Page 45 of The Cruel Highlander's Bride
“But there’s nothin’ to be done about that now. There’s only really one thing ye should ken about me, Laird MacLeon, and that is that I will doanythin’for me family. Do ye understand?”
“Aye.” Magnus nodded.
“I’m goin’ to make it even clearer. I dinnae care what kind of agreements ye and I have in place, if I hear that ye have done anythin’ to hurt me daughter, I will break every single one and come for ye with everythin’ I have. Is that clear?”
“If I do anythin’ to hurt Ciara, I’ll come lookin’ for ye meself,” Magnus promised.
The idea was so abhorrent to him that if he should ever hurt hiswife, he would take whatever punishment her father deemed appropriate and hope that it would be enough to ease his conscience.
Laird Gunn studied him for a while. Magnus decided to let down his walls briefly and let the man see the sincerity in his eyes.
Finally, with a satisfied nod, Laird Gunn patted him on the shoulder and walked back to the group gathered in the Great Hall.
“I think it’s about time,” Elspeth said when Magnus approached. She gave him a proud smile then. “Yer maither would be so proud of ye.”
Magnus smiled back. The words warmed him, even though he doubted the truth to them. Would his mother be proud of everything that had happened in the last two years? Maybe some of it. She would have smacked him for the way he’d been avoiding Ciara these last few days.
He could practically hear her chastising voice telling him to “stop bein’ a right dobber and justtalkto her.” His mother’s best friend, Helen, had basically said the same thing a few nights ago, urging him to make things right because “lasses like Ciara dinnae come around every day.”
It was true, obviously, even though Helen had never met his betrothed before and was only making that claim based on what he had told her. He had invited her to the wedding, but she claimed that a day at the castle was above her station. Instead, she made him promise that he’d bring Ciara around, andsoon.
He felt her absence, as well as his mother’s, as he stood at the front of the room, beside Ewan. Elspeth and Olivia were great, and he was slowly developing a relationship with them, but they didn’tknowhim the way Helen or his mother did before she died. They had both raised him together, and he wished they were here to see this, wished they could see him marry someone as good as Ciara.
His mother would have been fussing over his attire and his hair, and while he would have batted her hands away, he missed her fussing fiercely. He held the image of her smile in his head, though, hoping she was watching from somewhere.
Helen, on the other hand, had been flippant about it when she’d turned down his invitation. But he knew she was uncomfortable with his position and around the people he was now surrounded with. Especially after what his mother had gone through in this very castle. So, he didn’t blame her for her absence, but he missed her all the same.
It was then that the musician in the corner started up a jaunty tune on the bagpipes, and the room turned quiet, waiting for his bride.
All other thoughts flew out of his mind the moment Ciara entered the room. His whole world was reduced to just his stunning betrothed. The light filtering through the windows hit her just right as she walked towards him.
She was radiant, a goddess.
He was attracted to her regardless of what she was wearing, but on their wedding day, dressed likethat, the woman was damn near irresistible.
Ye cannae race down the aisle towards her.
Her long walk through the room dragged on, and he looked towards the musician, urging him to pick up the pace.
Much to his dismay, the musician didn’t look up. But when Magnus caught Ciara’s eye again, he could see laughter there, as if she knew exactly what he’d been doing.
God, that dress.
It was an elaborate gown made of a rich green velvet, embroidered with gold along the edges. She looked like a vision. In her arms, she carried a bouquet of flowers from the gardens here.
Had he ever seen anything like it? Anything like her?
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“Ye look…” Magnus began, his voice strained. “Stunnin’, radiant, absolutely breathtakin’.” He let out a long breath.
Ciara finally stood across from him. She thought she might melt under the heat of his stare. The way he had watched her as she walked towards him was decidedly not friendly and was very ravenous.
She hadn’t missed his angry glance over to the musician as the song and her walk down the aisle dragged on, but since their gazes locked again, he hadn’t taken his eyes off her. While she had walked towards him, his jaw was clenched, and she noticed the tension in his body.
Now though, when he reached out a hand to touch her, that tension faded away. All he did was trail a hand up her arm, but she felt his touch everywhere, wishing for so much more, despite where they currently stood. It was a whisper of how she knew he could touch her, a promise of what was to come. Or at least she hoped.
She smiled shyly at the compliments that had fallen out of his mouth, her cheeks flushing a little.
