Chapter Nine

	“The tree looks beautiful!” Dolores said, standing back and admiring the
Christmas tree.  The lights reflected in the glass decorations hanging near by, glittering in
the dim light of the room.  It was Christmas Eve, and the last of the gifts had just been
laid out under the tree. Hayley had slipped her gift for Jules in the back behind several
packages from Dolores to Hector when no one had been looking.  
	“Hayley has to take all the credit for that,” Jules said, smiling at her admiringly. 
Hayley beamed back at him and moved in beside him slipping under his arm and
wrapping her own arm behind his back.  She lifted her eyes up to his with an almost
seductive look in her eyes. 
	“Well, this is our first Christmas tree together, Darling, I wanted it to be special,
just like you are.”
	Jules coughed, and rested his hand on her shoulder.  “You flatter me, Little One.”
	“You deserve it, Darling,” she said, smiling up at him, raising to her tiptoes and
planting a kiss on his cheek.  Was that a blush she saw on his face, she wondered, and
smiled brighter. 
	“I hope I deserve more than that, Little One,” he said, his jaw clenched behind his
smile.  “Shall we head up to bed for the night?”  he dropped his head to kiss her gently,
and whispered in a husky voice. “I want you upstairs now!”
	Hayley nearly crumbled, her eyes wide.  She tried to keep her smile steady while
her heart was beating a mile a minute. “Certainly, Darling,” she said.
	He held her tightly to him and looked at Dolores. “Good night, Dolores.  We’ll
see you in the morning.”  Then he steered Hayley toward the stairs.  She tried to walk
faster, to pull away from him, but he kept up with her and it only served to make it look
like they were anxious to get to their bedroom, and she blushed.  When they reached his
bedroom, he opened the door and pushed her through in front of him, closing the door
firmly behind him.  She swung around to look at him, ready to ask him what he was
doing, but the anger on his face shocked her and she froze before she even had a chance
to speak. 
	“Alright, Hayley, what the hell are you doing!” he demanded.
“I — uhh —  what do you mean?”
	He walked towards her looking very menacing, and she backed away nervously.
“You know damned well what I mean!  You’ve been acting strange all day, ever since
you came down stairs this morning. Looking at me with those dreamy eyes, hanging all
over me, kissing me every chance you got!”  His eyes bore into her, and she found it hard
to breath.  “What gives, Hayley?”
	“Well — you — you wanted us to pretend we were a happily married couple,
remember?”
	“Aren’t you laying it on a little thick,” he challenged her, taking another step
towards her.  Her eyes widened, and she stepped back again and found her legs pressed
up against the bed. 
	“Jules!” she gasped, trying to regain her composure.  “I was only following your
lead.  You set the ground rules last night, didn’t you?”
	His eyes darkened and she suddenly wished she hadn’t spoken at all.   He stepped
forward again and she had nowhere to go.  Instead, he stood within inches of her, staring
down at her.  “Last night, was a mistake, and I apologized for my actions.  Today I had
intended to give you the space you deserved, but you were all over me.  Don’t play games
with me, Hayley, that you aren’t prepared to follow through with.”
	She stared up at him in panic.  “Jules, I — I thought I was doing what you wanted
me to do? I thought I was playing along, helping you save the lodge.”
	“The lodge?  Dammit Hayley, this has nothing to do with the lodge!  You’re a
beautiful, desirable woman, and Lord knows I’m a living, breathing, warm blooded man.
What do you expect from a man after draping yourself all over him all day, practically
throwing yourself at him every chance you got.  I’m only human, dammit!” He gripped
her by the shoulders and she winced at how tight his fingers dig into her.
	“Jules!” her voice was a mere whisper, and he ignored her plea.
	“Are you prepared to follow through, Hayley?”  His eyes held hers, commanding
an answer from her, but her voice failed her.  “Are you?”
	“Jules! Please!”  She was afraid now, and so sorry that she had even considered
behaving the way she had for the day. She had never considered that her actions might —
But his lips were on hers before she could say any more, kissing her with punishing force
that left her entranced.  His hands moved, pulling her hard against him and holding her in
an iron grip. His lips probed hers relentlessly, commanding a response from her. But
when her hands relaxed from the fists that had been pressed against him, and her lips
softened against his, she heard him moan.
