A Match Made Under the Mistletoe by Diana Palmer

Author:Diana Palmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488086298
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-12-21T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

Bleak acceptance settled over him.

He couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer. So he set about the grim task of confessing what he’d done. “At lunchtime, I saw the cat sitting right here, staring out the doors. I figured it wanted to go out.”

Except for two bright red spots of color cresting her cheeks, her face went dead white. “You let Wigs out.” She spoke at barely a whisper, but the accusation seemed to echo through the lower floor like a shout.

“Elise, I’m so sorry. I’m sure it’s around. It’ll be back.”

“He’s an indoor cat. He’s never been outside, not once since I adopted him from the shelter when he was this big.” She illustrated how small, holding her shaking hands just inches apart.

“Elise, really, I—”

“No. Stop.” Her voice trembled like the rest of her. “I don’t even want to hear your excuses. I just don’t. You saw him at a door, so you just…let him out? Who does that? Who in the wide world is that freaking oblivious?”

He felt he had to say something, so he muttered, “It’s not an excuse. It’s more of an explanation.”

“Whatever you want to call it, I don’t want to hear it.”

“But I—”

“Uh-uh. No.” Those big eyes glittered with tears. “I told you I lost everything and Wigs is all that’s left. And it is dangerous out there.” She threw out an arm in the direction of the patio. “Bears. Coyotes. Bobcats. Wolves. Who knows what all? Something could hurt him, something could eat him. If I never see him again, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Was she going to lose it right there in front of him? It certainly seemed so. “Elise. Please. I know you’re upset, but there’s no need to exaggerate.”

She gritted her pretty teeth at him and let out an actual growl. “Oh, there damn well is a need. Anything could happen to him. Anything at all.”

“Elise. Settle down. Nothing is going to happen to that cat.”

She threw back her head and howled at the ceiling, after which she started peppering him with questions, each one louder and more hysterical than the last. “What is the matter with you? What were you thinking? What could possibly have been going through your mind?”

He strove for calmness. One of them had to. “I made a mistake, okay? A big one, apparently. But getting yourself all worked up isn’t going to help us find your cat. You need to slow down, take a deep breath and—”

She cut him off with a wordless shout of fury and then commanded, “Get out of my way!” Dodging around him, she threw open the French doors and ran outside. “Wigs! Wigs, come here, baby. Wigs, here kitty, kitty…” She headed for the trees that rimmed the property and called in a high, plaintive voice, “Wigs, here kitty, come on, baby…”

“Elise, hold up…” He took off after her.

She ignored him and kept on going into the trees.

He didn’t know whether to follow her into the woods or not.

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