Let the Wild Out (20 page)

Lisbetha looked down at her slighted hand and curled the
fingers slightly. “I will do what you asked and send the tailor for you.
Perhaps you can save me a dance when Miss Dunne is otherwise engaged, or if she
doesn’t know how.” Lisbetha curtseyed quickly, saying, “Chief,” by way of
excusing herself. She hurriedly walked away from him, her feet shuffling in
tiny steps.

Lisbetha was dismissed from his thoughts the second she
disappeared, but her words were not. There was only one person he knew of in
the English court who could have started those rumors and who would have
something to gain by them—Magda. Rachel’s heritage was largely unknown to
everyone else.

Lisbetha’s words, though annoying, renewed his suspicions
about the Cononious woman. It was time someone put Magda into her place. If the
Cononious chief was not in a position to do so because of clan politics, then
the Duncanis would just have to do it for him.

 
“There you are,”
Rachel said. “I was looking for you.”

William glanced up from the pool table, but didn’t drop his
stick as he took his shot. The ball bumped the corner pocket and didn’t go in.
He stood. “Pool was never really my game.”

“Mine either. The sports bar where I work…” she paused,
“where I
worked,
had five tables in the back. I doubt they held my job
for me. In fact, I should probably call and tell them I’m all right just in
case any of them care. And while I’m thinking about it, I do have an apartment
in the city. I need to make some kind of arrangement to ensure my landlord gets
a rent check. I’d hate for him to evict me while I’m here. He wouldn’t hesitate
to sell off what little belongings I have left. Furniture can be replaced, but
some photos and old letters cannot.”

“Use any phone in the house to call the bar,” he offered. “Write
down your landlord’s information and I’ll see to the rent myself. Once things
are a little more settled here, you can decide how you wish to handle the
apartment. I can have someone gather your things and ship them here for you.”

“Thanks.” Rachel nodded.

“You said you were looking for me?”

Rachel went to the wall and absently picked up a cue stick.
She let it glide between her fingers. William stood back from the table,
silently offering to let her shoot. Her shot clanked the balls together in a
haphazard fashion. They scattered about but none went in. “I told you I don’t
play.”

He leaned over to take his turn.

“Douglas thinks we should go to Scotland where it will be
safer for me since people are trying to kill me here. I told him I would have
to speak to you first.” Rachel set her stick on the ground and leaned against
it. “You could come with us.”

“So you’ve decided?” William did not dwell on the fact the
two of them had talked about it, alone, without him. If he did, it would only
invite jealousy.

“No. I’ve come to talk to you for your opinion.” Rachel put
the cue stick back on the rack and moved to lean against the table next to him.
“I want to know what you think about it.”

“Logically, I can see his reasoning. I would do anything to
keep you safe.” William stepped back and leaned his stick against the wall
before resuming his position by her. “However, illogically, I don’t want you to
go. I want you to stay here with me.”

“Can’t you come with us?”

“Not until the matter of your safety is settled, and
definitely not until after the ball. It would be ill advised for me to invite
half the supernatural world, only to leave.” He touched her face and gave her a
soft smile.

“Ugh, I hate this,” she complained, drawing her face from
his touch. “I don’t want to leave you behind. I don’t want Douglas to leave
without us. I hate the idea of having to split myself between two kingdoms.”

William frowned, confused and worried. “What are you
saying?”

“I’m saying I love you both and I don’t like the situation
we have found ourselves in. And I definitely don’t love the idea of being
forced to mediate between the two men I want to be with. I don’t want to have
to choose whether to stay or go.” She sighed and her tone lost some of its ire,
as she said, “I love you, William, and I want to hear what you think.”

“I know that I love you too, Rachel.” His heart beat happily
in his chest as he leaned down to sprinkle kisses on her face. “And I think
that nothing else matters. The rest are just details to be figured out.”

“Those details are important, though. I will tell you like I
told Douglas,” Rachel inserted, when he would kiss her lips. She pushed on his
shoulder to hold him back. “I will not make a mindless decision to marry both
of you and to be queen of all shifters with just my heart. It’s not a question
of my love for you both, or my desire for you, because let’s face it—I
always
want you. My problem is that my brain keeps coming up with very logical
arguments as to why this is a bad idea. I don’t want to be plagued with
constant doubts and worry that I will not be able to stand the bright spotlight
put on such a life. Plus, there is a very real chance the people won’t want me
to lead them. Already someone wants me dead, and I have a very hard time
believing that it has anything to do with my very boring life in Colorado as
owner of an out-of-commission shifter sanctuary.”

“What can I do to convince you?” He gave a very boyish grin,
the kind of charming look men gave when they wanted something.

“Agree not to talk about it until after the death threat is
taken care of.” She ran her hand up his neck to his face. “And kiss me.”

William did not have to be asked again. He moved his lips to
hers, slowly kissing her with all the passion in his heart. He respected
Rachel’s logic, even as he knew in the end her arguments against being their
queen would crumble. He couldn’t blame her for being scared. At the sanctuary
in Colorado, he’d seen the sheltered privacy of her life. To be taken from that
into his world with such ferocity would shake anyone to the core. Yet, she
didn’t break down, didn’t cry or whine. She stood strong, just like a true
chieftess.

William knew that they would be safe in his private wing. He
let his guard down as he lifted her by her hips and set her on the pool table.
Her legs parted and he stood between them. Their kiss deepened. The sweet taste
of her mouth caused him to moan.

“I love you, Rachel,” he whispered against her lips. “Oh, I
love you.”

