Chapter 17
Robert was so glad that Maisie was really settling in here now that she had all her clothes at the house. She probably wanted to put her clothes in some kind of order, so he would assist her in any way that he could, but for now, he was making their dinner.
As soon as it was done, he called out, “Steaks, chips, and salads are ready.” He really liked being able to cook for Maisie.
“Coming!”
She hurried out of the bedroom and gave him a hug and a kiss. “I feel like I’m home now. I’m so comfortable with you—and now that I have my clothing and my personal items, I feel I belong here permanently.”
“Aye, exactly. And I’m glad for that. It’s like living out of a suitcase at a hotel without the suitcase.”
She laughed. “Right.”
They sat down to eat their dinner. She took a bite of her juicy steak seasoned to perfection. “Oh, this is divine.”
“Thanks. We need some protein for our jaunt as wolves.”
“I can’t wait to go for our run, though I really want to unpack my clothes and put them away.”
“We can do some of that tonight afterward.” He thoroughly enjoyed running as a wolf with her.
She laughed. “Yeah, but you know what I want to do instead of putting my clothes away after our wolf excursion?”
“Aye, me too.” He was glad that she wanted them to make love after the run. If she wanted to unpack her clothes after that, he would certainly help her.
“We have most of the day to sort out the clothes, or I do,” she said.
“I’ll help you with everything you need me to do.”
“Thanks.”
They finished dinner, and she helped him clean up. But while he was still cleaning the grill, she was stripping off her clothes, shifting, and then she went outside to nose him on the leg to hurry him up.
He laughed. He loved her. “Someone wants to run.” He finished cleaning the grill as fast as he could, took off his clothes, and shifted into his wolf. As wolves, they greeted each other, nuzzling each other’s faces as if they were just meeting for the first time in ages. Then they took off running. They were on their property, heading past the clinic, then to the end of the acreage. But when they turned, to his surprise, she tackled him.
He loved it. She raced off before he could catch her. She was quick, but he enjoyed the challenge. He tore off after her and nipped gently at her tail. She yipped in shock and barked joyfully at him. He stopped, lifted his chin, and howled, telling her how much he treasured being with her as a wolf and letting all other wolves out there know it. Other wolves howled in the distance on the MacQuarries’ property, showing their comradery. She stopped and turned to face him, lifted her head, and howled too. Instantly, Robert charged her, and she smiled, turned tail, and tore off!
He tried to reach her and finally tackled her. She folded onto the ground as if playing dead, but she was really eager to play with him. He nipped at her neck, and she bit at his mouth in play. They were growling and having a ball. He let her up, and scrambling to her feet, she dashed off again.
He was feeling great and was glad they hadn’t skipped running as wolves before they made love tonight. Exercise released endorphins and made them feel even more joy. It was always such a pleasure to stretch their legs as wolves and enjoy the other half of their persona.
They ended up running to the dike and onto the MacQuarrie castle properties and seeing other wolves up there. They howled and greeted them, then kept up with some of them for a while. Finally, Maisie woofed at Robert, telling him she was ready to return to the house.
He would have enjoyed a jog as a wolf much longer, but being with Maisie meant he wanted to be with her in an intimate way even more. They dashed through the dike and back down the hill, where they saw Edeen and Lachlan returning from more of a leisurely wolf lope. Robert and Maisie woofed at them, and they woofed back, then went into the manor house. Robert and Maisie reached their home and headed in through the wolf door, her going in first. It wasn’t a race until they shifted inside the house, and she gave him a quick hug and kiss and then sprinted off for the bedroom.
“I’m not in a race to put away my clothes,” she assured him.
He hadn’t thought that was the reason for her running off. He rushed after her and swept her up in his arms, making her squeal in delight. Then he carried her the rest of the way into the bedroom and set her on the bed. The nice thing about making love after being a wolf was that they were already perfectly naked!
***
The next day, Maisie took her laptop to Heather’s pie shop before it opened to ask her which of the maternity photos she wanted printed while Robert had offered to hang up her clothes in the closet in the meantime. She much appreciated it and would sort her clothes out the way she liked them later, but it helped to just remove them from boxes and put them up on hangers. Maisie opened her laptop on one of the tables. Heather’s three brothers were there also, just in case she went into labor.
“Oh, this is like what Colleen said. The photos are all so good, it’s hard to decide. Enrick is on his way to see them too,” Heather said.
Callum, Ethan, and Oran were looking over their shoulders, amusing Maisie. “Good. I can’t wait to see how he likes them.”
