Page 20 of Harrowing Hall
“Just about.”
They strolled along a path that would take them where they needed to be.
“Will we be inside or outside?”
He hoped he had guessed right on this. Certain he had. “Which were you hoping for?”
“Truthfully?”
“Always.”
“Outside.” Maude smiled. “For we have had some of our best moments outside, have we not?” She inhaled the chilly air. “It may be brisk, but I like it.” Her smile grew reminiscent. “And I cannot help but think back on when we created statues out of hedges at Hastings Castle. It was an unorthodox thing to do.” She chuckled. “I knew then and there I loved you. How could I not when you were so much fun? Possessed such a great sense of humor?”
It was the rare viscount who could create hedge statues, but he had found it a stress-relieving pastime over the years, be damned what others made of it.
“I thought the verra same thing of you, Miss Maude.” He led her around the bend. “So might I bestow on you my second wedding present,mo leannan?”
Chapter Thirteen
“Oh,Blake.” Maudeput a hand to her heart. Her eyes blurred with tears. “It is all so very beautiful.” She beamed, incredibly touched. “And look at what you created.”
A torch-flanked arbor laden with autumn flowers sat beside a hedge statue of the two of them embracing with a pair of hedge clippers resting by their sides. While they had laughed plenty the day he taught her how to use them, they had never actually embraced. Yet they had wanted to, and it was right there in their expressions. In the way they looked at each other.
“Do you truly like it?” Blake’s gaze never left her face. “I made it when I knew you were coming but had it covered so I could present it to you once we were married.” He shook his head. “Not because I assumed you would say yes, but because I hoped you felt the same.” His gaze went from the statue back to her, so hopeful that it pleased her. “When I learned our wedding would be tonight, I thought it the perfect place to have the ceremony.”
“It most certainly is.” She smiled through her tears and again counted her blessings. “It isutterlyperfect.”
A clergyman stood just beyond the arbor, and too many people to count had started to gather around. Jane waited on one side and the Duke of Argyll, the other.
“I thought, considering your sisters are not here, Lady Jane might serve as your witness?” he asked. The duke was clearly his.
“That would be lovely.”
And it was. From the second they stepped beneath the arbor and recited their vows to the moment he slipped a stunning ruby ring on her finger that complemented the first band. A stunning piece that had been worn by countless MacLauchlin ladies before her. His mother, grandmother, so on.
Probably the best moment, though, was when the clergyman announced them husband and wife, and Blake kissed her. Then better still, when he whispered, “Welcome home,mo leannan,”then turned to the crowd and boomed, “I give you Lady MacLauchlin.”
With many in their cups and having a good time, everyone roared with approval. Especially when he swept her up and made his way through a cheering crowd.
“Goodness me, what are you doing?” she said between laughter. “Should we not mingle? Should I not—”
“’Tis yer wedding night, lass,” he admonished as though he were a knight from another time. “That said, I would be no proper Scot if I didnae see to what needs seeing to right away.”
She could almost see the horror in Prudence’s eyes. For it had been in her letters.
“Tread very carefully, sister, for Scotland is no place for our ilk.”Though her ilk was clearly above Maude’s.“I have heard stories the likes of which I cannot even pen.”Yet pen she did.“Wild and untamed, those Scots, or so I have heard. So be watchful. Do not let one of them put you in an unseemly position that could tarnish your reputation.”
Fortunately, for her sister’s sake, her reputation was now well protected by matrimony. Yet, still. Poor, dear Prudence would undoubtedly swoon if such a thing were ever done to her.
As it happened, Blake carried her all the way into the castle, past more cheering people, and straight upstairs.
“Are you sure we should not mingle more?” She kept laughing. “That this is not improper?”
“Had we been married in a church, we would have already been off to consummate our marriage.” Blake did not even set her down at the top of the stairs. “So I assure you, this is most proper.” He issued a naughty grin. “Even if it were not, I would have done such. And I suspect you would have been just fine with it.”
“You suspect correctly, Blake.” She met his grin, trying the word out for the first time. “Husband.”
“Wife,” he said softly, slowing. He looked at her with relief. “Good God, I have wanted to say that for some time.”
