Her Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 2) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Foreword

  Chapter One – Elise

  Chapter Two – Beau

  Chapter Three – Elise

  Chapter Four – Beau

  Chapter Five – Elise

  Chapter Six – Beau

  Chapter Seven – Elise

  Chapter Eight – Beau

  Chapter Nine – Elise

  Chapter Ten – Beau

  Chapter Eleven – Elise

  Chapter Twelve – Beau

  Chapter Thirteen – Elise

  Chapter Fourteen – Beau

  Chapter Fifteen – Elise

  Chapter Sixteen – Beau

  Chapter Seventeen – Elise

  Chapter Eighteen – Beau

  Get In Touch

  Also By Harmony Raines

  Her Bear

  and a

  Baby

  (Who’s the Daddy? Book Two)

  ***

  All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.

  This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.

  © 2016 Harmony Raines

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  Her Bear and a Baby

  Bear shifter, Beau, has become a recluse. After the death of his sister, he struggles to face the world. A once highly respected PI, he now lives alone, hardly ever venturing out in his human form. Instead, his bear is his refuge, and he knows it would be only too easy to melt away into the mountains and never return.

  But the ghosts of the past hold him to his childhood home.

  Bear shifter, Elise, has a problem. A promise she made on her sister’s deathbed means she must try to find the father of, Connor, her sister’s child. Beau is the man she tasks with the job, telling him she was abandoned by her mate, who left her pregnant and alone.

  The only problem... When she comes face to face with Beau, she realizes he is her true mate. Should she maintain the lie? Or should she come clean and tell him the truth.

  That secretly she doesn’t want to just find the man who betrayed her sister ... she’d like to put a knife in his heart instead!

  When secrets are revealed, Beau and Elise find they have more in common than they ever could have imagined. And eventually they will find out who is the daddy, to baby Connor.

  Chapter One – Elise

  “So can you help me or not… Beau?” Elise asked the hunk of man flesh standing in front of her. She had to try her hardest not to reach out and touch his hard, toned chest, or run her hands down his washboard stomach… or wrap her hand around his—undoubtedly hard—cock.

  She could tell he wanted her, and knew exactly why. But there was no way she was going to let a hot, horny shifter get in the way of what she needed to do. No way at all. It had been the downfall of her sister, and she was not going to get sucked in the same way.

  “Yes…” He cleared his throat. “Yes, Miss Arnold. I can help you find this man, Gable O’Donnell.”

  She shifted the baby in her arms onto her other hip, sensing Beau Branson’s eyes as he watched the movement with something akin to lust. If he wasn’t careful, she would be wiping the drool from the PI’s mouth, just like she wiped it off of baby Connor’s.

  “And you know what he is?” Elise asked. Of course he knew. The reason she had picked Beau Branson, PI for this job was because he was well known in the shifter community for getting the job done.

  Oh, and fucking any woman he wanted, too. Apparently washboard abs and dimples made most women go weak at the knees. She sighed involuntarily. Damn, why did life always give her lemons?

  Connor gurgled and she turned her head, dragging her eyes away from Beau, to look into the clear, innocent blue eyes of the sweetest baby she had ever known. Whenever she felt life only gave her lemons, seeing Connor always reminded her that, in many ways, she had been given a glass of lemonade that was always more than half full.

  “A shifter. Yes. I know all about shifters.”

  “Because you’re one yourself,” she stated.

  “Because I am one myself,” he repeated, an unfathomable look in his eyes. Then his focus snapped back to the present, and Elise could tell he had incredible control over his shifter urges. “But I’m going to need all the information you have.”

  “There’s not a lot, he was the secretive sort. I have his name, Gable O’Donnell, and a description. Five-foot-eleven. Black hair, cropped short, and brown eyes… So dark they look as if you are staring into the abyss.”

  He looked at her sharply. “Nice taste in men. You like them rough?” He sounded a little disappointed.

  “Let’s just say he wasn’t my usual type,” she said evasively, trying not to catch his eye. Trying not to let him catch her lie.

  “So let me get this straight.” There was that hint of disappointment again. “You slept with him because he said he was your mate. Then he ditched you?”

  “I know he is my mate. Yes.”

  Liar, liar, her bear chimed crossly.

  “And you know he’s a shifter?”

  “Yes. That’s why I traveled all this way. I figured that a shifter would be the best person to track down a shifter. Am I right?”

  “Possibly. Although tracking a shifter still means looking for a needle in a haystack if all you have to go on is a name, which might not be real. Men who go for one-night stands tend to not be truthful.”

  He was right there: Gable O’Donnell didn’t exist in any online searches she’d tried.

  “…and a description. A vague description.” His eyes shot up to hers again.

  “I was drunk.”

