Luna kept her voice down because she was afraid Colin and Regis were still in the house. “It looks like he will. But don’t start shouting or anything. I think they’re still in the hallway.”
Janet pulled her cell phone from her apron pocket and punched in a number. “Dulce? Get your ass down here. And bring Sybil. We have news.”
Returning to the door into the dining room, Luna opened it a crack and heard the solid thud of the front door closing. “They’re gone.”
“So what’s the story? He’s not listing the place with Regis?”
“Nope!” Luna couldn’t keep the triumph out of her voice. “He told Regis that he liked my idea and wouldn’t be putting the place up for sale, at least not at this point.”
“Hallelujah!” Janet twirled her dishcloth over her head as she danced around the kitchen singing an old Lionel Richie party song.
Luna joined in, singing and gyrating past the stainless-steel, professional-grade appliances that Geraldine had bought years ago. Even though she hadn’t cooked, she’d wanted her staff to have the best.
A piercing whistle from Dulcie ended the dancing. Wearing a gold silk camisole and matching cropped pants, she strolled through the doorway of the servants’ wing. “What’s all the fuss?”
Janet put her hand to her ample chest and gasped for breath. “Our Luna’s done it! She’s convinced His Lairdness to turn Whittier House into an inn!”
“Woo-hoo!” Sybil, clad as usual in flannel, followed Dulcie into the kitchen. “Break out the cooking wine, Janet!”
“Way to go, girlfriend.” Dulcie smiled at Luna as she walked over and gave her a high-five. “How did you do it?”
“I’m… I’m not sure.” She hoped their second kiss hadn’t been a factor. Colin had promised that wouldn’t make a difference one way or the other. “It may be a simple matter of him not wanting to sell for sentimental reasons and now he has a good alternative.”
Dulcie gave her a knowing look. “Or he figured out if he wants to get cozy with you, he has to let you manipulate his assets.”
“That’s funny,” Sybil said. “You’re good, Dulce.”
“I try.”
“But knowing Luna,” Sybil added, “I don’t think she has that kind of maneuver in mind.”
“I absolutely do not,” Luna said.
“Still, Dulcie could be right about Colin’s motives.” Sybil glanced at Luna. “Dulcie often is right about matters concerning the male of the species.”
“I don’t care why he’s doing it.” Janet pulled four juice glasses out of a cupboard, grabbed a bottle from the immense stainless refrigerator, and poured them each a glass. “The main thing is we all have jobs, and we can stay here and work together.” She passed out the glasses as they created a circle. “To the Whittier House Inn.”
“Here, here!” Dulcie tapped her glass against each of the others’. “And to Luna, who saved our collective asses.”
Praise from a member of what had become Luna’s substitute family was heady stuff. Flushed with a sense of camaraderie and success, she took a hefty swallow of wine. She was surprised by how smooth it was. “Pretty good for cooking wine.”
“It’s not cooking wine,” Janet said. “Geraldine gave me this bottle for Christmas.”
“Oh!” Sybil immediately put her glass back on the counter. “You shouldn’t be giving it to us. It’s special.”
“That’s exactly why I’m giving it to you. I opened it the day after she died, but I didn’t make much of a dent, as you can see. Didn’t have the heart for it. So drink up. She would have loved knowing we used her gift to celebrate the start of a new venture that keeps us all together.”
“She definitely would have approved of the inn concept,” Dulcie said.
“I hope so.” Luna sipped her wine. “I’ve worried about that. Geraldine loved her privacy. Would she hate the thought of inviting a bunch of strangers into this house?”
Dulcie shook her head. “I think it wasn’t so much privacy she loved, as independence from any particular pack. We’ll still have that, plus the house stays in the family, and we all continue caring for it the way we’ve done all these years.”
“I agree.” Sybil retrieved her glass. “To Geraldine.”
“To Geraldine!” they all chorused, clicking their glasses together.
Luna glanced at her watch. “This has been great, but I should get back to my office. Colin’s meeting me there to go over a few things. I plan to show him my projections.”
“I’m sure he’s dying to see your projections.” Dulcie wiggled her eyebrows as she stared at Luna’s chest.
“Stop it, Dulce.” Luna frowned in disapproval. “This is strictly business.”
“Odd time to be doing business.” Janet winked at her.
Luna felt the heat rising to her cheeks. “His body clock’s all messed up. I’ve never flown internationally, but I’ve heard that you get your nights and days confused.”
“You don’t have to make up cover stories for us.” Dulcie adjusted the strap on her camisole. “Personally, I’m all for whatever makes the laird happy. I wouldn’t mind taking on that assignment, but Janet and Sybil have convinced me that you’re the Were for the job.”
“Nothing’s going on between us.” Luna eliminated the kiss from consideration, because Colin had said—he’d said, damn it—that a kiss wouldn’t affect his decision one way or the other. She’d hold him to that, too.
Dulcie obviously wasn’t buying her protestations. “Just tell me one thing.” She leaned closer. “Did his decision to keep Whittier House involve a bl*w j*b?”
“Not to my knowledge,” said a very male, very lairdlike voice from the doorway that led into the dining room. “But then, I’ve had a horrible case of jet lag, so maybe I missed that part.”
Chapter 7
As all four female Weres stared at Colin, he realized that Dulcie’s question about or*l s*x wasn’t far off the mark. He’d approved the inn plan partly because he hoped he and Luna would get to know each other better, perhaps even become lovers. After seeing Regis off, he’d been ridiculously eager to get back to her, and when she wasn’t in her office, he’d tracked her down here.
Apparently Luna’s coconspirators supported using sexual favors to gain the outcome they desired. He wondered if the others had any idea they’d put their money on an untried virgin. But from Dulcie’s comment, he gathered that Luna had not confessed her situation to anyone until she’d told him about it the night before.
