Calla’s breath hitched. The man wouldn’t leave her alone. But Guthrie knew they couldn’t fight him here. Baird had to know that too. Most likely, he was showing her that she couldn’t stop him from getting close and bothering her—not even with the MacNeills guarding her.

“And his two brothers and two of his cousins are here, dancing with other women,” she noticed.

“Aye.” Guthrie was about to tell her that they had to leave, as he’d first intended if Baird and his men showed up, but he really was trying to do this courtship business right. “Do you want to go?”

She frowned up at him. “Are you trying to get out of dancing with me all night? Besides, Ivy said he wasn’t welcome. She might ask him to leave herself.”

Guthrie smiled at her, got her a glass of mulled wine, and once he had his whisky, they stood watching the dancers for a moment. He conferred with his brothers and cousin about leaving, but aside from the initial sword fight, the McKinleys didn’t seem to be causing any more trouble or making any moves in Calla’s direction. Besides, to an extent, he agreed with her. He wouldn’t normally allow another wolf to run him off, not when they had every right to be here.

When they finished their drinks, he returned to the dance floor with her.

Baird and his kinsmen were dressed like pirates, with full-sleeved shirts, black masks, black trousers, and boots. Since the whole family had been a bunch of pirates, Guthrie didn’t think they were masquerading at all.

He soon closed his arms around Calla and held her soft, velvet-covered body against him, wishing they were at Argent, somewhere a lot more private.

“Calla,” he whispered against her ear as he moved slowly with her, all his senses taking her in—her delightful she-wolf aroma, the scent of strawberries and sweet wine; the feel of her, warm and soft and such a perfect fit against his aroused body; the beat of her heart; and the whisper of her warm breath on his neck as she glanced up at him.

“Hmm…”

“I’m really having a difficult time with…this relationship stuff.”

She rested her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his back. “Hmm.”

“What I mean is that I know you put on the brakes with Baird and dated him for a year before you agreed to mate him, but…”

Calla nodded.

“The thing of it is, I can’t wait that long.”

She looked up at him, her expression mildly amused. Vixen.

Didn’t she know how hard this was for him to talk about? “Every time you look at me—like that—every time we touch, every time we kiss…I want so much more. Don’t you?”

She grinned up at him. “Oh, aye, but it’s just a lustful need. If we see each other longer, we won’t feel the pull so strongly. Don’t you agree?”

“Nay.”

She smiled wickedly at him. “Okay, tell me you didn’t feel the same way about the girlfriends you seriously considered mating. In the beginning, you were dying to fulfill some sexual need. It’s only natural.”

He didn’t say anything, just tightened his hold on her as she swayed to the music with him. This—with Calla—felt different. He couldn’t explain why he felt so…tied to her, but he did. Didn’t she feel the same way about him? Or was he projecting how he felt about Calla onto her?

“Aye,” she finally said, her cheek snuggled against his chest again.

“What?”

She looked up at him and smiled. “That’s the way I feel about you—like I can’t get enough of you. Like I want to take this further. When I was with Baird, I always had a closed-in feeling, like he was in my space, smothering me. Pressuring me. Not giving me the freedom I needed.”

She sighed. “I never would have been able to work with him on a project like the one you and I are coordinating—together. I never was able to discuss my work with him. He wasn’t interested. He acted as though my job was a hobby. If he had some function to attend, he wanted me to go with him. He would become extremely annoyed if I had other plans.

“Oh, he tried to couch his irritation, which showed he did care for me to an extent. I worried that once we were mated and I was his pack mate, he might insist that we attend all social gatherings together—despite what I had planned and how important it was to me.”

Guthrie rubbed her back gently.

“Well,” Guthrie said, mulling it over, “if you really want to dance with someone else tonight, you are free to do so with my blessing,” he said.

She studied him for a moment and then smiled. “I don’t believe that. You’d be all growly and scare the potential dance partner away.”

He laughed.

“But thank you for saying so. I love how you’re trying to respect my boundaries, and I respect yours. We complement each other. So, as to that aspect, I think we’re more suited to each other than with anyone I’ve ever dated. That’s saying a lot. To me, a relationship isn’t based just on sexual compatibility. It has to be based on…well, just so much more.”

“I agree. And I want to share so much more with you.”

She smiled at him. “Oh?”

He smiled back.

“Hmm,” she said.

They ignored Baird and his men, though Guthrie assumed Baird would try to get a dance with Calla. He was a pack leader who had planned to come to this masquerade with Calla, and he seemed to have something to prove to his kin and to himself.