“Fine,” she said, only because she didn’t want to drive at night on unfamiliar roads, and truly, she was tired after the sleepless night she’d had. Not to mention the fight she’d had with the dog in her bed. He had taken up a goodly sum of the mattress, and she hadn’t been about to share it with him.
She had the nagging suspicion that someone had sneaked him into her room while she had visited Grant in the White Room. How else would the dog have gotten in there? True, she had left the door to Grant’s chamber slightly ajar, but she’d seen no sign of the dogs before she’d retired for the evening so she suspected they were kept in a kennel at night.
Fully expecting Grant to chastise her for driving off across Scotland without his permission—that would be the day—she was surprised on the drive back to Farraige Castle when he said instead, “Did you take some steak bits to bed with you?”
“What?”
“Enrick said Hercules slept outside your chamber last night.”
So he thought she had enticed the dog to come to her room with meat treats.
She gave him an annoyed look. “Better there than in my bed,” she said, letting him know someone had been up to tricks last night.
He glanced at her. “In your bed?”
“Yes. After we said good night, I discovered Hercules smack-dab in the center of the mattress. Despite the bed being big, the dog is huge. Believe me, moving him was no easy task.”
“That’s why Enrick smelled a hint of beef on him.”
“What? Did you think I enticed the hound to my room and posted him as a guard dog?”
Grant smiled.
“Well, I didn’t. Who let him out of the kennel and into my room?”
Grant’s smile faded.
Apparently, he hadn’t assumed anyone had done so on purpose.
“I’m sure someone neglected to lock him in the kennel last night,” Grant said, though he didn’t sound at all sure of it. “So you enticed him out of bed with the bits of meat?”
“Have you ever tried to coax a sleeping Irish wolfhound off your bed? He wouldn’t even raise his head off my pillow to look at me. When coaxing and pleading with him didn’t work—as an alpha wolf, you should never have to stoop that low to a dog—I pulled at his collar, pushed him, and called to him again. He wouldn’t budge. He reminds me of a Highlander I know, come to think of it.”
Grant again smiled.
“Earlier in the day, I’d found some bits of meat left over from the meal to train the dogs with. But last night, I had to go all the way down to the kitchen to get the beef. It was all I could find that wasn’t frozen, and I wasn’t defrosting something else and spending my whole night in the kitchen because I had a monster dog in my bed. Then I had to deal with your cook. Then with you. And then I had to carry the treats all the way back to the chamber. When the dog smelled the beef, he stirred and sat up, and I had his attention.”
“I’ll make sure he’s kenneled tonight and doesn’t bother you, lass.”
“Who was responsible?”
“A lad. I will talk to him.”
Okay, so she knew it was Grant’s pack and she had no say in it, but her bed and her sleep were affected last night. She had every intention of visiting the kennels when the hounds were put up for the night and learning the truth for herself.
“Concerning another matter,” Grant said, his voice sounding authoritative, and she stiffened a little, ready to fight the next battle. “I’ll have one of the men take your car back to the rental place, and you can use mine any time you like. Or one of us will drive you where you’d like to go.”
She snapped her gaping mouth shut.
“There’s no sense in you paying all that rent when you can use one of the cars at the keep,” he continued.
She stared at him. What happened to wanting her out of the castle?
When she didn’t respond, he said, “All you have to do is ask.”
“This doesn’t all have to do with Archibald, does it?” She highly suspected it did.
“Not all to do with him. Why waste money on a rental when there’s no need?”
She’d planned on buying a used car to drive while she stayed here for the year. But now he was conceding that she was staying here for all that time? She couldn’t believe it. Changing tactics? Or did he genuinely not mind that she was here to stay for the year?
“You weren’t really worried I had a car wreck, were you?” she asked, still surprised that Grant had come to fetch her. He had no way of knowing she’d been with Archibald at the pub before the man had spoken.
“Aye.” But Grant didn’t say anything more than that.
“Why were you worried?” She couldn’t believe he had changed his mind about her staying.
“You were upset when you left. I worried that in your frame of mind…” He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry you learned about how your grandmother doted on you in the way that you did. Your father shouldn’t have stood between the two of you. I believe you would have gotten on famously.”
The notion saddened her all over again. She hated her father for having taken that away from her.
“Thank you. I…wish that I had not listened to him.” Then not wanting to dwell on the past, she had to broach the subject no manager wanted to hear about. “First thing in the morning, I want to see the financial records for my properties.”
She didn’t believe her father had found anything wrong with the books. Archibald was probably just trying to cause trouble between her and Grant.
“As you wish,” Grant said, and she thought he sounded just a tad concerned.
Chapter 12
“She wants to see the financial spreadsheets,” Grant told Enrick in the study when the lass retired to her chamber.
“You look worried,” Enrick said.
“Aye. The matter with the thieving cook was dealt with satisfactorily, to our way of thinking. But what if the lass feels we were derelict in our duties for allowing the theft to go on so long?”
“You will convince her we had no knowledge of it and did everything to rectify the situation when we did learn of it. You seem bothered by something else tonight. And Lachlan said you’re sending two men to return the lass’s rental car. Have you had a change of heart about her staying here?” Enrick asked.