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The MacQuarrie brothers laughed.

Smiling, Robert shook his head at them and climbed into the boat.

“You’ve got your car there, right?” Lachlan joined him in the boat. “You don’t need us to drive you home after we take Maisie and Lady to the inn, do you, Robert?”

“No. Thanks. I’ve got my car there and I’m having dinner with the ladies before I return home.” Robert was looking forward to it.

As soon as they reached the mainland, Grant leaned over to help Robert climb out of the boat as he held on to the whelping box. Enrick climbed out of the boat and Lachlan lifted Maisie and handed her to Enrick while Grant steadied the boat.

Enrick and Lachlan followed them, carrying the boat to the truck.

“We’ll drive you back to the inn,” Grant said.

“Thank you,” Maisie said. “If you hadn’t, I was afraid Robert would have to carry me all the way back there.”

Lachlan laughed. “No. We’ll get there so much faster this way, and you can return Lady to her owner.”

Lachlan and Enrick loaded the boat into the back of the truck and secured it.

Maisie peered over Robert’s lap to look into the whelping box. “They are so adorable. She seems to be happy enough about the whelping box and the transportation. Poor worn-out momma.”

“She is. I’m glad it turned out so well. I’ll clean the pups up a bit at your place, use some iodine on their tummies, and if you’ve got some unwaxed dental floss, I’ll retie their umbilical cords.” Robert put his hand on Maisie’s knee. “Can you put your leg up on my knees and elevate your injured ankle?”

“I’ll try.” Maisie and Robert moved around in their seats until she could rest her leg over his.

He wasn’t sure that was helping her any, but he wanted to keep her ankle elevated. “I should have made a list of stuff that I needed,” Robert told the MacQuarrie brothers as they climbed into the truck. “I really didn’t expect Lady to deliver. A dog that is that close to delivering isn’t usually that active. She could have ended up having pups on the way.”

“Did her owner tell you she was ready to have pups?” Grant started the engine and drove his truck down the one-lane road. At least at this time of night, no one else was out here.

“No.”

“They’re lucky the two of you found her. She could have had her puppies anywhere,” Lachlan said.

“That’s for sure. And she could have been in trouble herself.” Robert pulled out his phone and called Bruce Abercromby. “We’re bringing Lady and her three puppies to the inn.”

“She had puppies?” Bruce sounded shocked.

Robert smiled. So her pet parents didn’t know it. “Yes, you’re the proud owner of two male puppies and a female pup. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Thanks so much, Doc.”

Robert knew Bruce was glad to get his dog back safe and sound, but he wasn’t sure he was as excited about the prospect of having puppies he hadn’t been planning.

Chapter 7

Maisie’s ankle was killing her. Though she had her leg elevated on top of Robert’s lap as Grant MacQuarrie drove to her inn, her ankle was just throbbing. That’s when she remembered what she was supposed to do tomorrow. “Oh, Lachlan, I guess I’ll have to cancel the transitional training tomorrow with Conan. I’ll have to wait until my ankle feels better in a couple of days. But I still want to have lunch at the castle.”

“Yeah, that will be fine. I figured that could be the case once we learned you had sprained your ankle,” Lachlan said. “That will give us more time to work with Conan before you start transitional training. We normally wouldn’t start that until next week anyway.”

“I’ll pick you up from your inn and take you to the castle for lunch.” Robert moved around to try and help Maisie feel more comfortable. Then he gently massaged her ankle to help reduce the pain and swelling, and she smiled at him.

She swore his touch was sensuous, his small smile telling her he was enjoying taking care of her as much as she was enjoying the intimacy between them.

“Thanks. Then I guess I’ll sit and watch you in weapons training instead,” she said.

She swore she heard Robert groan a little bit under his breath.

When they arrived at the inn, the Abercrombys came out of their room and Anne hurried to greet the MacQuarries, Robert, and Maisie. Bruce and Mary were smiling broadly.