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"Yes If you’ll pay half price"

"Seeave him a pointed look "I don’t have to make the offer at all Since you see to hold the grudge about the way the chiefs had cleared the crofters from their lands in the old days

"How much is half?" he asked

"You’re a true Scot, I see"

He ignored the jibe, not wanting her to kno poor his people were, but also he wouldn’t have ever agreed to a price without knohat it was

She sighed "Five thousand"

His h, and if it hadn’t been at his expense, he would have loved hearing the melodic sound of it "Per week"

That wasn’t much better than per day "Each?" He hoped she meant that was the total

"Ah, yes, each of us has to pay 5,000 I had to have a villa where I would be isolated from others--because of my wolfish nature, of course"

He scrubbed one hand over his face, which he noted was gettingpart of your cost, and I’ the twin bed…"

"Tin beds" She stood firm "You pay half or…"

"Or? You’ll be stuck for the whole ten grand," he countered If he paid 5,000 to stay in the villa, Ian would surely kick him out of the clan

She chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes narrowed as she focused on him, both of them at a standstill

"Think, lass, I have a rental car that I’ve paid for, and as long as I’," she said, sounding skeptical

"Aye, then I could take you where you’d like to go"

"The Mastic Reserve," she said

"The what?"

"It’s an ancient dry forest"

"Dry forest" He envisioned a petrified forest or a deciduous one with no leaves in the dead of winter, but in the tropics, he couldn’t i

"Yes, the reserve has examples of a deciduous semi-tropical dry forest I want to see it, and take notes and pictures I teach botany at West Texas A&M, so I’ the information to my classes when I start back the fall semester next year Most of the West Indies have had substantial deforestation, so this is one of the last holdouts that has existed, growing and changing for two s if you live in a castle"

"Dry forest" He did feel the same way about the ancient Caledonian Forest in Scotland He just hadn’t thought of her as a plant kind of person "Sure I can drop you off to check out the trees"

"That would work Tours last two and a half to three hours, but I plan to stay for longer than that to take notes" She hesitated, then added, "If you’re to stay with me, it’ll cost five thousand dollars"

He couldn’t believe she wasn’t budging on the price With her agreeht she’d cut him some slack Noas surprised she hadn’t tacked on additional charges!

When he didn’t respond quickly, she added, "You were in a movie Had it filmed at your castle, even Own a castle, for heaven’s sake Are you trying to tell est son and your laird brother doesn’t support you like he should? You obviously havebusiness"

He had never intended to tell the woman what his real business was here That a wolf had financially taken advantage of his wolf pack, which was downright e the world

But he didn’t feel he had any other choice "All right The truth is that a s, and I’et it back"

Her eyes widened "Yournow and seeet the money back?"