Page 65 of Exposing Adonis

“They can refer to you as Baroness of Strathlachlan, but generally, no. It’ll be Lady Strathlachlan, or the Right Honorable Lady Strathlachlan … it’s …” he ran a hand through his hair. “Complicated. But nothing you can’t learn with time.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. So I said nothing.

“Our parents are going to kill you.” Leo shook his head. “You’re gonna be dead. Really, really dead. I’m going to be an only child.” He gave me a side eye. “Nanay is going to end you.”

Chapter 29

Callum

“We’llhaveaformalwedding, with all the pomp and circumstance later. Maybe at the castle.” I said. “Or even in California, if you like. To make Ligaya happy.”

I was fond of their mother. She radiated a warmth that my own never had.

“They still think you’re a priest,” Leo reminded me.

“I gave up my vows for the beautiful woman beside me.” It was such an easy lie, because I’d give up everything for her. My titles, my holdings, my wealth. I’d go work in a garage if it meant that I came back to her at the end of the day.

Leo looked at his sister, a brow raised. He wrinkled his nose in disgust and in a whiny voice said, “Yeah, she’d actually think that was romantic. Gross.”

“It’ll have to be a very, big wedding,” Lea said in a low breath. “We’d need to do another one for them.”

I didn’t want to show it, but the fact that she was thinking about another weddingceremonymade my heart leap into my throat. A white dress. I’d wear a kilt, of course. And everyone we knew would be in attendance. I could declare myself her husband in front of everyone.

“You can have whatever you want,” I reassured her. “Or whatever your mother wants. It’s just a formality at this point.”

She turned to me then, blinking at her hand with the large pearl. She flipped her hand back and forth as if expecting it to disappear.

“Tell me this is a joke,” her eyes were looking at me, pleading. But I wasn’t sure for what. For it to be real, or for it to be a farce? I hoped the former.

“It’s a joke,” I shrugged. But we both knew it wasn’t. The denial would fade slowly. “All because you wouldn’t let me hold you.” I winked.

She scoffed, her lips up in a small smile. “Really? This is an overreaction.”

“Not to me.” I leaned down to kiss her temple. “Not to me,wife.”

She was probably still in denial when the priest came and asked for our signatures on a legal document. But she signed it.

She grabbed my hand and inspected my gold band. I expected her to cut her teeth on it to see if it was real. It was as real as the scars on my shoulder.

She looked around the room, and crossed herself in front of the crucifix before looking back at the empty pews. Then she touched the lace in her hand, bound with a golden curtain rope that the priest let us keep as a wedding gift. I’d have it framed in a glass box and put on a mantle in Strathlachlan.

It was dawn when we returned to Alex’s house. I ordered the men to head to the airfield, prep the plane, and get ready to fly home, and to drag Chloe and Leo with them. Lea and I would charter, or fly commercial, and join them later. I wanted some alone time with my bride.

Mainly to see how much she’d regret this when her head cleared.

I put Lea to bed inmysuite, tucking her in as tenderly as I could. She was still fully clothed from the day before, but I didn’t have the heart to keep her awake any longer.

She fell asleep in my sheets, her jeweled hand by her face as her hair fell at her cheek. I watched her from an armchair, a celebratory Macallan in my hand.

I had expected her to end the proceedings. I expected her to say no. To scream her safe word and run screaming from the church. But she hadn’t.

She went along with it all, putting one uncertain foot in front of the other as I dragged her by the wrist. She had let me bind us together, bit by bit, with hesitation, but without protest. My Goddess. I had lured Atalanta into marriage.

That feeling of fate was pulling at me again. The sense of rightness, and belonging. That I was meant to be right here, in this moment, sitting in this chair with a glass in my hand, staring at mywife.My mind contemplated the decades ahead with an eagerness I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

All my past emptiness had been chased away, and filled with light.

The sky outside the window was pink, then blue. I went into the shower, realizing that there were a million things still left to do. Little tasks that amounted to greater things, that had to be handled to start off this marriage on solid footing. At least, as solid as it could be, since I had manipulated her into this moment.

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