The Highlander's Brave Baroness (Blood 0f Duncliffe Series Book 10)

by Emilia Ferguson

  He grinned, feeling his cheeks sore from grinning. “Fine,” he said. “Adeline, then.”

  “Yes?”

  “Yes, what?”

  “You were about to say something,” she said. “When I objected to my title.”

  “Oh. Yes,” he cleared his throat. “I was about to say I’m going to go back, aren’t I?”

  “Back?”

  “To Dunrade,” he said. He tried to keep his voice level.

  “Why?” she frowned.

  He stared. “Because you’re going to stay here. And I need to tell your son. And I can’t stay, and…”

  “Shh,” she said.

  He blinked.

  “Why?”

  “Well, I would have thought you knew. You don’t think that, after last night, I would choose to go away from here, do you?”

  He frowned. He sat up, looking down at her lovely, confusing face.

  “But, milady Adeline, I…”

  “Adeline,” she corrected, sitting up too. “And no arguing, please. I have thought about it, and I have decided that I am staying on the road. With you.”

  Alexander stared. “What! But…but you are…”

  “I am dowager baroness Dunrade, yes,” she said, matter-of-fact. “I am also duty bound to do my duty by my uncle-by-marriage. Which means that he means to force me into wedlock with an utter monster. On the other hand, I have you.”

  “Yes…” he said, cautious.

  “And so, I think it should be obvious, what my choice is?”

  He stared at her. “You mean…with me? You’re going to go to Duncliffe, with me?”

  “Duncliffe, maybe?” she frowned. “I don’t know where you’re going, do I? But that sounds good as anywhere.”

  He stared. “Adeline, you are sure, aren’t you? I mean…”

  She laughed. Sitting, she stroked his hair. “Alexander McRade. I am a thirty-five-year-old. My life has been far from comfortable. I have never liked anyone as much as I like you, and I am old enough to know that this feeling is rare. Yes, I am going to Duncliffe, with you.”

  He stared at her still, unable to believe what he’d heard. The words made sense, but the meaning seemed to take an age to get through to him. He waited, letting it filter into his mind. Then he laughed.

  “You really mean it? You mean, we’re going to travel together? Just us? Like this?”

  “Well, more or less, yes,” Adeline smiled.

  He grinned. “I mean, we should probably get dressed first, of course, but…”

  She laughed aloud. “Oh, you daft dearie.” She reached up and ruffled his hair in a way that made him blink.

  They both stopped. Her eyes were on his and he gently, carefully, linked his fingers with hers. She moved closer so she rested against his chest.

  They lay like that, arm in arm, hand in hand, for some time. He thought over everything since that first moment he saw her, since he met her at her home, and they shook hands for the first time. How short it had been! Yet, he felt such rightness, as if he’d always known her.

  “You think we should ride to the village, first?” she whispered. Her voice was muffled against his chest, and he bent lower, to hear it, kissing her head.

  “Aye,” he said as he caught her words and understood their meaning. “I reckon we could? Why not?”

  She nodded. “We’d have to avoid people, though. If my uncle…”

  “Aye,” he caught her thought at once. They were on the run. They were both the sort of people who would attract notice – she for being so beautiful, he because he was clearly a soldier and not from these parts. “We can’t risk anybody seeing us.”

  “No.”

  Another thought occurred to him. He might feel a huge love for her, but by declaring it, by acting in this way on it, he had done her a disservice. He had put her, essentially, in grave danger.

  If anybody saw her, she could lose everything she had, be disowned. Tam, too, would be compromised. However, what could he do?

  “Adeline…? You do know this is dangerous.”

  She blinked up at him, entirely tranquil. “Of course,” she said. “But I’m not scared.”

  “Of course,” he said, surprised that she’d even think he thought that. “I know. But I am.”

  She frowned, a smile twisting her lips. She looked confused. “You are? Why?”

  “I’m scared of what will happen to you, if anyone sees us.”

