“With all the renovations we made to the two hotels, and the economy in such a downswing, we’ve lost a lot of money. The banks wouldn’t loan us any more funds and we have to finish the renovations. You were marrying Baird. I got to talking to him about our financial situation—he was pushing for a fancier wedding than we could afford—and… Well, Calla, I didn’t want to say, but Baird paid for the wedding and helped finance the rest of the loan we needed for the hotels. We figured we could pay him back within ten years, since you were marrying him and he would be family. Everything was fine until…”
She let out her frosty breath in the chilly breeze. She was getting too cold and had to go inside. “Until I walked out on him at the wedding.”
She felt horrible. She headed back inside the keep, glad to see no one about, and hurried up the stairs to her room, shutting the door behind her. She was so cold. She couldn’t shake the chill she felt from having stood out in the wintry weather and the chill she felt from the mess her parents were in. The hotel business was their life, having started with an inn and pub eons ago. They’d been so proud to own a more modern hotel and then expanded to two and had even planned to venture into a couple of bed-and-breakfasts. She felt terrible for them. She would do just about anything to keep them from losing it all—but she wouldn’t mate Baird.
“It’s not your fault, Calla. Baird insisted on the best money could buy for your ceremony. It was a way to show off to the pack how wealthy his in-laws were. He was delighted he could help us out. I have to admit we were thrilled he did too. He said the money came from funds he’d saved separately from the pack’s money, so it was his own to do with as he wished. He assured us he knew we could pay it all back to him in time and offered a reasonable interest rate, better than the banks could offer, though we couldn’t get any more loans from the bank.
“But when the marriage didn’t go through, we were afraid he’d try to use the loan as leverage to get you to return to him. We’d rather lose everything we own than see you mated to him. We had to use our own investments to pay for what we have already done. The manor house is mortgaged to the hilt. Cost overruns and lost profits made the burden more than we could handle.”
“I think he must have used the pack’s money without permission.”
“What?” Her father sounded as shocked as she was that her parents had borrowed from Baird.
“Guthrie overheard Baird’s cousin saying he believes that the pack is going to kill them over something. What else could it be about? Baird said if I went back to him, he wouldn’t have to repay the loan because my business’s income would be added to their pack’s finances, and the money you owe and all your properties would all be under their jurisdiction. But without my mating Baird, the pack wouldn’t get my income and you could possibly default on the loan, meaning it’s not a good financial investment for them.”
“Bloody hell. He lied to us then.”
“Most likely.” She let out her breath. “I’m not going back to him, no matter the mess he’s gotten himself into. How much money did you borrow?”
“A half million.”
She about had a stroke.
“We thought business would pick up after the renovations, but we have to finish off what we started.”
A half million?
“All right. I’ve got some money saved, and I’ll see if I can take out a loan based on my earnings. I doubt I can take out that much, though. What if we sold the carriage house? I could move back in with you and Mum at the manor house.”
“He wants it all now, Calla. He’s desperate to get you back.”
“Because he knows he’s running out of time.”
Her father didn’t say anything.
“I’m…courting Guthrie MacNeill. That’s one reason Baird is running out of time for me to agree to mate him. If he was truly afraid his wolf pack had learned he’d spent their money without their permission, there is that too.” She assumed her parents would be upset with her and tell her to wait until she was more over this situation with Baird. In the background, she heard her father tell her mother that she was dating Guthrie.
Silence.
“Dad, are you still there?”
“Calla, this is great news. When can you get married?”
“Dad?” Her father had to be crazy! She could just imagine going downstairs, joining Guthrie, throwing her arms around him and saying, “Hey, let’s get mated because I need to borrow a half-million dollars from you and that’s what mates are for, eh?”
“If you marry Guthrie, his pack would take us in as family and—”
“Dad, nay!”
Silence.
Then she heard her parents conversing in the background and waited.
“We’re trying to come up with some money through our relatives here,” her father explained.
“In Ireland?” Calla asked.
“It was the last thing we could come up with.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She was certain her distant relatives would want a partial interest in her parents’ properties in exchange for a loan.
“We didn’t want you feeling it was all your fault or that you were obligated to return to him.”
“I have some money, Dad. I could help some.” She rubbed her temple, the headache pooling there again. Returning to Baird was not an option. “Okay, so how much were you able to come up with?”
“Thirty thousand. That’s it.”
“And would our relations have an invested interest in the properties?” she asked.
“No, just payment of the loan and interest as soon as we’re able.”
She let out her breath. “All right. I’ll see what I can do. You should have told me.”
“Are you sure that you don’t want to mate with Guthrie sooner and—”
“Nay! I’ll do something. I’ll call you back when I’ve got some idea of how much money I can get together on short notice. Love you and Mum.”
They quickly said their good-byes, and she was getting ready to call her bank and broker when a knock sounded on the door and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She waited for a second, hoping whoever it was hadn’t been standing there for some time and heard her talking about the money over the phone. Or anything else, like how she wasn’t going back to Baird.