A Very Shifty Christmas

Shifters of Silver Peak 3

By Georgette St. Clair

Oh My God I love Georgette St. Clair's Books. You have

to get this one. It was a wonderful Christmas read. I have

to say She never has written a book I have not liked. I love

the Silver peak series, and can not wait till the next book is

out. This book is about Morgan a shifter who hates Christmas

and unfortunately for a good reason. I will not say why as to

not spoil this book for you. then you have Valerie she is not

afraid to stand up to Morgan and tell him off it she has to.

She is also so sweet and nice it makes her friends wonder

why she puts up with Morgan. that is an easy one though

Morgan will never find out why if she has her way. But

through in on crazy friend and even crazier family. that is

where all the fun begins. Now before I ruin this for you

I will leave off here. I hope you enjoy this book as much

as I did. If you do like this book, please consider leaving

a review. The Authors really like it when you do, they

value your opinions too.

Billionaire shifter Morgan Rosemont’s family just showed up

in Silver Peak for a surprise visit, and he’s in big trouble.

Morgan had lied and told them he was engaged, which

means he needs a mate, fast The last person he should turn

to is is smart-mouthed curvy secretary Valerie, because

she’s the only one who threatens his hard-won self control.

So why does he find himself calling her in to his office and

making a deal with the devil?

Valerie Dickinson has had it with working for shifters – and

working for Morgan Rosemont, most of all. He’s rude, he’s

arrogant, and he can’t see that his full figured secretary is

secretly in love with him. She’s already accepted a new job

when Morgan makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Pretend

to be his mate through the holiday season, and he’ll bail out

her grandparents failing business. Now, all she has to do

is sleep chastely in the same bed with the sexiest wolf in

Montana, prevent his snooty mother from starting a war

with the local humans, and figure out who’d rather see

her dead than mated to Morgan Rosemont.

“Valerie, is there a human cub hiding in this office?” Morgan Rosemont growled, standing in the doorway and glaring at his secretary. There was a dusting of snow on his thick, dark hair and on the broad shoulders of his wool overcoat.

A chill wind whipped past him. He stepped inside, followed by his construction foreman and packmate, Arthur Handley, and slammed the door shut with a bang.

Valerie looked up from her desk and batted big, innocent eyes at her boss. The cold had made her thick, round glasses fog, which ruined the effect a bit. “Whatever do you mean, Mr. Rosemont?”

He looked around impatiently. “You heard me. A human cub. Somebody distracting you from working.”

She pulled her black sweater tighter around her generous figure and maintained her wide-eyed expression of denial. “First of all, I am not working right now because my lunch hour just started. Secondly, we humans refer to cubs as ‘children’. And why would there be a child in your office? I don’t have any children. Or any life whatsoever, but that’s a different story,” Valerie said. “Anyway, you got some messages while you were out, and I put them on your desk. Some of them look rather urgent. You should go check.”

“Where is it?” Morgan demanded, stamping the snow off his feet.

She met his gaze unblinkingly. “Where is what?”

Morgan let out an angry, frustrated breath and walked over to Valerie’s desk. He stared down at her, all six foot three inches of him. “You know how I know you’re lying to me, Valerie?”

“You’re psychic?” Valerie suggested. She knew he wasn’t, of course.

There were some strains of shifter that were psychic. Thank God Morgan wasn’t one of them, because if he could read his human secretary’s thoughts, she’d have been bounced out of the office on her very well-padded rear long ago.

“I know because, number one, you’re answering my questions with questions, and number two, I’m a wolf shifter. I have an amazing sense of smell. You smell it, don’t you, Arthur?”

Arthur maintained an expression of polite interest. “If you say so, sir.”

“Get that child-cub thing and remove it at once,” Morgan said to Valerie. “This is an office, not a daycare.”

The coat closet door banged open, and a small, dirty-faced child dashed out, ran over, and bit Morgan on the ankle.

“Valerie! What the hell?” Morgan yelled, shaking his leg in an attempt to dislodge the child.

“Morgan! Watch your language! Don’t hurt her!” Valerie ran over and knelt down next to them. “Teddy, come on.”

“Me don’t hurt her? She’s the one who’s biting me!”

“Oh, don’t be such a baby.” She pulled Teddy off him and set her on her feet.

Teddy was eight, but small for her age, and for a human she was awfully feral in her behavior – like her tendency to bite when she was annoyed. She had long, uncombed, dirty-blonde hair, her face was always grubby, and her clothes were faded and two sizes too big for her. The hem of her moth-eaten wool overcoat brushed the floor.

She glared up at Morgan ferociously through a curtain of filthy hair that covered her face.