	His anger turned into something even more compelling, and he kissed her with
increasing intensity.  In one swift movement he lifted her and placed her on the bed,
coming down squarely on top of her, pinning her arms to the bed above her head.  She let
out a whimper but still she kissed him back, unable to resist as he pressed against her. He
traced the contour of her lips with his tongue, and she whimpered again. She could feel
the urgency within him as they pressed so close together, and knew what he needed, what
he wanted. Still, she was powerless to resist him.  She didn’t want to resist him!  She
wanted him to kiss her! She wanted — 
	He let out a loud groan and let go of her, ripping his lips from hers and swinging
his legs around, sitting on the edge with his head in his hands. 
	“Jules?” she whispered, confusion raging inside her.  When he had first taken her
lips she had been shocked, but instantly she’d known she wanted nothing more than for
him to kiss her and to kiss him back.  Every fiber of her being knew it was what she had
always wanted, since the moment she had looked into those dark, penetrating eyes.  Had
he not pulled away, she would have gone with him to the far reaches of the passion that
would have followed, and with every racing beat of her heart she knew that was what she
wanted!  Confused by his sudden rejection of her, she resisted the urge to reach out to
him, to beg him to kiss her again and make love to her all night long. 
	“Dammit Hayley!” he exclaimed, then he stood up and strode purposefully across
the room.  He opened the door without looking back, and closed it firmly behind him,
leaving her laying breathless and panting on the bed, tears flowing down her face.  How
stupid could she have been!  How could she have thought that her actions would go
without consequences?  Worst of all, how could she not have realized that she would be
the one who would end up hurt from it.  How could she not have realized that she loved
him!

	Hayley did not sleep well.  Every time she woke up she would lay there listening
for his breathing, but it wasn't there. Jules didn't return to the bedroom that night. At last
she heard people talking somewhere in the lodge, and since she wasn't sleeping anyway,
she crawled out of bed and pulled on some clothes. It was Christmas morning, and the
Shellingtons would be expecting happy faces. She sighed, wondering if she could face
Jules, then a horrifying thought came to her.  His gift was already under the tree. Would
he even welcome a gift from her, after what had happened the night before. 
	Slowly, she made her way down the stairs.  By the time she was half way down
she could see Dolores and Hector sitting by the fire with their coffee. Just when she
thought there was no sign of Jules, he appeared in the dining room doorway.  She stopped
moving. He looked perfect, she thought. Well rested and neatly dressed, not a hair out of
place. Obviously he had slept somewhere, and slept well, just not in the cot in his room.
The second she spotted him there, her body reacted with the same urgency she had felt
the night before on his bed, and she stifled a gasp.  He must have heard her, for he turned
to face her, and their eyes locked in a hesitant gaze. 
	"Ah, there you are."  It was Dolores who spoke, not Jules.  She beamed up
towards the stairs and patted the sofa beside where she was sitting. "Come, we're trying to
decide if we should have breakfast, or open the gifts first."  The woman looked at her
expectantly, as if she was the only one who could solve the problem for them. Hayley
hardly noticed.  She was looking at Jules, wondering how she was expected to behave,
and he was looking at her with a dark liquid gaze that made her knees weak!
	Then he walked towards the stairs and held his hand up to her, coaxing her to
continue on her way. "Good morning, Little One.  You were restless last night, so I didn't
wake you when I got up."  Hayley chewed nervously on her lip.  Cautiously she made her
way to the bottom of the stairs, conscious that Dolores was speaking to her again. 
	"Not your migraine again, I hope, my Dear,"  Dolores was saying, and Hayley
forced herself to tear her eyes away from Jules to look at her. 
	"No, Dolores, I just —"  but she didn't know what to say, and the other woman
suddenly opened her eyes wide. 
	"You're not pregnant are you!?" she asked, excitedly.
	"No!"  Hayley gasped, then blushed at the speed of her denial. She looked at
Jules, quickly, and noticed he almost looked like he was laughing.  How could he be so
calm, after what he had done to her the night before, she wondered.  More to the point,
after what he had not done to her the night before! She walked the rest of the way down
the stairs and brushed past him,  ignoring his outstretched hand.  "No, of course not,
Dolores, that’s silly. I just didn't sleep well. I was — cold."
	"Perhaps breakfast first would be best then," Jules said, shoving his hands back
into his pockets. 
	Hayley shrugged. "If that's OK with Anna."  She eyed the tree cautiously. Perhaps
while everyone was eating breakfast she could slip away and remove Jules' gift.  She
couldn't bare to give it to him now. Sighing, she wondered if there was even any reason
to stay at the lodge.  She had made a fool of herself, and she had upset him. Maybe she
should just leave. She could pretend to have received a call from a sick relative and fly
out of there.  Jules would probably be so happy to see her go that he'd jump at the chance
to fly her back to Whitehorse.
