Sybil sipped her wine, her eyes still closed. “And no negative comments, ever. I’m finding my Zen.”
Janet laughed. “Don’t mind her. She’s going all California on us. But I sort of agree with that. Geraldine would have, too.”
“To Geraldine!” Dulcie lifted her glass.
“To Geraldine!” they all cried in unison.
Luna glanced around at her new friends and knew she couldn’t run away with Colin and leave them in the lurch, even if he had been serious, which he probably hadn’t. They also deserved to know the news about her that could break at any moment. Hector wasn’t the only one who needed to hear it.
She took a fortifying gulp of her wine. “I need to tell y’all something.”
“You’ve slept with Colin,” Dulcie said. “Old news.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to tell you.”
Sybil’s eyes popped open. “He has a tiny little wiener? I don’t want to hear that. I want to keep my illusions.”
“No! Honestly, y’all are so fixated on sex that it’s pitiful. This is important. My… my mother was a human.”
“No way!” Dulcie stared at Luna in obvious fascination. “Girl, you know how to keep a secret!”
“Hey, hey.” Janet made shushing movements at Dulcie. “This could be a painful situation for our Luna. Have a little compassion.”
“I don’t care if your mother was a gecko,” Sybil said. “You’re still tops in my book.”
“A gecko ?” Dulcie started to laugh. “Sybil is officially toasted. But I second what she said. Your parentage isn’t really important, but I’ve never known anyone who’s half-Were and half-human, so I’m just curious. Sorry if I offended.”
“I’m not offended.” Luna felt a rush of affection for her three friends. She would watch out for them, no matter what. “But I was worried that no one would accept me if they knew, so I’ve kept it to myself.”
Janet poured herself more wine. “If anyone has a problem with it, tell them to come and see me. I have a drawer full of very sharp knives. And a cleaver.”
“I have cleaning products that would fell an ox,” Sybil said. “One blast from my spray bottle, and they’ll wish they’d never been born.”
“And I can do wicked things with a broom handle,” Dulcie said. “Wait a minute. That sounded rather exciting instead of threatening. Let me rephrase that.”
“Forget about the broom handle, Dulce,” Janet said. “That’s only going to get you into trouble. You know karate, remember?”
“Oh, right. I’m a black belt, come to think of it. And, hey, if none of this works, we’ll just go all Were on whoever threatens our Luna, right?”
“Right!” everyone shouted.
Luna didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Thanks. You guys are terrific. I was so worried, and you don’t even care.”
“We care about you, toots,” Dulcie said. “And I’m so delighted that you’re not a virgin anymore.”
Luna gasped. “You knew I was?”
“Oh, please.” Dulcie rolled her eyes. “When it came to sex, you were dumb as a box of rocks. We all took a straw poll, and the results came out solidly in favor of virginity as the only logical explanation, because you were so smart in every other way.”
Luna set her glass on the deck. “I’m so embarrassed.” She allowed herself to sink down until the water covered her head.
Janet grabbed a handful of hair and pulled her back up.
“Ow.” Luna rubbed her scalp.
Janet smiled at her. “Didn’t want you to drown from being embarrassed. Now that we know you grew up in a somewhat wonky fashion it all makes sense.”
“And now,” Dulcie said, “we can tell dirty jokes and you’ll actually get them instead of just pretending to.”
Luna retrieved her wineglass and took another gulp. “I didn’t know I was such a burden on y’all.”
“You haven’t been, sweetie,” Janet said. “You’ve been a joy, and however you influenced His Lairdness to go along with the inn project, we’re grateful.”
“Here, here!” Dulcie hoisted her wineglass in the air again. “To Luna!”
“To Luna!” all three of them shouted as Luna turned pink with a combination of embarrassment and pleasure.
“Give me a glass,” said a male voice. “I’ll drink to that.”
“Well,” Dulcie said. “If it isn’t the Laird of Glenbarra, the stout lad who deflowered our Luna.”