She grinned, pulling her shirt over her head. William
unbuttoned her pants and tugged them off her hips when she lifted up off the
table. He unbuttoned his shirt and let it drop behind him. Her hands glided
over his chest and shoulders, exploring everywhere she could reach as he
unfastened his belt.

When his pants dropped to his ankles, he brought himself
forward. The heavy length of his erection found its aim. He entered her slowly,
moaning at the soft way her moist flesh caressed and held him.

Rachel rolled back onto the pool table. William remained on
his feet. He held her hips angled towards him, watching her naked body move as
they made love. Her arms hit the pool balls and their soft clanks sounded over
them. As she came, her body tensed. The beauty of the moment was too much and
he found his release inside her.

Rachel gave a small, happy laugh before moaning. She smiled
up at him, her gaze clear and bright. Her laughter rose as she turned her hip.
He let go of her legs. She reached down to where her ass cheek pressed into the
table and pulled out a piece of pool cue chalk. When he looked, there was a
blue, small square imprinted on her flesh.

“Maybe next time we find a bed,” she said, reaching her hand
up to him so he could help her up.

“I know it was you, Magda,” Douglas stated. He had the old
shifter cornered in the library. She clutched a clipboard to her chest, her
knuckles white, but otherwise did not show any emotion on her cold demeanor.
“My father warned me about you and your disrespect. He said to watch you
closely when Tobias died. I see his suspicions about you were well founded.”

“I am sure I don’t know what you mean, Duncanis.” Magda
lifted her chin. Her dress suit was immaculately pressed and her hair swept
back into a very stark, serviceable bun.

“You hired St. Joan to kill Rachel in America. You handle
William’s travel arrangements and you knew why he was traveling to the US and
where he would be. You had no way of knowing he would arrive at the cabin
early. You arranged transportation when the plane touched down. You told St.
Joan and her leopard cohort where to find us. Nothing happens in this place
without your knowing about it. You knew Rachel went for a run and you probably
knew William went after her. That is why you did not tell me they were missing.
You gave St. Joan time to get away.” Douglas’s entire body was stiff and he
felt the beast inside him threatening to come out. “It is you who has been
spreading the rumors around the manor about her heritage, trying to undermine
her any way you can think of.”

“Those are strong accusations, Duncanis. Where is your
proof?” Magda pressed the clipboard tight to her chest. When he didn’t readily
supply it, she continued, “I thought so. You have no proof because there is
none. I have been a loyal member of my clan my entire life, not that a Duncanis
would know much about loyalty.”

“Loyal? How is kidnapping your own chief showing loyalty?”
Douglas demanded. “If this was my court you would be strung up in the yard.
That is what happens to traitors.”

“Then it is a good thing I don’t belong to your rash clan.”
Magda slammed the clipboard down on the table. “I have heard quite enough.
William may be a young chief, but he is still my chief. He will not stand for
your accusations against me. If he thought as you do, he would be here with
you.”

“I do not need William by my side to act.”

“You do if you want to accuse one of his top people of being
a traitor.” Magda lifted her jaw. She tried to walk past him. Douglas grabbed
her arm. She stood tall and looked at his hand on her. “What do you think
you’re going to do? Kill me? Here? While a guest in this house? With high-powered
guests arriving in hours for the ball?”

Douglas released her arm. He didn’t want to. He wanted to
throw her out the window. Magda marched from the room. Douglas went to her
discarded clipboard and looked over the papers. They were purchase orders for
the kitchens and lists of supplies for the ball. He set it back down. It was
hardly the nefarious evidence he needed.

Even as he confronted the woman, he knew he should have
waited for William. The anger had just built after hearing Lisbetha’s rumors.
All the frustration he’d felt when Rachel was gone, combined with his
desperation to keep her safe now, had just been too much to resist.

 
“I have never been
disloyal to my clan!”

Rachel ducked back into the hall at the sound of Magda’s
voice. Magda was the last person she wanted to run into—especially smelling of
William and wearing his clothes. Rachel had left the game room to steal one of
William’s shirts from his bedroom. By a turn of bad luck, or at least an
amusing consequence, her shirt had found its way into William’s brandy snifter
while they had sex.

“The Duncanis chief has his reasons to be suspicious of you.
You must admit your behavior regarding Rachel has been suspect.” William’s
voice was calm compared to Magda’s.

“Of course I think it would be better with the American out
of the way!” Magda returned. “She shows no respect. She’s wild. She is a Duncanis.”

“But to order her death?” William asked.

Rachel edged closer to the door and leaned in, though really
with her hearing she didn’t need the advantage.

“You think I am a traitor?” Magda asked, her tone somewhere
between outrage and hurt. “You think as the Duncanis chief does?”

“I don’t know what to think.”

“You know me.”

“Yes,” William agreed in irritation, “I do know you, Magda.
That is part of the problem. I know you would do anything you thought was right
for our clan. I know you hate anyone who isn’t Cononious, and secondarily
anyone who is not English. I know you have been shoving English Cononious
females in my face since the second of my accession to chief. You knew we were
in America. You knew
where
in America. We told no one else about it. You
saw the picture Douglas sent me of Rachel before I left. You knew we were
interested in finding out if she was a suitable bridal candidate before I even
went there. Who else had that information?”

Rachel stiffened. They tracked her down? Their meeting was
on purpose? Planned? Douglas had already told her about the picture he’d sent,
but somehow when William talked about it to Magda, it seemed so much colder and
more deliberate.

William continued, “I didn’t want to believe it, but then
after our return from the forest you came to my room acting not like yourself.
There was something strange in your tone, Magda, just as there is something
strange in your expression now.”