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Two seats were available by the drafty window. He glanced again at the one by Calla, expecting it to be filled. It wasn’t. Julia was watching him but quickly looked away, a wicked smile gracing her lips.
He’d been trying to let Calla have some space, but he’d been thwarted this time. He shook his head and strode toward the vacant chair before he ended up having to sit in one of the chilly window seats.
When he approached Calla, she looked grateful. He smiled. He supposed he’d saved her from Logan’s dog talk. Logan said to her, “Will you ride with me on the hayride tonight?”
“Um, I have an engagement tonight. A Highland reunion I’m in charge of,” Calla hastily said, sounding relieved that she had work to do.
“Ahh. Well, maybe another time.” Logan brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. “Why are you sitting over here?” he asked Guthrie, as if he’d just noticed that Guthrie had joined them.
“Oran stole my seat.” Guthrie thanked the lady who brought them their lunches.
“What did he do that for?” Logan asked and began eating his fish.
“Maybe he needed to talk to Duncan about something. I don’t know.” Guthrie suspected it was a conspiracy, yet he wondered why Oran hadn’t been trying to make more headway in getting to know the lass. Maybe he was concerned about the same thing—that her relationship with Baird had ended too recently to consider dating her.
Logan glanced around the room, then grinned. “You didn’t want the drafty chairs.” He pointed at the two nearest the window.
“Good guess.” Nobody wanted to sit there in wintertime.
Calla smiled and then began to eat her lunch.
“So, what reunion are you going to?” Guthrie asked. Ian hadn’t spoken about it to him yet, and he still didn’t know where it was.
She hesitated to say. He sat a little straighter, assuming that his clan didn’t get along with whoever these people were.
“Which clan?” he asked.
She frowned at Guthrie.
He set his fork down. “You can’t go alone, Calla, if that’s what you’re thinking. Not after the confrontation you had with Baird and his people last night.”
“You know, you sound just like Cearnach.”
Guthrie smiled a little at that. Usually, he looked up to Cearnach and appreciated his advice. Though he and his brothers all thought Cearnach had gone a little mad when he went to Calla’s wedding, knowing full well that Baird wouldn’t like it one wee bit.
Calla finally turned to her meal and said, “I’ve spoken to Ian about it. I don’t want him or anyone else to feel put out that they have to watch over me like I’m a child.”
Logan sat taller. “I can go with you instead of going on the hayride.”
Calla smiled at Logan and shook her head. “You have fun and let me know all about it tomorrow.”
He looked disappointed and glanced in Guthrie’s direction as if asking him to talk Ian into letting him go. What was it with him? First, Logan had been sweet-talking Elaine before she was Cearnach’s mate, and now he thought he had a chance with Calla? Calla belonged with the grown men.
Guthrie had every intention of speaking with Ian about Calla’s plans tonight, but not for Logan’s sake. “For your information,” Guthrie said, wishing to address her concern about his clan watching out for her, “we feel it an honor to look out for you. Not only that, but Ian got a call from your dad. You didn’t tell him you had an accident and further trouble with Baird, did you?”
She frowned at him. “I didn’t want to worry my parents. They didn’t have to know about it. They’re on vacation and needed this break. It doesn’t do any good to concern them when nothing truly bad happened.” This time she flashed her very heated green eyes at Guthrie.
He’d never seen her riled up in human form. He wanted to smile, but he curbed the urge. “Aye, they’re well aware of it now.”
“I suppose Ian will keep them informed of everything I do now, even if I don’t wish it.”
“If it has to do with your safety, aye. Staying with us means you’re part of the pack for now. We look out for our own. We also have to ensure we do what’s right by your family.”
She turned to finish her meal. “Have fun on your hayride,” Calla said to Logan. She smiled sweetly at him, scowled at Guthrie, and headed out of the great hall.
Logan frowned at Guthrie. “Did you have to make her mad?”
“You know Ian couldn’t lie to her parents when she might have been hurt.”
“Nay, but you didn’t need to bring it up.”
Then two of the wolfhounds began playing tug-of-war with a bone, and Logan hurried to intervene, as was his job, and move them outdoors.
Suddenly, Guthrie was sitting there eating alone. He wondered how that had happened.
Chapter 4
That afternoon, the snow and ice had melted enough to allow the MacNeill brothers and their kin to move Calla’s car into the inner bailey, to Calla’s vast relief. Thankfully, the car had no major damage, only a slight dent in the front bumper.
Tonight, she had the reunion to oversee, but in the meantime, she would spend some time going over Christmas ideas with Julia. She still couldn’t believe Julia thought she and Guthrie had courtship plans. He was just as bossy as Cearnach was with her.
As soon as she entered the garden room to meet with Julia, Calla knew there would be trouble.
And that trouble was waiting for her just inside.
Dressed in a white medieval shirt and a muted, ancient blue-and-green plaid kilt of the MacNeill clan, he stood next to one of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Guthrie.
Calla had no idea why Guthrie was wearing a kilt. Not only that, but he was armed—his sword belted at his waist and a sgian dubh in his boot. The carved handle on the knife—that Cearnach had crafted himself—stuck out of the top of Guthrie’s boot.
“Come, Calla. I’ve been gathering some ideas off the Internet.” Julia looked warm in her heavy blue wool sweater and a MacNeill plaid skirt, her red hair curling over her shoulders. “We were going to decorate the Christmas tree in the hall this evening, but since you have the reunion to attend, we want to wait until tomorrow so you can help us, if you’d like.”
“I’d love to. Thanks for asking.” She really appreciated how Julia included her in pack activities. Calla was excited about the party—the first Christmas event she’d ever planned for anyone—and she wanted to make it just right. But she knew Guthrie would be a royal pain in the arse because he scrutinized all the clan’s expenditures and thought spending a lot of money on a Christmas party was unnecessary.
