Chapter 25
Of course, with everyone waiting for Jack to show up at the inn—William even posting that he had a Porsche for sale—Jack never interacted with Chelsea or William further. They couldn’t locate him either, no matter how many of the pack members tried to discover where he’d disappeared to. William had a lot of interest in his Porsche from other potential buyers though.
Maisie and Anne had done the transitional training with Conan up at the castle, and he was alternately living at Maisie and Robert’s home and with Anne at the inn on different days. Conan was happy to live at both places, and he was so well behaved now. He also loved all of Edeen’s pets, which was a good thing because he would be staying with them when Edeen and Lachlan went on their honeymoon.
All week long, other than taking care of the inn business, Robert and Anne had been working on her garden with additional heavy-duty support from several male wolves with the pack who were helping Robert to build the stone retaining walls for the raised beds and paths.
Then the big day arrived for Edeen and Lachlan’s wedding, and everyone was thrilled to be there.
Because Maisie had mated Robert, Maisie and Anne were no longer just guests at the wedding; Edeen had made them bridesmaids. They couldn’t have been happier. Maisie and Anne’s parents had found a home and had returned to Glasgow to get ready to sell their place there, but they had returned to attend the wedding. Both Anne and Maisie had seen the house and loved the cottage that was only a couple of miles from the inn and had a lovely garden and some acreage.
William and Edward continued to stay at the inn with Anne while Robert and Maisie had returned to their home. William and Chelsea continued to pretend they were seeing each other online, but she had moved into the castle so that if Jack had any plan to go after her, he would be out of luck. Iverson had returned also. Chelsea was thrilled to be able to attend the wedding today too.
Robert was excited about his sister and Lachlan’s wedding. Not only was Robert serving as a groomsman, but he also had the honor of giving her away to Lachlan since their father had passed away a decade earlier. William and Edward Playfair were serving as two of the ushers and escorted Colleen and Heather to their seats. Two nanny wolves were there with the week-old pair of twins also, the babies well fed and sound asleep.
As groomsmen, Grant and Enrick escorted Anne and Heather’s baker, Lana, to their seats. In the meantime, Maisie was taking photos of the whole wedding.
Wearing a wedding gown that she’d made for herself, Edeen was beautiful. Robert’s own mate, her sister, and Lana were wearing pretty green medieval Celtic bridesmaid gowns. The groom and groomsmen were all wearing kilts—Lachlan and his brothers wore the MacQuarrie tartan, and Robert wore his Campbell tartan.
Robert felt like this was a rehearsal for him and Maisie. The groomsmen would be the same, except Lachlan and Robert would switch roles and Edeen and Maisie would swap places as the bride. At least Maisie’s father would give her away to Robert. Chef was delighted to prepare feasts for both weddings.
Robert hugged his sister before he walked her down the ancient stone castle chapel nave. He was so glad she had found Lachlan to mate. They were just perfect for each other.
She smiled brightly at him, and he hadn’t ever seen her look so excited and pretty. Six flower girls from the ages of three to eight scattered rose petals from their baskets in front of them. Robert loved giving his sister away to Lachlan, and then he took his seat with the others while Lachlan and Edeen said their vows. When Robert sat with the rest of the wedding party, he wished he were sitting next to his mate. But he was so proud of her for taking the photos of the wedding that he knew everyone would cherish.
Once the vows were made and Lachlan and Edeen kissed, everyone cheered them, a few of the shifters howling with joy.
Then Maisie had the wedding party gather so she could take pictures on a timer, and she joined the group. Then she did some separate photo shoots with family groups—including the couples with their new babies, the bride and groom, of course, and even herself and Robert.
Everyone else headed to the great hall where the feast would be held.
Once the others were there, they waited for the bride and groom to enter, and when Lachlan and Edeen came inside, everyone cheered. They would make toasts, then have dinner before they danced.
“To the bride and groom,” Robert said, Maisie photographing the toast. “My twin sister has always been my best friend, but with her mating to Lachlan, we were no longer just the two of us. I’ve gained brothers and sisters galore. Wishing you all the best, both of you.”
“Here, here,” a chorus of cheers went up.
“We never thought our youngest triplet would find a mate, but our next-door neighbor turned out to be just the one to set him on the right path. We love you both and are so grateful your brother joined us as part of the family too,” Grant said.
