“You’re our financial wizard. They have gathered thirty thousand. See what Calla has, and then let me know if we can put up the rest.”

“I will, Ian.” Guthrie glanced at the doorway to the broker’s office as he heard the doorknob turn.

Calla exited, saw him and his brothers, and headed for them. She looked beaten, not pleased with the news.

“Calla, you can’t believe that we’d let you do this on your own, lass,” Guthrie said, taking her into his arms. “Ian and Julia run the pack, and they’ve okayed me using pack funds to help you out. As second-in-command, Cearnach is in total agreement.”

Cearnach nodded.

Duncan said, “Me too, if anyone cares.”

Guthrie smiled at him. “As financial manager, I’m signing off on it. The rest of the pack will agree that there is no way they’re turning you over to the McKinleys, and we’ll do what we have to for one of our own.”

She looked up at him, a question in her beautiful green eyes as they filled with tears.

She sniffled and swallowed hard and then broke down, tears dribbling down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around him. “You can’t,” she said in such a wee pitiful voice that his heart broke for her.

“We can, and we will.”

“Do you know how much? You couldn’t have enough.”

“Somehow, we’ll have enough.”

“Half a million?” she whispered to him.

He held her close and took in her worried scent, her sweetness and softness, and loved her. “Aye, lass. Somehow we’ll manage.”

“But, Guthrie, you can’t. You could be as destitute as me. You can’t do that to your pack for me or my family.”

“We would do it for our pack members, lass, whatever it takes. Your father and mother gave me their blessing to wed you. We’ll talk about it more later, but we might have to plan something simple.”

She gaped at him. Well, he hadn’t meant to say so in front of his brothers. He was doing this all wrong. His brothers smiled at him and shook their heads.

“Ian said Julia told him about…you know…that we mated. And my brothers were listening,” Guthrie said somewhat hesitantly.

“And we couldn’t be happier,” Cearnach told her reassuringly.

“About time, by our reckoning,” Duncan said, trying to cheer her.

“So there’s nothing to worry about,” Guthrie said. “We’ll take care of it.”

Cearnach said, “Guthrie, can you at least get on bended knee for the lass?”

Guthrie frowned at his brother. “In an office building?”

“Don’t you dare,” she warned Guthrie. Turning on Cearnach, she added, “You, mind your own business.”

Calla explained that she had close to two hundred and seventy thousand in stocks that she had her broker sell off to help pay the debt. Calla looked despondent, but Guthrie was impressed. He felt terrible for her that she would have to use her savings and investments to pay off her parents’ debt, but her business smarts and quick thinking would help mitigate the loss. She was everything he had always wanted in a mate and more.

Guthrie arranged to sell off the necessary stocks that the MacNeill clan had as well and prepared to pay off her parents’ loan. The interest the Stewarts would pay back to the MacNeills was much less than what Baird was charging them, and as long as they could get their hotels back into full operation, her parents should be able to pay off the funds over time.

Calla seemed numb over the whole situation as her parents signed the loan agreement over the Internet. Guthrie squeezed Calla’s hand as they returned to the car.

They got into the backseat of the vehicle while Cearnach drove and Duncan sat up front.

“As soon as the money has cleared the bank to pay off Baird’s loan, he’ll have no more claim to your parents’ properties. Once your parents are financially able, they can begin to pay back the monies they borrowed from us.”

“And my earnings. I will help—”

“When we get home, I want to discuss our financial situation with you.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“Ahh, lass, only in a good way.”

She nodded and he kissed her. “I don’t know how I can thank you,” Calla said again. “You and your pack.”

“Our pack,” he said.

Duncan said, “We have you to thank for convincing Ian to open up the castle to bring in so much money. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so cheerful. Seeing how much our pack enjoyed the activities, he was well pleased.”

“I only wish I’d learned you had returned to the area,” Cearnach said, “and I would have brought you to Argent Castle so you could have done all this a year ago.”

When they arrived at the castle, Guthrie took Calla up to his office, wanting to show her the finances, since she would be bringing in income beyond what the others brought in.

“What a lovely office,” she said, admiring his large oak desk, the Turkish carpet, and the seating area where he discussed finances with pack members—four brown velour chairs and a couch to match, with a curve-legged oak coffee table in the center.

Some of the ladies had made him gold-embroidered pillows to set on the chairs and couch to give more of a homey appearance. And a couple of throw blankets were neatly folded over the arm of the couch, where he’d taken a wolf nap or two and then continued working late on the finances.