"i guess i'd better call silverman and tell him i'll be tied up all night."

"as much as i hate that you have to say another word to him..." duncan cast her a dark look. "maybe you shouldn't call him. just leave him hanging."

she shook her head. "i'm never that rude. even if the guy is a class a crook. maybe we should think up a code so that if i run into him again when you're not around, i can give you a call and you'll know what's up."

duncan scowled at that.

"ignoring the possibility that it might happen again won't make it go away. if i had given you the code word that said silverman was on his way down the path coming toward me, you might have called me back faster."

duncan seemed to ponder that.

she raised her brows. "well, i couldn't come up with anything else that fit what i was doing at the time. i can't help it if you thought i was crazy."

he smiled a little.

she harrumphed. "so you did think i was crazy. that's why we need a code." she pulled her phone and silverman's card out of her pack, then flipped the card over to get his number off the back. the drinks engagement hadn't been until seven, so she still had time to beg off. she really didn't want to have to talk to the creep again.

"hello, um, sal?" she said when he answered. he sounded way too interested in seeing her again.

she was rethinking what duncan had said-that she shouldn't have called him back at all.

chapter 7

shelley swore duncan had stiffened beside her for calling silverman by his first name. maybe just hearing her talk with the crook irritated the highlander.

"hello. is this the pretty wolf i met in the forest?" sal asked, almost sounding bubbly.

she wanted to throw up, hated having to act, and knew that if she had been asked to be an extra in the film with duncan, she would have made a real muddle of it.

"shelley," she quickly said, not liking the way he thought he was ingratiating himself with her with his glib talk. the man was so full of himself that he hadn't even asked her name. "i won't be able to meet you for drinks tonight."

first, there was a stunned silence. that made her smile. then he began to argue with her. "i've already planned-"

"i did have a previous engagement," she said, stopping him from saying whatever he had to say. she didn't want to hear what he had planned. she didn't want duncan to hear it, either. "i had my days mixed up. i wasn't sure. that's why i couldn't say at the reserve if i could come over for drinks."

thankfully, sal must not have stuck around in the forest listening to her phone conversation like she'd worried he might. probably because he had his girlfriend with him and was afraid she'd open her big mouth again and give away his location and what he was doing.

he tried again with his smooth attempt at seduction. "is your girlfriend a wolf, too? i could have a friend come over and-"

"um, no. i mean, i called my girlfriend, but i'm actually going out with a man i'd met who was kind enough to give me a ride to my place from the airport. he's taking me on a sunset dinner cruise tonight."

the silence was palpable. duncan smirked in a purely wolfish way. he might not have his money back, but he had beaten the wolf at this game. not only was he taking her on a sunset dinner cruise that trumped drinks at the guy's estate, but duncan had been chivalrous enough to drive her from the airport. sal also knew she'd just met the guy. sal was a little late in making a move on her. having a female clinging to him in the reserve hadn't helped, either.

"i see," sal finally remarked, sounding extremely vexed.

she was sure that duncan's offer had more than unsettled the cheat, who she guessed was used to getting his way in most situations. money could buy a lot of things. but not her.

"all right. what about tomorrow?" he asked, and he truly sounded like he thought he still had a chance with her.

shocked that he'd ask her out again, she felt her mouth drop open. she'd suspected that once she said she was seeing another man, sal would get the hint and butt out. apparently not. he had the arrogance of an alpha male backed by tons of ill-gotten money. if she went anywhere with him, all she'd be thinking about would be how sal was spending duncan's clan's money on her. she'd want to shift and tear into him herself to convince him to give it up.

"i... don't know about tomorrow." she hated coming up with excuses on the fly. but even though she didn't want to see the bastard again, she might be able to help duncan get his money back.

duncan didn't even look at her, saying louder than he needed to, "we have a pirates' sailing-ship excursion tomorrow, remember? the jolly roger?"

"oh, yeah." damned if she'd known that. this was getting to be one really super-fun vacation. except for this business with sal silverman.

again, silence.

