“I will.” As he stepped back and consulted his phone, she began edging to her left, crablike. She’d never stayed in a penthouse before. She’d cleaned plenty of them, but she’d managed to do that without standing right next to the windows that always seemed oversized in a penthouse. She supposed that was the idea.
Eventually she reached the spot where the drapes were still drawn. But being a clever female, she’d already figured out that the drapes disguised what was essentially a goldfish bowl of a suite. Walls divided up the circle into wedge-shaped pieces, but the edge of the bowl was all glass.
Without Colin here to steady her, she would have hated it, but he coaxed her to stretch, to push her boundaries. Grabbing hold of the rod hanging at the edge of the drapes, she began to pull as she sidestepped along. If she kept looking out instead of down, that helped. Fools who didn’t mind leaning against windows would have a view of the street below, but Luna saw no percentage in that. Gazing out, however, made her feel like a hawk in flight, and that was a sensation worth having.
“How’s it going?” Colin came up beside her. He’d taken off his sport coat and rolled back the sleeves of his shirt. He looked…totally hot.
“It’s going good.” She gave him a tentative smile. “If I can stay in this room for three or four weeks, I’ll probably cure myself of acrophobia.”
“Was your mother bothered by it?”
“No, although New Orleans isn’t known for its skyscrapers. But I used to panic if she took me out on a balcony in the French Quarter.”
“Considering that, you’re doing very well.” He glanced behind him. “I don’t know if you noticed the wet bar, but there’s champagne chilling in a bucket and a plate of strawberries and finger sandwiches. Someone must have whisked it up here while we were checking in.”
She clutched the drapes. “Do y’all want some?”
“I do. I feel like celebrating.”
“What?”
“Not what. Who. I want to celebrate Luna Reynaud.”
“Luna Thisbe.” Although she corrected him, she was thrilled by his extravagant comment. No one had ever suggested celebrating her.
“You can be Luna Thisbe tomorrow if you insist upon it, but tonight, be Luna Reynaud, the Were who convinced me to hang onto a piece of my past.” He held out his hand.
“All right.” She placed her hand in his strong, warm grip, and he drew her away from the window into a somewhat cozy area that contained a curved sectional covered in ivory leather. A wet bar had been placed behind it, and she saw the champagne bucket and munchies he’d mentioned.
Nothing in this penthouse could truly be called cozy, though. Even with the drapes closed, she would still know that the fishbowl was just behind the curtain.
But Colin had shortened the stems on her daisies, put them in a whisky glass, and set the glass on a black granite coffee table tucked into the curve of the sectional. The daisies brought warmth and hominess to what was otherwise a rather intimidating space.
“Sit right there.” Colin pointed to a spot on the sectional. “I’ll bring you champagne and something to nibble on.”
“What if I want to nibble on you?”
He laughed. “That can be arranged.”
Settling onto the ivory leather, Luna took off her sandals and slid them under the coffee table. The chocolate brown carpet under her bare feet was thicker and softer than any she’d stepped on. She might never be in a place like this again, so she might as well make the most of it.
Colin walked around the end of the sectional and deposited the food plate on the coffee table before handing her a flute of champagne with the bubbles rising merrily to the top.
“That just looks like a party.”
“George didn’t spare any expense. This is top-of-the-line bubbly.”
“I can see what you mean about him showing off. What do you suppose he wants?”
“He told us.” Colin came back with his own glass and sat down next to her. “He wants in on Whittier House. I think he would have liked to establish a Were resort himself, and you beat him to it.”
“I got ahead of a pack alpha?”
“You did.” Colin raised his glass. “To Luna Reynaud.”
“I don’t think I can drink to myself.”
“Yes, you can. We’re all alone in this insanely expensive penthouse, so we can do whatever we bloody well feel like.”
She laughed. “I like your attitude, your lairdness.”
“If you don’t stop calling me that, I’ll start thinking that’s right. So are we drinking to you?”
