deep, rich, lovely color that drew on something inside her.

She shook her head and smiled She was becoming fanciful!

“Do pirates request?” she teased, happy one of her friends had dressed up enough so that she couldn’t immediately identify him. Guessing who he was would be fun for the rest of the dance.

She laughed outright as she felt herself swept up into large, strong arms and half-carried out to the dance floor where lots of people milled, about to start the next dance.

“Excellent point,” her pirate granted. “Pirates steal and pillage, pirates do not politely request dances from fair maidens.”

Gurgling her laughter, Christiana was happy when a waltz was struck up. Any excuse to be dragged against this large pirate’s chest was welcome. While she had never been the snuggling type, allowing herself to be brought against his muscled body and led around the crowded dance floor seemed to be the perfect start to the rest of the evening.

Christiana closed her eyes and committed the sounds and feelings to memory.
This
was what she yearned for, for an unknown pirate to sweep her off her feet and carry her off into the distance.

“Are you falling asleep on me?” the pirate laughed.

“No,” she replied seriously, “I’m committing this to memory.”

“Ah, I thought fair damsels screamed and fainted when taken away by pirates.”

Christiana snorted. “Maybe stupid maidens do.
I
think it’s fantastic and romantic. Why waste such a spectacular fantasy by fainting dead away when one can wallow in the romance?”

“Ahh, a bold young thing.”

Christiana frowned. She wasn’t particularly young. Most everyone present was her age or only a year or two younger, depending on how fast they had moved through their four years of college. What an odd thing for one of her classmates to say. She looked back up to her pirate and tried to figure out which friend he was.