Lachlan echoed the sentiment with his own toast, and then the meal was served—a warm asparagus and goat cheese salad first. The main entrée was baked rainbow trout on a bed of green beans and roasted cherry tomatoes with a horseradish-and-walnut sauce served with new potatoes. For some, they opted to have roast fillet of beef on a bed of spinach and porcini mushrooms with a red wine jus, served with roasted potatoes and honey-glazed carrots.
During the meal, Robert was glad to have Maisie at his side. Anne and their parents were sitting with them also. So were William and Edward, Chelsea, and Iverson.
“The wedding and reception are sure lovely,” Janet said.
Frederick cut up some of his beef. “It was done really well. I couldn’t imagine having it at the castle, so this was great.”
“We’ll have something similar,” Maisie said. “I love how it turned out.”
“The food is terrific.” Janet took another bite of her trout.
“Aye, I love the beef.” Frederick ate another slice of beef.
Anne sighed. “I just need a mate so I can do this too.”
They all laughed.
After dinner, they had chocolate cake and homemade vanilla ice cream.
Robert and Maisie asked her parents how things were going with their house in Glasgow.
“We just got an offer while Edeen and Lachlan were saying their vows and sold it,” Frederick said. “We’ll be moving into our new home in three weeks, so when you return from your honeymoon, we’ll be living here a week later.”
“We can help you get moved in then,” Maisie said.
Janet laughed. “Practically the whole wolf pack is helping us. We couldn’t be more thrilled about how everything all played out.”
“That’s great,” Robert said.
“What are we going to do about Jack?” Anne asked.
“I was just going to ask if there had been any other news about him,” Janet said.
They hadn’t brought the subject of Jack up in a while because they hadn’t thought of any other way to try to get hold of him.
“Not a word. I wonder if he has taken a new alias and has found a new girlfriend,” Robert said.
“I wouldn’t let your guard down,” Frederick said.
“No. Certainly not.” Robert and the others would definitely keep an eye out for him for as long as it took.
“I’m still trying to locate him with all the resources I have,” Iverson said.
“Good.” Frederick drank some of his champagne. “The guy needs to be dealt with terminally.”
“Hey, I know you and Maisie planned to go fishing with Lachlan when they get back from their honeymoon, but by then you’ll be getting married and going off to the woods for your honeymoon. Chelsea wants to go fishing, and we were wondering if you would like to go as a foursome? We’ll take a separate boat, and we’ll all go fishing,” William said. “And of course, we’ll take some photos of ourselves, in the event Jack’s still monitoring our social network posts.”
“I would love to do that. We finished the flower beds for the garden, and it’s time to just take a break. This time we’ll actually catch fish.” Maisie kissed Robert on the mouth, and he deepened the kiss.
“Aye, that sounds like fun. You’ll have to photograph all the fish we catch so Lachlan and Edeen know we really caught something.” At least Robert hoped they would.
“How about tomorrow? After Anne and Maisie prepare breakfast for their guests?” William asked.
“That sounds good,” Maisie said, “if you’re alright with it, Anne.”
“Yeah, and we can have a fish fry once you return.” Anne smiled.
The challenge was on.
Edeen and Lachlan had their first dance after the meal, and everyone loved watching them. Then everyone had a chance to dance.
Colleen and Heather were doing well, tired because of nursing the babies so much, but each of them managed one dance with their mates. The rest of the time they enjoyed the celebration while the babies slept in two separate bassinets next to the head table. Even Janet and Frederick were happily dancing with each other.
“Let’s dance,” Robert said to Maisie, standing and offering her his hand.
“I’ve been waiting for you to offer.”
They danced for the rest of the night, working up the heat, and she whispered in his ear, “As soon as Edeen and Lachlan leave, you and I are taking this to bed.”
“Most assuredly.”
A lot of the wolves would run after the wedding, but Edeen and Lachlan skipped it to drive to Edinburgh to stay overnight and get their flight to Bali the next day.
Robert was happy to do anything that Maisie wanted to—a wolf run would be grand, or just going home to make love to his mate? He was all for that too.
“A wolf run?” he asked.
She smiled in such a sexy way, he knew she was too hot for that and was ready to make love.
***
Of course Maisie was always ready to run as a wolf with her mate, but he’d gotten her so worked up while they were dancing close that she really wanted to take this to bed.
Once Edeen and Lachlan thanked everyone and left, Maisie and Robert said goodbye, then headed home. They were newly mated wolves after all, and they had their priorities.
