"who says you're going to make me walk the plank?" he asked, amused at the turn of the conversation.

she laughed. "surely you don't think you're going to make me do it!"

aye, that's just what he thought.

as soon as he let her down on the patio, he opened the back door for her. she walked inside and froze. she sniffed the air, her heart beating erratically as duncan caught the same scent.

"stay here," he commanded, then shifted into his wolf form and raced through the living room and master bedroom, then up the stairs to the guest bedroom, furious enough to rip the crook to shreds.

silverman had been inside the villa while they were away. had he been watching them while they swam? or had he just waited until they ran off down the beach in their wolf forms, then checked out the villa and left?

infuriated, duncan tried to fight the darkness that swamped him. as a warrior, he couldn't tolerate an affront this blatant. but he didn't want shelley seeing this side of him.

he wondered why he'd come to that conclusion when before he had been content to be who he was. even proud to be thought of as a warrior willing to grind any enemy into the ground. a warrior who wasn't prone to having a pretty face turn his head.

the little red she-wolf had turned him inside out. not in a bad way, either. she'd lightened his mood considerably since he'd spied her in the airport. for the first time ever, he'd felt carefree, like cearnach always acted. cheerful and pleased. duncan knew his brother better. knew that he was all warrior and business and darkness when the situation warranted it. duncan wasn't normally the jubilant type, though.

still hot with anger, duncan raced back down the stairs, wanting to take the bastard on. he ran past shelley, who looked anxious, but he wasn't sure if that was because of his behavior or silverman's. duncan shifted at the back door and then shut, locked, and bolted it. turning, he hoped he'd hidden his feral feelings, but the expression of concern on shelley's face told him he wasn't doing a good job of it.

"he was here," she said softly.

"aye," duncan growled, his voice low and angry. so much for attempting to act as though this didn't bother him as much as it did. "he was trying to learn about the sleeping arrangements. he would have discovered from our scents that we slept in separate beds last night."

he had mixed feelings about that. on the one hand, he wanted the bastard to know he'd claimed shelley. that she was part of his territory. his. not that she truly was.

on the other hand, he wanted silverman to know she wasn't the kind of wolf who took up with anyone and probably would be willing to do the same with silverman. duncan had no intention of allowing the bastard to think he had any chance with her. he slipped his hand around hers and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"you don't have to worry about him." he was certain shelley didn't believe him entirely.

not liking that the bastard had slipped into her villa and inspected the place, shelley swallowed hard, squeezed duncan's hand back to show she appreciated his concern and protectiveness, and then pulled away and headed for the stairs. she would have stayed with duncan for the night, but sal's little visit decided it.

she paused at the foot of the stairs and turned, worried about what sal might have discovered about duncan. "did you have anything in your bag that would give away your mission here?"

"nay. i only had a shaving kit and some clothes. my passport and driver's license won't help him make any connection to the fraud he's committed." he glanced down at her body, shimmering with water and naked, while his glistened with droplets, aroused and ready for action.

despite being angered by sal's actions, duncan couldn't hide his attraction for her. her nipples were standing at attention, letting him know she was just as interested in him.

but she knew what she had to do: stay in separate beds or this was going to go further than what they could risk. and beyond that, she didn't want sal to get the wrong impression about her. "all right. i'll see you in the morning for a shorter trip to the forest so we don't miss our pirate sailing excursion."

duncan ground his teeth and looked vastly disappointed that she wasn't going to share a bed with him. she couldn't. not if she was going to keep from getting herself in too deep with him. she was serious when she said she wasn't safe staying with him. not because he was such a bad boy, but because she couldn't keep her hands off him, either. as tense as he was, she thought he was fighting with himself over doing the honorable thing or trying to convince her to stay with him.

her phone rang, literally saving the day. she raced upstairs to get it. his heavy footfalls up the stairs made her turn to see him following her, to her surprise. when she crossed the floor to her bag and whipped out her phone, she saw it was just her girlfriend wendy. she realized duncan had assumed it was sal. from his fierce scowl, she assumed if it had been sal, duncan would have ripped the phone from her grip and had some words with the creep.

she shook her head at duncan. "it's just wendy. i promised to call her and i forgot."

duncan grumbled a good-night and headed back down the stairs for the master bedroom. she noted he did not offer to switch rooms with her for the night.

