Shoulders straight back, Julia opened the door for Colleen and then she stepped in, followed by the rest.
The men in the pub quit talking and laughing and turned to see all the women enter. But they didn’t look quite as shocked as she had expected. Well, maybe a little, as they eyed the women’s short tartan skirts. Then they smiled as if they’d pulled a fast one on the women. Had the men known the ladies’ plans?
She suspected so. The cads. “Grant, what are you and the rest of the men doing here? Who told you we were going to be here?”
“The castle walls have ears, lass,” he said, reaching for her arm.
The crowd of men took up virtually every seat. The ladies would have to go outside and use the benches on the patio if they wanted to sit down. Grant patted his lap to offer her a place to sit, up close and personal.
She smiled down at his wolfish grin. “You’re being a gentleman and offering your seat to me, right?”
“Aye.” He patted his lap again.
She laughed and shook her head.
“Scottish hospitality, lass,” he said. Before she could let him know she was all for sitting on his lap and in his arms, he seized her arm and tugged her down. She laughed as she sat rather hard on his lap. He groaned a little, and then she wiggled to get comfortable and made him groan some more. Served him right.
Grant set the tone for the party, and ladies squealed as Ian and his brothers collected their mates and pulled them onto their laps. Others did the same.
Calla ended up on Guthrie’s lap, but Colleen wasn’t sure if Guthrie offered her the seat or she had claimed him. Colleen glanced around to see where Heather had ended up. She was sitting on Enrick’s lap. Colleen wondered if Heather’s request for her to grab a pair of his trunks so she could display them on the pirate’s pole meant there had been something going on between the two of them before this—despite her denial.
“You really aren’t here because you knew we planned to come here, are you?” Colleen asked Grant. She couldn’t believe he’d really want to crash her party again.
“You don’t think I’d want my mate off running around, being with other men for any reason, even just to tease as part of a hen party prank, do you? And certainly not dressed like this.” He slid his hand over her bare leg. “Besides, you’ll catch your death in something so skimpy.”
“No, which is why I’m not hugging men for pictures or anything. You would likely hunt them down otherwise, do them bodily harm, and ruin a fun party.”
“Aye, you have the right of it, lass.”
“You know this was supposed to be our last hurrah,” she said, smiling up at him as Julia took their picture.
“Before you were mated. Not that I would have agreed to that, either. Once we were mated, any stag parties or bachelorette parties became unacceptable, unless we’re together at them. Besides, you have more fun when we crash your girlie parties.”
She had to agree he added a lot of spice to the affair. “Fine. But it’s all chick flicks when we return to the keep and…”
Grant kissed her full on the mouth. He was so right. They didn’t need the crazy parties to say they were free one last time. Not when they were already mated. That didn’t mean ladies’ night would be a thing of the past. On the contrary.
“We’ll watch them with you. As your mate, I want to know everything you enjoy doing,” he said agreeably.
Colleen patted his thigh. “Are you up to baking decadently delicious chocolate treats?”
“I am. And eating my fair share, too.”
She smiled and hugged him soundly. “I think I’ll keep you as my mate.”
“I couldn’t be happier with our sleeping arrangements. I do have one question for you, though.”
“Oh?”
“You didn’t send those pictures you took of me while I was sparring with Ian to some other lassies, did you?”
She smiled.
“Darby said he swore the man showing off his arse on Facebook was wearing one of our kilts, and the man he was fighting was wearing the MacNeill tartan. Seemed like too much of a coincidence to us.”
She laughed. “What are girlfriends for?”
“I knew it. You said you wouldn’t share them.” He squeezed her tighter against his chest.
“Well, at least not the identity of the person bearing that sweet ass.”
“And now who’s baring her sweet—”
“I am not.”
He laughed. “With as windy as it is, lass? I’ll have my cell handy when we leave here.”
She’d hold her skirt down, then. She shook her head at him, but he was grinning wickedly and she knew he would, too. Not to share it with anyone, though.
When the whole party of stags and hens headed home, it was pouring rain, the first she’d experienced since she’d arrived. A shuffling of who rode in which cars followed. Ian and Julia grabbed a ride with Grant and Colleen, and they could barely see their way to the castle in the downpour.
That night, after watching romance movies and sharing popcorn and some crazy chocolate concoctions, Ian and his family left for Argent Castle with plans to return in two days for Colleen and Grant’s wedding. The forecast looked like intermittent rain. But it wouldn’t put a damper on the festivities, as excited as everyone was.
Everyone else headed for their respective beds. Grant had wrapped Colleen in his spare plaid while they snuggled and watched the movies, ensuring she didn’t show off her legs or other unmentionables in the short minikilt. As soon as he carried her to the bedchamber, he set her on her feet, then ditched the plaid wrapped around her.
“I want you just like this,” he said, running his hand over her bare leg. Still dressed in his kilt and her in her minikilt, they got into bed together. He pulled her back against his chest, his hand reaching down to feel under her minikilt.
She smiled. A questing finger quickly found its way inside between her slick, hot folds, and she groaned with the sensual assault.
“You should have told me you were already wet for me. You don’t know how much it killed me to touch all that silky flesh and not be able to lift that tiny kilt and bury myself inside you while I waited for everyone to retire for the night. From now on, you only wear it for me in the privacy of our chambers.”
She smiled, happy to do so, not willing to have a breeze lift her kilt and show off her buttocks. He stole her breath when he began nibbling her ear and rubbed his hard body against her backside.