But once they arrived home, they were thwarted. They had to greet Ruby, the Irish wolfhound; Rogue and Jinx, the fox terriers; Silky, the Scottish fold cat; and Mittens. Anne was taking care of Conan for the week so they wouldn’t feel too overwhelmed with the pet menagerie.
After taking the dogs out to relieve themselves, Maisie and Robert told the dogs to go to their beds, which they did. Mittens and Silky would do their own thing. There was no racing to the bedroom to make love now, not unless they wanted to start the dogs barking and chasing them as if they were playing with them.
Then they reached the bedroom and began stripping each other’s clothes off, though Robert was having a difficult time unfastening Maisie’s gown. She’d removed his sword and belt and was working on his Prince Charlie’s jacket and pulled it off his shoulders.
“You look so handsome in this.”
“Thanks. You look just gorgeous in your gown, pretty as a bride.”
“I kept feeling like this was a prelude to our wedding.” She unfastened his white shirt.
“Me too. I kept thinking it felt like a full-blown wedding rehearsal except for changing some of our roles. Our menu will be different too.”
“Right.” She ran her hands over his bare chest. “The first time I saw you like this was when you got out of the bed in the guest room at the castle to pull the fishhook out of my arm.”
He smiled and kissed her head, then began removing the pins from the floral wreath she was wearing. “I felt more of a need to remove the fishhook than to worry about being naked. You didn’t appear too shocked.”
She laughed. “Nothing you do shocks me too much, Robert Campbell.”
They finished undressing, then tossed the covers aside and climbed into bed. They ran their hands over each other’s bodies, exploring, enjoying the sensory stimuli.
She kissed his cheek. “In that moment, you could have yanked off a sheet and covered yourself with it. But that wouldn’t have been you.”
He brushed her throat with featherlight kisses.
“I believe I fell a little bit in love with you in that instant,” she said.
He combed his fingers through her hair, looking down at her with love and admiration.
She felt the same for him as she ran her hand over his cheek with a gentle caress.
“I couldn’t believe I’d caught you in the ocean, your blue eyes spearing me with indignation, and I swore you’d caught me right in that second, like a mermaid drawing a sailor—”
“To his death?”
Robert’s eyes were lust-filled, his heart beating harder, like hers was, and he kissed her soundly, deepening the connection. Then they separated for a breath of air, and he smiled. “I was under your spell. Right away, I wondered if you had a mate or someone you were seeing, and I wanted to date you in the worst way. But then we were fighting for our lives after that.”
There was no more talking, just purpose in their actions. He slid his hand down and cupped a breast and massaged, making her nipples tighten with need. They were sensitive to his touch. He kissed her so expertly, she felt uplifted and needy at the same time. She couldn’t get enough of his touching her, of feeling his bare skin against hers, of hearing his rugged sighs and beating heart, of smelling the musky scent of him when he was so into her. Their pheromones always laid the path to each other, shouting for them to complete the mission, to make love all the way.
He kissed her down her tummy, his fingers parting her curly hairs, and he began stroking her between her legs with skillful intent. She swore she melted under his caress and tensed with delight at the same time. Then he claimed her mouth with another hot, possessive kiss. Her bud was swollen and sensitive and was straining to reach climax. She loved what he did to her to make her feel so good.
His voice was husky as he whispered against her ear, “I love you.”
“Oh,” she moaned in delight, “me too.” But that’s all she could say because she was so wrapped up in his intense kisses and intimate strokes. Then a jolt of pleasure raced through her, and she was tumbling off the cliff into an exquisite climax. “Ohmigod, aye!” She shuddered as the orgasm pulsed through her and she was grasping at him, wanting him in her now.
He spread her legs farther apart with his knee, and then he inserted his arousal into her, pushing deep. Her breath caught, and she wrapped her legs around his as he began to thrust. She had him just where she wanted him.
He felt so good inside her, and she was so glad they had come together as mated wolves for this and so many other reasons.
***
Maisie was so easy to love and make love to. Her eyes had darkened with arousal as he slanted his mouth over hers and she began to explore his mouth deeply, tonguing him with her delicious kisses. He loved the way she caught him with her legs and claimed him as he thrust deeply into her.
Then he licked her nipples, mouthing them as he continued to thrust, delighting in the satiny feel of her lush breasts and the way she shuddered when he loved on them. He caressed her breasts and relished the way she arched against him, every close contact of the heated, rewarding kind. But then he began kissing her sweet mouth, and she nipped at his lips, her hands cupping his face, her mouth pursuing his possessively. He kissed her deeply again to taste her fully, their tongues tangoing in a sensual kiss.