Colin grinned at her. “Congratulations, Dulcie. You finally got my title right.”
Luna took a deep breath and sank back under the water.
Chapter 25
Colin hesitated to intrude on the female bonding he heard going on as he approached the hot tub. But he’d promised Luna he’d show up, and he was a Were who kept his word. Fortunately he’d caught enough of the conversation to know that Luna would have a support system after he left. George Trevelyan wouldn’t ride roughshod over this lot.
“This is not a bad hot tub, is it?” He climbed in on the other side of Luna and glanced down. She was still under the water. “Does she do that often?”
“I don’t know,” Sybil said. “This is our first time going hot-tubbing with her.”
Dulcie handed him a glass of white wine. “For all we know, she’s a hot tub virgin.”
About that time, Luna erupted from the water, gasping for air. “Y’all are talking about me. I can feel it.”
“We are,” Colin said solemnly. “And the big question of the day, the one all our viewers want answered, is, are you a hot tub virgin?” He wondered if she’d remember the distinction they’d made last night between Jacuzzis and hot tubs.
“Okay,” Dulcie said, pointing at Colin. “He can hang with us anytime. Am I right?”
“You are so right,” Sybil said. “He can even bring his pet gecko, if he wants.”
Janet snorted. “I don’t know what it is with Sybil and the geckos all of a sudden, but it’s sort of disturbing.”
“So are you?” Dulcie asked Luna.
“Am I what?”
“A hot tub virgin,” Janet said. “Try to keep up.”
“Yes!” Luna threw her arms in the air, splashing water everywhere. “I’m a hot tub virgin! And a phone sex virgin! And a vibrator virgin!” She glanced around. “Whoops. Did I overshare?”
Dulcie was laughing so hard she almost choked. “No!” she said, gasping for breath. “Feel free to drink more wine, and tell us anything you want!”
Luna ducked under the water again and combed her hair back from her face. When she resurfaced, she looked like a mermaid as she peeked at Colin through lashes dotted with water. “We’re not always like this.”
“Yes, we are,” Sybil said. “We’re just not always this wet.”
Colin smiled down at Luna. “It’s great. I like it.”
“See?” Dulcie stood and refilled everyone’s wineglass. “He likes it. Luna, babe, I don’t know what you’ve got going with this gorgeous Were, but he’s a keeper.”
“He’s heading back to Scotland tomorrow,” Luna said.
“He’s not!” Dulcie looked horrified. “Tell me it isn’t so, Laird of Glenbarra, just when I learned to say your title.”
“It’s true.” He took another swallow of wine. “I need to straighten out a few things with my younger brother, Duncan.”
Dulcie’s eyes widened. “Be still my heart. You have a brother ?”
“I do.”
“Is he as good-looking as you?”
Colin smiled. “Better.”
“Well, then, that settles it.” Dulcie finished topping off everyone’s wine. “You go right back there, and you bring him over here. If he needs straightening out, we’re just the crew to handle it. Right, ladies?”
“Right!” rang a chorus of female voices.
Colin could swear Luna’s was among them. He wondered how Duncan would react to this bunch. Chances were he’d fit right in. It was definitely something to think about.
“Oh. My. God.” Sybil sat up and wiped a hand over her face. “Do my eyes deceive me, or is that Hector walking this way in a bathing suit? God, it looks ancient. I hope it stays on him.”
Janet turned. “It is Hector,” she said in a low voice. “Don’t anybody say anything crazy, or you’ll scare him away. We’re about to make Whittier House history, so don’t any of you muck it up.”
“I’m sorry,” Dulcie said. “But that’s just not how I roll.” She made a megaphone of her hands. “Hey, Hector! Get your bony ass over here! We’ve been waiting for you!”
“I thought so!” Hector yelled back. “How could you have a decent party without the Hector-man?”
“The Hector-man ?” Janet looked around frantically. “Is hell freezing over? Is the world coming to an end? I can’t handle the shock!”