“We are.” She touched her glass to his. “To Luna Reynaud, who dreamed up a concept that’s the envy of a pack alpha who’s richer than God.” She took a sip of her champagne. “That even tastes rich.”
“Trust me, it’s as rich as it tastes.”
She took another sip. “I could get used to this.”
“Don’t. That’s what he wants. I’m sure this is all an elaborate bribe to convince me to let him have a share of the action.”
“But why? He obviously has more money than he’ll ever need, so why mess around with a little inn on a remote island? It wouldn’t be worth his time.”
“He can’t stand the fact that someone’s launching an interesting and potentially successful business in his own backyard and he’s not part of it.” Colin picked up the plate of food and held it out. “You’ll like this, too, but don’t get used to it.”
“Should we pack up our things and take a cab to the nearest cheap sleep?”
“That would be a deliberate slap in the face. We stay the night, enjoy ourselves…” He paused to wiggle his eyebrows at her. “And thank him profusely for his hospitality. But when he asks again to have a share in Whittier House, we tell him no.”
“And then what?” Luna bit into a strawberry. “Oh, my God, this strawberry is so sweet it should be illegal.”
“That’s because George gets the best. And he can see that Whittier House is going to be the first, and no doubt the best, Were retreat in the Pacific Northwest.”
Luna wasn’t sure she liked the idea of going head-to-head with the likes of George Trevelyan. “You didn’t answer my question. What happens when he asks again, after treating us to this posh penthouse, and he still gets the cold shoulder?”
He gazed at her. “I don’t know. I guess that’s why I’d like you to clear things with your grandparents soon. I don’t want George to insert himself into that situation. He might be a nephew, but I think a granddaughter trumps a nephew.”
Luna’s tummy began to hurt, so she drank more champagne, which helped. “This isn’t a game.”
“It is to George.”
She gazed at him. “Not to me.”
Chapter Seventeen
Colin debated, once again, whether he dared extend his stay so he’d be around to deal with George’s manipulations. But when he’d used his phone to cancel the reservations at the Space Needle, he’d seen a text message from Duncan, who wanted him to call as soon as he could. Duncan was about to do something rash. Colin could feel it.
A phone call probably wouldn’t stop him, either. But it might delay whatever daft thing Duncan planned to do concerning his girlfriend Molly. Colin was torn between the beautiful woman sitting next to him sipping champagne, and his obligation to keep his family from descending into chaos.
To further complicate matters, his father was extremely conservative in addition to being in ill health. The last time Colin had talked with his mother, she’d hinted that if Duncan went through with his threat to mate with a human, it might send his father into cardiac arrest.
The text message from Duncan weighed on Colin’s mind. Maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible if he made a quick call while Luna sipped champagne and ate gourmet finger sandwiches and strawberries that had been hand-picked by cherubs singing the Hallelujah Chorus. Luxury had its uses.
“I hate to do this,” he said. “But I had a message from home, and I think it might be a go
od idea if I checked in.”
“Go right ahead.” Luna gestured with her champagne glass. “I know you have a crisis going on over there.”
He grimaced. “Right. That’s why you were treated to my unpleasant rant this morning.”
“I’m over that, Colin. You have your reasons, good ones I’m sure, for thinking the way you do, and it has nothing to do with me. It’s not as if what we’re sharing now is a long-term thing.”
Hearing her talk so casually about their relationship, when her eyes told a different story, left a bitter taste. Yet she was right. Come to think of it, she had a more sensible attitude than he had. She knew exactly where they stood, while he was still trying to bargain with Fate to change the status quo.
“Let me give you a wee bit more champagne before I go.”
“That’s fine. It’s very good champagne.” She smiled at him as he refilled her glass. “But I promise not to get used to it. Tomorrow I’ll go back to the usual rotgut.”
