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and joy mixed together. It would be so simple to accept what her friend was telling her. She was Marcus’s mate and he would love her forever.
    But how could that be? Granted she wasn’t horrendous to look at. She was more than passably pretty. Her figure—her curvy, cursed figure—was what made the doubts swamp her. She heard the echo of her last boyfriend’s words as their relationship had ended. Things she hadn’t shared with Patsy. Frigid. Ice queen. Unfuckable. He’d done a number on her self-esteem.
    Dare she believe? Dare she believe that the gorgeous, wetness-inducing bear shifter really loved her? Wanted her? Just like that? It seemed awfully convenient that in the shifter world one could just go up to a person and say, hey, you’re mine, wanna fuck?... and the couple lived happily-ever-after.
    It sounded too convenient. A perfect excuse for a man to mislead a woman. Not that the male of any species needed an excuse to fuck over a woman. Thoughts of her parents and past boyfriends intruded and she decided to follow her friend’s advice. She pushed them aside. They were no longer a part of her life and she’d be damned if she let anything about her past relationships with her mother and father or those douche bags with a dick for a brain ruin anything about the relationship she might—just might—have with Marcus.
    That she so desperately wanted with Marcus.
    “Hey, where did you go?” Patsy was looking at her with concern in her eyes and Hope forced the final, hurtful thoughts away.
    She grabbed another piece of chocolate and popped it in her mouth. Grab life, she urged herself silently. She was leaving after the holidays, anyway. Maybe being with Marcus could be her Christmas present to herself. Her dirty fling before she settled back down into her pitiful existence. Well, so much for her earlier pep talk, she thought. “I was just thinking about what I should wear tomorrow.”
    That diverted her friend’s attention and the women spent the next hour talking about clothes…men… shifters.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    THE NEXT DAY found Hope and Marcus walking in the stand of trees nearest his house. After a trip up the mountain, keeping to the lower, gently sloping areas, they had decided to stop when it began snowing, taking shelter under one of the new gazebos Marcus had recently added to the farm. Hope drew in a lungful of clean, mountain air tinged with the scent of snow.
    “It’s beautiful.” She pulled her coat closer, watching the snow fall. That’s what Christmas was all about, she thought to herself. Magic.
    “It certainly is beautiful.” Marcus’s deep voice called for her attention and she glanced up. She realized immediately his comment had not been directed at the scenery surrounding them, but at her. Did he think she was beautiful? He’d been the perfect gentlemen so far today, telling her about the trees and his plans for expansion. He’d held her hand but she thought that had been more out of necessity than desire. She was sorry to say he hadn’t pulled her beneath a tree and kissed her like he had in Patsy’s front hallway. She wanted the feel of his lips on hers again.
    “How much land do you own?” She tried for a neutral subject—and she really was interested. She found it fascinating that this man had carved out a career, a way of life, on the side of a mountain in Colorado.
    “There’s about a thousand acres.”
    “All planted with Christmas trees?”
    Marcus heard the excitement in Hope’s voice and his bear rumbled with approval. They could make a good life here. Together.
    “No, no,” he laughed. “That would be a fucking lot of trees. Higher up is mature timber that needs to be cut soon and will bring in a hefty income. But right now I want to concentrate on family outings. I ship a lot of trees during the holiday season, but I’ve never opened the farm up for families to come up and cut their own. I’d like to do that.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I want a