by Terry Spear
He grunted. “It’s a nightmare.”
She chuckled. “Ian warned Grant what a mess it could be.”
“Aye. We never visited Argent Castle when the filming was going on at your place. We might have thought about this differently. With them staging the scenes, it’s a mess. Humans running all over the place. We’re not supposed to run as wolves, but everyone is anxious to have things back to the way they were so we can shift when we want to.” No one was within hearing distance, so Enrick didn’t worry about mentioning wolves.
“Same with us. Ian said you could come out and shift at our castle anytime. No problem at all.”
“We appreciate that. I’m sure some of our pack members will be glad to take you up on it.”
“I heard some of the cast is coming tomorrow.”
“Aye, including Guy McNab.” Enrick really wished they would get a new star for the film before they began shooting.
“Has anyone mistaken you for him yet?”
“Hell yeah. I had some woman all excited to see me when he wasn’t supposed to be there yet. I was working out with Lachlan, sword fighting, and she was watching us, especially me, and looked eager to speak with me every time I caught her eye. I stopped the fight before Lachlan won because I was so distracted. I told her I wasn’t Guy McNab, and I think I ruined her day. She turned three shades of red. Worse, everyone had to needle me about it.”
Heather smiled. “I wouldn’t get the two of you mixed up. I bet she’s avoided you since then.”
“Aye. She was only interested in the genuine article.”
“As a Highland warrior, you are the genuine article. I heard the weapons instructor arrived and was giving you tips.”
Enrick sighed. “The poor guy is trying to keep up with us.”
“I bet.”
One of the women working in the shop brought the pie out for Enrick, and then a couple came into the shop to order, which was Enrick’s cue to let Heather get back to work. He would sit with Oran and Callum and visit for a bit. Heather handed over Enrick’s steak pie on a plate. “I’ll have the other ready for you when you are returning to the castle.”
“Thanks. Tomorrow’s the big day. See you at the castle,” Enrick said.
Heather took a deep breath and nodded. “I just hope I don’t mess anything up.”
“You’ll be great.” Then Enrick took his pie to the table where Heather’s brothers were sitting and joined them.
“Here again.” Oran forked up more of his venison pie. “Our brother Jamie said you were in here yesterday to check up on things. We’re glad you’re watching out for our sister.”
“Aye. It doesn’t hurt for some of the MacQuarries to show their presence here.” Though he was the only MacQuarrie he knew of who was dropping by. Enrick noticed two MacNeill men were servers, wearing kilts and swords, with sgian dubhs tucked into their boots.
Patrons had flocked to see the battle-hardened warriors serving meals, along with a pretty lassie or two. It gave the place a real rugged feel. Enrick knew some men swapped off at the shop to work in the past, but now it was a regular occurrence until the film was shot and finalized. Though they might do the same thing when the film was done, just in case they had any backlash from the Kilpatricks and their kinsmen afterward.
“Are you ready to be a warrior?” Enrick asked.
“Aye. I’m ready to fight ye.” Oran raised a brow, smiling.
“You will never win that battle.” Enrick began to dig into his pie.
Oran laughed. “You will want to fight Cearnach, eh?”
“Aye. He and I have been sparring for practice when I haven’t been sparring with Lachlan, but you can gang up on me, too, and I’ll still be the winner.”
“In your dreams. When you’re flat on your back in the mud, you’ll take back those words. You are watching out for her while the Americans are at your castle, aye?” Oran motioned with his fork to Heather, who was taking payment for another couple of orders.
“As much as I can. In truth, we’re both keeping really busy so we haven’t had a lot of free time to do much else. And when she’s done with practice, she’s off to keep up with her shop.”
A lady at a table near them was taking notes and tried to take a surreptitious picture of them with her cell phone. Way too obvious for a wary group of wolves not to notice.
Oran leaned over and said to Enrick, “Methinks the woman believes you are practicing for your role as the lord of MacQuarrie castle.”
Enrick sighed. “In other words, she believes…”
“You’re the star. Shows what she knows,” Oran said under his breath.
Enrick laughed.
Callum agreed.
“Well, keep an eye on our sister, as much as you can. Your brother and Grant are also, of course. We appreciate the help.” Oran raised his mug to his lips to take another swig.
“I was remiss in not doing anything to discourage her from seeing Timothy.”
“Ha, she’s too headstrong. If you had said anything against him, it would have made her that much more eager to see him. We hoped she would see the truth about him before it was too late, and in the end, she did, just not in a good way.” Oran paused. “You know why she disobeyed me and my brother to watch us battling in the heather when we were younger? She wanted to see you fighting. She’s always wanted to be where you are.”
“A young lass’s folly.” Enrick had known it, but at that time, he was more interested in fighting the guys than being smitten with a lassie.
“Why do you think she jumped at the chance to be in charge of the women in the film?” Callum finished his pie.
“She wanted to take part in it. Just like she took part in the other film at your castle. Who wouldn’t want to do that?” Enrick wasn’t going to take it for granted that she planned to enjoy this herself.
