Dating Agency Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 6) Read online

  DATING AGENCY BEAR

  By

  Natalie Kristen

  For more books set in Shadow Point

  BRIDES fur BEARS

  Bad Bear (Book 1)

  Brave Bear (Book 2)

  Brash Bear (Book 3)

  Big Bear (Book 4)

  Mail-Order Bear (Book 5)

  Dating Agency Bear (Book 6)

  GRAY BEARS

  Marrying the Bear (Book 1)

  Loving the Bear (Book 2)

  Mating the Bear (Book 3)

  Tempting the Bear (Book 4)

  Taming the Lion (Book 5)

  Embracing the Lion (Book 6)

  Copyright © 2016 by Natalie Kristen

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously or are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual locales, events, establishments or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  About this Book

  Penelope Hatfield is starting a new life in Shadow Point and at her younger brother's encouragement, she decides to set up her own dating agency.

  Not to brag, but she really is a matchmaker extraordinaire. Her own love life is a mess, but enough of that.

  She can spot a great match from miles and she has successfully paired off all her friends, neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances, even acquaintances of acquaintances.

  She always seems to pick gems for others, and lemons for herself.

  But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right?

  Damien Ken realizes he has been outpranked and outsmarted by his buddy and work mate, Graham, when Graham drags him to meet his elder sister—who is the owner of a brand new dating agency.

  He doesn't want to be matched and mated but when he meets the agency's owner, Damien realizes that he may just have the last laugh.

  Penelope is his, even if she doesn't know it yet.

  But someone is out to sabotage Penelope and destroy her life. Can Damien and Penelope foil a diabolical, deadly plot before it is too late?

  Can two pranksters plan the most awesome wedding ever in Shadow Point?

  You betcha!

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER ONE

  Penelope Hatfield drummed her fingernails on the desk and rearranged her pens again. She jabbed at the keyboard of her trusty laptop in irritation when she saw the screensaver. If the screensaver came on, that meant she wasn't using her computer. And if she wasn't using the computer, that meant she wasn't working.

  Unless she had a client sitting in her office and she was attending to said client. Then that would be work as well. But—there was no one else in her little office. Just her, Miss Hatfield—the boss/owner/only employee of Miss Hatfield's Dating Agency.

  She should be busily typing her new clients' data into the computer so she could find them suitable dates as soon as possible. Unfortunately, no new clients had walked through the door of her dating agency the whole morning.

  Penelope scowled at the screensaver again. Her screensaver cheerfully announced the name of her two-week-old business: Miss Hatfield's Dating Agency.

  It was nothing fancy, but it was pithy and to the point.

  Determinedly, Penelope pushed her black-rimmed glasses up her nose and scrolled through the files on her computer. She reread the profiles of her clients, all ten of them. Yep, she had ten clients now. It wasn't enough, but it was a start.

  Pursing her lips, Penelope sat up smartly and faced the front door of her neat but tiny office. The rent of this small corner unit was cheap and she had gotten all her second-hand office furniture at a steal. As a small start-up, she had to keep her expenses down and her business up. Every businessperson knew that.

  Penelope blew out a breath. A businessperson. Yep, that's her. She was her own boss now. She had always worked for others before, but now she was working for herself. It was amazing, and frankly, rather frightening.

  This was her brand new business, and her brand new life. Could she really succeed at this? Her business, that was.

  She had great organizational and interpersonal skills, but was that enough? For a business to succeed, you needed clients. Lots of them. Penelope swung her gaze towards the door again and muttered an oath and a prayer.

  But it didn't matter how hard she stared at the door. The door chime remained silent. The single men and women of Shadow Point weren't beating a path to her agency.

  Maybe this wasn't such a sound business idea. After all, what did she know about marriage and matings? She had never been married. She had hoped—

  Penelope forced herself to release the pencil in her hand so she wouldn't snap the poor pencil in two. She couldn't afford to keep breaking pencils. Office stationery cost money. For her business to have a fighting chance, she had to watch her bottom line like a hawk.

  Gulping down her cold coffee, Penelope wondered if she had made the right decision coming to Shadow Point. Her younger brother was here, and he was her only family, but this wasn't her hometown. She and Graham had left their hometown soon after their parents were killed in a violent home invasion. They'd sold the house and moved away. They just couldn't live in the house where they'd watched their parents die.

  Graham moved to Shadow Point where he found a good job with Beck's Builders, a renovation company. Penelope had always wanted to experience life in the city so off she went. She was young, unattached, and there was nothing holding her back. She would move to the big city and make her mark.

  City life was everything she thought it would be but always, she felt there was something missing. She loved, or she thought she loved the hustle and bustle of the city. She had a good job and she had lots of friends. She even had a long-term boyfriend.