“It’s all Luna’s doing.” Colin leaned down to kiss her wet cheek.
“That’s not true,” Luna said. “It’s just… us, all of us, working together.”
“Yeah,” Janet said, “but it’s also you, toots. We were blessed the day you showed up. I hope you plan to stick around.”
“I do.”
As Colin heard the ring of certainty in her voice, it underscored her answer to the question he posed earlier, the one she’d called daft. No, she wouldn’t run away with him. She was anchored to this place and these friends, as well she should be after all the years she’d spent as a vagabond.
Only a selfish lover would insist that she give up the first safe, secure home she’d ever known. Only someone protecting his own interests would rip her from this spot and hope that she’d flourish in an alien environment. He wanted only the best for her. And from what he could tell, the best was right here on Le Floret.
Luna had never been surrounded by so many Weres who cared about her. Laughing with them, teasing and being teased, was so new and so special. Best of all, she could share this time with Colin, who seemed to enjoy himself as much as she did.
She longed to stop time and hold them all in this moment forever. But Dulcie said she was turning into a prune, and they’d finished the wine, and Hector said he was cold, although he’d been as boisterous and crazy as the rest of them. Luna hoped this was the night he started taking some joy in life.
As they left the hot tub, they all agreed to meet in the dining room for dinner after they showered and changed. Eating together wasn’t their normal routine, but it was appropriate for this special night, the last night Colin would be in residence.
Everyone pitched in to get the food on the table, and more bottles of wine were opened. As a farewell meal for the owner of Whittier House, the Much Honoured Colin MacDowell, Laird of Glenbarra, it worked.
Hector even proposed a toast to the success of the Whittier House Inn, and Luna knew then that she’d convinced him to stay on. The inn would be a blending of the old and the new, and Luna was optimistic about its future, even with George Trevelyan hovering menacingly in the background.
They’d talked a little business during dinner, and Colin had suggested creating a walk-in freezer out of a little-used pantry. Hector thought he’d need a riding mower, and Dulcie said the vacuum cleaners should be upgraded. None of it was startling, and everyone seemed confident they could handle the new regime just fine.
They all agreed that with a concerted effort, they could open for business the first weekend in August.
“Can you be here?” Janet asked Colin.
Luna was glad Janet had asked the question instead of her.
“I don’t know,” Colin said. “I can certainly try.”
“If not, you can always make a video to welcome the guests,” Luna said.
He gave her a long-suffering glance as everyone asked about the video and he had to explain that he wasn’t doing a video, come hell or high water. He’d do his best to be here in person, he said.
Luna wasn’t counting on it. He’d meant to come back while Geraldine was alive, too, and the obligations in Scotland had prevented him from returning. Considering that, she wouldn’t expect him at all, and would be thrilled if he happened to show up every couple of years.
Obviously, if she could wave a magic wand to stop Colin from leaving, she’d do it. But then he couldn’t handle the family problems that troubled him so. He did have to leave, and she’d faced that reality. She’d spent her whole life facing tough realities and disappointments, and she was good at it.
As they all sat discussing more plans for the grand opening, Luna thought about the good fortune that had led her here. She loved the island and the castle, but she loved these Weres far more. They were her family as much, or maybe more than her grandparents.
They accepted her for who she was. At last there were no more secrets, which meant the friendship and love would grow as they all worked together to make Whittier House a success. She was home at last.
Sybil finished off the last of her dessert and laid down her fork. “You know what we should do now? We should all go back to our rooms, shift, and go for a run in the woods. It would be like old times.”
“Sybil!” Dulcie gazed at her in open admiration. “That’s a brilliant idea.”
“I have ideas sometimes,” Sybil said. “I just don’t usually mention them because I’m afraid they’re stupid, but we’ve had such a great time, and it seems fitting on Colin’s last night that we should all go for a run.” She glanced around the table. “I’m faster than I look.”