A Howl for a Highlander (6 page)

“Ah, yes, each of us has to pay $5,000. I had to have a villa where I would be isolated from others—because of my wolfish nature, of course.”

He scrubbed one hand over his face, which he noted was getting more whiskery by the moment. “If you have a grant covering part of your cost, and I’m getting the twin bed…”

“Two twin beds.” She stood firm. “You pay half or…”

“Or? You’ll be stuck for the whole ten grand,” he countered. If he paid $5,000 to stay in the villa, Ian would surely kick him out of the clan.

She chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes narrowed as she focused on him, both of them at a standstill.

“Think, lass, I have a rental car that I’ve paid for, and as long as I’m not taking care of business—”

“Banking,” she said, sounding skeptical.

“Aye, then I could take you where you’d like to go.”

“The Mastic Reserve,” she said.

“The what?”

“It’s an ancient dry forest.”

“Dry forest.” He envisioned a petrified forest or a deciduous one with no leaves in the dead of winter, but in the tropics, he couldn’t imagine such a thing.

“Yes, the reserve has examples of a deciduous semi-tropical dry forest. I want to see it, and take notes and pictures. I teach botany at West Texas A&M, so I’m taking the information to my classes when I start back the fall semester next year. Most of the West Indies have had substantial deforestation, so this is one of the last holdouts that has existed, growing and changing for two million years! You must appreciate ancient things if you live in a castle.”

“Dry forest.” He did feel the same way about the ancient Caledonian Forest in Scotland. He just hadn’t thought of her as a plant kind of person. “Sure. I can drop you off to check out the trees.”

“That would work. Tours last two and a half to three hours, but I plan to stay for longer than that to take notes.” She hesitated, then added, “If you’re to stay with me, it’ll cost five thousand dollars.”

He couldn’t believe she wasn’t budging on the price. With her agreement to his taxiing her around the island, he’d thought she’d cut him some slack. Now he was surprised she hadn’t tacked on additional charges!

When he didn’t respond quickly, she added, “You were in a movie. Had it filmed at your castle, even. Own a castle, for heaven’s sake. Are you trying to tell me that you’re the youngest son and your laird brother doesn’t support you like he should? You obviously have money or you wouldn’t be here doing banking business.”

He had never intended to tell the woman what his real business was here. That a wolf had financially taken advantage of his wolf pack, which was downright embarrassing. They had no intention of telling the world.

But he didn’t feel he had any other choice. “All right. The truth is that a man stole most of my clan’s savings, and I’m here to track him down and get it back.”

Her eyes widened. “Your money was stolen?” She was frowning now and seemed uneasy. “How do you plan to get the money back?”

“Any way that I can. He’s a wolf.”

Her mouth parted in surprise—that sweet mouth that he was wanting more and more to kiss.

But she was still waiting for him to explain his family’s predicament, and she wasn’t thinking of kisses. “We didn’t know it at the time since all the financial transactions were done either through correspondence or phone conversations and wire transfers.” He let out his breath, not sure how she’d feel about what he was telling her.

“We deal with our kind any way we have to. I have to admit, my brother, Guthrie, who got us into this financial mess in the first place, had been adamant that I not spend a lot of time or money on this effort. For one thing, he doesn’t believe I’d get the money out of one of those secured banks no matter how hard I try. Worse, nearly six hundred banks or trust companies are located in the Cayman Islands.”

“Wow,” Shelley said. “You’re kidding.”

“Nay. Not only that, but forty-three of fifty of the world’s largest banks are here.”

“I would never have imagined.”

With only about 56,000 residents on the island, the size of the banking industry was mind-boggling. Especially to Duncan because money and numbers were not his strong suit. Ownership was, though. What was his family’s would remain his family’s.

“Even though the banks subscribe to anti-laundering money regulations to avoid having proceeds from serious crimes deposited in accounts here, I assume Salisbury Silverman has enough connections he can still make the system work for himself. And he does have a home here. Guthrie had learned that foreign investment in property or homes was perfectly legal.”

Her lips were parted in an inviting way, but her brow was furrowed with concern. “Salisbury Silverman? He’s been on the news everywhere. He’s stolen from major players in several countries.” She swallowed hard. “Couldn’t it be dangerous? To confront him?”

“Aye. For him.”

She looked as though she was fighting a smile as she sat down on one of the floral couches. “I knew when I saw you that you couldn’t be here for fun and games. Will you find him before you leave, do you think?”

“I know where his estate is located. I just have to find a way to get to him. I don’t have time not to. We can’t afford for me to fly all over the world trying to catch up to this bastard.”

“What do you do back home? Do you have training in taking down criminals?”

“I am a Highland warrior.”

Her lips parted again, then she shook her head, sounding sarcastic when she responded. “I’m sure that will help you with this case.”

“If airport officials had allowed me to carry my sword on the plane, I would have ensured that the criminal got my point.” He smiled a little at his dark humor.

She didn’t smile but continued to frown at him. “You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?”

“I won’t get you involved in this. I’ll just stay here as a stopping-off point, take care of my business, and drive you wherever you want to go to take care of yours when you need me to.”

“You say he’s a wolf?”

“Aye, an American gray wolf.”

The look on her face said it all. She just knew that Duncan was going to be real trouble and she’d regret the day she’d met him.

He attempted a smile that would convince her he was safe and that she had no worries where he was concerned.

She didn’t look like she believed it.

Chapter 4

“Do you still want to go out for a drink?” Duncan asked Shelley.

Feeling sorry for him and his clan, she was ready to reverse herself on making him pay the $5,000 rent on the villa. Even though she was irritated that he had a castle and was from a family of Scots who had kept their lands while kicking out their kinsmen, she couldn’t see using that as a reason to tell him he couldn’t stay at the villa. Her mother or uncles might feel a whole lot differently about Duncan’s family’s situation. She suspected they’d tell him to take a flying leap.

