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Chapter 1

Inheriting a Scottish castle high on rugged cliffs overlooking the North Sea , if not for Grant MacQuarrie, theit Unfortunately, Colleen Playfair couldn’t just fire him Not when he had taken the reins to care for the property, following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps She planned to go easy on hih to hlands, she dreaded the confrontation

Just from the brief talk she’d had with Grant over the phone--in which he had grunted more than he’d spoken--she assumed the terms of her inheritance had pissed him off royally Colleen tried to see it fro the absentee landowner pop in to tell him what to do when he had been there day in and day out And she was a wo wheel as she considered the countryside The ancient stone walls hadit, and the sheep dotted the bright green grasses covering the hills Like a pastoral scene of ancient ti she’d seen so far: the people, the old buildings, the vast uncluttered landscape now before her, the rivers and streaive her too hed

The terest problems she foresaas that she didn’t knohen she’d have a chance to run as a wolf As a royal, she had very few human roots, which meant she could choose when she shifted--as opposed to the more newly turned, whose wolfish drive was dictated by thethe need, the tingling urge to stretch her…wolf legs

According to her father, Grant and his staff were huet used to the layout of the land to learn where and when she could safely run

She could just i the rest, and starting aand then reporting her shifting Then she’d have to change not only the person who had witnessed her shifting, but everyone else at the castle as well Her whole visit could be a disaster of epic proportions

But she wasn’t giving up her castle for anything or anyone

Grant MacQuarrie swore he would rather fight a clan war, battling in the glen like they had done in earlier times, than have to deal with this

For seven centuries, courtesy of lupus garou genetics and their ability to live long lives, he and his ancestors had ade Castle for the Playfair family The family included a John Playfair, a noteworthy Scottish er brother, as a famous architect with a son even est of the Playfair brothers, was the inventor of statistical graphs

Then there was Colleen’s own father, Theodore Playfair, whose ht with his e Castle upon his ement in the MacQuarries’ capable hands and returned to Maryland Thank…the heavens The man had been a thorn in Grant and his brothers’ arses for as long as Grant could re to take over

Grant folded his ar over the stone drive that led into the inner bailey Glad to see that his friend Ian MacNeill and fifteen of his pack members had arrived to help him out today, Grant smiled

His triplet brothers, Enrick and Lachlan, joined hi in the inner bailey Everyone was dressed in kilts and no shirts Grant had figured they would look even more fearsome that hen the lass arrived Their -- for some time previously Their swords and dirks were at the ready as they waited for word to start, joking and laughing with each other in thethe estates and would continue to do so, just the way they had been Soirl had inherited the castle and properties, and she would arrive to tell hial terms of her inheritance Just like her father before her

Two years earlier, they’d had to deal with her resentful father, which had been a trial in and of itself Theodore had dictated new tere a lot of their procedures Ies had caused a lot of strife, so Grant and his clan had gone back to the old ways of doing things once the tyrant left Grant hoped the daughter would not be as difficult to deal with

One hand resting on the hilt of his sword, Enrick, the middle triplet, shook his head, his tawny blond hair tousled by the wind as he stared down at the gatheredto a lot of trouble to make the lass think we’re warlike barbarians in an attempt to scare her away Orthis will be enough," Grant said, giving Lachlan a scowl as his youngest brother--by fifteen rinned, his dark brown hair curlier than Grant’s and Enrick’s, his eyes the darkest brown of the three He was also the hthearted, not as serious as the rest of them Except in battle

"So, if Lady Colleen Playfair doesn’t turn around and run out of here shaking to the tips of her toes, ill you do then?" Enrick asked, casting a look in the direction of the long, winding drive that led up to the open gate

"Have you not heard?" Lachlan raised his brows "Grant has given her the White Room"

Enrick looked from the men in the bailey to Grant "Nay, you did not"

Grant let out his breath "You know the trouble the MacNeill brothers faced when American she-wolves invaded their castle, aye?" He looked back at the MacNeill men, waved at Ian, and headed to the tower stairs to join thedown the centuries-old stone steps, "she won’t last that long Once she sees all those sharp swords and dirks, and all that fighting andshe really didn’t want to stay here after all I’ve made reservations for her at a nice bed and breakfast two hours from here"

"Surely not for a year" Enrick snorted