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Hell if Grant knew. “I have no idea.”
But he was determined to find out right after the meal, hating that he wanted to skip lunch to search for her right this very minute. Even so, he ate his chicken, baked potato, and broccoli faster than he’d ever done. He told everyone to finish their meals, not wanting them to think that since he was leaving the table, they also had to. As was usually the case.
“Do you want me to help you locate her?” Enrick asked, spearing another broccoli floret.
“I’ll come, too,” Lachlan offered, setting his fork on his plate.
Grant glanced at their meals. Both were only halfway finished with their food. “Nay, I’ll find her. It shouldn’t be that hard.”
That’s what he thought. He first went to the gardens, thinking maybe she’d stretched her legs out there, taking a break from the financial reports. Then he checked by the seawall, thinking she might be watching the waves break over the jagged rocks below, having forgotten all about the meal.
But she wasn’t in either location. That had him worried. Where was she?
***
Colleen loved dogs. She’d felt bad that she was still so wrapped up in the financial reports that she hadn’t seen Frederick yet. She headed out there to see if she could give him a couple of tips before she returned to her work.
She loved analyzing charts and seeing trends, even as far back as in the beginning, and could get wrapped up in them for hours. Some of the records that far back were spotty, but she was amused to see that one of her early ancestors, a countess, had a cat. Unusual for those times when cats just roamed freely to catch mice and rats and weren’t considered pets. But there was a detailed description of all the expenses the cat had incurred, including the cost of taking the cat on trips. Fascinating.
Some could only see the dollars and cents behind the math. She liked to see the human or, in their case, the lupus garou side of the expenditures and income.
She soon reached the kennels, which were fashioned in the same manner as the castle—gray stone with miniature towers gracing each corner. She entered and called out, “Frederick?”
No one was about. She hadn’t seen anyone anywhere, in fact. The meal. She hadn’t meant to get so sidetracked that she’d forgotten about the meal. She was used to eating when she was hungry, not with a pack and on a schedule. She sighed, not wanting to make a big scene by entering the great hall so late.
One of the dogs barked from a fenced-in yard, and she smiled as she headed for the dogs’ yard. If she got hungry later, she could just raid the kitchen, now with Maynard’s approval. She would just pay better attention to the time when it came to dinner.
She stalked toward their gate, noting that since the first feast—served with medieval flair—the wolfhounds had not been in attendance at the meals.
They woofed and jumped at the fence. “Down, boys, girl.”
She thought briefly of taking them to lunch, as if they had been forgotten for the last couple of meals and she was doing her duty by bringing them to join the pack.
Before she opened the gate, her phone rang and she glanced at the caller ID. She closed her eyes briefly. Archibald. She answered it. He was persistent, if nothing else.
“Hi,” she said.
“Are you at the kennels?” he asked, a smile in his voice.
If he liked dogs, he couldn’t be all bad.
“Yes. Just came out to see them.”
“Did you want to get together tonight?”
“No, sorry. Next week sometime?” How many times did she have to tell him she wanted a week at least to get settled in? She wasn’t in the mood to date him or anyone else. Then she ran her fingers over her lips where Grant had kissed her last night. And she smiled, then shook her head. He wasn’t dating her, either.
“You’re killing me, you know?” Archibald said cheerily, not annoyed with her. Which was a good thing or she’d hang up on him.
The dogs were barking and going crazy, wanting to love her. “I’ve got to go, but we can talk later.”
“I’ll call you later tonight.”
“Tomorrow.” She really meant it when she said next week. She guessed she wasn’t used to alpha males wanting their way in things. She was so used to her former mates and her cousins being betas that she hadn’t realized how hard it was to say no to an alpha and mean no.
“Call you tomorrow.”
She pocketed her phone, opened the gate, and shut it behind her. She smiled at the dogs as they excitedly greeted her, backsides wagging along with their tails, their huge heads poking at her, tongues licking, teeth nipping. Okay, so she knew she should be all business, no playing around and make them mind from the beginning, but… She leaned down and gave them each a hug, laughing as they caught strands of her hair and nibbled on them, bumping her, each of them trying to wrest her attention away from the other dogs.
“Did you forget about the meal, lass?” a gruff voice said from the direction of the gate, and she whipped around to see Grant studying her.
“I did. But I’m not all that hungry. I’d forgotten to drop by and show Frederick how to train the dogs, so I came by to give him a few tricks.”
“He’s at the meal.” Grant wore the most elusive smile as he watched the dogs tackle her. “Tell me, is this the way you go about training them? If so, I’ve been doing a good job of it.”
She chuckled. “Oh sure. We’re just warming up.” She thought he looked a little worried. “Is something the matter?”
He shook his head. But she already knew him well enough to know something was bothering him.
She ventured, “I hope you hadn’t worried about me missing the meal.”
“We did,” he said, coming into the pen. The dogs hurried to greet him, too.
“I’m sorry. I’m not used to eating on a schedule.”
“Darby will fetch you in the future.”
“He doesn’t have—”
“The owner of the castle should eat with the staff,” Grant said very seriously, almost sternly, as if she had to abide by the “rules” now that she was here.
She wanted to remind him the staff was his, and she didn’t belong to his pack. That she was the owner of the castle, but as far as his people went, she hadn’t any say in what they did or didn’t do—his words. So she didn’t need to be anywhere that she didn’t want to be. But she bit her tongue.