She had a gift for making him laugh, and he was going to miss that along with every other wonderful thing about Luna. If he were more evolved, he’d be able to enjoy the present moment with her and not anticipate the eventual heartbreak when they parted. Apparently he wasn’t that evolved, because thoughts of leaving her polluted every blessed moment of being with her. Bloody hell.
He added more champagne to his own glass before carrying it and his phone to the master bedroom. As he waited for the call to go through, he pulled back the drapes and discovered Seattle spread beneath him. In a couple of hours, when it grew dark and the lights came on, it would be quite a view, nearly as good as the Space Needle.
Duncan answered on the second ring. Colin had forgotten to estimate the time change and belatedly realized it must be about two in the morning in Scotland. “Sorry. Did I wake you?”
“No, brother mine, you did not.” The sound of rustling sheets and the murmurings of a female voice filtered through the phone line. “But you did interrupt me.”
“Oh.” Bollocks. He’d called when his brother was having sex with the very woman everyone was so concerned about.
“Can’t be helped, now,” Duncan said. “Let me head on into the other room so Molly doesn’t have to be bored with our conversation.”
“Make very sure she can’t hear it.” Colin took a good long sip of his champagne. The last thing he needed was for the woman to overhear a mention of werewolves.
“Don’t worry.”
Colin couldn’t help but worry. He didn’t see any way this was going to go well, and he resented being forced to abandon Luna while he counseled his little brother on a proper course of action.
It didn’t escape him that Luna was no more suitable for him than Molly was for Duncan, but at least Colin hadn’t proposed mating with her. His heart might yearn for that, but it would be madness. She wouldn’t agree to it, anyway, considering how attached she was to Whittier House.
“All right,” Duncan said in a weary tone. “Here’s the situation. Molly expects me to marry her, which in her world is the way these things go. Ring, church, honeymoon.”
“I’m aware of the rituals.”
“I can do all those things, even if they’re not part of our belief system, but it’s time for me to tell her who the hell I am and find out how she feels about that. I just wanted to warn you before I told her.”
Colin’s chest tightened. “Do you have any idea how she’ll take that news?”
“She loves me. I think she’ll accept it.”
“That’s not good enough, Dunc.” Colin felt a headache coming on. If Luna were here, she’d probably mention that the vein in his temple had popped out again. “Don’t tell her yet. If she doesn’t react well, you’ll put all Weres in danger. And think of her welfare. She might have to be sequestered if she’s a security risk.”
“She’ll be fine, Colin. It’s time for Weres to start the gradual process of intermingling. Past time. I need to tell her. Even if she reconsiders and decides not to stay with me, she’s not the kind of person who would call out the mob with the pitchforks. She’s very tolerant. I know she’d help us to be accepted.”
Colin set his champagne glass on the bedside table so he could massage his forehead. “You’re talking about a cultural shift. We’re not ready for that, yet. We may never be ready.”
“It starts one person at a time.”
“Do you love her? Are you sure without a shadow of a doubt that she’s destined to be your mate?”
“I love her, but this mating business is old-fashioned hocus-pocus. I love her for being the non-judgmental, generous person she is, and she’s a perfect candidate to start moving Scottish Weres out of the Dark Ages.”
Colin groaned. “You don’t mate with someone because she’ll be a good ambassador for Scottish Weres. You mate with her because she completes you, because she’s the female you’re destined to be with for the rest of your life.”
Duncan snorted. “Hey, what’s with the lecture on destiny and endless love all of a sudden, big brother? You don’t talk about your plans much, but whenever you do, I get the impression you’ll choose the most suitable Were, almost as if you’re hiring someone for a job.”
Colin had begun pacing during the phone call, but the accuracy of that statement stopped him in his tracks. “I might have said something like that in the past, but…it’s not the ideal.”
“You sure fooled me. I thought you were all about sensible matches.”
“I was, but coming back here and being reminded of what Aunt Geraldine and Uncle Henry had together has given me a lot to think about.”
