by Terry Spear
“It was salmonella. You did it willingly?” Heather asked.
“I’m a McKinley.”
“So you’re saying you did it willingly and your clan backed Robert’s actions, even though both of them are denying it. That it wasn’t just Robert’s idea.”
The woman didn’t say anything more right away. “I…I thought it was laxatives.”
“Did you know about your people attacking ours on the battlefield before it happened?”
The woman smiled. Heather wanted to wipe the smile off her face. She had been beginning to feel sorry for the duped woman. Not now.
“Do you know of any other plans they have to try and sabotage the film?”
The woman shook her head. “Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Fine. You can stay here until they’re done filming the movie.” Not that Heather made the rules. That was Grant and Colleen’s job. But she figured it didn’t hurt to say it, and if they said something else to the woman, it wouldn’t matter.
“How long will that be?” That was the first real sense of alarm the woman had displayed.
“Three months. Maybe longer.” Heather didn’t think it was for that much longer, but she didn’t want to tell the woman that.
Heather opened the door to the room and said to Enrick, “Can we torture her?”
He chuckled and led Heather out of the room and locked the door. “Did things not go as planned?”
“No. And you weren’t supposed to laugh when I mentioned the torture business. You were supposed to take it very seriously.”
He chuckled again.
“She admitted to poisoning the food, though she said she thought it was laxatives. She was glad to have done it and knew about the men attacking ours beforehand. Other than that, she claims if she knew of any more plans to attack our people, she wouldn’t tell us about them. She says Robert had Paxton’s sanction for doing this, and of course there’s no proof either man told her to do it.” Heather was so annoyed. “Can we at least lock her in the dungeon? She could always shift into her wolf, but it just doesn’t seem right that she has a nice little room to stay in after what she pulled.”
“Let’s take a walk in the gardens.” Enrick smiled at Heather and took her hand. “That’s where she’s going. The dungeon. Now that she has admitted she did it and has no regrets.”
“Robert Kilpatrick was behind the poisoning. And from what I gather, she loves the bastard.”
“See, lass? You did get more out of her than any of the rest of us had. If he loves her back, I’m surprised he’s not making demands to have her released.” He pulled out his phone and began texting Grant.
“I think it might be a one-sided love affair, wishful thinking on her part. I wish we knew what else they were planning to do to sabotage the film.”
After putting his phone back in his pocket, Enrick rubbed her back. “Even if she did know, they might change their plans, worried she would tell us what they were.”
“True. Do you think they’ll try to pull anything else?” She hated them for trying to ruin things for the clans, she thought as she and Enrick made their way out of the castle and into the gardens.
“Aye, I wouldn’t put it past them to continue doing stuff to cause us trouble. There’s not a whole lot we can do about it other than deal with them as problems arise.” He drew her into his arms. “Concerning a more important matter, I want you to know if I’d been less of a workaholic and did something about how I was feeling about you, I would have asked to court you a long time ago.”
She smiled up at him. “Oh, really? You were afraid of me. I was much too…wild for you. I’m sure you thought I was irresponsible.”
Smiling, he shook his head. “It was that wild part of you that got my attention. The first time you socked me in the head with a snowball, you got my notice. Well, before that, when Lachlan stole a kiss from you and you clobbered him.”
She laughed and walked with Enrick through the rose gardens, breathing in the heady floral scent of the pink, red, and white roses.
“I always wondered: If I’d stolen a kiss from you, would you have done the same to me?” Enrick glanced down at her.
“You will never know. Lachlan did it on a dare. If you had too? Maybe. Maybe not.” She really didn’t know what she would have done. Probably socked him too. The time with the snowball? She was just trying to get his attention, and she hadn’t meant to hurt him.
She led him to the gazebo, and they took a seat on one of the benches overlooking the sea. The rest of the gazebo was surrounded by a privacy hedge, and pink climbing roses cascaded over the top of the frame. Even from the castle they were screened in privacy.
Enrick put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “We saw you watching us while we were in sword practice. Your brothers said you were a troublesome lass.”
“Ha! They were the ones always getting into trouble. Oran, Callum, and Jamie did so many crazy things that I’m surprised they’re still around today.”
Enrick smiled, then grew serious again. “They always said you were a wild little wolf.”
“I was.”
He sighed. “Yeah, I think that’s why you always intrigued me. I didn’t want to upset you if I had assumed you wanted to date, and you weren’t interested or were still feeling bad about your fiancé. Sometimes our kind never seek another mate.”
“Nay. It’s been two years since he died. I’m still angry with him for fighting Patrick and getting himself killed. But it made me change my mind about him too. If he had lived after what he’d pulled with Patrick, I would have called off the mating, no matter how anyone would have felt about it.”
“I would have been glad.”
She smiled at Enrick, then frowned. “I didn’t respect him for what he’d done, how hotheaded he had become. At one time, I think his wildness appealed to me.”
“You dated him longer than I’d thought possible.”
“Aye. I…kept delaying the inevitable. I didn’t even realize I was doing it, and truthfully, he didn’t seem to care all that much. But if we’d been mated wolves, then had children, he would have had to be a good father and not start brawls or teach our kids to behave that way.