  He felt better, having told her. She frowned.

  “What would happen to me?” she asked. “If my uncle disowns me, so much the better. I am a free woman now, and I would be freer, then – if that’s possible. My uncle has already done the worst, in threatening to marry me off to that blackguard. What more can he do?”

  “Well, mayhap.”

  “No question, yes,” Adeline’s voice was firm. “I see no disadvantages.”

  “I don’t want to be the cause of your being harmed.”

  “You won’t be,” she said gently. She reached a hand toward his cheek, stroking it. “As long as we trust each other, I don’t think any ill can come to either of us.”

  “No,” he admitted. “But, Adeline?”

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t want anything bad to happen, because of me. I don’t want you to be left out in the village, with nobody to help you, if something happens to me.”

  “Well, there is one solution to that,” Adeline said slowly.

  Alexander stared at her. “You mean…”

  “Well, we’ve both wed people before,” Adeline said slowly.

  He looked at her. Then he started to laugh.

  “You know, you’re right.”

  “It happens, rarely.” Her expression was wry.

  He had to laugh. “Well, you know what? I think you have a wonderful idea. In fact, Adeline, would you…”

  “Yes.”

  They both laughed again. “Well, in that case, I think that we should get up and get dressed. And then find a priest.”

  “Well, that should be easy.” Adeline grinned. “We are rather richly supplied.”

  Alexander grinned. “You’re right. Well, then, sweetling, shall we dress and find a priest?”

  Adeline smiled. “This morning? You mean it?”

  Alex frowned, then. “Are you sure, sweetling?” he said, surprised by how swiftly the endearment came to his lips. “I mean, you won’t be sad to just go straight there? Without a dress, or even a wreath of flowers?”

  Adeline frowned. “Alexander,” she said slowly. “I have had a wedding before, you know. And I really don’t want to go through that again.”

  “You don’t?” he felt bad. How could he have put so much pressure on a woman? She would probably like to have a dress or at least some sort of chance to get ready.

  “Well, maybe I’d like to comb my hair.”

  Alexander shook his head. “I really think we could do better.”

  “Alexander,” she said firmly. “I don’t want to wait.”

  He frowned. “Well, then. If you really mean it…”

  “I do.”

  He felt his heart soar. Of all the crazy things he had ever done in his life, this was probably the most wonderful. He bit back a smile as Adeline leaned over and, slowly, wonderfully, kissed his lips.

  Alexander tensed, feeling his whole body crave hers, but not wanting to give in now. If he let himself do what he wanted – which was to push her back onto the bed and make love to her again, slowly and languidly this time – he would never leave the room.

  “Adeline,” he said as she moved back, eyes half-closed, lips parted, “we should go.”

  She grinned. “I suppose,” she said. “But I don’t quite want to…yet.”

  He gritted his teeth, trying not to give in to the wild desire that was surging through him. He wanted her so badly! He didn’t know what to do.

  At that moment, they heard the monks filing past. He looked at her, expression wry.

  “Well,” she sighed. “I suppos
e that decides it for us. If we want breakfast, we’d best go.”

  “Yes,” he nodded. “And the priest…?”

  “I’ll find him.”

  Alex nodded. That would give him a moment on his own – enough time to do the one important thing he wanted to do.

  “Thank you, sweetling.”

  “Of course,” she smiled, leaning in and planting a kiss on his cheek. “I like that. You’re my sweetling.”

  He grinned. “Nobody ever said that before!”

  “Really?” She raised a brow, grinning at him in surprise.

  “Yes,” he nodded. “I’m not exactly sweet.”

  “That,” Adeline grinned, “is a matter of opinion. Now, come on. If you wait in the garden by the fence post, I’ll find us breakfast.”

  “Thanks,” he nodded. “I could eat three loaves all by myself.”

  “I know,” she said. “I could, too.”

  Laughing, arm-in-arm, they hurried from the room.

