Page 41

“Or married, if you would feel more comfortable with that,” Colleen said.

“I’ll stay with you,” Robert said.

Maisie let out her breath. “You need to be there for Colleen and Heather if they suddenly have their babies.”

“They are close by, and I’ll be there in a flash. But if there’s someone else you want to have stay with you…”

“Maybe…both you and someone else? That way, if you have to rush off, we’ll still have someone else there to watch over us,” Maisie said.

“Would you like anyone in particular besides Robert to stay with the two of you?” Colleen asked.

“Let me touch base with Anne on that.” Maisie felt her sister should have a say about it too.

“Okay, well, let me know. Whoever you choose will be happy to do this for you,” Colleen said.

Robert took Maisie home. When she got there, she thought Anne looked haggard. Maisie gave her a hug.

Someone drove up in a truck, and Robert checked to see who it was. It was Iverson. “I’m going to go out and help Iverson with casting the boot prints while you get changed and grab your camera.”

“Okay.” Maisie gave him a quick kiss, but he hugged her soundly, telling her he was going to be there for her to help her and Anne through this.

When he left the inn, Anne gave her a hug too. “God, how do you really feel?”

“It was awful. I know why Robert didn’t want me to see the body, but I had to have closure, to know what it was I saw, to be able to guide them to the location. I’ll shower and change and be out in a minute.” Maisie called out from the bedroom as she dressed, “Robert’s going to stay with us for safety’s sake. Because he’ll have to leave for Colleen’s and Heather’s deliveries, we’re going to have another male stay with us. Who else do you want to be here besides Robert? Colleen said bachelor males or married males would be happy to stay with us to watch over us—our choice.”

“Do you think we really need another guy here?” Anne asked.

“Well, it would make us feel more secure. I mean, you didn’t see the dead guy. And the fact that he possibly was killed here at our inn…”

“Okay, I agree.”

“So who do you want to stay with us?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess just tell Colleen whoever wants to join us here. I don’t know anyone else by name all that well,” Anne said.

Maisie came out of the bedroom dressed and with her camera equipment in hand. “We’re likely to have a whole bunch of bachelor males vying for the position.”

Anne laughed. “Let the fighting begin.”

Chapter 12

Maisie had hoped her sister might have liked one of the bachelor males she’d seen up at the castle and wanted him to come, though all that really mattered was that the wolves who stayed with her protected her.

“Okay, I’ll be home later tonight. I’ll probably still have dinner with Robert after the photo shoots and go running. I suspect Iverson might stay here until another wolf shows up to watch over you.”

“That sounds good to me. About the sleeping arrangements, the guys can share the guest room on this side of the inn, I guess,” Anne said. “Or one of the guys can use the foldout sofa bed in the living room. We do have the trundle bed that can be pulled out from underneath the guest room bed also.”

“Sure.” But Maisie was already thinking she wouldn’t mind sharing her bed with Robert. She would see how things went though.

Then she walked outside and joined Robert and Iverson. “We’re going to let Colleen decide who will come to stay with us. Are you going to be here until someone else shows up?”

“Yeah,” Iverson said. “And I’m the one who has Jude’s phone. I’ve been trying to hack into it. Hopefully I can do that soon.”

“I hope so.” Robert turned to Maisie. “If you have all you need, let’s go see Edeen. We did check the marks on the stone that had been tied to Gus and your missing garden stone. It is the same one. We looked in your storage cabinet for rope and found some that matches the one used to tie the stone to Gus’s leg. I’ll be performing the autopsy on him while you see Edeen and take your pictures. Then I’ll drive you to the castle.”

“Or Edeen can if you’re too busy.” Maisie didn’t want Robert to think that he had to take care of her all day.

“Okay,” Robert said.