When she reached the wall walk, the four men were looking in her direction, not at the woods.
“Lass,” the one said, his eyes wide, appearing startled to see her there. “Does Cearnach know ye are here?”
She shook her head. “He’s still asleep. I couldn’t wake him.”
“I’m his cousin, Oran,” the man said. He was smiling with boyish charm, yet he was all muscle and braw warrior and tall like the rest of his kin. He was one of Heather’s brothers. “Ye just didn’t give him the right incentive to wake.”
Her face blossomed with heat, and she quickly walked over to the wall and peered out at the woods. “Whose wolves are howling? Yours?”
“Nay, lass. Yours.”
The only reason they were interested in her being family was because of the stolen goods. Maybe… her properties as well. She saw eyes glowing in the woods. Wolves’ eyes. They stopped howling, watching her as she observed them. They obviously knew who she was. Was Robert Kilpatrick among them? The brute Vardon McKinley?
“Why are they here?” she asked.
Oran pointed to the private drive.
She glanced to the left and saw a car sitting some distance from the closed gate on the gravel drive. Lanterns at the castle entryway cast light that shimmered off the wet silver metal. Heart thumping erratically, she paused for a fraction of a minute, so stupefied to see the car sitting there that she didn’t recognize it as hers. When realization dawned, she whipped around and headed for the stairs in the tower.
She couldn’t be more excited. She was certain the battle between the clans would be averted with just that one gesture of appeasement.
“Wait, lass,” Oran commanded, hurrying after her. “Where are you going?”
“To get my car. All my belongings. I have to make sure it’s all there.”
“We can’t open the gates,” Oran said, as he followed her down the stairs while the other men remained watchful on top of the wall walk. “No’ until they’re opened come morn.”
Ignoring him, she finally reached the gates and stood there staring at them as if they’d just magically open. She turned to scowl at Oran. “I want my rental car and my belongings. They’ve left it here as I asked, as they should have. They probably figured I wouldn’t talk with Robert until he met my demands.”
“Perhaps.” Oran folded his arms across his broad chest, his brow lifting. “Perhaps not. The car will be here when Ian gives the word that we can open the gates to retrieve it in the morn.”
“At least call him on your cell phone and let him know it’s here. That he doesn’t need to go to war over this.”
“Lass, unless the castle is on fire, we dinna disturb our laird in the middle of the night. Especially not since he picked a mate.”
“Fine. I’ll wake Cearnach. He’s next in command, right?”
Oran’s mouth kicked up at the corner a bit. “If Ian isn’t here, aye.”
“He isn’t. He’s indisposed.” She stormed back toward the keep as fast as she could manage. She imagined her rental car vanishing before she was able to return for it, just like before.
Oran chuckled. “Cearnach has his hands full.”
“But will she be returning when she wakes him?” one of the men hollered from the top of the wall walk, humor lacing his words.
Elaine snorted. Cearnach would want to see if his stuff had been returned as much as she did hers.
Annoyed with Oran, Elaine hurried to the stairs to Cearnach’s bedchamber. When she reached his door, she opened, then closed it. She heard nothing but his quiet breathing and knew he was still sound asleep, never aware that she’d left him alone in the first place. She rushed around the bed to his side and yanked open the curtains.
His eyes popped open, and he grabbed a sword sheathed beside the bed that she had not noticed before.
Eyes wide, Elaine quickly moved back out of the path of the Highland warrior, afraid he wasn’t awake enough to realize she wasn’t a threat to him. “It’s just me, Cearnach,” she said in a rush.
“Lass, what are you doing out of bed?” Then he frowned. “Flynn hasn’t been bothering you, has he?”
“No. I heard the dogs barking and then wolves howling and went to see what the matter was. The McKinleys and Kilpatricks were prowling through your woods in wolf form.”
“Ah, that’s the trouble.” He sheathed his sword and reached out to snag her hand.
Before she could dodge away from his quick action, knowing just where this would lead if she didn’t, he had her by the wrist, stopping her, his mouth curved up, warning her that she shouldn’t have awakened him. He pulled her into bed with him. “You’re freezing. You shouldn’t have been running around the bailey without being more properly dressed. I’ll warm you up.”
He tugged off one of her boots and then the other.
“They brought my car back,” she said, trying to free herself, but he was all muscled arms and legs and body, claiming her as he pulled the covers over them. Yet she thought if he knew the importance of why she wanted to leave the bed and wanted him to go with her, he’d agree and help retrieve her car. Surely.
“Even your nose is cold, lass,” he said, kissing it.
So much for him being interested in the return of her car.
“Cearnach,” she said sharply, trying to get him to pay attention to her. “My rental car—”
“Will be there in the morning if you have come to tell me they delivered it and it is beyond our gate, which is closed for now. It won’t be opened without Ian’s approval, and he would not give it at this time of night…”
“Because he’s with his new mate, your cousin said.”
“Aye, true enough.”
“Well, since you’re second in charge…”
“When Ian is not on the premises or otherwise indisposed.”
“Then he’s otherwise indisposed…”
“If the matter is of the utmost importance.” He kissed her cheeks, his hands caressing her breasts, his thumbs stroking her nipples.
“It is.”
“Nay, it is not. The gate stays closed, except like last night when the pack was waiting for our return and the others who went searching for us. Keeping the gate closed now means security of the pack. The car can wait until morning. This can’t.” He pressed his heavy, hard erection against her thigh. “Lass,” Cearnach said, with such longing that she couldn’t have fought him to come with her outside even if she’d wanted to.
The men at the wall walk had been right. Once she woke Cearnach, he wasn’t about to let her leave his bed again that night. As much as she wanted her car back, and everything else her cousins had stolen, she wanted these stolen moments with Cearnach more. She also realized he was right about leaving the gate closed. She had been alone for so long, dealing with issues on her own, never with a pack to worry about or to be concerned about her. The notion was so alien that she couldn’t get used to it.
“You smell of the wind and fresh air, of the piney woods and the moisture from the thick mist.” He breathed in the scents that had collected in her hair like those of a wolf that had gathered interesting smells in her fur while exploring the woods, returned to the pack, and shared the scents with the rest of the members.
“You smell of sandalwood soap and sexy man,” she murmured against his mouth.
He took that as an open invitation to another mating.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” he asked, sliding his hands beneath her sweater, his hands hot against her cold breasts.
“I tried,” she said, leaning back against the bed and closing her eyes as she absorbed the feeling of his fingers splayed across her aching breasts.