  Ian and her had seemed like the perfect couple to all their friends. Everyone thought they would be the first to get married. Instead, she'd attended all their friends' weddings and engagement parties without a ring on her finger. She'd even begun to grimace instead of smile when the increasingly awkward question came up: So when is your turn?

  All their friends were getting engaged and married. And ironically, she was the one who'd set them up on dates and introduced them to their better halves.

  She was a natural-born matchmaker. She could sniff out a good match among her friends, neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances, even acquaintances of acquaintances.

  Everyone said that if she ever found herself out of a job, she should set up a dating agency.

  Well, talk about self-fulfilling prophecies.

  Penelope's head jerked up at the sound of her door chime. She leaped to her feet and said automatically, “Good morning! Welcome to Miss Hatfield's Dating Agency...”

  The professional smile on her face faded and her shoulders slumped when she saw that it wasn't a new client.

  CHAPTER TWO

  It was only her younger brother, Graham.

  “Hey,” she said glumly, dropping back into her chair.

  “That's no way to greet a client,” Graham snorted, putting his feet up on her desk.

  “Tsk! Get your dirty boots off my desk. And you're not a client,” she snapped.

  “I could be.” Her brother waggled his eyebrows just to annoy her.

>   “Ha! Finally!” Penelope pounced on his words. “After all my cajoling and arm-twisting, you've finally seen the light.” She snatched up a form and thrust it at him. “Fill this up. And I assure you, that as a client of Miss Hatfield's Dating Agency, all your information will be kept strictly confidential.”

  Graham sputtered and jumped out of his chair. “I'm not signing up for your matchmaking services!”

  “Why not?” Penelope asked in a wounded tone. “You were the one who encouraged me to set up the business. You said and I quote: You can do it, sis! You've got the skills to be a great matchmaker!”

  “Well yeah. But your skills should be used on other people. Not me!” Graham said fervently.

  “Thanks for the endorsement,” she mumbled.

  “Look, Penelope, I know you'll do a great job for your clients. But I don't need an agency to get dates...”

  “Is that what you guys think?” Penelope frowned.

  “What?”

  Penelope huffed and threw up her hands. “The ten clients I have so far are all female. I don't have a single male client!”

  “Give it some time,” Graham began. “You've only...”

  But Penelope pushed away from her desk and began to pace up and down in agitation. “I need guys to sign up, Graham! For a dating agency to work, I need at least one male client. Just where have all the guys gone? Do they all think they can meet their wonderful, perfect mates on their own?” she grumbled.

  She rounded on her brother, fixing her large, brown eyes on him with laser-like intensity. “You are single. And you're male” She wagged her finger at Graham. “And you're my brother. It's the least I can do for my baby brother.” When she gave him her sweetest, most maternal, affectionate smile, he paled and recoiled from her. Geez, it was as if she had flashed a row of predatory, deadly, shark teeth at him.

  Striding purposefully back to her desk, she grabbed a form and began writing. “I'm signing you up. I'll fill in all your details for you. All you have to do is answer the short questionnaire at the back of this form. Heck, I'll even waive your registration fee. But you—Graham Hatfield, are going into the agency's database!”

  Graham made a strangled sound as she began ticking boxes and filling in blanks on the form.

  “Okay, I know your date of birth, your age, your eye color, your species, your zodiac sign,” she muttered as she scribbled furiously. “What's your height, Graham?”

  “You're not serious. You...you can't do this, Penelope,” Graham said, a note of pure panic creeping into his voice.

  “Why? I'll find you your perfect match, Graham. I've matched all my friends, neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances...” She ticked off the list on her fingers. “And they're all as happy as can be. I just know a good match when I see one!”

  “I know, I know you're good. Just...” He raked his hands through his short hair. “Don't do anything rash, Penelope.”

  She folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. “I need at least one male client, Graham. Just one, and I can get this show on the road.”

  “I'll get you a male client,” Graham blurted out. “I swear! Just...don't sign me up!”

  Penelope arched a brow. “When?”

  “Today.”

  “You know,” Penelope sighed dramatically. “Nothing will make me happier than to see my baby brother happily mated. I know you'll make a wonderful mate and father, Graham. Boy, I can't wait for you to have a bunch of adorable, rambunctious cubs!” She rubbed her hands with glee. “I'll have so many nephews and nieces to spoil...”

  With a horrified gasp, Graham bolted from her office.

  Penelope chuckled and rolled her eyes.

  He had run out so fast it was amazing he didn't make a Graham-shaped hole in the wall.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Damien Ken was having lunch at Broomstick Inn with his work mates. The crew from Beck's Builders piled into the spacious dining room of Broomstick Inn and occupied three tables. But with their big, muscular bodies and booming voices, it seemed like they filled the whole dining room.

  Gramma and Ne-ma joked and flirted with the men as they served up their lunch orders. The two little old ladies were the owners of Broomstick Inn, and they looked delighted to have a dozen beefy, hunky men in their dining room.

