Shelley opened her mouth to protest. Duncan gave her another squeeze and kissed her cheek. She looked up at him with regret swimming in her eyes. He gave her half a smile. “I’ll call Ian, lass.” He was doing it for Shelley, not her pretentious uncle.

When he headed for the door, Shelley caught his arm, and with her back to her uncle so he couldn’t see what she was saying, she mouthed the words to Duncan, “You don’t have to do this.”

Appreciating that she said so, but knowing he did indeed have to do this if he was going to make any inroads with her family, Duncan smiled, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her mouth with all the wolfish passion he possessed. He was stating that they were mated, she was his, and there wasn’t a damn thing her uncle could do about it.

When he released her, she clung to him, a little unsteady on her feet. He smiled, loving how he could make her melt against him just from his kisses.

He tried to put on an everything-is-under-control expression, but she looked too anxious for him to believe he was successful. Fighting the bad guys was easy. Trying to smooth over the situation with her uncle in a way that was satisfactory to all parties concerned was quite another thing.

Hell, didn’t they have enough trouble already? Duncan couldn’t believe he had to call Ian about this mess with Shelley’s uncle. But he didn’t want to tell her uncle the difficulties they were having with Sal Silverman or he feared Campbell would feel it was his duty to escort Shelley home to Texas at once.

Duncan walked outside while Shelley tried to talk reason to her uncle while fixing him a cup of coffee.

Ian answered on the first ring. He had been closely monitoring the phone, worried about what all was going on in the islands. Duncan told Ian about the second dead man and about Sal wanting Duncan to protect him.

“I said no to his offer,” Duncan said.

“Maybe you should agree to be his bodyguard,” Ian said seriously.

“What the hell for?”

“If Carlotta has him killed, then we’ve lost a chance to get the money through him.”

“Then we go after her.” It didn’t matter to Duncan who had their money.

Ian sighed. “Yeah, we’d have to.”

“I can’t agree to protect him, get the money, then kill him.”

“All right. Do what you have to do.”

“There’s something else.” Duncan hated to bring up Shelley’s family’s request more than he hated the discussion about protecting that bastard Sal. “It has to do with Shelley’s three uncles and her mother. The one in charge of her pack, her Uncle Ethan Campbell, wants to move the family in with us. Or else he doesn’t want her to leave the States and I’m to move in with her near where her family resides. The family has close ties. They want to get to know our children, their grandnieces and grandnephews, when they’re born.” Duncan knew his brother wouldn’t like being dictated to, not by anyone.

“How do you feel about this?” Ian asked.

Duncan stared out at the ocean, not even truly seeing it. His brother had never asked him how he felt about anything—or anyone else that Duncan could remember, for that matter. Maybe being mated to Julia Wildthorn, romance author, had changed Ian.

“I will kill every one of them to have the right to keep my mate,” Duncan vowed fiercely.

“Aye. How would you feel about living in the States and not here, if it means staying with her to keep peace with her family?”

Duncan ground his teeth. Taking Shelley for his mate shouldn’t mean he’d have to forsake his own family, his clan, his pack. “With the deepest regret, Ian,” he said, nearly choking on the words, “aye. I would stay with Shelley in Texas.”

Ian didn’t say anything for what seemed the longest time, then spoke up again. “How does Shelley feel about it?”

“Shook up, no doubt, Ian. This has all come as a shock to her as well.”

“Let me talk to her.”

“Shelley?”

Ian chuckled darkly. “Aye. I promise I will not upset her.”

Duncan frowned and opened the door to see Shelley showing pictures of all the varieties of plants at the reserve on her camera to her uncle, excited as if nothing had come between any of them. She was like a young girl showing off a treasure to a parent. For an instant, he saw that she was indeed close to her uncle, and he was with her. Campbell wasn’t looking at the pictures as if it was a duty but smiling like he truly enjoyed seeing her work.

Duncan cleared his throat, not wanting to interrupt them since her uncle seemed pleased to observe her findings. He didn’t want to set the older man off again. “Shelley, my brother wishes to speak with you.”

“I will speak to his lairdship as well,” Ethan said with a disgruntled tone, casting Duncan a dangerous look.