“I love the ones where he’s kissing my belly or behind me with his hands under my belly,” Heather said.
“I love those shots too.”
Then Enrick walked into the shop and joined them, hugging Heather. “Sorry I was running late. Oh, those look great.”
“No problem. We’re not open for another hour and a half, and my brothers would be handling things with the other ladies when they turn up while we looked over these anyway,” Heather said.
Half an hour later, they’d chosen all the pictures they wanted, and Maisie placed the order to have them printed and shipped. Then Enrick had to leave to get back to the castle, and Heather asked Maisie, “So how do you want us to decorate for the family dinner for tonight?”
“Oh, how about something that shows the MacTavishes joining the Campbells and MacQuarries?” Maisie asked.
“Sure. We can do something about that.”
“We’ll just pay for anything that anyone wants to eat in the line of pies, drinks, and desserts.” Maisie figured everyone would love the food there like it was without needing to ask Heather to create new dishes for them.
“Okay, well, this will be simple then.”
“Yeah, I think the main emphasis is just everyone meeting everyone and getting to know them, especially my parents, and making them feel comfortable. I’ll bring your photos to the open house.”
“Wow, that soon. Great!”
“I’m going to run home then”—Maisie still couldn’t get used to the idea that she wasn’t living at the inn any longer, but with Robert now at his home—“and we’ll be seeing you tonight.”
“That sounds good.” Heather hugged Maisie, and Maisie left to go home.
“Hey, Robert.” Maisie entered the house. Mittens immediately rubbed up against her legs. “You’re so cute.”
Robert walked inside the house, and she was surprised he hadn’t been at home. He gave her a hug and kiss while Mittens greeted him too. “I was stocking the clinic with supplies and heard your car pull up. How did it go with the photos with Heather and Enrick?”
“They loved them. The prints are ordered. We talked about the celebration tonight. We’re all good. Do you need me to help with anything at the clinic?”
“I’ll have more stuff coming in next week and you can help with it, if you have time.”
“Sure, I can. But I would really like to see what else we can do.” Once Robert was working at the clinic, he wouldn’t have as much free time for this, so she wanted to take advantage of it every time they wanted to.
“You read my mind,” he said, and they chased each other to the bedroom.
***
That afternoon Robert and Maisie put away the rest of her clothes and found the perfect place for her photography equipment in the office. “We’ll set up another desk in here, and you can put your scuba equipment in a special storage closet in the garage with mine.”
“Thanks. That works.”
“Until you have a desk, feel free to use mine for your work.”
“Okay, great. Shoot, I need to show Edeen the pictures of her animals and see which she wants to order.”
“Alright. Do you want me to go with you?”
“Sure. I’ll call Edeen and see if this is a good time for her.”
Robert was so glad Maisie and Edeen got along so well. He hadn’t been so sure to begin with, when Edeen was watching over him when he was hypothermic and trying to get warmed up in bed. Little did they both know that Maisie would be his mate after a couple more wild adventures. He was ready to settle into a routine with Maisie and hoped she would be fine with the long hours he put in while taking care of his animal patients. Likewise, he would always try to do something special for her when she returned from her photo shoots or working at the inn when they were together again.
Once Maisie confirmed that Edeen would be happy to see them at the manor house, they walked over, Robert carrying Maisie’s laptop and holding her hand. It was little things like that that showed how much he cared about her, and he always wanted to be that way with her.
“You know, I don’t think we could have a nicer setup than this unless the inn and Mom and Dad’s home were sitting on the property too. Just a short walk to your sister’s house and a little longer walk to see most of the MacQuarrie in-laws at the castle, which is really nice,” Maisie said.
“Do you want to offer some land for your parents to build on? We have fifty acres, so plenty of room.”
“We can ask them.”
“I had another thought. Colleen and Edeen love their gardens. Would you like to have one also?”
Maisie stopped, smiled, and hugged him. “Aye! I love working in the inn garden. Anne does too. But I would love to have my own here also. I love photographing everything during the different seasons also.”
“Just let me know how you want your planting beds and I’ll work on them until our wedding. That will give me time to finish it, hopefully, so when we return from our honeymoon, your garden will be ready, and my clinic will be open for business.”
“That sounds great. I’m sure I can gather some seeds from Edeen’s, Colleen’s, and the inn’s gardens too.”
Then they reached the manor house, the dogs all barking, and Edeen opened the door for Maisie and Robert and let them in.
The fox terriers, Jinx and Rogue, greeted them, and Ruby, the Irish wolfhound, did too. Even their Scottish fold, a blue named Silky, had to say hello before she returned to her windowsill to watch the birds at the feeders.