“You know what a job that will be? Colleen could have done it. Julia even. Any other number of women could have. Or men. Heather’s overwhelmed with orders at her shop. She’s extremely successful. And she loves it here. It’s given her real purpose since Timothy died. Why do you think my pack leaders and yours put Heather in charge?”
Enrick sat back in his chair and glanced at Heather. She was frowning at her brother and then shared the growly expression with Enrick. He smiled.
“If you let the opportunity to really get to know her slide this time, I swear, you will not be seeing her again.”
Callum nodded.
Enrick frowned at Oran. “I’m not here to date her or mate her.” He figured Oran and his brothers suddenly had some notion this was all supposed to lead up to a mating. It wasn’t. He was just doing what they all wanted to do. Protect Heather from herself, particularly with outsiders possibly hitting on her and her taking them up on it.
“And you will make time for her during any breaks you have during the day and at night.” Oran raised a brow, challenging Enrick to agree.
Callum again agreed with his brother.
Enrick couldn’t believe his pack members and hers were endeavoring to matchmake, if this wasn’t just some fantasy her brothers had. Maybe because they were tired of her not having a decent mate to watch over her, day and night, and they thought Enrick would be the right one for her. Especially since she’d had interest in him when they were both young. “Did Heather put you up to this?”
“If she knew what I told you, she would give me a dressing-down, believe you me. All of us feel the same way about you dating her, so don’t screw it up.” Oran frowned at him.
Enrick wanted to laugh, but he knew from Oran’s expression he was dead serious.
“You will tell her you’ve dated other lassies over the years so she knows what kind of a cad you are. She thinks you have been working too hard or you would have asked her out already. Dinna upset her with the truth, but get it out in the open. It will go
easier for the both of you if you’re clear on that score,” Oran said.
“The truth is I did not think we would suit.” As wild as she could be. She was always dating some wolf. And the wolf she’d dated seriously had been as wild and carefree as her.
Enrick wasn’t like that. Not any longer. He was down-to-earth, a hard worker, played hard, but not with the she-wolves. She was a free spirit, and he would have wanted to rein her in if they had courted. So it was best if he watched out for her, but beyond that?
Still, once she’d established her shop, that had seemed to channel some of the bubbly energy she always seemed to have. And she loved the shop and her customers and everyone working for her. Truly, this was a new side to her he hadn’t expected. He had thought the shop would be something she did on a whim, and within months she’d close the shop down and be off on the next wild adventure.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like the way she was. He did. And that was the trouble. He was afraid they would butt heads when she wanted to do things he didn’t want her to do, for her own safety and well-being. Take Timothy, for instance. Enrick had tried to tell Timothy she wasn’t the one for him, not wanting him to hurt her with his recklessness, but that hadn’t gone over well. Enrick had sported a black eye for four days over it. And Grant had told him to leave the situation alone, that it would sort itself out eventually. Well, it had, but not like any of them had predicted. Enrick had thought she would just dump Timothy before things went too far.
Enrick raised his tankard of Irn Bru to Oran and Callum in friendship. He figured that was the easiest way to set their minds at ease. He was not dating the lass and certainly had no intention of mating her.
Chapter 5
The next morning all the lupus garou extras arrived at the MacQuarrie castle much earlier than needed. It was a time for the clans to enjoy a visit with each other before the shooting began, and the ladies were eager to get a glimpse of Guy McNab as soon as they could. The guys said they weren’t interested in seeing the female star since she wouldn’t be a wolf, but most of the women didn’t believe them. She was a dark-haired beauty with dark-brown eyes, a goddess on the silver screen. And from what Enrick had read about her, if any of it was true, she was sweet and funny, and liked to cook and hike and read books, a down-to-earth kind of woman.
Guy had tried to ignore Enrick whenever he was nearby. Enrick wasn’t sure why the actor didn’t care to see him. Guy was fine with the double, Larry Rogers, being there. In fact they seemed to be good friends, which Enrick learned often happened as the stunt double would do the riskier stunts or other scenes as needed. Who would ever have thought Enrick would be reading up on the stars like this?
Maybe Guy liked Larry because he would take the riskier shots for the actor, while Enrick just reminded Guy he could be replaced by a real Highlander if the film called for it. Enrick smiled.
The director mistook Enrick for Guy when he first arrived to speak with the star, and Enrick was a little bit amused. “Guy’s over there.” Enrick motioned to Guy who was watching them, probably wondering what that was all about.
“Well, hell, you’re a doppelgänger of Guy if I ever saw one.”
“I get that sometimes,” Enrick said.
The director slapped Enrick on the back. “Stick around. If something happens to our double, I might just be calling on you to take his place.”
Great. And Enrick didn’t think that in a good way.
Then they got down to business and began shooting some milling-around scenes in the inner bailey that morning before it rained, while Guy and his entourage rode horses into the courtyard. He and the others dismounted, some of Grant’s groomsmen taking the horses to the stable, and then Guy headed inside the castle with the other men who had ridden with him to eat a meal.