Duncan handed the phone to Shelley and gave her a heartfelt embrace, then whispered into her ear, “All will be well.”

She nodded, but from the guarded look she gave him, he didn’t think she believed him. He wasn’t sure he did, either. Families could be good for a mating, but they could also be destructive. This one seemed to be off on the wrong path already.

He shut the door to let Shelley have some privacy with his brother and said to her uncle as he motioned to the camera he was now holding, “She’s dedicated to her work.”

But Ethan only gave him another glower and said, “What will she be doing in Scotland, pray tell, if you take her back there?”

***

Shelley swallowed hard as she took Duncan’s phone and took a deep breath, hating that her mouth had become a dried-up desert before she spoke to Ian.

“Hello?” She tried to sound like someone who was worthy of being mated to a laird’s brother, but all of a sudden, with her family’s interference in her life, she felt like a two-year-old with no say in anything.

Not that she would allow her uncle or her family to have any real say over what she did. On the other hand, she truly had believed they’d be as happy for her as she was for herself. Never had she expected something like this to happen.

“Hello, Shelley? First…” Ian said to her over the phone. He put her at ease at once with the way he sounded so much like Duncan when he was in a heroic, endearing mood. “I want to welcome you into our family. I understand your uncle’s concern about parting with you, and I would feel the same way if one of my own was leaving to live someplace else so far away.”

The tension remained in her spine. She appreciated that he could feel the same way as her uncle did and understood some of what was feeding her uncle’s animosity, but Ian wasn’t resolving the issue, either.

“I would welcome your family to visit you here at any time,” Ian continued.

Which was just the problem. She’d expected Ian to be generous in welcoming her family on visits, but the matter went beyond visits. She cleared her throat. “He doesn’t want to just visit.”

“My understanding completely.”

Duncan had told him, and Ian wasn’t perturbed?

“What I want to know is how this will affect you. Do you want to stay with us here? Live in the States? Visit back and forth?”

Now she knew why Ian was the laird of the clan, the leader of their pack. He definitely had leadership skills that weren’t dictatorial.

Ian said, “Duncan has already stated that he will do anything that makes you happy.”

Shelley glanced back at the house, an overwhelming feeling of love and pride in Duncan filling her. She knew he couldn’t have said he’d do so without feeling regret that he’d have to leave his own family and pack behind. “He did?”

“Aye. You must know that giving up his family wouldn’t be easy.”

“Oh, no, I never wanted that.” She truly didn’t. Even though she had a loose-knit pack of sorts, Wendy had a close-knit family and pack, so Shelley knew something about the dynamics in her friend’s family and how they wouldn’t want to lose her like that, either.

“But he’s willing to do so if that’s what you want.”

“But I don’t,” she insisted, feeling horrible about her uncle’s stand.

“All right then, if your family comes to live with us, I have rules that they must abide by. Everyone works, just like in the old days. They might not have the same jobs as eons ago, but we all support the clan, the pack. For that, they have our protection and our loyalty,” Ian said sternly.

“Which is what they’re disgruntled about—the past, about getting kicked off the land after being loyal to their laird.”

“Aye. But it’s different now. I’ll do anything I can to make this work. Your family will have to understand that I make the decisions ultimately as to the pack’s concerns, though.”

“I understand.” She knew that it would be hard for her Uncle Ethan to give up ruling their own small pack, yet he would have to if her family wished to join Ian’s.

“Then if this is agreeable to you, let me talk with your uncle.”

She didn’t want her uncle to screw things up with her and her new family and Duncan. If he did, she would be true to her word and never speak to him or the others again. Even if that would be difficult to do as well. Still, she had to live her own life. They might not understand how she felt, not any of her uncles at least, since none had been mated.

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure, lass. It’s about time someone gave Duncan something to think about other than bashing heads.”

She laughed, the tension instantly dissolving. “Thanks,” she said, feeling much more lighthearted about meeting Duncan’s older brother in person when she had the chance. “I’ll let you speak with my Uncle Ethan now.”

When Shelley entered the villa, she waved the phone and said, “The laird wants to speak with you, Uncle Ethan.” She hoped to God everything would be all right.

He grunted, shoved the camera in Duncan’s hands, rose from the couch, and took the phone, then stalked outside and shut the door.