“I’m dying to hear the results of all that intense brainstorming.”
Colin grimaced, knowing he was still mentally tied in knots over the question. “I hope to fall madly in love with someone who’s also a suitable mate.”
Duncan laughed. “Good luck with that, old chap.”
“Yes, well, we’re talking about you, now, aren’t we? Choosing a mate could be the single most important decision you make, Duncan, whether she’s Were or human. Promise me you won’t say anything to her until I meet her.”
“I don’t know if I can wait that long. When are you coming back? She’s going on vacation in a couple of weeks, and I’d like to get this settled before she leaves.”
Colin took a deep breath and reminded himself that his brother still had some maturing to do. Impatience was part of his makeup, and his zeal for changing the status quo was making him think he should mate with someone who might understand when he revealed that he was a shape-shifter. Colin didn’t like those odds, but no doubt Duncan found them to be an exciting challenge.
“I’ll get home as soon as I can,” he said. “In the next few days if possible. I’ll definitely beat that vacation deadline of hers. Just give me the courtesy of meeting her, talking with her. If she’s going to be a permanent part of our family, I’d like at least that much consideration.”
“Because you’re the big, bad alpha?”
“No, because I’m your only brother, and I love you.”
That produced a moment of silence on the other end. “All right,” Duncan said at last. “I’ll hold off until you get back here and can meet her. Once you do, you’ll understand.”
“That would be good. I very much want to understand. I’ll let you return to her, now.”
“Thanks.” Duncan paused again. “I have to say, I guess you have been thinking, because you sound different.”
“I do? How?”
“I don’t know, exactly. But it’s as if you’re listening to me for a change. I expected you to yell at me, but you…you didn’t. If you had yelled, I probably would have told you to sod off and I would have told Molly everything tonight. But…I’ll wait.”
“Thanks, Duncan. See you soon.”
“You, too.”
Colin blew out a breath as he turned off the phone, tucked it in his slacks pocket, and picked up his champagne. Close call. Sadly, Duncan’s description o
f his former attitude toward the mating process was dead on.
And it had been dead wrong. He could no longer settle for mere affection from a mate who was suitable. He needed passion as part of the bargain. Luna had shown him that. She might not be his destiny, but she was his equal in passion and fire.
As he sipped his champagne, he thought about her and whether she and Duncan would get along. He almost wished they would have a chance to meet, because instinctively he knew they’d be friends. That idea didn’t bother him in the same way he’d been bothered by Knox Trevelyan’s attentions to Luna.
For all Duncan’s impetuous behavior, he would never make a move on a female Colin wanted. At bottom, Duncan was a good-hearted chap with a zest for life, but that enthusiasm got him into more trouble than any Were Colin knew. Consequently he’d been a bloody pain-in-the-ass.
Although he was only four years younger than Colin, some days it had seemed like ten. But they’d had good times, too, some moments when Duncan had made him laugh until his ribs ached.
Now Colin was needed back at Glenbarra to talk Duncan down off the ledge. That meant his days with Luna were nearly at an end. With that in mind, he started to leave the bedroom, but then decided to take a quick look around first.
A glance into the bathroom revealed a promising Jacuzzi tub placed next to a window. If the view wouldn’t make Luna dizzy, they could have a good time in there. After today’s hot tub shopping, he knew that she had an imagination when it came to benches and jets.
The bedroom also looked promising. The raised platform bed was at least king-sized, maybe even custom-made to be larger. It was covered with various shapes and sizes of pillows, all snowy white.
The bed had been designed as a playground, and Colin hoped they’d use it that way. A chest sat at the end of it, and when Colin pushed a button, the top slid back and a flat-screen monitor rose from its depths.
“Planning to catch a reality show or two?”
He turned toward the doorway.
Luna rested a shoulder against the doorframe, her half-full champagne flute dangling between two fingers. “Or maybe your taste runs more toward X-rated videos,” she said. “I’m sure those are available.”
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