"that's in the afternoon, isn't it?" sal said, sounding perturbed. "unless it's the dinner cruise again."

she figured he was doubly irritated because he now knew duncan was listening in on the conversation. being alpha to the max, duncan intended to thwart sal in every way he could, which made her smile.

"yes, i guess." she had no idea which cruise duncan had in mind.

but sal wasn't about to be thwarted, either. "then we can have dinner later in george town."

one thing about wolf hearing: they heard. from quiet talks to phone conversations, they heard.

"we have dinner plans," duncan said self-assuredly.

of course he was right in thinking that if she wanted to go out, it would be with him. she enjoyed his company immensely. even so, why was she bothering to speak with sal when the two men were having a fine conversation without her?

she frowned at duncan and held the phone out to him as if to allow him to talk it over with sal. duncan ignored the offer of the phone.

she pulled it back to her ear but before she could relay duncan's words, certain that sal had heard them anyway, sal said, "i'll call you back later." the phone clicked dead.

she slipped her phone in her pocket and folded her arms. "he's angry."

duncan gave her a self-satisfied smirk as he parked the car at the dock and opened her door for her.

"well?" she said. "how are you going to get the money out of him if you piss him off over me before you can even ask him about your stolen investments?"

duncan wrapped his arm around her shoulders and headed down the dock. "you know, maybe now that he's got a little female wolf to pursue, he'll come out of hiding-no goons, no girlfriend-and then i can take him to task one-on-one."

"that could work. you're a genius."

he kissed her cheek. "you should tell my brothers that. but in truth, i don't want you involved."

"as soon as he tried to pick me up at the reserve, i became involved. are we really going out on a pirate ship tomorrow?"

"aye, lass. in the 1600s, pirates made port here. so the jolly roger excursion is a way to have some sporting good fun with a poke at the past."

she thought he was too broke. she truly believed him in that regard. "but... what about your finances?"

"ian will understand the necessity. the money i was paid as an extra is mixed in with the clan's money, but even so, i should have some say in this. besides, the expense of a room is not the same as an expense in drawing out the enemy."

drawing out the enemy? or doing whatever he could to protect shelley from the bastard coming after her? she wished she was swimming in money so she could pay for the extra excursions for both of them. "does the pirate ship have a gangplank?"

"aye, what respectable pirate ship would not? now, if i had my trusty claymore, i'd make all the scurvy pirates walk the plank and take my sea wolf on a nice long sail. you do have sea legs, don't you, lass? you seemed to love the water, but i didn't ask if boats bothered you."

"oh yes, i love the water and i love to sail." she settled next to him on the catamaran where other couples had found places to call their own for the cruise.

duncan ordered baileys irish cream for shelley and a whiskey for himself.

the turquoise waters were so inviting that she wanted to slip into them and swim right beside the boat. "maybe if we're not too tired tonight, we could swim with the sharks again."

he chuckled and wrapped his arm around her as they sailed out to sea. the lulling feel of the boat cutting through the placid water, with duncan holding her like this, made her feel as though she was in heaven. about twenty people were on the boat, all having their own conversations and enjoying the wind in the sails and the trip out to sea just like shelley and duncan were.

"it might be tempting fate to swim in the water at night again with the sharks feeding more often then. but aye, if you want to risk it, i'll protect you," duncan remarked.

she smiled and sipped her baileys. "you are such a brave highlander. what about stingrays?"

"what about them? i'm not sure punching them in the nose would keep them away from you if one decided to attack." he finished his whiskey and paid for another.

she laughed and squeezed his arm. "no, you can take a boat out to an area to snorkel and feed the rays. would you want to swim with the stingrays? my treat."

his eyes sparkled with merriment. "when you put it that way... how can a scot resist?"

"you wouldn't be afraid they'd eat you, would you?"

"not me. i would be afraid they'd grab one of those bikini strings of yours and..." he frowned at her. "you have to wear something else on the pirate ship and when we go snorkeling with the rays. if any man looked you over for even a fraction of a second wearing so little-and he'd be doing it for a lot longer than that-i'd have to rearrange his face."