Heather had been so busy with meal preparations—and making sure the women all took their places in the kitchen and knew who was to serve the meals in the great hall and how they were to do it—that Enrick hadn’t had to worry about her. Her brothers hadn’t mentioned him seeing her in a courtship way again, for which he was grateful. He could imagine her getting word of it. She would be furious, and he was afraid he would lose her friendship. Since he wasn’t dating her, he didn’t think there was any need to mention anything about having dated other women. She had to suspect he had over the years.
Everything went fine while Guy sat at the head table with his wizard adviser and others of importance, including the heroine from another time period. They hadn’t filmed the scene where she first met Guy, carrying his claymore sword to him from the present day to his day. They wanted to do it on a sunny day after the battle scenes were shot, if everything worked out as they planned.
Enrick was dying to see how things were going for Heather, but he needed to stay out of her and the other women’s way and out of the view of the cameras.
“She’s doing just fine,” Lachlan told Enrick. They were both in full battle dress, Enrick because they had a battle scene that afternoon and Lachlan as handler of the wolves.
Enrick knew if her scene was a disaster, he would hear about it, because several of their people and the MacNeills were dining in the great hall as background actors for effect.
“Got to go,” Lachlan said, going to a room set aside for the wolves. Then he let them out and the wolves raced off to the great hall like they were supposed to and settled at the foot of the head table, tails wagging, sitting tall, eager to catch the scraps of food the lord tossed to them.
Enrick had to see this, and since Lachlan was in charge of the wolves, they both found a spot to watch from.
Guy tossed strips of fish to the wolves, and they caught them in midair.
Enrick smiled. Colleen’s cousins had said they wouldn’t eat any off the floor, even though real wolves would.
So they’d caught the fish for the shoot, thankfully. He could imagine them turning up their noses at the fish on the floor and not looking wolfish at all.
Then Guy tossed a bone to the wolves and the cousins were to fight over it. Again, they caught it in midair, which was a sight to see.
They were growling as they played tug-of-war, and then one finally wrenched it away from the other and trotted off to leave the great hall and chew on his bone in peace.
When William was out of sight of the cameras, Enrick and Lachlan gave him a thumbs-up.
The other six wolves milled around, pretending to look for scraps of food on the floor.
Two got into a fight over a piece of food, per the script. In the meantime, Guy was talking to his wizard, the wolves just a sideshow. But they were doing an excellent job. Enrick was proud of them.
Who would ever have thought some of their lupus garous would be acting as wolves in a film for the world to see, when in truth they never wanted to show that part of themselves to the world?
Then Heather entered the great hall with a tray of food. Enrick swore she was prettier every day he saw her. He suddenly saw trouble ahead. Somebody had tossed a large bone on the floor, and he was afraid she was going to trip over it. It wasn’t part of the scene, and he didn’t want her to twist her ankle, take a spill, and maybe even injure herself. He didn’t think of the cameras or ruining the shoot. All he thought of was rescuing Heather from potential disaster.
He dashed into the great hall, heard a hush go over the “court,” and grabbed Heather’s arm at the same time he was taking hold of the tray so she wouldn’t drop it when he startled her. Her eyes were huge. He quickly kicked the bone out of her path and released her with a slight bow of his head, ensuring she still had a steady grip on the tray, then hurried out of the great hall as if this all had been planned.
She continued on her way, the director never calling cut, so Enrick wasn’t certain if they would reshoot the scene or that her part—well, and his—could be cut without causing any trouble. He could just see her spraining an ankle, and though
their kind healed in half the time it took humans, he hadn’t wanted to ruin the opportunity she had to have this role in the film.
“Nice save.” Lachlan slapped Enrick on the back when he was out of the camera’s view.
“I hope she doesn’t kill me for wrecking her scene.”
Lachlan smiled. “She will appreciate that she didn’t injure herself. Even if she had managed to move the bone out of her path, she might have wobbled the tray too much and lost the food. You never know. I would say that was hero material, and if you’re looking to finally court her, you stand a chance.”
Enrick was frowning as Heather set the mugs of ale at one of the tables. “I’m not looking to court her. Do you think she saw the bone?” She would really kill him if she had planned on pushing it out of her way and Enrick had bolted into the great hall and embarrassed her to pieces over a nonexistent danger.
* * *
Heather had been so startled when Enrick rushed into the great hall and grabbed her arm to keep her from tripping over the bone that her heart was still racing to the moon and back. She’d seen the bone and was intending to kick it out of her path when he ran out to rescue her, nearly giving her a heart attack.
She’d expected the director to stop the scene, but—she sighed as she carried the empty tray back to the kitchen—she guessed her part wasn’t important in the scheme of things and it would end up on the cutting-room floor.
“Ohmigod,” Lana said, giving her a hug, and so did some of the other ladies who were tending to the cooking, ready to serve the food again if they needed to reshoot any of the scenes. “I can’t believe Enrick dashed out to grab you so you wouldn’t kill yourself on that bone.”
“I saw it! I wasn’t going to trip on it.” Heather set her empty tray down on a table.
Their mouths agape, the ladies all looked at her, their eyes rounded, and then they started to laugh.
“I can’t believe the director didn’t call ‘cut’!” Lana said.