A Highland Wolf Christmas

by Terry Spear

  At the same time, she hated that she couldn’t let go of the feelings of uncertainty with Guthrie. Yet she had to. For her own sanity.

  She glanced at his shirt wadded up in his hand, his solemn look. She had the fleeting hope that no one would be about when they entered the keep. If anyone was, they’d know just why Guthrie had taken his shirt off in the garden room when he was alone with her out there.

  As soon as they walked into the kitchen, Calla noted how quiet the place was. The light had been left on—probably for them. She was used to everything being quiet in her carriage house. But because many people lived or worked here, she heard conversation taking place in one room or another all the time, except for late at night.

  The sound of footsteps headed for the kitchen instantly disquieted her. She wanted to tell Guthrie to hide his shirt behind his back, but she couldn’t. That would be like saying she was ashamed of what they’d done, and truly she was anything but. She would cherish that special time forever, keeping the toga party and the aftermath as one of her most treasured memories.

  Julia entered the kitchen and smiled at Calla, who felt that her instantly heated body had flushed and given her away—par for the course for a redhead.

  To Calla’s surprise, Julia said, “Can I have a word with you, Guthrie, in a moment?”

  “Aye, of course.” He looked miserable.

  “If you’ll meet me in the library, I’ll be there in just a few minutes. I wanted to get a cup of hot chocolate first.” She glanced at Calla. “Would you like some too?”

  “Nay, thanks. I’m headed up to bed.” Calla looked again at Guthrie. She wanted to say something to Julia, worried that the female pack leader intended to tell Guthrie to watch his step with Calla. Then again, maybe Julia needed to speak with him about pack business.

  Calla quickly excused herself, thinking maybe Guthrie would still walk her to her room, but he only said good night. Calla knew then that he felt he’d made a mistake with her. As Calla headed toward her chamber, she hardened her resolve to not attempt to get serious with anyone for a good long while. She wasn’t up to going through a repeat of what had happened between her and Baird.

  Was Julia going to lecture Guthrie about it? That was bound to make things even worse.

  Chapter 10

  Guthrie sat in the library in one of the comfortable reading chairs, his shirt still crumpled in his fist. He should have dumped it with his dirty laundry before he met with Julia. Not that he could hide anything even if he’d wanted to. Julia could already smell that he and Calla had enjoyed some intimate time together.

  He suspected he knew what Julia was going to say when she arrived with her cup of hot chocolate. He wondered when she’d taken to drinking that instead of the hot lavender tea she usually had at night.

  He sighed. Julia walked in, shut the door, and joined him in the sitting area. Once she was seated, she said, “I know that both you and Calla are highly attracted to each other. It’s obvious to everyone.”

  “Aye, and I’ve already decided I need to back off a wee bit with the lass,” he said, wanting to get this over with.

  “Good. I worry about you.”

  She looked so serious that his jaw dropped. “Me?” he asked incredulously. Calla, yes. What was there to be concerned about with him?

  “Guthrie, I know you say the deal with your ex-girlfriend, Tenell, was over and done with when you broke up. But…well, the rest of us saw it differently. You’d invested so much time and energy in the relationship. We know you were seriously thinking she was the right one for you.”

  Guthrie frowned. When Tenell had gone back to her old boyfriend, that had been the end. Guthrie had returned to working on the clan’s finances, and life went back to business as usual.

  “I’m afraid…I’m afraid you might be feeling the effects of having a rebound relationship.”

  Bloody hell. Where had Julia come up with that notion? Did everyone think the same?

  “Me?” He couldn’t help sounding shocked. “Calla’s the one you should be concerned about.”

  Julia nodded. “I am, of course. But it’s different for each of you. Calla is moving forward. Aye, though she’s been cautious of forming new long-term relationships, which is for the best. This business with you might well be the same thing for her as you’re feeling. A need to set aside the loneliness you’re experiencing now that Tenell is no longer in your life.”

  “You can’t be serious. She left and I forgot about her.”

  Julia let out her breath, a habit Ian had when he felt one of his brothers wasn’t listening to him. It appeared she was picking up her mate’s habits.

  “All right, lass, how did I act that made you and others believe I am feeling melancholy about breaking up with Tenell?”

  “You quit eating.”

  “I wasn’t hungry.”

  “You’re always hungry,” Julia said, frowning at him. “You withdrew from anything to do with activities involving couples.”

  “I was busy with financial dealings.”

  “Right, but you locked yourself away for days to conduct business. You don’t normally do that.” She arched a brow in challenge.

  “I needed the quiet time. Sometimes distractions can make me lose my concentration when I’m trying to make important financial decisions for the pack.”

  “Your door is always open, Guthrie. Admit it. Just like Ian’s is, no matter what.”

  He ground his teeth and folded his arms. Did everyone think he’d been upset about the breakup?

  “You’re in denial.”

  He stubbornly refused to agree with her. He wasn’t in denial.

  “You skipped sword practice a number of times, even though you love to do it. In fact, anything you enjoy doing, you stopped participating in—fishing, running as a wolf, boating, everything.”

  “I…was…busy.”

