Page 48 of Highlander's Wild Lass
“And ye came here?” he asked.
Celestia nodded. “After everyone left and went to bed.” She furiously wiped a stray tear that had fallen. “And there’s been trouble with some of the customers, not wantin’ to buy from us ‘cause I’m a woman.”
Anthony nodded. “That shouldnae be an issue.”
“But it is, men are hard-headed dobbers,” she said gruffly. “It’s still the same whisky, nay matter if a woman or a man sells it to them.”
“It is, and they’ll eventually see that it is.”
“Perhaps,” she said. “Still, they’re angry and rude, and the amount of nay’s I received in recent days made it feel like I would never be able to provide after—”
“Ye daenae need to be sayin’ it.”
“He will though,” she said, cheeks burning with fury and sadness and passion. “He’ll die and I willnae be able to care for Auralia, Chester, and Hugo.”
“I told ye before, Celestia. I’ll take care of everythin’. The finances, the animals, yer siblings, ye.”
Celestia nodded, draining her whisky glass. Anthony grabbed it gently from her hands and placed it aside.
“I do have some conditions though,” she told him.
“Go on, tell me.”
She held up her forefinger. “We keep the house and the property; I willnae see it sold. Nor any of the animals, especially the horses.”
Anthony raked a hand through the ends of her hair, finally dry. “I wouldnae dream of sellin’ the property. I’ll have it tended to and beds ready for whenever any of ye need a reprieve from castle life. The boys can have it when they come of age.”
Celestia nodded, she stuck out another finger. “Da decides where he lives after we are officially married, but the castle healer must tend to him daily.”
Anthony nodded, an amused smile playing on his features.
“Third, ye get yer best men to train the twins in all sorts of manly endeavors and ye give them, Auralia too, the best damned tutors ye can find.”
“I already told ye I would do that for them.”
“I ken,” she said, “Finally, as yer wife I get to use yer name as influence over these men who think bein’ a woman is some sort of disease. It’s hard to believe some of them even have wives.”
Anthony laughed. “Probably nae happy ones.”
“Nay, probably nae,” she said, she felt her mouth tug at the corners. “Do ye agree to everythin’?”
“I do, Celestia,” he vowed. He tugged lightly at a tendril of her blonde hair. “But what do I get?”
“Exactly what ye said ye wanted,” she told him. “An obedient wife to quell yer sister’s complaints and to get the other chiefs and lairds to beg off. I’ll listen and obey, like the ghastly vows say. I ken how to run an estate, a castle shouldnae be much different.”
Anthony traced up her neck and took a hold of the edge of her jaw. “What if I daenae want ye to obey?”
She shivered. “Then… then,” she said, fumbling with the words in her mouth.
“And ye will perform yer marital duties. Although if the rest of our lives is anythin’ like tonight, I am nae worried too much about that.”
She felt the blush bloom red hot across her face and down her neck.
10
Anthony stayed awake after riding out with Celestia to take her home after the rain finally stopped. On his way back, the castle was already bustling with life.
Mrs. Duncan ran out to him in the courtyard, strands of fine gray hair flying around her face. “What are ye doin’ up so early?”
