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Thankfully, one of the guys had grabbed her fins, tanks, and face mask. She was so worn out, she wasn’t sure she would even make it up all those steps.

“He caught me fishing.” She realized the whole time the other guys had been close by, she’d hidden the hook in her arm from them, as if she was afraid they would think it was her fault she’d gotten caught while Robert was fishing.

Grant waited to hear the story.

She didn’t say anything more except, “He had a mishap with his boat. A rogue wave capsized it.”

“Oh, that explains a lot. He was fishing?”

“Aye.” She planned to go with them, and when Robert was feeling better, he could remove the fishhook. She could have gone to a doctor, but she wanted to give Robert the chance to make things right between them. Then she would go home. One of the guys would undoubtedly drive her back to her car.

When they finally made it to the castle, she was trying not to huff and puff. She wasn’t used to walking up that many steps! The guys took them in stride. They probably did it all the time.

“How is Conan doing with his training?” she asked Grant. Maisie loved the Irish wolfhound that she and her sister, Anne, had bought from the MacQuarries, but in his exuberance to see them, Conan had knocked her and her sister over so many times, she’d finally signed him up for training at the castle. In three weeks, he was supposed to be perfectly obedient.

“He’s doing well. The Irish wolfhounds take to obedience training really well, but they can need a firm hand to begin with. They can be stubborn.”

That’s exactly what she and her sister had learned. “That’s great.” She couldn’t even imagine Conan greeting her in a mannerly way. She knew he would just go crazy like he always did. He had another week of training before she did a transitioning training with him so she could work with him on the basics he’d learned and she would learn them too. She couldn’t wait. She really missed him—he was a big goof and so sweet.

She went in through the bailey with the others and joined them inside the castle.

Colleen hurried to greet her. As Grant’s mate and pack leader, she escorted Maisie into the great hall to have some hot tea. Colleen was so pregnant, she looked like she was ready to deliver at any moment. “Do you want to remove your wet suit?”

“Uh, I need to visit Robert as soon as he’s able to see me.”

Colleen closed her dropped jaw and then nodded. “I’ll check and see how he’s doing. They would have taken him to one of the guest rooms.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Yeah, sure.” Colleen smiled. “So you know Robert?”

Now that sure sounded like Colleen believed there was something romantic going on between Maisie and Robert. Maisie sighed. As if that were the case!

“No, not really. We met quite by accident.” She still needed to have the fishhook removed.

Chapter 2

Lachlan and Enrick had removed Robert’s wet clothes, and he was in bed shivering in one of the guest chambers, buried under a ton of blankets, before Edeen arrived. She had brought him some hot tea.

Lachlan was watching him, his arms folded across his chest. “You know you shouldn’t be swimming out there unless you’re wearing the proper clothes for it.”

Enrick agreed.

Robert gave his brothers-in-law a half smile. He loved that the brothers ribbed him about things, which made him feel as though he was one of them. His relationship with his sister was so different. They were close, but it wasn’t the same as being one of the guys.

“I know what I’ll be getting you for Christmas,” Edeen said.

“Oh?” Robert couldn’t wait to hear what she had to say. He swore she was picking up some of the MacQuarrie brothers’ habits.

“A dry suit.”

Robert smiled. “I already have one. I just never thought I would wind up swimming while I was fishing.”

“We can hold off on training you to sword fight tomorrow,” Lachlan said, frowning, sounding serious.

“I’ll be fine for that. As long as I don’t get heatstroke during the practice.”

Lachlan laughed. “We’ll have plenty of water to drink, and it’s supposed to be overcast tomorrow, so it won’t be too hot while we’re getting a good workout. This is our regular time to spar, and we want you to join us, but seriously, if you don’t feel up to it, you can bow out and everyone will understand.”