  “You slept later than you normally do. Missed days of breakfasts and skipped them entirely.”

  “I had stayed up too late.”

  “You had gone to bed early.”

  He almost smiled at her tenacity. “Anything else?” As if that wasn’t enough.

  “You missed engagements and you never do that. You are one of the most punctual and levelheaded of your brothers, but you were snapping at anyone who touched on the sensitive subject of the ex-girlfriend.”

  “I did not.”

  She let out her breath again. “You refuse to talk about it to anyone. If it was no big deal, you’d joke about it or something. But you’ve buried the whole situation instead.”

  “This is about your writing, isn’t it?” he asked, since Julia was a romance author.

  “Huh?”

  “You analyze people to make up stories, even if you’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

  She smiled and patted his leg. “Suffice it to say that I worry about you.” She finished her hot chocolate.

  “Well, I thought you were involved in the seating arrangement in the great hall for an earlier meal,” he said, raising an accusatory brow. “And that my brothers and cousins are conspiring to get me together with the lass.”

  “It’s true we’ve all enjoyed seeing that you and Calla are…hitting it off. I don’t think any of us believed that the two of you would progress to this point so…quickly.” She cast him a wee smile. “I just think for your sake, you might be a little more cautious.” She rose from her chair and he stood. “’Night, Guthrie.”

  Before she could leave, Guthrie said, “I understand you and the ladies are Christmas shopping tomorrow.”

  “Yes. You’re not on the guard detail,” she said.

  “Aye. I’ll just go along and stick close to you.”

  He expected her to say he couldn’t go because he needed to be more…circumspect. Instead, to his surprise, Julia actually offered him a radiant smile. Then she took her leave and he wondered what that discussion had really been about. He knew he could live another hundred years and still not understand
the workings of a woman’s mind.

  ***

  Calla had just settled into bed and was reading a little more of the book on parties on a budget when someone knocked on her door. Guthrie? Here to apologize? She ground her teeth and got out of bed. She grabbed her robe and put it on, then cinched it. If he apologized, she was going to give him a tongue-lashing.

  When she opened the door, she found Julia standing there instead, all smiles. “I’m sorry to disturb you when you probably had already gone to bed, but…could we talk for a moment?”

  Oh, great, now Julia was going to lecture her at this hour? Calla let her in and closed the door, forming the explanation she’d wanted to give Julia earlier. Before she could start, Julia said, “I’m worried about you.”

  An hour later, Julia bid Calla good night. She was surprised by what Julia had told her—that Guthrie had seriously considered mating with another woman and was in total denial that the breakup had affected him. All the things that Julia had brought up concerning Guthrie had been the same for Calla—the sleeping in, the lack of appetite, the unwillingness to speak about Baird with anyone. She’d thrown herself into her work, found herself unable to concentrate on her business, and missed meetings with clients. She’d locked herself away in her home, not wanting to go anywhere or do anything beyond work-related activities—while telling others she was too tired.

  She’d been worried that she might be headed for a rebound situation with Guthrie. She felt awful that he was experiencing that instead.

  Calla curled back up in bed with her book, sure that her decision to put some space between her and Guthrie was the right one. She would not lust after Guthrie’s hot kisses or give in to his heated gazes or think of him as anything more than a friend like Cearnach was. But she and Cearnach had never kissed. Well, once when they were young. She’d found it much like her mother or father kissing her. He’d certainly never turned her furnace up to blazing. She’d never blushed around him, ever, that she could recall. Even now, just thinking about the way Guthrie had touched her so intimately, she was hot and interested all over again.

  She vowed to just be friends, though. Maybe when he’d had sufficient time to get over his breakup they might court each other. Sometime in the future. She set the book aside and turned off her light. Tomorrow, Calla would pay a surprise visit to Guthrie’s math class to show him they really could be just friends.

  With that thought in mind, she smiled and closed her eyes. And immediately envisioned Guthrie suckling on her nipple. She groaned.

  There wasn’t any way that she could see him in the same light as she saw Cearnach.

  ***

  Ian wrapped Julia in his arms, snuggling with her, kissing her hair, and cleared his throat, suspecting why his sweet, little American lass had to slip off to get a cup of hot chocolate so late at night. Last night, she’d done the same thing, only she’d never gotten her hot chocolate and had come straight back to bed. When she told him about Guthrie and Calla and the spilt milk, he couldn’t help but laugh.

  This evening after the toga party, Guthrie had escorted Calla to the garden room to talk about Baird, according to Ethan. His poor brother. Ian could just imagine how Guthrie would have reacted to the bare-breasted woman. Ian wondered how he would have responded, had it been him in the same situation. Especially if he’d been worried about how Julia would take it.

  Guthrie and Calla hadn’t returned to their rooms before he went to bed. He hadn’t heard any indication they were moving about. Then all of a sudden, his sweet mate had to return to the kitchen for her cup of hot chocolate again.

  “Did you see Guthrie and Calla?” Ian asked, hoping they weren’t breaking more glasses of milk down there.

  “Aye.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “And?”

  When she was this quiet, she was up to no good.

  “They went to bed.”

