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Guthrie raised his brows at Calla as she hurried to shut the glass door and keep the chilling wind out. A light snow was falling in fat flakes outside. But a hot fire glowed in the fire pit as Julia smiled brightly at her and motioned to the dining table where she was studying pictures on her laptop.
Calla assumed Guthrie was there to weigh in on projected costs, but she couldn’t help saying, “Are you planning to fight a medieval battle somewhere?”
Calla thought she detected a hint of a smirk struggling to appear, while Guthrie’s eyes focused on hers.
“Nay, just the one here,” he said. He didn’t smile, but his eyes held a spark of mirthful challenge. Calla rolled her eyes. He had to be wearing his kilt for some reason other than to annoy her. Unless he was intentionally trying to distract her.
She hadn’t overheard anyone talking about the men practicing their swordsmanship today—as cold as it was and with the snow now falling. Though in truth, the men were not fair-weather fighters, and she’d known them to even practice in a light rain.
Julia cast Calla another smile. Ever since the underwear incident, everyone looked at her and Guthrie differently. When really, Calla had taken Guthrie’s boxers because he was the only one she believed could handle her teasing—who wouldn’t get other notions. And he was the only one of the brothers who was unmated. And because she hadn’t wanted him to feel left out when his brothers’ mates had targeted them.
She knew how it felt to be excluded from parties and social gatherings. First, because she had been a wolf among humans and her father had acted like a rabid wolf when she tried to have human friends—especially a human boy whom her father had threatened to kill if she saw any more of him. Later, she’d worried that the human guy would want to kill her if he ever learned she was a lupus garou.
She’d hooked up with three lone wolves at various times, and that was another mistake. They were fun, in a singular sort of way. They didn’t want to do things around humans or around other wolves. None had been interested in forming a wolf pack of their own, and none had wanted pups. She’d wanted more, like her parents had with her. She’d wanted to join in on parties, human or wolf.
So she’d started her party planner business. She got to attend lots parties and was paid to do it. Most of all, those paying for her services needed and loved her for what she did. It was a win-win scenario.
She sat down at the table next to Julia and readied her pen and pad of paper to take copious notes. She didn’t have to look to know Guthrie was still studying her. Her skin prickled with tension like a wolf’s would while waiting warily for the attack.
She was used to people watching her as she worked and it had never bothered her. But Guthrie was a different story. He had the most devilish look—as if he was seeing her in a different way. Like he now knew her secret—that she had a crush on him. Which she didn’t.
She wished he’d go away.
“You could sit down and read a magazine or something,” she said, motioning to a few on gardening and castle decor sitting on the coffee table next to the couches.
A little reading nook of Julia’s books was also situated nearby, but Calla was certain the armed Highlander wouldn’t be interested in reading about hot and romantically inclined lupus garous.
“It’s my duty to offer advice on all matters concerning finances,” Guthrie said, not budging.
She should have acted as if she didn’t recall he was there because she was so busy looking at the pictures Julia was showing her. But darn it. Her skin felt flushed because she knew he was watching her every move.
“This will probably take a while. Or…better yet, you could leave. We can share the costs of the venture with you later. You can probably talk someone else into donning his sword and fighting with you, and you’d have a lot more fun than standing there.” Like a statue. A very sexy, wolfish Highland statue.
She shouldn’t have said anything, because doing so would feed into the notion that he was bothering her. She’d thought the undercurrent of tension between them had to do with her spending people’s money on extravagant parties. Now she wasn’t so certain.
His mouth curved up a hair, but he didn’t say anything. Fine. Calla stiffened a little, intent on ignoring him. If he thought he could keep her from squandering—his words, not hers—the MacNeills’ money on this celebration by making her uncomfortable, he was mistaken. Julia wanted to spare no expense on her first-ever Christmas party with her new pack, and Calla was going to help make it the best she could.
She tucked a curl behind her ear and stared at the monitor, trying to concentrate on what Julia was saying. Guthrie moved behind them to observe the Internet pages they were looking at, but he was standing nearest to Calla.
This was even worse! At least when he was standing farther away, she couldn’t breathe in his fascinating male wolf scent, a mix of piney woods and fresh air and the fragrance that was uniquely his. And she couldn’t help feeling the heat of his body that made hers heat as well.
“Those look awfully—” Guthrie said.
“Like a bargain.” Julie raised a brow at Guthrie.
He frowned. “You wanted my opinion from a financial perspective.”
Calla shifted her attention to Julia, whose face turned a wee bit red. Julia had asked Guthrie to be here?
Calla marked it down on her pad of paper. “I agree with you, Julia.” Calla gave her another site to look at. “These are much more expensive. So the other site’s prices are a bargain.”
Guthrie snorted. “A bargain would be not spending the money on decorations in the first place.”
The ladies ignored him. “Next?” Calla asked, getting into the spirit of this.
“We have to get mistletoe from England, and I was thinking that these looked good,” Julia said, showing Calla the pictures and prices.
“We really don’t need that, do we?” Guthrie asked, sounding incredulous.
“Aye,” both ladies said.
They considered prices on several sites, while Guthrie folded his arms and shook his head.
“We must have sweet-smelling cinnamon candles to scent the great hall,” Julia said, pulling up some pages.
“Surely a couple will suffice. Any more and the scent will overwhelm our enhanced sense of smell,” Guthrie said.
“Fifteen, I believe, will work,” Calla said.