Dulcie, who didn’t seem to mind being caught wearing silk nightwear, was the first to address the awkward situation. “Please excuse us, Colin, sir, Your Royal Laird of Glenbuggy.”
“Glenbarra.” He cleared his throat to disguise a laugh. “And I’m afraid the word royal isn’t part of my title.”
“Of course not.” Sybil, looking somewhat grannylike in her flannel gown, leaped into the fray. “I’m sure Dulcie knew that.” She glared at her fellow housemaid.
“I knew that.” Dulcie braved it out with a wink. “Just teasin’ ya.”
“Exactly.” Janet smiled brightly. “You know how it is. Females get bawdy when we think no males are around. We meant no disrespect to you, someone we admire, or Luna, someone we both admire and love.”
Then Luna, her cheeks rosy and her chin lifted, faced him. “I take full responsibility for any distress this gathering or our remarks have caused you.”
“It’s fine. I’m not—”
“I should have gone straight to my office as promised, but instead I came back here to share the good news, which probably wasn’t my place.” She plowed on, clearly needing to explain. “But in my excitement, I didn’t think of that. Having the chance to stay on Le Floret and be a part of Whittier House means the world to us.”
Colin’s heart squeezed, because he knew how sincere that speech was. “I can see why it would. This island is special.”
“Oh, and the wine is Janet’s,” Luna continued. “None of us would take what’s not ours to take.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t.” He surveyed the group with satisfaction. A core staff of dedicated and loyal individuals would serve Luna well in the months ahead. “The fact that you’re pulling together to create a future for yourselves is impressive. That kind of initiative speaks well for how Geraldine ran the household, and how Luna has run it under Geraldine’s supervision.”
“Thank you,” Luna said.
“I’d like to add one cautionary statement, if I may.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
He glanced down at the tile floor while he fought to control his grin. When he looked up again, his expression was completely bland. “A bl*w j*b is a powerful weapon. It should be used wisely.”
Dulcie giggled, but the rest of them, including Luna, looked thunderstruck.
He gazed at Luna as if nothing unusual had been said. “Ready to discuss those projections now?”
“Certainly.” She squared her shoulders and set her glass on the counter. Back straight and color high, she ignored Dulcie’s smile as she marched out of the kitchen.
He followed. Luna was obviously still embarrassed, so he decided not to attempt conversation until they’d reached the room that had once been Henry’s hidey-hole. Colin had fond memories of the office and its bookshelf-lined walls. During his summers here, he’d been allowed free access to any volume on the shelves.
Tiffany lamps, connected to a timer that kept them on from early morning to midnight, saturated the room with jewel-toned light. The interior space had no windows, so the lamps were a necessity. Henry had said the absence of daylight helped protect the books, many of which were rare. But Colin had always thought the room satisfied Henry’s wolflike desire for a cave.
“I’m so sorry.” Luna turned to him the moment they were both inside the office. “That was unforgiveable, and it never would have happened if I’d come straight here instead of going back to the kitchen to… ”
“To let your friends know that they would still have a job?” Colin finished for her. “That was a kind and generous impulse, Luna. You don’t need to apologize for it.”
“But announcing it should have been your privilege, not mine.” Her hair gleamed dark and rich in the lamplight. “I’m sorry I jumped the gun.”
He longed to touch her. His desire for her was a slow, steady ache, one he could resist for now, but not forever. The more time they spent together, the more insistent that desire became. “I honestly don’t mind that you told them. It’s not a secret.”
She looked relieved. “But Dulcie’s remark was uncalled for. It sounded like the four of us have schemed to get our way by using me as bait. I would never agree to such a thing.”
“Give me some credit for being a better judge of character than that, lass.” He gazed at her. “Do you even know what Dulcie was talking about?”
Her cheeks turned pink. “Sort of. I’m sure you do.”
“Aye.” His body tightened as he thought of what such an activity would be like with Luna, who would be experiencing it for the first time. She might be hesitant at first, but with her passionate nature, she’d be a fast learner. He took a steadying breath. “Do they know that you’re a—”
“No,” she said quickly, “and I’d appreciate it if we could keep that between us. If they found out, they’d pester me with a million questions.”
He fought the urge to step closer. “I have questions, too.”
“Does it matter so much?” Her gaze was wary. “Why is being a virgin so all-fired important?”
“It’s… just so unusual for a Were.” He massaged the back of his neck while he considered the best way to discuss this volatile topic. “To start with, sexuality is a significant part of Were culture.”
“It’s a significant part of human culture, too, but that doesn’t mean everyone is doing it.”
Colin was beginning to understand just how little she knew about her own species. “That’s one of many differences between Weres and humans. Teen Weres usually are encouraged to explore their sexuality. Pregnancy isn’t an issue, and Weres are naturally resistant to disease. Sex is a skill we’re expected to master and enjoy along with all our other studies.”
“Oh.” Although she was blushing furiously, she held his gaze. “So most teen Weres have sex, then?”
“Nearly all.”
“Well, that explains why Dulcie, Janet, and Sybil are always teasing me about not hav**g s*x. But they’re not having it, either!”
“No, but I’m sure that they did when they were younger, and if the opportunity presents itself, they will again. Not every Were has nonstop sexual encounters their entire life. If they find a mate and that Were dies, the survivor may choose celibacy to honor their lost mate.”
She seemed to consider that for a moment. “I wonder if that’s what happened to Hector.”
“Possibly. I never asked.”
“That would explain why he lives like such a hermit on the island.”
“And that’s fine for Hector, but it seems like such a waste for someone who’s never… ”
“Does my virginity really bother you, then?”
“It bothers me that you’re not enjoying yourself as you could be. I hate to think of you missing out on something beautiful, especially when you obviously have a very passionate nature.”