A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,48
believe how considerate he was. Most men she knew would ask for the world if someone else was doing the cooking.
“What about some of the stew Cook made? I didn’t get a bite of it either, but it smells delicious.” Then Heather frowned as she shoved things around in the fridge. “There don’t appear to be any leftovers.” She started pulling packages of food out of the fridge. “I can make up a fresh batch.”
“Are you sure it won’t be too much trouble?” Elaine asked.
Heather waved a hand of dismissal. “No. I love to cook. I heard you’re an American and you ran Cearnach off the road, which is how you met so fortuitously.”
Cearnach shook his head as if he couldn’t believe meeting like that would become the topic of conversation, but at least he was smiling.
“He was driving too fast for a one-lane road,” Elaine said, one brow raised as she crossed her arms beneath her breasts.
Heather grinned at her and pulled out a peeler, then began removing the skin from a potato. “I like her. Don’t chase her off.”
Cearnach grabbed a bag of carrots and celery.
“Here, let me do that.” Shelley extracted a knife from the drawer and took the vegetables from him. “You wouldn’t want Ian to know you can cook. Not after you and your brothers have guarded the secret for so long.”
“I can manage,” Cearnach said.
Elaine wondered why he was so intent on offering when the ladies treated him as though he was just in the way.
Heather grinned at him, and Elaine assumed she knew him so well that she had figured out what his game was. “Go, Cearnach. You can show off to the lady some other time. Take Elaine to the garden room. Someone’s started a fire in the fire pit so it should be nice and toasty warm. Talk with her. Take her for a stroll in the gardens. The rain has stopped. I’ll have something palatable ready in half an hour or so.”
A strange look crossed Cearnach’s face, one of questioning, Elaine thought. She’d gotten the impression he had planned to take care of this in his own way, and now his cousin had thrown him totally off stride. Had he really intended to show her he could cook? How utterly sweet of him.
She’d never known a man who could switch plans so quickly and not be a little rattled, though. His cousin just smiled, feigning innocence, but the look appeared more calculating than angelic to Elaine.
A setup. That’s what Elaine felt was going on here. A means to move a romantic relationship forward at a jackrabbit’s pace instead of a snail’s. She got the impression that Cearnach didn’t often show interest in a she-wolf around his clan members, and Heather was pushing for something to happen.
“Do you want to take a walk in the gardens, lass?” Cearnach asked, finally taking his cousin’s cue as he motioned gallantly to the door with a gracious sweeping gesture.
“I’d love to. Thank you, Heather and Shelley, for preparing a meal for us.” Even if Elaine didn’t think she could eat any of it, she appreciated their kindness.
“You’re so very welcome. It’s not every day we have such an uproar in the pack.” Heather waved a hand at the coats hanging on a rack. “The yellow one is mine. Feel free to use it.”
“Thanks,” Elaine said, and Cearnach quickly helped her into it.
Cearnach threw on a black rain jacket and escorted Elaine out the kitchen door. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kept her close, as if they were lovers already, as he guided her along a brick walkway, down steps, through a four-foot-wide living boxwood arch, and into the gardens.
“The steps are mossy and wet and slippery,” he explained, as if that was the real reason he was holding her close.
She slipped once and he tightened his hold on her in response, so she had to agree he was right.
She loved the intimacy between them, the closeness, the warmth of his body pressed against hers. She loved getting away from the castle, his kin, and the overwhelming feeling that everyone wanted to know more about her when she had always been a very private person… and wolf. Still, she wanted to learn what his mother had said to him. Not that she meant to defend herself. In truth, she wanted to know how difficult it would be for her to stay here until she got her car and personal items back.