	Of course, she had no where to go.  There was nothing for her back in San Diego.
Her parents were gone, their house was gone, all that remained were a few boxes of
belongings and some furniture in the basement of a friend. And there was also no job  to
go back to. 
	"Hayley?"
	She realized that she'd been a million miles away and hadn't heard her name until
it had been spoken several times.  She tore her eyes away from the tree and turned to look
at the people in the room. 
	"What?"
	"We're going in for breakfast now," Dolores said, standing less than a foot away
from her now. "Everything will be alright, don't you worry about it."
	Hayley wrinkled her brow in confusion. "What are you talking about, Dolores?" 
The woman smiled at her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Every marriage has it's
rough moments.   They pass.  The two of you love each other much to much to let this
one do any great damage.  It will all work out in the end."
	"Dolores, I don't know what you mean."
	"Honey, it's alright, you don't have to pretend with me.  I'm a wife too, I
understand these things."  When Hayley's expression still held confusion, Dolores sighed.
"I saw Jules coming out into the hall this morning when I was on my way into the bath,
but he wasn't coming out of your bedroom. Then, when I saw you coming downstairs this
morning looking like you hadn't slept much at all, well, I figured out what had happened.
The two of you had an argument and he slept in another bedroom."  
	The woman looked at her with concern.  "It may be none of my business, Honey,
but I've been married a lot longer than you have and I just want to help. Now, I'm not
going to pry, I just want you to know that it can't be as bad as it feels right now.  Things
will work out."
	Hayley was blushing as she listened to the other woman talk. Dolores believed
they had had a marital spat!  Who would need to fabricate a sick relative now.  She could
just claim irreconcilable differences and no one would be surprised at all. So much for
saving GreyWolf Lodge!  
	"Are you coming ladies?"  It was Jules who called them from the doorway of the
diningroom.  Hayley glanced towards him.  He was standing right where he had kissed
her the other night, and she noticed the mistletoe was back in its place.  She glanced at
Dolores, who was smiling coyly at her.
	"The mistletoe must have fallen down yesterday.  I found it and put it back up. Go
on over there and give your husband a kiss, show him you still love him." she coaxed.
Hayley glanced back at the tree, where her gift to Jules was buried behind several others,
then looked back at Jules. "Dolores, you go ahead, I'll be there in a minute,"  she said.  
The other woman sighed, but did not pursue the matter further.  Hayley waited until she
heard Dolores talking to Jules at the doorway before she walked closer to the tree.  As
soon as everyone was seated in the diningroom, she thought, she would be able to hunt
for the gift and remove it. She knelt down and peered under the tree, trying to see what
had become of the gift. 
	"Hayley?"  The voice was right behind her and she jumped, spinning her head
around to find Jules towering above her.  
	"Oh!"  she gasped, standing up again.
	"Are you coming for breakfast?" 
	I should just go spend the day in my room, she thought to herself.  But out loud
she said "Dolores thinks we had a fight.  I suppose she's right."  She glanced at him
cautiously.  There was an expression in his eyes that she could not understand, and she
tore her eyes away and walked past him.  He reached out and stopped her with a hand on
her arm, and she paused for a few seconds.
	"Jules, please. Let me go," she said, and after a moment of hesitation he dropped
his hand and she continued to the dining room. 

	With breakfast over the group slowly gravitated back to the fireside room, and the
Christmas tree.  Dolores seemed eager to hand out the gifts, and Hector laughed at his
wife. 
	"She loves to shop, this one.  You never know what you're going to find wrapped
in a gift from her!"  he said, and his wife rested a manicured hand on his shoulder.
	"Now, Hector, I've never once heard you complain about the little gifts I buy for
you.  And this is Christmas!  It's the time for giving.  Here, why don't you open this one?" 
His wife handed him a large flat box wrapped in gold foil, and sat back expectantly to
watch him unwrap it.  Eventually he held up a dark grey cardigan as Dolores beamed at
him in delight.
	"She always knows what I like," Hector said, and Dolores looked like a child that
had just been rewarded for a deed well done. He reached for a small parcel and handed it
to his wife. She opened it eagerly, to reveal a beautiful silk scarf, which she raved over
and immediately draped around her neck before giving her husband a quick kiss on his
cheek.
	"Oh, Jules, this one is for you!" Dolores reached for another gift, this one wrapped
in green foil, and handed it to her host while Hector sat back to watch. "Go on, open it,
open it!  And Hayley, here's yours."  A glittery red package was thrust towards her, and
Hayley stared at it in surprise.
	"Oh, Dolores, I wasn't expecting anything.  I didn't —"  she began, eyeing the
present in surprise. 