“I’m sure, after what I’d witnessed, he wouldn’t have settled down and raised them like a levelheaded father should. I’m still angry with Patrick too. I felt he could have cut Timothy and not fatally, but maybe not. Timothy was much bigger than Patrick and could have easily killed him with his bare hands. I do blame Patrick for instigating the trouble. But if Timothy had ignored him, that would have been the end of it,” she said.
“I agree on all accounts. I still can’t understand why Patrick would have used you to provoke Timothy though,” Enrick said.
“Because I was there, and Patrick knew he could do it.”
“Aye, but—”
“Timothy told me he’d courted a wolf named Bernice Hanover and he learned after a couple of weeks why she didn’t want anyone to know they were dating. She was the Kilpatricks’ sister. She’d been married and lost her mate while he was fishing at sea during a storm. She really liked Timothy and he really enjoyed her company, but once he realized who she was related to, he knew they would have nothing but trouble from her brothers and the McKinley clan. He ended the relationship. Naturally, she was upset.
“When her brothers learned she’d been dating Timothy and he’d broken up with her, they felt he’d always known who she was related to and that he’d hurt her to get back at the clan.”
“Hell, he never told any of us about that. So when the Kilpatricks saw you with Timothy, they felt you were to blame somehow?”
“Maybe they thought he’d been seeing me all along and he’d only pretended to be interested in her. I don’t know. All I know is they wouldn’t have allowed him to date their sister, once they learned of it. S
o they should have been glad he’d ended the relationship.”
“But they felt he’d used their sister.”
“Right. I just didn’t want to tell anyone about what Timothy had done. Because she didn’t want him to tell anyone he was dating her, it was all very secretive. Since he was planning to mate me, he knew he needed to tell me about it. He felt guilty about having so much fun with Bernice, and then awful about how mad he’d gotten when he learned the truth. She knew just who he was, and she should have known that she couldn’t get away with hiding the truth for long.”
“Not unless he’d wanted to break free of the family and move somewhere else with her,” Enrick said.
“Exactly. He realized what a mess it would be for their two clans and figured neither side would accept it. Enough about that.” Heather pulled Enrick’s face down to kiss him. She loved his warm lips and willing caress, pressuring lightly, then more as they got into the kiss. She finally pulled her mouth away from his, feeling a little breathless. She really didn’t want to get caught out here kissing him that willingly. Tonight? Sure. In his chamber.
She took a breath of the sweet fragrance of flowers. “I sure hope you got the dozen alarm clocks for tonight.”
He smiled.
She was serious though. Well, maybe not about the actual number of alarm clocks they needed, but she thought they could use their phones and two backup clocks, just in case.
“I will have, rest assured. I need to get cleaned up after my swim in the sea. I still feel salty and sandy and smell a little fishy. Did you want to come with me?”
She shook her head. “I need to check on my shop. Besides, if I went with you, I could see me missing a date with my brothers to check out my shop at lunchtime. And you know they would come after you then.”
Chapter 16
When Enrick arrived at his room to shower, he found three times as many clocks as he’d asked Lachlan for. He laughed out loud. There must have been close to three dozen alarm clocks—from digital to the regular old brass ones—sitting on his dresser, bedside tables, and bachelor chest. Not only that, but after looking over several, he found they were all set to five in the morning.
He chuckled as he stripped out of the double’s clothing and headed in to shower and found six more clocks sitting on the bathroom counter. Smiling, he shook his head. He was delighted because he figured that would convince Heather to stay with him again tonight. Not that they would use them all. What a nightmare that would be if they all went off at the same time!
He’d never slept that well at night, usually waking around three and then finally falling back to sleep. By five, he was up. But last night, man, he could really get used to sleeping all night with Heather.
When he got out of the shower, it was lunchtime, but when he called Heather, she reminded him she’d ridden over to her shop with two of her brothers and she would see him later.
Wanting to give her some space, he got dressed. But then Lachlan called him. Enrick figured it was about the clocks.
“I need your help tomorrow with a scene, if you can assist me,” Lachlan said.
“Yeah, after you came through on the clocks, sure, as long as I don’t have to fill in for Guy. So far, I don’t think I will have to, though I’ll be there ready for it, just in case.”
“Aye, that’s what I figured. So while you’re not doing anything for him, why don’t we meet in the great hall to have lunch and we’ll talk. I saw Heather was headed out with her brothers to her shop, so I figured you might want to have lunch with us again.”
Yeah, Enrick had kind of turned his attention from his brothers and sister-in-law to being there with Heather instead. “Be right there. And thanks for the clocks. Oh, you didn’t tell anyone why you were asking for them, did you?”
Lachlan laughed. “Are you kidding? Everyone witnessed you and Heather missing breakfast and they heard that Maynard fixed you a special one, when he never does that. They certainly wouldn’t think I would need an alarm clock. There are a few more than you asked for, but once the word got out, everyone was texting me and dropping them off at my chamber. I didn’t have the heart to tell them I had enough about two dozen earlier.”