  Damien grinned as he watched his cousin, Reid, chat animatedly with the rest of the guys. Reid was a plumber and Beck's Builders frequently contracted their plumbing works to him. At the moment, Reid was working with Damien and his crew on a large-scale remodeling project. Reid didn't used to join them for lunch, preferring to eat alone. But ever since Reid remarried, he became more outgoing and opened up a lot more. He hung out with the guys more and he learned to laugh and live again. Damien was happy for his cousin, and he was mighty proud of himself. After all, he was the one who got Reid his mail-order bride. If not for his hare-brained scheme, Reid would never have met his beautiful bride, Lauren. A disastrous divorce had left Reid a bitter, broken man but Lauren, bless her heart, had brought love and light back to Reid's life.

  Damien was chuckling at a joke that Reid was telling the guys when Graham slid into the empty seat beside him. “What are you guys doing after work today?” Graham asked casually.

  Damien eyed his work mate suspiciously. Like him, Graham was a prankster, and the two of them were always trying to outdo each other. The other guys had wised up to their tricks and it was getting harder to pull off a prank successfully.

  “Why?” Damien asked, digging into his meatloaf.

  “I'm thinking we should go do something...meaningful,” Graham answered.

  That got Damien's attention. “Meaningful?”

  “Yeah. We're not getting younger, are we?” Graham continued in his cryptic tone.

  “Duh. Nobody can age backwards,” Damien snapped, then smiled charmingly as Gramma and Ne-ma came to refill their coffee. “Except Gramma and Ne-ma of course. You ladies just never seem to age!”

  Gramma and Ne-ma giggled and batted their eyes at him. “That's what everyone tells us!”

  But Graham went on earnestly, almost desperately, “Don't you guys want to meet a nice woman and...”

  “Wait a minute.” Damien held up his hand. “What's this all about?”

  “Are we going bar hopping after work?” someone asked. “Count me in!”

  “Count me out,” Reid said, laughing. “I'm going home. I'm a happily married man, and I promised to finish reading that big dinosaur book with Eddie and Matthew.”

  “No, no, we won't be going to a bar,” Graham said impatiently. He started to squirm in his seat as he searched for the right words. “We're going to a dating agency!”

  “A what?”

  Brows shot up and the guys around the table started talking at once. The usual guffaws and jibes made their way around.

  “Dating agency? Pfft! I don't think I need an agency to get a date.”

  “I can get laid any time. There's no shortage of...”

  “And who wants to meet a nice woman anyway? I want to meet plenty of naughty ones!”

  As the guys threw up more bawdy jokes and their raucous laughter grew in volume, Graham's face became redder and darker. Damien kept his eye on him. The guy looked like he was going to explode any minute now.

  “Three, two, one...” Damien counted down under his breath. “Ka-Boom!”

  And right on cue, Graham jumped up and slammed his palms on the table. “One of you has to come with me!” Graham roared. “I promised my sister to get her a man!”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Damien blinked at Graham, who was sweating and swearing profusely. There was a stunned silence in the dining room.

  “You're trying to get your sister a husband?” Damien asked incredulously.

  “No!”

  “But you just said...”

  “I said I need to get her a man.”

  “Ah.” Damien winked. “Just some no-strings-attached action b
etween the sheets. I like that. It sounds like my kind of...”

  Graham pointed at him. “You're it.”

  “What?”

  “I have to bring her at least one. You're the one,” Graham said, gulping down a glass of water.

  “You mean she wants more than one?” Damien's eyes widened.

  “One will do. For now.”

  “Your sister has a huge appetite. Just what I like in a woman!” Damien grinned and let out a howl. All his work mates stuck their fingers in their ears and cringed.

  “Stop! Stop that infernal howling, Damien!”

  The wolf shifters in their crew began to laugh. “You bears can't howl for nuts!”

  “Shut up, Damien,” Graham said through gritted teeth.

  “Hey, I'm taking one for the team, aren't I?” Damien called out as Graham stormed back to his table.

  “Don't come in walking funny tomorrow,” Nick told Damien with a wink.

  “Maybe he won't be able to come in at all!” Reid chortled.

  Damien smirked. “Y'all talk so much but you don't have the balls for this. I know, I know. You're all envious of me!”

  Gramma and Ne-ma came out with dessert and the dining room resumed its normal chatter. Damien finished his pudding and washed everything down with a big cup of coffee. The guys all finished up their meal quickly and went back to work.

  There was a lot to do, and by the time it was time to knock off, Damien had forgotten all about Graham's craziness during lunch.

  But Graham marched up to him and cornered him before he could head off to the nearest pub with the rest of the guys.

  “Let's go,” Graham said.

  “Go?” Damien frowned. “Where…?”

  “To meet my sister.”

  Damien coughed out a laugh. “You're serious.” He'd only half believed Graham when he said he was dragging him to a dating agency. He thought it was all a big joke.