	Dolores just smiled. "Don't you worry about it.  I love giving gifts at Christmas
time. Now you just open it and that's all the gift I need in return."
	Hayley looked towards Jules, who just shrugged at her.  When she didn't
immediately open her gift, he began to unwrap his, and before long he was looking at an
elegant V-neck sweater resting on a bed of tissue paper.
	"This is lovely, Dolores," he said.  "Thank you very much, even though you
shouldn't have."  He stood up and walked over to his guest and kissed her on the cheek,
leaving her absolutely beaming.  Then he glanced at Hayley, who was still clutching her
present on her lap. "Your turn, Little One," he said.
	Hayley looked down at the box.  It looked almost identical to the others that had
already been opened, she realized. It must be another sweater. Carefully she removed the
ribbon, then the foil wrap, an lifted the edge of the box.  She glanced at Dolores before
the completed opening it, then looked down again.   Prepared to see a sweater inside the
box, with words already circling in her head for her thank you, she lifted the lid.  But as
the contents came into view, she gasped, and sat staring into the box.
	"Well," Dolores said, sitting forward in her chair until she was perched on the
edge, drumming her hands against her knees eagerly. "Lift it up, let everyone see."
Hayley lifted the garment slowly out of the box. It was a dress, soft and rich to the feel;
an ever so slightly off white colour, with spaghetti straps and a slightly draped front.  As
the entire garment was finally raise from the box Hayley decided it would probably fall
just below her knees, soft and flowing.  It also looked very expensive.
	"Oh, Dolores, I can't accept this!" Hayley gasped.
	"Of course you can, my Dear!" Dolores said, as if no further objections would be
heard. "I asked Jules what size you wore, when we went shopping the other day.  I hadn't
come prepared, because I didn't know about you until we got her.  But when I saw that
dress, I thought it was perfect for you! The colour will look lovely against your skin, hold
it up Dear, let us see."  Hayley held the dress up against herself and Dolores nodded in
delight. "Yes, yes, see? It looks perfect! You must wear if for New Years Eve!"
	Hayley was awestruck. She had never owned anything this beautiful before. 
Carefully she re-folded it and rested it back on its bed of tissue and ran her fingers gently
over the fabric.  Happy with the reception her gift had received, Dolores now turned her
attention back to the tree.
	"Oh look, there's another one under the tree. This one is not from me." She
reached under the tree and Hayley looked up quickly.
	"Oh, Dolores, that's just —" Hayley started to say, but Dolores had pulled out the
gift and was looking down at it.
	"Why, it's for you Jules!"  The woman smiled at him, then at Hayley. "From your
dear wife.  And it's heavy, too!"
	Jules looked at Hayley with a raised brow, but she lowered her eyes, avoiding his
gaze. Dolores glanced from one to the other, then smiled at Jules. "Come, we all want to
see what's inside!" she said, enthusiastically.
	Jules stood up and went over to the tree to pick up his gift, while Hayley sat
forward,  frowning. 
	"Jules, maybe it's not — I mean, perhaps I shouldn't — well — "  she sputtered,
then her frown deepened as she looked at the three people who looked back at her
expectantly. There was no way of getting out of giving him the gift now.  She slumped
back into her seat and sighed. "I just mean — umm — be very careful with it."
	With a curious look, he returned to sit down again and set the box on his lap.
Dolores watched intently and even Hector shifted forward in his chair, as Jules removed
the wrapping, revealing a large, sturdy gift box.  He glanced towards Hayley before
continuing, and she blushed, then he proceeded to lift the lid and move away the
protective tissue.
	"Hayley!" he exclaimed, shooting her a quick glance.  She frowned deeper. She
knew she shouldn't have let him open it, she should have just gone ahead and removed it
from the tree before breakfast, regardless of the fact that he had been standing over her. It
was silly to have bought him anything in the first place, and  he must be laughing at her
inside for having done such a thing when she was just an employee.  Unless of course he
was angry at her, she thought, and lifted cautious eyes to look at him. 
	"What is it, Jules?" Dolores asked, leaning forward, unable to contain herself any
longer.  "What's in the box? Let us see!"
	Carefully Jules reached a hand into the box and lifted out his gift. It was a small
sculpture, about eight inches tall, carved in grey soapstone, the form of a seated wolf
howling skyward. As he looked at it, Hayley realized his face was softening, and hoped
he wasn't too angry with her after all.
	"It's a grey wolf," she said in a soft, awkward voice, as if she felt shy offering her
explanation. "You know — for GreyWolf."
