“She can’t rent the car for a year.”
Enrick smiled. “You do think she’ll stay for the entire time.”
“We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings,” Grant said vaguely.
“And what else?” Enrick asked.
“Someone might have sent Hercules to her chamber.”
“That’s why he was sleeping outside her room?” Enrick asked.
“In her bed.”
Enrick frowned. “How did she get him out of her…the beef.”
“Aye.”
Enrick shook his head. “I’ll make inquiries to see if anyone knows how the dog ended up there.”
***
Colleen knew she couldn’t do anything sneakily around the castle unless it was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep. Even then, the cook had caught her in the kitchen last night. She would use the rest of the meat to train the dogs. She was not going to have them jumping all over her in the future, if she could help it.
Now, she wanted to see who was taking the dogs to the kennels and putting them to bed. As soon as she reached for the handle to the front door of the keep, a man’s voice said, “Kind of chilly for a walk out there tonight.”
Lachlan. She turned and smiled at him. “I’ll be fine.”
“Mind if I join you?”
She paused. “Because you want to or need to?”
His mouth curved up. “Because I want to, of course.”
She knew she wouldn’t be able to speak to the lad in charge of the dogs without someone else learning of it. “All right.”
He opened the door for her, and then they walked outside. She heard the dogs barking to the left of the bailey and assumed the kennels were behind the stables. She headed in that direction.
“Are you checking out the horses?”
“Dogs.”
“Ah,” Lachlan said.
“How many dogs do you have?”
“Three—two males and a female. They’re from one of Ian MacNeill’s litters. I must say you handle them nicely.”
So he had been watching surreptitiously. Had Grant also? She’d seen the men who were supposed to be working on the seawall stop to observe her. All had worn smiles. “I’m surprised no one has ever tried to train them.”
Lachlan didn’t say anything. She glanced at him. He smiled.
“You’ve tried?” she asked, not believing they’d had so little success. She thought the dogs were quite easily trained.
“Aye. They mind Grant best, but they ignore the rest of us, no matter how alpha we are.”
She said, “If you ever want me to show you how, just ask.”
“I do. Anytime we both have free time.”
“It’s a deal.”
When they reached the kennels, she heard a boy talking to them, “Now, no more leaving the kennels on your own after I’ve put you to bed, mind you.”
Had the lad seen her coming and was putting on a show for her?
“Laird Grant already gave me a talking-to, and I don’t need him scolding me any further.” The teen was waving his finger at Hercules, the dog thumping his tail on the ground as he sat in his run looking out the barred door. The boy was about fifteen, she thought, with curly red hair and a slight build.
Colleen cleared her throat and the lad jumped back, stumbling and falling. She realized then that he hadn’t known they were coming. He must have been speaking so intently to the dogs that he hadn’t heard their approaching footfalls.
“I am Colleen Playfair, and you are?”
“The kennel boy, my lady,” the lad replied.
“Your name?”
“Frederick, my lady.”
“Well, Frederick, are all the dogs tucked in?”
“Oh, aye, my lady. They shouldn’t give you any trouble tonight.” Frederick glanced at Lachlan.
Lachlan nodded.
“Do you know how Hercules got into the keep last night?” she asked, watching the teen’s reactions.
“Through the wolf door. Had to be. No other way. But how he managed to get out of the kennel, that’s another story,” Frederick said, jamming his hands in his pockets.
“Are you certain you locked him up tight?”
“We don’t lock them up, my lady. I mean, as you can see, their runs have latches on them. None of them has ever found a way to unlatch them.”
“Someone must have let Hercules out,” she said, suspecting that was the case unless the boy really had neglected to lock him up.
Frederick paled and looked at Lachlan as if he would defend his honor.
“She’s not saying you let the dog out,” Lachlan said in a reassuring way.
“No. Lachlan’s right. I just wondered how he got into my bed, if you’re certain he was in here last night and the latch was secure.”
The boy’s eyes widened.
Lachlan frowned. “Aye, how the devil did he get into your chamber? Sleeping outside the door is one thing, but I had not considered someone had opened your door and let him in.”
Lachlan sounded so angry she was surprised. She didn’t want to tell him she had left Grant’s door ajar when she went to speak to him about the scary noises in his chamber. On the other hand, she didn’t want Lachlan to think someone had entered her room when she was sleeping.
“Grant’s chamber door was ajar. Mine was open to his chamber,” she said.
Lachlan looked skeptical. “I now have the duty to see that the kennels are secure every night just because of what happened last evening.”
He didn’t sound perturbed about it, for which she was glad. She wanted to tell him it wasn’t necessary, but she was certain Grant had given the order, and she didn’t want to interfere with his pack business.
“Good to meet you, Frederick. I would love to show you how to train them after I deal with another matter,” she said, thinking she needed to get started on the financial reports.
“Oh, aye, I’d love that. They can be a handful at times. I’d like to be able to show them who’s boss.”
She smiled at that, knowing just the feeling. Except in her case, it didn’t have anything to do with dogs, but rather one brawny Highlander. “Then tomorrow, when I’m through with this other business, I’ll come and see you.”
The boy beamed and she was glad he didn’t seem to be at fault for the dog being let loose. Yet she didn’t entirely trust him. He could have been nervous because he felt responsible for the dogs and one got loose, but what if he was anxious because he had left the dog in Grant’s chamber? She wanted to show him in her own way that there were no hard feelings.