  Waiting in the garden while Adeline fixed breakfast and went to find a priest, Alexander found himself feeling dazed. He still couldn’t quite believe what had just occurred! Had he really spent the night with Adeline? Was he really going to plight his troth? This day?

  “Of course, I am.”

  He knew he wanted that, more than he could recall wanting anything. He looked across the garden at the kitchens, and, when he was sure that she would be busy for a while, he went into the section of the courtyard where flowers grew.

  “I wish there were more,” he sighed. It was springtime, and the tulips and daisies were flowering, and violets were everywhere. He gathered what he could, hastily, and then looked around the garden one last time. He saw something that made him smile – clematis, wild and flowering, climbing up the sheltered wall of the courtyard. Picking some, he wove it together with the daisies and violets into a circlet. The tulips he made into a sketchy bundle.

  “I could do with ribbon, I suppose,” he frowned. “How am I supposed to know about making these things?”

  He looked at his efforts with a somewhat jaundiced eye. In truth, the garland was a little clumsy, the tulips unevenly picked. However, he hoped it would help to make the day more out-of-the-ordinary.

  He went back to the garden where she’d left him, the things concealed behind him.

  “Alexander?” she called. He watched her approach. Her gown was a white one he’d never seen her wear before; plain and simple with a low neck and a waist loosely tied. He watched her walk across the garden, her hair unbound and swinging, and thought she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

  “Alexander?”

  He stayed where he was, not wanting to break the moment of seeing her cross the dew-soaked lawn, her dress and hair swaying gently, her walk elegant.

  “There you are!” she beamed, seeing him where he’d stepped back into the shade of the hedge. “I thought you might have had to hide. Breakfast?”

  He grinned. “Assuredly.”

  She smiled back, fondly. “Shall we stay out here?” she asked. “It’s a lovely morning.”

  “It is.”

  The garden was fragrant with flowers, and the morning promised to be without rain. He smelled the wet scent of earth and leaves and looked down at her lovely face. He felt his heart ache with joy.

  “We can go over there – if I remember, there’s somewhere to sit.”

  “Good.”

  They walked together round the back of the scriptorium. There, as Adeline had mentioned, a low stone bench sat. They sat down together. Alexander tried to keep his gifts hidden. She laid a loaf of bread on her knee, and a honeycomb.

  “I need some help with this,” she said, frowning at him. “If you could…”

  “Yes,” he agreed, clumsily depositing the wreath of flowers on the step behind. The bouquet was in his left hand and he dropped it as carefully as he could, and then attended to the task.

  “Honeycomb,” he said, as she broke sections off the bread. “Grand.”

  “I thought we needed some,” she said. She seemed strangely shy as she reached for part of it, those tapering fingers gripping the sticky edge.

  “Here, let me.” He reached for a piece and, breaking it off, deposited it between her lips.

  She sighed and parted them, sucking gently at the fingertips in a way that made his loins ache. He wanted her so badly! He felt the desire as a physical pain.

  “You should also get some of that sweetness,” she said, and, breaking a piece off, not shy any longer, put it between his lips.

  He closed his eyes, tasting the intensity of sweetness. Her fingertips were cool, and he sucked them gently. When he opened his eyes, her face was flushed.

  “Come on,” she said tightly. “Finish your breakfast.”

  He grinned. “Yes, milady.”

  She made a face. “And you know what I feel about that.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She pushed him and he skidded off the bench onto the ground, laughing with a surprised laugh that mingled with her own.

  “Och, lass, ye have strong arms.”

  She grinned. “And you have a saucy tongue.”

  “We seem well-suited, for all that.”

  She nodded. “We do.”

  He was, he realized, very hungry after all. She broke off a section of the loaf and passed it to him. Fragrant and delicious, he chewed it slowly, still feeling as if he was not really awake. He was sitting here, with bread and honey, in a garden, with her.

  He watched her as she ate, savoring each mouthful. She was ravenous, too. It made him smile. He could have watched her forever – from the sweet form of her face to the way she ate so neatly, but also with such evident joy.