	Jules turned to look at her again and the expression in his eyes was like none she
had ever seen before, and she could not understand it.  But as he spoke, she felt a great
relief. "Hayley, do you have any idea — "  he stopped, and looked at the sculpture again. 
	"How did you know?"
	She blushed, and looked down at her hands.  How did she know that he had
looked at that very statue many times in the past?  That the significance of it would not
have been lost on him, even if she hadn't provided her explanation, although it probably
proved helpful for the others in the room. How did she know that he had felt a kinship to
it, but that he wouldn't buy it for himself out of principle?
	"I talked to Sidney," she said simply, and she heard him suck in his breath, but he
said nothing more. 
	"What a lovely gift!" Dolores cooed, admiring the sculpture.  "Why, Hayley it is
perfect too, just as you say, for GreyWolf."
	After a long silence, during which Jules looked at the sculpture long and hard, he
finally stood up and walked towards the fireplace and carefully he placed the wolf on the
mantle before turning back to face Hayley. 
	"Thank you, Little One," he said quietly, and Hayley could not describe the far
away expression she saw in his eyes. 
	"Do you have a gift for Hayley?"  Dolores was saying, and Hayley realized the
woman was speaking to Jules. Suddenly it occurred to her that she had put him in a very
awkward position.  She had thought that buying him a gift would help towards
convincing the Shellingtons that she and Jules were married, but she hadn't given any
thought to the fact that they would then be expecting him to give her one too.  She shot
an apologetic look towards him, struggling to think up something to say to help him out.
	"Oh, Dolores, he gave me my gift early.  It was my beautiful fur hat," she started,
but the look on Jules' face stopped her.
	"True, I had told you that was your Christmas gift, Little One."  He looked at
Dolores. "She needed it, so I gave it to her early, because she didn't have anything to keep
herself warm properly."  Then he turned his eyes back to Hayley. "But I do have
something else that I saved for Christmas Day.   I was going to save it for later, when we
were alone."
	Hayley looked at him in shock. The last thing she had expected, especially after
what had happened the night before, was a gift from him for Christmas.  Jules stood up
and left the room, disappearing behind the door of his office, and Hayley glanced quickly
at Dolores, who smiled and nodded at her. 
	"There, Dear, see?" the woman said quietly, leaning towards her. "What did I tell
you?"
	Jules returned to the group, and sat down on the couch beside Hayley, facing her. 
He handed her a small gift wrapped parcel, and she hesitated before reaching for it. 
	"For me?" she asked, wide eyed. 
	"I'm not married to anyone else," he said, with a glint in his eyes, and Hayley
blushed. You're not married to me either, she thought, as she slowly took the parcel from
him and began to unwrap it.  
	"It's not much," he warned her, as she slipped the wrapping paper of to reveal a
long thin box. "It's worth more in sentiment than it is in money."
	She looked at him before opening the box. "Well, that's good, because I'm not
much of a material girl," she said.  As he looked at her, he realized that he had already
realized that about her. Things bought with large amounts of money would never impress
her as much as those given as gifts from the heart. It made him all the more eager to see
her reaction to what he had bought for her. 
	"Open it, Little One," he urged, and she lifted the lid off the box with trembling
fingers. 
	There, on a bed of soft white cotton, lay a native necklace of beads strung on
rawhide. The beads varied from blue to black and brass, and carved wood and bone, and
interspersed among them were five teeth, two smaller ones on each side and one large on
in the center at the bottom. It was simple, and yet beautiful in its simplicity. Hayley
raised her eyes to his questioningly. 
	"Those are wolf teeth," he said, with a boyish tone to his voice, his face showing
an eagerness to hear what she thought of his gift. 
	"Wolf teeth!" she said, in a hushed voice, and her eyes instinctively flew to the
sculpture he had set on the mantle before looking back at him. "It symbolizes you!"
	He nodded, and she wanted to lean over and hug him, and kiss him to thank him
for the necklace, but she was afraid to. She had endured his anger the night before when
she had overdone it with the fake affection, she was scared to kiss him now for fear of
angering him again.  But as she hesitated, he lifted the necklace from its box and leaned
forward to fasten it around her neck. He slid his hands beneath her hair and when she felt
his fingers sliding along the side of her neck she shivered and caught her breath, and her
eyes fluttered upwards to meet his. 
	"Thank you," she whispered, and it was he who lowered his lips to place a soft,
fleeting kiss on her lips, before sitting back and smiling. 
	"No, Little One, thank you. You've given me more than you realize,"  he said,
glancing   towards the sculpture she had given him.