“And my earnings. I will help—”
“When we get home, I want to discuss our financial situation with you.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Ahh, lass, only in a good way.”
She nodded and he kissed her. “I don’t know how I can thank you,” Calla said again. “You and your pack.”
“Our pack,” he said.
Duncan said, “We have you to thank for convincing Ian to open up the castle to bring in so much money. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so cheerful. Seeing how much our pack enjoyed the activities, he was well pleased.”
“I only wish I’d learned you had returned to the area,” Cearnach said, “and I would have brought you to Argent Castle so you could have done all this a year ago.”
When they arrived at the castle, Guthrie took Calla up to his office, wanting to show her the finances, since she would be bringing in income beyond what the others brought in.
“What a lovely office,” she said, admiring his large oak desk, the Turkish carpet, and the seating area where he discussed finances with pack members—four brown velour chairs and a couch to match, with a curve-legged oak coffee table in the center.
Some of the ladies had made him gold-embroidered pillows to set on the chairs and couch to give more of a homey appearance. And a couple of throw blankets were neatly folded over the arm of the couch, where he’d taken a wolf nap or two and then continued working late on the finances.
“We have a communal pot to pitch our incomes into. We each have our own savings, but the community money is for the whole of the pack—for the upkeep of our ancestral home, for food, celebrations, and special needs. I want to show you just how we can figure things and bring more money into the accounts.”
“Well, my earnings and the rental income from the carriage house should help to pay the loan back,” she said, watching as he turned on his computer. “I need to move some of my things out of my home, some I can store at my parents’ place. The rest of the furnishings will stay so that it’s sufficiently furnished for bed-and-breakfast guests. As to the rest…”
“We’ll move your other stuff here. We can do that this afternoon after the meal if you’d like.”
“Okay.”
He watched to see her response. She was frowning, but he didn’t sense distress, only that this was going to be a lot of work. He was eager to get her moved over completely, though he’d forgotten about that part of it. Once they had mated, he’d felt that was all that needed to be done. She was here. That was all that was important.
“Everything’s going to be fine.” Guthrie pulled up some of his spreadsheets.
“Impressive,” Calla said next to his ear, her warm, sweet breath tickling it as she leaned close to observe the charts.
In that instant, he was thinking a lot more about Calla’s assets, rather than the finances. He couldn’t believe anything would distract him from showing off their books.
“You’re so meticulous with your accounts,” she said, her breast touching his shoulder.
“Aren’t you?” He was thinking about pulling her onto his lap and snuggling with her while they looked over the finances.
“Wait. I’ll get my laptop and be right back.”
He sighed. He should have just taken her straight back to bed when they returned to Argent Castle. What had he been thinking? “All right. I’ll print these out, and we can have a seat over there and look them over.”
In a few minutes, Calla was back with her laptop and sitting on the couch. He joined her with his handful of papers. She turned on her laptop and pulled up her financial records.
He smiled. “You’re just as meticulous about your records.”
He’d suspected she might be since she was able to talk to him about her financial data without having to look up her records.
She started analyzing his stocks and earnings. “Wow, this is great.”
“Just as yours are,” he said, admiring her—and not just for her financial figures.
“Our combined assets will grow over time and…” She paused when he began brushing her hair with his fingers.
“Aye, our joining of assets will be in both our best interests.”
He shoved his papers aside, took her laptop, and set it on the coffee table, then pulled her into his arms. He began kissing her, then remembered the office door. But when he broke off the kiss, he saw that Calla had already shut it. Had she had the same notion as he had?
With the door closed, no one would intrude. When he napped, he always shut the door. Otherwise it was always open to pack members who wanted to discuss their finances with him or kids who needed math tutoring.
She smiled and began to unbutton his shirt. “No worries. I locked it when I returned with my laptop.”
“I love when you are thinking the way I’m thinking. I love you,” he said, pulling off her sweater, then yanking off his own. He’d never imagined making love on the sofa where he’d take a quick wolf nap in between figuring out the pack’s finances—and with the loveliest she-wolf, who was now his mate.
“I just wanted to say that we are together in anything we do, you know. Even when we are apart. If you ever feel the need to talk to me about anything, if you’re ever upset with me, just say so. I don’t want anything to ever come between the two of us.”
He’d understood her need to protect her parents’ reputation and solve the financial crisis on her own, but he never wanted her to feel that she had to do anything like that again. They were a team now.
She smiled up at him with the most devilish look as she reached for his belt. “I’ll remind you of this conversation later if you change your mind. It goes both ways, you know.”
He grinned at her as he helped her to unbuckle his belt.
“I still don’t know for sure—do you or don’t you go regimental when you wear your kilt?”
“Ahhh, lass, what do you think?”
She ran her hand over his crotch, his cock straining for release, and he hurried to pull down his pants.
“Regimental. And you, lass, under that long Stewart plaid skirt?”
She smiled wickedly at him.
He smiled back. “Then next time we’re wearing our plaids, we’ll have to do something about it.” He could just envision the two of them like that and wished that after the previous festivities when they had worn them, they would have had the chance to see for themselves. But they hadn’t quite come this far at the time, and they had a lifetime together now to experiment all they wanted. The very next kilted occasion…well, he couldn’t wait.