lassie,” he said, pausing and giving her a hint of a smile, “but about the kiss, I have no regrets.”
She gave a little wolfish grin, her cheeks blushing beautifully once more, and he was ready to kiss her again. Then she turned away to pull at her dress, trying to dry it further. Not entirely resigned to leave things between them like that, he finally drove the Mercedes out of the car park and eased onto the road.
She took a deep breath and exhaled. “The wedding was beautifully done. I loved the color scheme—purple is my favorite—the lavender flowers and bridesmaids’ gowns. I enjoyed seeing the men, and even the younger boys, wearing kilts. Despite what happened at the end, I did love everything about the wedding. I��ve never seen a more spectacular sight.”
Cearnach thought he heard regret in Elaine’s voice. Had she wished she had stayed in Scotland so many years ago? That she could have had such a wedding?
“Calla Stewart arranges parties, celebrations, weddings, and the like. She’s very good at it. She has a real eye for artistic design, and she’s great at details.”
“Wow. To do so for her own wedding must have been difficult. The bride’s a beautiful woman. She seemed delighted you were there.”
He nodded. “I was glad I’d made the effort after I saw how pleased she appeared.”
“The groom seemed just as handsome,” Elaine said, not hesitating to voice her opinion. “They looked like an attractive couple. Though some of the family have a violent nature, if that man who accosted us is any indication.”
“Aye, Vardon is the most aggressive of the pack.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, as if pondering something, then finally asked, “Did he have a personal grudge against you?”
He didn’t want to get into this. Not when he was afraid Elaine might misunderstand the situation, but he owed her an explanation after Vardon took his anger out on her. “He didn’t like that I had kissed his mate—the year before he even met her.”
When Elaine didn’t respond, he glanced at her. She was frowning. Probably thinking he kissed all the unmated she-wolves he met. “There was no spark between us,” he said, returning his attention to the rain-slicked road. “Apparently she felt differently.”
Elaine said, “She told the brute who hit me? That she preferred your kissing her to his? Or something like that? Why did they end up mating if she felt that way?”
“She must have said something to him about it. They probably were having an argument about something, and she let it slip. I didn’t tell him. As to why she mated with him, I haven’t a clue.”
He wanted to explain to Elaine that he’d never experienced such a kiss with another woman, although he had the mechanics down pat. With Elaine, all his senses were heightened, clamoring for more of her—to taste and feel every inch of her, to smell her unique scent, to hear her whispered words against his ear.
“Cearnach?” Even the way she said his name with the sweetest American accent sounded seductive and sexy and like she was thinking along the same lines as he was. “So what do you think is wrong with the relationship between Calla and Baird?”
He cleared his throat, trying to get his mind off what Elaine was doing to his libido. “He’s the kind of man who would dictate everything in her life. How and when she slept, what and when she ate. He’s very controlling.”
“Not like you,” Elaine said with a definite sarcastic edge to her voice.
He glanced at her. “Where did you ever get that idea?”
She gave a harsh laugh.
He smiled.
He’d been unable to keep the front of her dress dry with his woolen sash, and now he noted that her dress was plastered to her skin, even more revealing now than when the wind had blown so hard against her dress earlier. Trying to act more noble than he was feeling, he looked away, hoping that the heater would dry her dress so that he wouldn’t have to see so much of her.
“So if you didn’t want him to marry her, why didn’t you object?” she asked.
“I did object. A number of times. Just not at the wedding. If I had wished to mate with her, I would have. Actually, if I had wanted to mate with her, the wedding would never have happened. Not between her and Baird.”
“Why even get married in a church? Is that something all wolves in Scotland do?”
“If we have