  “You’re not trying to matchmake, are you?”

  “Me? Never.”

  He chuckled. She was.

  ***

  The next morning, Calla asked Julia where Guthrie would be teaching the older teens. When she got there, she found a room set up with three rows of tables and chairs. Guthrie’s back was turned to her while he was writing on the white board, and she slipped into the class. Several of the students turned to look. Logan, who was sitting in the front row, grinned at her.

  She smiled and took a seat at the last table. Either the kids were really eager to learn math, or Guthrie had made them all sit up front. Julia had told her that he was teaching the kids about savings and investments, and she’d been curious to hear what he had to say.

  He seemed to be in a really chipper mood—even more so when he turned to see her sitting in on his class. She smiled.

  He smiled back at her, a wolfish look that said he was up to some mischief. Gone was any indication that he’d been worried about what occurred between them last night. She was glad to see his good humor return.

  “Maybe Miss Stewart can share her experiences of being an entrepreneur,” Guthrie said, motioning to her to come to the front of the class, “since we’re talking about earning money and setting aside savings and the like.”

  Her face had to have flushed as hot as it felt. She wouldn’t have minded talking to the kids, but not as a teacher would. She didn’t have anything prepared for this. She was about to shake her head, smile, and politely decline when Logan said, “All right!”

  Guthrie grinned and the other kids began to cheer her on. Probably anything to get out of discussing what Guthrie had been talking about. Not to mention that whatever she said wouldn’t be test material.

  She rose from her seat, tilted her chin down at Guthrie to say she’d pay him back, and then walked to the front of the class. She thought he’d just stand there, like she was his pupil and she had to give a speech. But he went to the back of the class and sat down like he was one of the students, grinning at her.

  What in the world had Julia said to Guthrie last night that had made him so…cheerful again?

  She took a deep breath. “Most of you probably know that I have a party and wedding planning service that I started some years ago,” she said, loosening up as she started to talk about what she loved to do. “One thing I want to make clear is that even if you don’t make a whole lot of money at your job, if you really love your work and you make enough to live off it comfortably, that’s worth more than making one hundred times the income at a job you absolutely hate. My dad taught me that and I completely agree.”

  The kids looked like they couldn’t believe anyone would work for a tiny bit of money if they could make huge amounts. Guthrie raised his eyebrows too. Logan’s hand shot up.

  “Aye, Logan?”

  “But if you make all that extra money, you can spend it on all kinds of fun stuff and then it makes the job worthwhile.”

  “What is it that you love to do more than anything else in the world?”

  “Work with the dogs.”

  “Aye, good. What is it you hate to do most of all?”

  Logan glanced at Guthrie, and she hoped math wasn’t what he was thinking of. Guthrie bowed his head to Logan to encourage him to speak freely.

  “Um, my dad is the armorer for the clan. He keeps all the weapons in good shape and makes the new swords for those of us who are coming of age.” Logan wrinkled his nose. “I hate the firing of the weapons, working with metal all day. I mean, I do it to help my dad out, but what I really love to do is work with the dogs.”

  She smiled. “Okay, good example. So let’s say you could earn a hundred times more working at the armory than you could working with the dogs. Which would you rather do?”

  His friends grinned at him.

  “Well…the question isn’t fair.”

  “How so?”

  “I have to do both and I don’t get paid for either.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Okay, so if you don’t get paid and you had a choice?”

&n
bsp; “Working with the dogs. I do what I have to when I work for my father, but I can’t wait to work with the dogs every day.”

  “He’s our future veterinarian,” Guthrie supplied.

  “Really?”

  “Aye,” Logan said proudly. “But…I’ll still help my dad when he needs me to.”

  She smiled. “Well, that’s just fine. And that proves my point.” At least she hoped it did. “All right. So with my business, I’ve managed to move from one location to another and still am able to gain new clients. Word of mouth has been really important. If I have a successful event, then people who attend the event spread the word, and before I know it, I have several more engagements scheduled throughout the year.”

  “What if you have an unexpected sword fight at the party and then one guy,” Logan said, looking back at Guthrie, “socks another in the nose?”

  The other kids laughed.

  “Well, it can be a disaster,” she said. “Or sometimes something good can come of it.”

  “Like?” Guthrie asked, sounding both amused and interested.

  “Like how a future client asked if I could schedule a reunion for a family later next year, only they would like me to set up a sword-fighting demonstration. I thought if Ian was agreeable, some of his men might like to put on this show.”

  “For free?” Guthrie asked, brows raised.

  “Of course not. I would charge more, based on Ian’s suggestion, well, and yours, being his financial advisor. The extra proceeds would go to the MacNeill pack.”

  “I want to do it,” Logan said, and several of the teens eagerly volunteered to help.

  She laughed.

  “Moneywise, how well do your parties do?” Guthrie asked, probably directing the lecture back to the math side of the business since this was a math class.

  “All of you have learned about percentages, aye?” Calla asked the students.

  They groaned.

  “Okay, well, you want to make a high enough profit—income less expenses—to make the venture worthwhile. You have to include all the costs—getting there, your time involved, the cost of goods and services, et cetera.”