“I need to get some of those too.” Maisie looked out the window and petted Silky. “We don’t have any birdhouses, bird feeders, or birdbaths, and that would be a fun addition to the inn. At the house here also.”
“Silky watches the birds for hours on end. I love hearing their songs.” Edeen made heather tea for them while Robert opened Maisie’s laptop.
“Mittens would love that too.” Maisie pulled up Edeen’s animal photos on her laptop. “Here they are.”
They sat down to drink their tea while Edeen perused the photos. “Oh, I love all these. It was amazing how we got them to look at the camera and they sat so still even though they were excited.”
“Dangling the treats as an incentive really helps,” Maisie said. “So we’re going to also build a garden, and I wonder if I could gather some flower seeds from yours?”
“Absolutely. Colleen shared plants and seeds with me. We can both do that for you. I would offer Lachlan’s help with building it because I know he’ll do it, but I’ll let him offer to help on his own. I’ll help you plant your seeds and plants.” Edeen narrowed down her selection of photos. “I love them all and would buy all of them, but I wouldn’t have enough room on my walls for them.”
Maisie laughed. “I know what you mean.” She ordered them right away from the printing company.
“When I first met you, I wondered if you were the one,” Edeen said.
“The one?” Maisie asked.
“Aye. Despite Robert’s hypothermic condition, when you came to see him in the guest chamber, his expression brightened. I thought you just wanted to make sure he was alright, yet my instinct told me there was more to it than that. Still, you threw me off when you needed a first aid kit and a pair of pliers. I figured either Robert had hooked himself with one of his fishhooks or he’d hooked you and you were being so sweet not to mention it in front of anyone and embarrass him. You barely knew him, yet here you were protecting him, not to mention you had gotten help for him and had assisted him in the cold water,” Edeen said.
“He saved me from drowning when the boat knocked me unconscious.” Maisie slid her hand over Robert’s hand and then squeezed.
Edeen smiled. “See? You’re always protective of him. And he’s just as protective of you. Everyone figured you were meant to be together after the second mishap when you were with each other on Eilean Tioram, but I knew it was from the moment Robert reeled you in on his fishhook.”
“You knew right away. I mean, that he’d caught me with the fishhook.” Maisie smiled at her.
“Yeah. That was what the pliers and first aid kit were for. But for a moment I was disappointed that was why you were there instead of just a need to see how he was doing. Then I realized what I would have been feeling like if I had wanted to get a fishhook out of my arm, and I knew you wanted to see how Robert was doing too, though you were being quiet about it.” Edeen got them a refill for their tea.
“Exactly,” Robert said. “I was as worried about her head injury, so I was glad to see her come to the guest chamber, besides the fact I needed to rectify the fishhook issue.”
“Lachlan put off the fishing trip until later,” Edeen said, “if you’ve been wondering about it.”
“He probably wants to be in a different boat when we fish after my last fishing experience.” Robert drank some of his tea. “Do you want to go with me this time, Maisie?”
Maisie laughed. “Riding in the boat with you might be safer. But sure, it would be our first fishing trip together, and I would love to go. We can see who can catch the most fish.”
“It sounds like Maisie has a good competitive spirit,” Edeen said.
“You bet, and I love a challenge,” he said.
Lachlan came inside the house then.
“Stay for lunch,” Edeen said to her brother and Maisie.
“Absolutely,” Lachlan said. “I planned to cook. Come on, Robert. Let’s put some chicken on the grill.”
Edeen said, “Good. I thought you’d forgotten that you’d offered. Robert and Maisie want to go fishing with you.”
“Good. We’ll do it as soon as we can.” Lachlan took the chicken outside, and Robert went with him. “So you want to go fishing. I was waiting for you to say when you were ready to do it.”
Robert laughed. “Yeah, and what makes it even better is that Maisie wants to go with us.”
Lachlan got the grill started. “That’s great. It’ll be safer than her scuba diving when you’re fishing.”
Robert chuckled. “That’s debatable. But with any luck I’ll only catch fish this time.”
“Hopefully we all will. Edeen will be expecting it.”
“That’s what Edeen thought when I went fishing the last time and caught Maisie.”
Lachlan chuckled. “She was your greatest catch in the world.”
“That’s for sure.”
Once Lachlan was done cooking up the chicken, he carried it inside on a platter, and they heard the ladies laughing in the kitchen. Robert was so glad that Maisie and his sister really liked each other. They sounded like sisters and best of friends.