But he
was
a fellow wolf in need, and she didn’t like the fact that an
American
wolf had stolen his clan’s money.

Besides, she would be out
all
the money if she didn’t get him to pay at least $5,000.

“Do you still want me to pay for your drink?” she asked.

He had the balls to look chagrined, and she shook her head. “I’m going for a swim in the ocean. We can share cell phone numbers, and tomorrow you can drop me off at the forest reserve. I’ll call you when I’m ready to be picked up.”

As far as she was concerned, this was strictly a business proposition. He was subletting the place. End of story. Even if he was one damned sexy hunk of a wolf roommate. Mostly
because
he was one damned sexy hunk of a wolf roommate.

“I meant to buy your drink to thank you for allowing me to stay here, not the other way around, Shelley. And I’ll pay the $5,000.”

Her mouth gaped, but she needed the money so she quickly snapped her mouth shut.

She got the distinct impression that she’d cut him to the quick and he was displeased about it. She hadn’t meant to; her knee-jerk reaction had been due to being rather frugal herself and feeling a little put-out about her own financial woes. But she hadn’t expected him to cough up the rest of the money. She bit her tongue when she wanted to ask if he was sure he could afford it.

“But more importantly, nighttime is shark feeding time,” he said, looking like he thought the idea of her swimming in the ocean at this time of night was crazy. Apparently the issue of payment for the villa had been settled.

She stared at him in disbelief. “It’s an island paradise. The ocean is there to swim in. Day or night.”

“Right, and sharks feed more at night. It’s a proven fact.”

She rolled her eyes, yet she realized that as insistent as he was, he really was afraid for her, so she backed off and offered some of what she’d learned to ease his mind.

“They’ve got blacktip reef sharks off the east end and at The Maze. But mostly just divers go there and the sharks circle them. Maybe looking for food because the divers used to feed them there until the government outlawed the practice. Nurse sharks were seen on the west and north dive locations. Hammerheads come into the shallows to eat stingrays on the north end. Generally, nurse sharks are in the shallower areas. They don’t bite unless you’re dumb enough to grab a tail or try to feed one by hand.”

He didn’t look convinced.

She smiled, reached over, patted his hard chest, and wished he’d go swimming with her so he could protect her from all the sharks. He’d look damned hot in a pair of swim trunks. Unless he hadn’t brought any because he was here strictly on business. Did Highland wolves even wear swimsuits? It was too cold for them in Scotland, and she didn’t imagine that his castle had an indoor swimming pool.

Did he even know how to swim? Well, sure. He was a wolf.

“I’ll be fine. See you in the morning.” She attempted to keep any hint of disappointment out of her voice. Swimming alone wasn’t all that much fun, but she wanted to work off some of the tension she was feeling over the problem with the grant money, or lack of it.

Before she totally lost her mind and begged him to protect her from all the big, bad man- and woman-eating sharks, or technically in her case, she-wolf-eating sharks, she seized the small floral bag she’d left in the living room. Without another word, she entered her master bedroom and shut the door. Sure that he wasn’t going to join her, she fished out her bikini rather than a one-piece, dressed, grabbed her phone and a beach towel featuring a beautiful gray wolf with intense amber eyes, and opened the bedroom door.

Duncan was upstairs in the guest room, talking on the phone and explaining how he had to pay so much more for a room because the reserved hotel room hadn’t been available. He sounded angry, and she knew then that he really couldn’t have afforded a lot more. Maybe not even that much. She paused, wondering if he’d explain he was staying with a she-wolf or say anything more about his plans concerning the man who had stolen his clan’s money.

“One lead,” he was saying. “Yeah, a woman whose boyfriend works for Silverman. The boyfriend was supposed to meet her here, but he said he couldn’t come because Silverman still had another job for him in the States. The woman wasn’t a wolf. I don’t know if her boyfriend is or not. But I lost the trail.”

Shelley knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but she couldn’t help herself. She was curious how he’d manage what he planned to do regarding the crook. Surely, Duncan couldn’t be thinking of breaking into a bank. Did he even know which bank held the man’s accounts? She was sure Silverman wouldn’t give Duncan a written invitation to his estate.

Her darned phone jingled in her hand, nearly giving her a stroke. Duncan’s conversation suddenly ceased. His footfalls neared the door to his room, and the door shut with a clunk.

Caught eavesdropping, sort of. Thankfully, he hadn’t actually seen her, but he knew where she’d been standing because of her traitorous phone and that she’d been close enough to hear his end of the conversation.

She checked the caller ID on her phone and saw that her girlfriend Wendy was calling. “Are you with your date?” Shelley asked, not wanting to explain that she had found a roommate who was a hot and sexy Highland wolf, which she knew would concern Wendy. It would have concerned her if their roles had been reversed.

“The guy’s fun but not a wolf.”

“I thought for now that would be a good thing,” Shelley said.

Wendy sighed heavily over the phone. “Maybe I’m rushing things a bit.”

“I think so. Too bad you couldn’t have come with me and gotten away from it all.”

“You know me. Too much to do, work-wise.” Wendy let out her breath again. “How can you afford this without the grant money?” Then after a pause, she said, “I’m sending you the whole $5,000. You can’t afford to get stuck with that much of an expense, and I have the loose change to do it.”

Wendy was an heiress with tons of money. Her parents had owned a baby-food factory in Canada and then diversified, and she’d inherited the whole lot. Shelley wasn’t about to ask Wendy for the money since she’d always managed to come up with the funds to go on trips with her friend when she could afford to and had the time. For once, Shelley had the time, but only because of taking off two semesters from teaching. She hadn’t gone on vacation in a couple of years and had really saved for this, but she still meant to be frugal.