He pushed fully into her, gliding out and surging deeply in again. She was clenching hard as if she was getting ready to have an orgasm again, and she did. As soon as he came with an explosive ejaculation, she cried out his name, and he realized she had climaxed at the same time.
“I’m so glad we didn’t run as wolves first.” She sighed heavily and kissed his chest. “When you were dancing with me, I was so primed for this.”
“The same thing with me. I couldn’t have run as a wolf as well until a particular part of my anatomy had settled down.”
She laughed. “I love you, my hunky wolf.”
“I love you, my beautiful mate.”
***
The next morning after Maisie and Anne served the guests breakfast and cleaned up the three rooms that would have new guests later, Maisie, Robert, William, and Chelsea dressed to go fishing. They were launching two boats off the MacQuarrie beach, all ready to fish, excited. It was a beautiful day, overcast—perfect for fishing—and warm, though the wind off the water was always cool.
They had their life preservers, fishing buckets, flares—this time!—ice chests, fishing rods, tackle boxes, a gallon of water for each of them, beef jerky and granola bars in case of emergency, fillet knives, extra-long rope in the event they needed more for an emergency towing, and first aid kits!
Then they pushed their boats into the water and motored out to fish. Both of the boats were seventeen-foot unsinkable Boston Whalers that were good and stable on ocean waves. These were equipped with GPS plotter/sounders, fix-mounted VHF radios that had a range of fifteen to twenty miles, and emergency beacons. They didn’t plan to have any trouble, but they knew trouble could find them when they were least expecting it.
“This is so much fun,” Maisie said to Robert as they motored out into the water, found the area where they wanted to fish, tossed the anchor in, and cast out their lines.
“It is,” Robert said. “We’ve been so busy that it is nice to take a break and just relax, especially because the clinic will be open upon our return from our honeymoon.”
“Aye. Do you think we’ll catch any fish?”
“With luck, sure. Maybe between the four of us, we’ll manage.” Robert waved at William and Chelsea nearby.
Often fishing boats hunted the fish together, though they had to watch out that they didn’t run into each other. But they should be okay, anchored some distance from each other.
Chelsea and William were taking selfies fishing and laughing. Even though it was all faked, they looked so real while they did it. They finally settled down to fish, too, when a large school of pollock began to swim under the boats.
“Oh, wow, unreal,” Maisie said softly.
Everyone concentrated on fishing and began catching pollocks. For the area, they were some of the hardest-fighting fish, pound for pound. As soon as they began catching them, the pollocks were fighting to get back into the kelp. Maisie was trying hard not to lose the fish or her fishing pole.
“How many do we have now?” Chelsea asked, struggling to get her fish under control and William using a landing net to bring the pollock in.
“Six for us,” Robert called out, helping Maisie with hers.
“Four for us,” William said. “We’re catching up. Got another one.”
Then the school passed them by.
“That should be good enough for a feast for everyone,” William said.
That’s when they heard a boat coming toward them. They thought it was another fishing boat, wanting to cash in on their good fishing spot, but the boat wasn’t slowing down, and the school of fish had already left.
“Pull up anchor!” Robert shouted to William, who was hauling his up right away, just like Robert was trying to.
Everyone had their life jackets on, but if the boat hit one of theirs, it could seriously injure them. That’s when Maisie thought of Jack and how he must have used a boat to dump Gus’s body. God, had he been tracking William’s movements all this time, just waiting for the right moment to go after him?
William had posted about fishing with Chelsea, and the cliffs in the picture showed just where they were. “It’s probably Jack,” Maisie said. She got on her phone while Robert started the boat’s motor and got them underway. “Grant, we’ve got trouble.”
“Enrick told me you’re fishing with Robert. What happened this time?” Grant asked.
“We have a boat headed straight for us. I’m sure he’s after William and Chelsea. But he’ll want to take us out too, most likely, so there aren’t any witnesses.”
“Jack?”
“I can’t make him out, but that’s whom I suspect. He’s not slowing down, and he’s gaining on us.”
“Hell, it will take us time to launch a couple more boats, but we’ll do it. Just try to get close to our beach.”
“We’re headed that way now.” But Maisie knew they weren’t going to make it to shore before the faster, larger boat was upon them.