  “Of course.” He shook his head slightly, and she felt the disappointment rolling off him.

  “And a baby,” she said, ramming home just how much of a disappointment she was. She deserved this. He could not be more disappointed in her than she was in herself for not keeping her sister safe, for not realizing something was so terribly wrong when she took off for months on her own, no contact, not even a phone call. How could Elise not have known something was wrong? They were twins, for goodness sake. She should have known.

  “And a baby,” he repeated, his words bringing the world back into focus. His eyes flicked to Connor, who gurgled and smiled, a high-pitched sound escaping his mouth as he tried to get Beau to interact with him.

  “OK. So I’m going to come out and say it. You cannot be this man’s mate. If you were, he would never have just walked away.”

  “Never? I mean, I heard the bond was strong. But a shifter could walk away. If they had a really good reason.”

  He shook his head as if trying to shake his head clear, or to shake off the way she made him feel. “It would be damn hard.” His eyes fixed on hers with a look of such intense longing, she had to fight to maintain eye contact. To maintain the lie.

  “Well. He’ll want to see his baby. Once he kno
ws, then he’s sure to come around.” This was her risk, her gamble. Had she thought it through enough, or was she putting Connor in danger? If she had anyone else in her life she could trust, she would have left Connor behind while she searched for his father. As it was, she didn’t want to let him out of her sight. She didn’t want to lose someone else she loved.

  But now Beau had presented another problem. Or maybe another solution. Time would tell.

  “And what if he doesn’t? What if he disowns the kid … and you?”

  Beau studied her and she tilted her chin in defiance before answering, “Then I’ll raise Connor alone. I don’t need a man.”

  He shook his head. “Normally, I wouldn’t believe that, but in your case, you are probably right. I feel sorry for the guy who falls for you.”

  His words hurt her, because of the truth hidden in them that she couldn’t admit to, not yet. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “You should. Some of us aren’t that strong.” His body tilted towards hers, and she had to tighten her grip on Connor, feel his plump thighs in her hand, and the way he wriggled in her arms, to remind herself why she was doing this. Why she was willing to deny her mate, when he was standing here in front of her.

  “Right.” She reached down and picked up her purse and then stood up straight, avoiding his eyes, before heading for the door. “Shall I give you a down payment on your fee?”

  “That won’t be necessary. I trust you.”

  “Great. So I’ll see you in the morning?” she said brightly, as if the deal was done; the pact was sealed…

  Running away, her bear taunted.

  We have no choice, Elise answered.

  We always have choices, her bear reminded her.

  Not when we made a promise to Eleanor, Elise said, her heart heavy with sadness.

  No, not when we gave our solemn word, her bear agreed and then fell silent.

  “Where are you staying?” Beau asked.

  “Staying?” She turned to look at him, still lost in the memories of her sister, Eleanor, lying on her deathbed, with Elise promising on their mother’s grave that she would find Connor’s father. That he would know he had a son.

  Elise had known it was wrong. The man, Gable O’Donnell, had put a child inside Eleanor and then vanished without a trace, without a word. How could it ever be a good idea to track such a man down and foist a beautiful child, like Connor, on him?

  The promise had haunted her, had wormed its way into her brain until she couldn’t think of anything else. She had done her own research, but she had nothing to go on. And that was why she stood here now, in front of the man who was the most highly rated shifter PI in the business. Or at least had been.

  Retired. That was how another PI had described Beau. However, something had been left unspoken, a hint that there was more to the story. It hadn’t deterred Elise from coming here to find him. She would have paid him double his fee in an attempt to persuade him to help her. She hadn’t needed to. As soon as he opened the door and recognized her for who she was, she knew he would help her. For free, if she acknowledged their bond.

  But she hadn’t. Not yet. Beau being her mate was both a good thing, and a bad. She could not allow herself to be distracted.

  “Yes,” he was saying. “You’ve just driven into town. I wondered where you were staying.”

  “I… I haven’t thought about it.” Finding Beau and getting things set in motion had been her priority. Elise knew she needed closure, for her sake and Connor’s. Once Gable was found, she would make her decision. If he was the kind of man she thought he was, Gable would never know of Connor, and she would raise her nephew as her own child.

  It would be so easy live tucked away in the mountains where no one would ever find them. But therein lay the problem. She needed to know who Gable was, or more importantly what he was. What kind of creature could walk away from his mate? It burned inside Elise, until it began to blossom into a darker emotion, one that needed purging, or she knew it would eat her up. For Connor’s sake she couldn’t let that happen.

  “Why don’t you stay here?”

  This time his words well and truly jolted her back to the room and the man in front of her. She knew he had ulterior motives, but asking her to stay seemed a little presumptuous. Yet when she looked into his face and saw there was no hidden motive, only a wary concern, she knew she would be safe under his roof. He wouldn’t hurt her, couldn’t hurt her, and that included forcing himself upon his mate.