"wendy, sorry i didn't call you earlier."

"having too much fun? i was feeling bad that you wouldn't enjoy your trip there, just working yourself to death like usual. i knew you'd spend all day every day with your nose in the flora and fauna, but i worried about your nightlife. i guess you're having a good time after all. so tell me all about him."

"first, he's a wolf."

shelley expected her friend to say something, anything. when she didn't, shelley thought maybe their phone connection had been cut off. "wendy?"

"a wolf and a highlander? all in one? hell, shelley, that sounds like a dangerous combination."

shelley cleared her throat, still a little rough from swallowing some of the ocean water. "yes."

"okay, spill, and tell me every detail. if you leave anything out, i will know. you know i will."

shelley laughed. "yeah, i know you will, too."

but she wasn't sure what to say about sal silverman. she supposed it was best to only mention that another wolf who was a crook was staying on the island. that he had laundered money in bank accounts and was trying to see her. and that duncan was putting a stop to any ploys the other man might have.

she didn't mention that the bastard had stolen money from duncan's clan and the college. that he had sneaked into the villa to find out where she and duncan had slept. wendy would tell shelley's mother, and her mother would tell her uncles, and the next thing shelley knew, they'd be insisting she return home at once.

as to silverman's little foray into the villa, she was glad she and duncan had been staying in separate beds so sal didn't think she'd just sleep with any wolf.

"oh, wow, two male wolves on one island. are you sure the other guy is a crook?" wendy asked, and shelley was certain her friend really wished she'd come. she was probably envisioning a whole island filled with hunky wolves.

"yeah. i'll tell you more when i get home. but i'm certain."

"hmm, so tell me what's going on with you and duncan."

way too much, and shelley wasn't telling wendy about that, either. she thought it best that no one ever learned what had gone on with duncan while she was enjoying her island stay. "did i tell you his brother's a laird and they own a castle? they have gardens, too, and he said i could come by and visit." she thought that information would sidetrack wendy enough so that she wouldn't probe into how intimately shelley was getting to know the highland warrior.

the silence stretched out between them. uncomfortably so.

"wendy?"

"your mother and all her people are still mad about being kicked off the land in the highlands years ago."

shelley sighed. her family held long grudges.

"she doesn't mind that you have your scottish pride and go to celtic fests in texas, because you're sharing your celtic heritage with other americans," wendy continued. since wendy had never had a family history like that, she couldn't understand the way shelley's family was. but she'd heard several of the family discussions about the old ways and knew how adamant they were about holding onto resentments about the past.

shelley closed her bedroom door, as if ensuring that duncan didn't hear wendy's side of the conversation. she knew he couldn't, not if he wasn't in the same room. but the thought made her anxious just the same.

"i'm sure your mother wouldn't mind if you went to scotland. but she wouldn't like it if you hooked up with one of the noblemen whose families threw crofters off their land like your family was. believe me."

shelley sighed again. she'd figured the same. "i've talked to him about it already."

more silence. "and?"

shelley walked into the bathroom and stared at her wet hair dangling in loose tangles about her shoulders. she needed a shower to wash off the saltwater and sand. "his ancestors were noblemen who did the same to their own people," she admitted, not about to cover up the truth.

"if he were just a poor scot who managed to stay in scotland, that would mean all the difference in the world to your mother." then wendy quickly asked, "you aren't sleeping with him, are you?"

"no, i'm not."

wendy let out her breath. "okay, that's good. if you've spent two nights with him, and you're still sleeping apart, there's hope for you yet. so what did you do all day and night?"

they'd had the most incredible time. she'd experienced heated sexual passion that she'd never felt before and that she wanted to experience again and again. but that she also kept to herself.