Page 54 of Highlander's Wild Lass
“Are ye ready to be Lady of Castle Ferguson?”
“Nae at all, to be honest. I was a bit out of my mind when I came sprintin’ into your study last night,” she told him with a small grin.
“Do ye nae want to get married then?” he asked, his heart banging against his chest. “It’s all—”
She placed a hand on his forearm. “Nay, Anthony. I meant what I said last night, but a merchant’s daughter marryin’ a chief. How odd.”
“I am nae royalty, Celestia,” he said, smiling down at his mead. “I am nay king or even a viscount.”
“Ye are still a noble—”
“Anthony! There ye are!”
Anthony groaned, closing his eyes. He knew it was Eleanor before he even turned to look. She was followed closely by two of their uncles. Uncle Ian and Charlie were their father’s younger brothers and known menaces.
“Oh, lass,” he said, turning to Celestia. The look of alarm was plain on his face.
“What’s wrong?” she said, brows furrowing.
“Ye fiend!” Uncle Charlie shouted as he spilled the contents of his tankard onto the grass.
Anthony grabbed onto Celestia’s wrists. “I’m so sorry for whatever is about to happen. My uncles they are—I ken ye wanted to tell yer family first, but—”
“But what—”
“Looks like our nephew found himself a bonnie lass,” Uncle Charlie said, stopping before Anthony and Celestia.
“Averybonnie lass, Charlie,” Ian said, tracking his eyes from the top of Celestia down to her booted feet.
Anthony felt a pain in his jaw then, not realizing how tightly he was clenching his teeth together. Uncle Ian was a known womanizer—unmarried and a sire to several bastards—and never hid how pleasurable he found a woman.
“Have ye done it then?” Eleanor asked him, hands on her hips. Anthony could tell she was sober but his uncles who arrived this morning with a drink in their hands were not.
“Done what?” Ian asked, eyes unabashedly lingering on Celestia’s exposed collarbone. Anthony moved in front of Celestia.
“Eleanor,” Anthony warned, abandoning his drink on the top of a barrel. “I will speak of this with ye later.”
Charlie grabbed hold of his shoulder and shook it. “Come now, lad. We’re all family. What do ye have to say?”
Anthony looked back at Celestia, who had the most bewildered look on her face.
Eleanor pushed passed Ian and Charlie who had closed in on Anthony. “My god, leave him be,” she told them firmly. “There is nothin’ to be worryin’ about—let the young couple be.”
“Eleanor!” Anthony yelled and Eleanor clapped her hand over her mouth.
“Oh!” Ian shouted merrily. “Young couple, are they?”
“Did he ask ye for yer hand, lass?” Charlie asked fervently, taking a step toward Celestia. He was a known romantic, the story of how he fell in love had become near legend in the Highlands. “Or is he just tryin’ to get ye to lay with him?”
“Daeane be crass, uncle!” Anthony exclaimed in a deep, firm voice. “I have asked her.”
“What was yer answer, lass?” Charlie asked, eyes glistening.
“I said I would,” Celestia said over Anthony’s shoulder.
Anthony grumbled, wishing he could throw Eleanor into the loch and drown his uncles for good measure. “We havenae announced anythin’ yet, and we dinnae plan to until—”
“Nonsense, lad!” Charlie exclaimed. “Why would ye want to keep this a secret? This is a triumph.”
