A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,37
out loud, then smirking, offered an apology, not meaning it in the least. He was still grinning from ear to ear. To see him that lighthearted when he thought they were ready to battle the McKinleys and Kilpatricks was uncharacteristic for him. Duncan poured a glass of whisky and handed it to Cearnach, as if welcoming him to his world of dealing with an American she-wolf.
Cearnach tossed down the smooth, warm liquor. “She was in my lane. To avoid hitting her, I ended up driving off the road and blew two tires. The lass gave me a ride to the wedding.”
“But all did not go well at the wedding,” Ian guessed, head tilted down, his expression severe. He looked like he would be considering battle moves as soon as he knew who the key players were that he needed to target.
“Two of the older McKinley brothers ordered us out.” Cearnach left out the part about Vardon striking Elaine in the face. Everyone would see the damage soon enough, and that would stir up the pack’s ire just as much. “When we returned to where we’d left my car, it was gone. I had the idea they might have dumped it over the cliffs near the Senton Castle ruins. So Elaine and I found the destroyed minivan.”
Duncan swore in Gaelic.
“Robert Kilpatrick taunted us from the cliffside, threatening to leave us stranded. We tore off to stop them, but the McKinley brothers had already stolen our clothes and Elaine’s rental car.”
“They must have suspected she was your girlfriend and that’s why she was with you at the wedding,” Ian said, thinking out loud.
Cearnach wasn’t about to tell them that she’d sat on the groom’s side until he moved her to his side of the church.
“What was she doing here? Is she vacationing in Scotland? If she was visiting her kin, why wasn’t she at the wedding already?” Ian asked.
Cearnach hated to tell his brother about her connection to the Hawthorns who had stolen the MacNeill merchandise.
“She was supposed to meet with Robert Kilpatrick—her distant cousin—about some business deal.”
Back to battle mode, Duncan shook his head. “I can’t believe you brought a Kilpatrick lass under our roof.”
Ian raised his hand to silence Duncan. “What kind of business deal?”
“She didn’t say. He was making the move on her at the church, but he didn’t know who she was, and she didn’t realize he was the one she was supposed to be meeting. I’m sure now that they’ve got her passport and driver’s license, they realize their mistake.”
Guthrie laughed. “I should say so. They left one of their kin in your hands to protect when they were too stupid to know any better.”
Cearnach wished he could’ve seen their reactions when they discovered their cousin was in his care. Stunned silence? Cursing and bellowing? Any reaction would have been worth seeing.
“I’m sure they believed she was my new girlfriend and thought my bringing her to the wedding was an insult to Calla. But Calla wasn’t upset about my being with Elaine. I’m sure the McKinleys and Kilpatricks intended for us both to pay for the insult, though.”
Duncan cast one of his darker smiles and poured himself a whisky. “The joke’s on them. She’s with us now.”
Ian frowned at Duncan. “He can’t keep her as a hostage. She’s American and is related to them.”
“What if she’s really a spy for them? She knew Cearnach was headed to the wedding, and she forced him off the road. Then she offered him a lift. What if she’s behind all of this?” Duncan asked, his wary nature suddenly kicking in.
Cearnach’s cautious temperament as a wolf had considered and dismissed the notion. She was American and had too recently arrived. Her cool behavior toward the Kilpatrick brothers at the church told him she hadn’t known them, nor had she appreciated that they moved into her space. Though she also hadn’t liked Cearnach dictating where she would sit.
The excitement she had exhibited while exploring the ruined castle was real. The terror he had seen in her eyes when she realized her clothes and rented car had been stolen was just as genuine.
“She’s an innocent in all this,” Cearnach said.
“Yet she’s one of them and she’s entering into some kind of business arrangement with Robert Kilpatrick,” Duncan warned.
Two hundred years ago, the Kilpatricks had entered into a “business arrangement” with the MacNeills that took them into a bloody battle that had lasted for months between their clans.