Smiling, Enrick shook his head. “I’ll meet you in the great hall.”
When he arrived, he joined Lachlan and Grant and Colleen at one of the tables. Five alarm clocks were sitting on the table. He stifled a chuckle.
“We have everything covered, if you need to sleep in,” Grant said with a smirk.
“Then if they need me to be Guy’s double, you’ll take his place?” Enrick asked.
“Hell no.”
Colleen laughed.
“That’s why I made sure you had enough alarm clocks,” Lachlan said. “I don’t want to have to take his place either.”
“I hope this doesn’t embarrass Heather too much,” Enrick said.
“Heather? No. She’ll get a big kick out of it,” Colleen said.
Enrick sure hoped Colleen was right.
Maynard had made grilled turkey, bacon, and swiss cheese sandwiches and cabbage slaw for everyone while Enrick looked over the hunt scenes for tomorrow with Lachlan, concerning the wolves and their part in it.
“It appears the way they want this handled is to have the wolves separate. Four will go one way and the three remaining wolves will run off in the opposite direction in the woods while Guy and his entourage are ‘hunting,’” Enrick said.
“Right. If you’re not playing the hero in this scene as his double, do you think you could help watch one of the groups of wolves? I was going to ask one of Heather’s brothers, but it would be great if you could do it.”
“Aye, I can do it. I’m not supposed to be needed until the day after tomorrow to play another role for Guy. I’ll take the group of wolves that run off to the east.” Enrick was glad he could help his brother in this.
“All right. We’ll ride behind the group of men he has with him, and when the wolves take off to check things out, I’ll go west, and you’ll monitor the other group. We’ll be in full dress the whole time. Just make sure you don’t get in the way of any of the cameras when you ride off to monitor the wolves.”
“Right.”
Grant said, “If you need any help, just let me know. I’m always on standby.”
“Of course,” Lachlan said.
“My short-lived role is over,” Colleen said, fanning herself dramatically. “One bite of poisoned fish stew and it was at an end. Julia loved it. She wished she could have played the part.”
The guys all smiled.
“We still have that scene where the final battle is fought between the hero and the antagonist, where the wolves attack two of the main villains, but they want to do that scene last, just in case anyone suffers an injury,” Lachlan said.
Enrick shook his head. “That would be more of a disaster than they can ever know.”
“Aye, that it would,” Lachlan agreed.
“Let’s pray none of the wolves bite through the armor,” Colleen said.
“Aye,” Grant said, rubbing her back.
After eating lunch, Enrick got a text to see Heather in the study. “I’ve got to run.”
Lachlan smiled. “An important date, no doubt. It’s about time the two of you got together.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more, Brother.” Then Enrick left them and met with Heather in the study, glad neither of them had anything to do this afternoon, though he needed to check with security after this. That was ongoing, no matter what else was taking place.
“I wondered why your brothers never took you to task for dating Timothy,” he said, joining Heather on one of the leather sofas. He wondered what her version of the story was, since he’d heard Oran’s.
Heather smiled. “Really? You should know me better by now. They didn’t know about it until it was too late.”
She chuckled. “Since then, they’ve kept a more watchful eye out.” She shrugged. “Of course, I wasn’t making the same mistake twice. All I cared about was starting up my business and having fun with it. Dating wasn’t a priority for me for the last couple of years.”
“Until I kicked the Kilpatricks out of your shop.”
She smiled. “You are too funny. I must admit I was waiting for you to ask me out. You know, it was hard for me to show any interest in you after I was over Timothy. You were a member of his pack, a friend even. I was afraid you wouldn’t see me in a good light for wanting to date you.”
“Hell, I was dying to ask you out, but I was afraid you would see me the same way.” Even though he had a hard time admitting that even to himself, still figuring they wouldn’t suit. He realized just how much his dad’s counseling him had changed him and his ways, so much so that he’d been afraid Heather might influence him to return to his reckless manner. But she had changed too.
“I’m glad we didn’t wait any longer. Since you need to check on security, do you mind if I go with you? I don’t have anything else to do today.”
“Aye, sure. Get a rain jacket. It’s drippy out there.”
“Pick me up at my room.”
“Okay, I’ll do that.” That was the first time she’d wanted him to come to her room. He hoped that was a sign of her feeling comfortable with everyone knowing they were together, if anyone was still clueless.
When Enrick arrived to pick Heather up at her room, he was wearing cargo pants, a long T-shirt, a rain jacket and boots, and carrying a hunting rifle. No sense in carrying a sword or sgian dubh when he could protect them better with a rifle.
Each of the men on guard duty beyond the castle was dressed for the weather, wearing whatever was more comfortable for them and not making them an easy target. They were also armed with either hunting rifles or shotguns.
So far, they hadn’t had trouble with the McKinleys or Kilpatricks except for during the film shoots. That was bad enough, but Enrick was glad it wasn’t an ongoing battle through the day and night. He suspected the reason for that was not everyone from the McKinley pack was involved in the shenanigans.