  “You know, Adeline,” he said, surprised to find his voice rough with the depth of feeling. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

  “You know, flattery will get you nowhere,” she grinned at him. “But, as it happens, you are the most handsome.”

  “Me?” he stared at her, astonished. “No!”

  “You are a silly man,” she sighed. “But you must have seen your own reflection.”

  He grinned. “Once or twice – I avoid it, if I can. Gives me the creeps.”

  They both laughed. Adeline shoved him gently and he made a face. They finished the breakfast in silence.

  “I spoke to Abbot Dunstan,” she said softly. “He said he’d perform the plighting this afternoon.”

  “Oh?” Alexander turned to her, scarce able to believe it. “Truly?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  He stared into those brown, green-tinged eyes. He felt as if he had never seen anyone so beautiful. Her lips were damp and a trace of honey still clung to them. He leaned forward and ran his tongue over her lips.

  Adeline gasped and leaned against him, and he wrapped her in his arms. He felt her breasts press against his chest and had to fight the urge to crush her against him. This time, he wanted to go slowly. He breathed in the scent of her hair and stroked a hand down her back.

  “What’s the time?” he whispered.

  “Ten o’ clock,” she said, straightening up.

  “Should we go..?”

  “Yes.”

  They tiptoed back into the guest quarters and shut the door behind them.

  This time, they went to the room she’d granted him – the one with the bigger, sturdier bed. They lay down together and his hands on her back were firm, yet gentle. He stroked her tenderly and she sighed and drew him down to her, that sweet mouth opening to admit his tongue.

  They made love again, gently and slowly. Alexander lay back afterwards, her head resting on his shoulder, her soft skin warm below his fingertips.

  “You are sure about this?” he whispered.

  Adeline rolled over and looked into his eyes. “Yes, I am.”

  “Good,” he said, heart full of love as he gently stroked her hair. “That’s grand.”

  She grinned, then slowly shifted so she s
at up. “You know,” she said, stretching languidly. “We should go. It’s time to see the priest.”

  Alex nodded. “We should.”

  He dressed slowly, watching her from the edge of his vision as she slowly donned the plain white dress again, fastening her own buttons with an aptitude that surprised him. He wasn’t sure he could have managed that himself. When she was dressed, and ready, they went out into the garden together.

  The chapel was across a grassy area and they walked to it together. Alexander kept his hands behind his back, his gifts carefully held. He stopped just before they reached the small stone structure.

  “I…I wanted tae give ye this,” he said, surprised by how shy he felt at this very moment.

  “What..?”

  “These,” he said. He brought his hands out from behind his back, clutching the wreath and the flowers.

  “Oh!” Adeline exclaimed, her mouth a small round of wonderment. “Those are beautiful!”

  It was his turn to blush. “Really?”

  “Oh, Alexander…” she shook her head. She gently reached up to place the wreath on her hair. It sat skew. He reached across to adjust it. It looked beautiful.

  “You really made these, yourself? For me?” Adeline stared up at him.

  “Well, I dinnae really ken how tae do such things,” he said gruffly. He was blushing and he couldn’t stop grinning. Her reaction was even more wonderful than he’d hoped it.

  “It’s so beautiful,” she said, swallowing hard. “It means so much.”

  Alexander noticed she had tears in her eyes. He gently reached up and stroked her hair.

  “Oh, lass,” was all he said.

  They went into the chapel together.

  They were married.

  When they left the place, hand in hand, Alexander felt more wonderful than he had ever imagined he could, ever. They stopped under an apple tree, the blossoms gently falling all around. She leaned against him and she drew him down into a kiss.

  Alexander felt his whole body react to her touch and he drew her closer, knowing that he had to take her back to their room, right then. He stroked her hair and looked into her eyes, barely able to believe how wonderful it was.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  “And I, you.”

  They kissed and went back to the room, slowly.