Page 115 of The Highlander's Auctioned Virgin
CHAPTER 31
All Elinor could hearat that moment was the ringing in her ears. Most of it was caused by the racket that had swept through the Great Hall.
This was one of the most exciting days of her life. The cold night air was beginning to properly settle in her room, and wedding guests were leaving the castle faster than she could bid them a warm goodbye.
“I daenae think anyone will be able to plan a wedding on such a scale, Lady MacAdair,” one of the lairds who attended the wedding had briefly remarked to her while she ensured the food was properly served to the guests.
“Thank ye, Laird MacIntosh. Also, T’is Lady MacTraigh now,” she had said, mentally patting herself on the back.
She remembered Jackson, patting her gently on the back as his mouth remained filled with bannocks.
“This might be the best wedding I have been to, by far.” He had stated, then leaned close to her in a whisper.
“If ye tell Anna I said this, I will kill ye with me bare hands.”
Elinor remembered laughing quite hard at his statement.
But her brother was correct. This was by far one of the best weddings that had been organized in this part of the Highlands. She was excited that someone else thought so, and at that moment, a part of her believed it was not going to end.
Now, she sat on the edge of her bed, slowly coming to terms with the fact that, like all things, this day must come to an end. She hated thinking like that but it was true. No matter how glamorous it had been, it had to end.
She sat with her hands folded in her lap, staring at the dress she had taken off mere hours ago. Her eyes flicked to the pins and flowers that had been tucked into her hair, all now resting on the table near the wall. The flower bouquet she had carried for most of the wedding had been flung to the other side of the room. Her eyes shifted towards it, studying the way the petals fluttered in the draft.
All she had on, at that moment, was her nightshift, thin and smooth against her skin—a welcome sensation. A dull ache throbbed in her heel, a reminder that she had stayed on her feet for way too long. However it was the kind of pain she enjoyed.
She basked in the silence and utter serenity for what must have been half an hour before a knock sounded at the door, almost jolting her out of her skin.
She swallowed. Was it him?
“Ye can enter,” she eventually called.
The door creaked open, the piercing sound echoing her sharp inhale. Anna and Katherine appeared in the doorway.
She exhaled.
“Ye look disappointed to see us. Were ye expecting someone else?” Anna asked as she walked in.
Katherine followed and closed the door gently behind her.
“A man, perhaps?” she prompted, a knowing smirk playing on her lips.
“Please,” Elinor scoffed. “That is quite scandalous. Why would I be expecting a man? It isnae like I married one today or anything.”
They all burst into laughter.
Both women sat on either side of Elinor, basking in the ensuing silence for a few minutes.
“The last of the guests has left,” Katherine muttered.
“Aye.” Anna nodded. “If I have to hear one more drunken laird complain about the dryness of the chicken, I’d pull out me hair.”
Elinor laughed slightly, feeling warmth spread through her chest. Especially now that two of the most important people in her life were with her.
Anna, as if reading her mind, took her hand and cradled it between her own.
“The morning was hard,” she admitted. “Ye ken, for a moment, I also thought he disappeared. A part of me hated him so much. I told Katherine, surely he wouldnae? Nae after he had come this far with her.” Her thumb brushed over Elinor’s knuckles. “But look how it all worked out in the end.”
Katherine nodded, her eyes sweeping over the length of the chamber, the table laid for two, the sprigs of heather tucked in the carved shelf. “It has been a long road,” she said. “Longer than most would have managed.”