  “I don’t want to impose,” she said.

  “You won’t be. The house is big; I rattle around in it on my own. It will take me a couple of minutes to prepare one of the guest bedrooms, but you are welcome to stay.” He studied her again, and maybe he thought she was about to say no, because he added, “It will make it easier while I am doing my preliminary research if you were close by…. So that I can ask you any questions that might arise.”

  She smiled, liking him more and more, a dangerous position to be in. She needed to keep her distance; until this played out one way or another, she had to keep him at arm’s length. Her sister had proved how devastating a mating bond could be, and she could not let Connor get caught in the middle of this. His future was more important. Her feelings were already being torn in two, warring over what would happen when they found Gable. To add the choice of denying her mate to the mix was too much: it added too many variables.

  No. At present Beau had no idea she knew he was her mate. Elise had kept her emotions meticulously under control. She needed to keep it that way. Just until she found Gable and fulfilled her promise to her sister. Or the one to herself, to stab a knife in his heart.

  “Thank you,” she said quickly, shaking off thoughts of bloody revenge.

  “I’ll go fix the room now, please go and make yourself at home.” He paused, a hint of longing in his voice, which he quickly covered. “There’s coffee in the pot.”

  “Thank you,” she said again, and stood to one side as he walked out of the room, his scent tickling her nose, and she breathed him in, savoring it, and storing it away. Then she steeled herself for what was ahead.

  She took Connor’s tiny hand and kissed it. “A promise is a promise, Connor.” He smiled at her, his little hands grasping her hair. “A promise is a promise.”

  Chapter Two – Beau

  “So can you help me… Beau?” Her words echoed around his head. Yes, he could help her, but he didn’t want to help her find the man who had fathered her child. He wanted to take her to bed right now and claim her as his own. How could another man have told her he was her mate? Why would another shifter tell her he was her mate?

  Well, where did he start? Her luscious, curvy body would be one place he would like to start. Peeling her clothes off to reveal her pale flesh, her voluptuous breasts—damn, he wanted to kiss them, and suck on her hardened buds until she begged him to touch her lower down. The heat between her thighs would be inflamed until she ached for him. Then he would slip a finger inside her, test her readiness, and then when he found her willing, he would thrust into her, fill her with his cock and make love to her until she never thought of another man again.

  He found himself leaning against the wall in the hallway, his breathing ragged as if he had run across the mountains for miles. Shaking his head, he straightened up. He had to keep himself together; if she sensed he wasn’t up to the job, she might go elsewhere, find another investigator to help her. Beau could not let that happen. He needed to stay by her side, keep her close, keep her safe.

  With an unusually accurate sixth sense about these things, he was convinced this Gable was bad news. That wherever the trail led, it was not going to be a happy ever after for Elise and her baby.

  You are biased, his bear said.

  And you are not? Beau asked.

  Met with silence from his bear, he gathered his wits and went upstairs to ready the room for his guests. It had been a long time since anyone had stayed in the large house. Once a lively f
amily home, it was empty since his brothers had left to pursue their own lives. It had come down to him to keep the place aired: it suited him, he liked solitude. He never thought he would say that, but for the last couple of years, since he retired, it had been true. The house sat on the lower slopes of the great Bear Claw Mountain range, and people did not pass by. If they came to his door, they came here because they needed his help.

  And each time he helped someone, it usually reinforced his need to be away from the human population, and the shifter one too. Husbands who ran off with their mistresses. Wives who hired hit men for their husbands, and various other cases that highlighted how people refused to just get along with each other. Murder…

  He was done with that, done with dealing with people. He couldn’t face it anymore.

  Until now. Now he was presented with his mate. For the first time in a long time, he was not going to be happy to tell someone in need he was not in the game anymore. He was not going to tell her he wasn’t interested in her miserable life.

  No. This time he would do whatever it took to help Elise, and make her stay. If that meant taking on the baby too, he would do it. His bear agreed.

  He began to make up the bed with clean bedding, taking extra care to smooth out the crisp white sheet, and choosing the prettiest flowered covers for the bed. They reminded him of the past, when his outlook on life was happier. When his sister hadn’t been lying dead in a ditch.

  Shutting that part of his brain off, he worked methodically to make the bed, and then quickly cleaned the already clean bathroom. Working at tasks like this helped. They helped a lot. But they were not the kind of tasks that would help Elise.

  “Time to man up,” he said to himself in the mirror.

  Elise didn’t need to know he was rusty at the whole PI thing; she didn’t need to know he hadn’t worked a case for almost two years, that his contacts were old, some of them maybe even dead.