“You’re a bad wolf,” she informed him.

“Valerie?” Morgan raised an eyebrow at her, his ice-blue wolf’s eyes glimmering with annoyance.

“Her mother is at the mineral springs today and she doesn’t have anyone to watch her,” Valerie said to Morgan.

The mineral springs had amazing healing properties for humans with dementia and a number of other ailments. Before an earthquake created the springs, the shifter town of Silver Peak, and the nearby human town of Juniper, had been dwindling in population, with shuttered businesses and empty stores. But since word about the springs had gotten out, both towns were bursting at the seams with people desperate for their curative powers.

“And this is my problem why? I have a business to run.”

“Fine,” she muttered. “You weren’t even supposed to be here today. I thought you’d be on site until this evening.”

Morgan’s company, Rosemont Resorts, was expanding its newly built resort hotel and spa, and also building luxury condominiums, due to overwhelming demand. Morgan was planning on working right up through Christmas Eve. Just bubbling over with Christmas spirit, he was.

Before Morgan could answer, the front door banged open again, letting in more wind and snow. She breathed a sigh of relief as two of her friends barreled in and quickly shut the door behind them. They’d help her with Teddy.

“Hey, Valerie! Who’s your little friend?” It was Eileen, a wolf shifter friend of Valerie’s. She was accompanied by their friend Erika, who belonged to the same pack as Eileen.

The little girl looked at the women, then looked at Morgan with a scowl. “I’m Teddy, and he’s the Big Bad Wolf,” she said of Morgan.

“And don’t you forget it,” Morgan said, returning the scowl with one of his own.

The girl walked over to Eileen and Erika and looked up at them. “You’re a wolf, and you’re a wolf.” She jabbed a dirty little finger at both of them. “And I’m a human. Are you in a pack? Did you know that some wolves can’t turn into people? Where do those wolves live? Where do you live?” The fact that she was firing off a volley of questions at them meant she liked them. It was preferable to her alternative mode of communication – ankle-biting.

“Erika, I need a favor,” Valerie said. “Can you take Teddy here back to Juniper? She’s staying in the shanty town at 372 Winthrop Drive. Her mother is at the mineral springs, and she’ll be back around five. There should be some church volunteers at the rec center there today who can watch her until her mother gets home. If not…” Valerie’s face puckered in concern, and she glanced at Morgan, who shook his head decisively.

“Motherffff…” Erika glared after Morgan, then glanced at Teddy and stopped herself. “Mother of pearl is my favorite jewelry,” she finished. “I got this,” she said to Valerie. “Hey, Teddy, want to go to the town square, make a snow-fort and throw snowballs at people?”

“Erika!” Valerie protested, scandalized.

“What?” Erika flashed a wicked grin. “Basic self-defense skills should be learned at a young age. We can also practice making swords out of icicles.”

“No swords!” Valerie said.

“Okay, icicle spears. We’ll go to the coffee shop and get some hot chocolate first,” Erika said to Teddy. “We need fuel if we’re going to go start a frozen-water war.” Erika was a tomboy and an infamous mischief-maker. Great. So Valerie’s choices were leaving the child by herself, sending her off to stab someone, or…well, those were her choices today.

Erika led the happy child out, and Eileen sat on Valerie’s desk. “Other than the fact that your boss is an ass-face, isn’t it a beautiful day?” she said, gesturing at the window, which faced Main Street.

It was December 10th, and the village of Silver Peak, Montana, was a winter wonderland.

Freshly fallen snow blanketed the streets and parked cars and fire hydrants in sparkling white. Christmas garlands twined around the lamp posts, and every store window was framed with twinkling red-and-green lights. A pack of Christmas carolers was strolling through the streets, singing. They were led by their parents. Several of them were in cub form, trotting through the snow wagging their tails and wearing wreaths as collars. They howled in tune to the singing.

“Breathtaking,” Valerie said.

“Stunning.” Eileen nodded contentedly.

“I really hate Christmas,” Morgan growled.

He looked at the carolers. “It’s one p.m. Don’t they have somewhere to be? Why are they walking around singing like that?”

Eileen and Valerie exchanged amused looks with each other, and Eileen stifled a snicker behind her hand.

“What?” Morgan snapped.

“I, for one, am shocked,” Eileen said. “I mean you could knock me over with a feather. A season that’s all about togetherness and happiness and love, and you hate it?”

Morgan stared at her. “You don’t work here anymore. And yet you’re here.” He glanced over at Arthur. “She’s still here.”

“Yep, she is.” Arthur, a tall, lean wolf shifter in his fifties, nodded placidly. His method of getting along with Morgan was to agree with whatever Morgan said without really paying much attention to it.