Page 15 of Married to the Icy Highlander
She was a wife now.
She lifted her chin, her heart hammering in her chest as she watched him intently. It was almost a shame to have her first kiss in front of all these people. She had truly thought he would kiss her when he had come to visit a week ago. Not that she was disappointed that he didn’t, of course. She just kept thinking of how close they had been up until now. Nothing more.
The Laird’s long dark hair fell around both of their faces like a curtain as he hooked his fingers beneath her chin and tilted it up slightly, pulling her out of her thoughts.
The desire to feel his lips on hers was so strong that it surprised her.
Ceana’s eyes closed in anticipation, her lips parted and waiting for him to close the distance between them. She could feel his breath on her skin and then… nothing. At the last moment, he kissed her cheek. His lips barely grazed the corner of her mouth and the side of her face before he pulled away.
This time, the disappointment hit herhard, right in the gut.
There was no reason for her to expect anything else. There was certainly no reason for her to care if he did or didn’t kiss her. It wasn’t as if he was a particularly pleasant person. She was just going to be another member of his household, and this was just a stark reminder of the place he intended to keep her in.
The guests erupted into cheers and a flurry of movement. In what felt like a blink of an eye, she was being congratulated as the tables in the hall were moved once more and the servants started to bring in the food. The tables were soon covered in various dishes, while two pipers played music just off the wide square dance floor.
Cèilidhs had always been her favorite part of weddings. Ceana loved nothing more than dancing until her feet fell like they were going to fall off, drinking until her face became numb, and then dancing even more. It was such a rare thing that she was allowed to let her hair down in that way.
Yet, now that it was her own wedding, she didn’t know if she could let loose like that. She was now Lady MacTristan, wife of the Laird of Clan MacTristan. Was she supposed to hold herself apart? Were there other rules that she didn’t know about? It seemed like she ought to have been told.
Well, if thereweresuch rules, she was going to remain ignorant of them and choose to enjoy herself.
Pulling away from Neil, Ceana went in search of her brother, who was stuffing his face with bannocks and everything that he could get his hands on. She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the dance floor, much to his chagrin.
Peter was a clumsy dancer, but it didn’t matter when he was so excited about partaking. One dance bled into the next, and one dance partner bled into another. The guests eventually joined in, forming couples on the dance floor. Her feet were sore, andher hair started falling loose from her updo before her husband decided to join her.
It was perfectly natural for his bride to spend the night dancing until her feet fell off. It certainly was natural for her to enjoy the festivities after her wedding. Something that he ought to be doing himself, and he knew it. But he couldn’t seem to make himself do it. It was impossible to tear his eyes away from his bride.
Neil had never been very good at sharing.
Try as he might—which wasn’t that hard at all—he couldn’t stop cataloging the hands of every clansman who dared to touch her. Every palm and finger that brushed against her as she moved and the face of every man she smiled so prettily at.
And yet he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Every twist and turn, every dip as her skirts flared out. She looked almost soft, which he couldn’t help but find funny because she liked to aim her temper right at him more often than not. He wondered what it would be like to experience that soft side of her. If he would glimpse the same fluidity in other areas of her life.
“She’s a fine dancer, is she nae?” Arthur remarked, bumping Neil’s shoulder with his own. “I dinnae think there’s a pair of eyes in the room that arenae glued to yer wife.”
“Ye sure do ken what to say to make me want to punch ye,” Neil sighed, accepting another glass of whiskey.
“Well, what do ye expect when ye’re too proud to go and dance with yer own wife, at yer own wedding?” Arthur pointed out, before taking another swig from the goblet in his hand. “Perhaps I’ll?—”
“I caution ye to remember who it is that ye’re speakin’ to,” Neil grunted, his hand curling into a fist by his side.
He knew that his friend was only trying to get a rise out of him, but it was working a little bit too well.
“I ken very well to whom I’m speakin’,” Arthur drawled. “Just as I ken that ye werenae half as upset when yer first wife danced like this at yer first wedding. If I recall properly, ye got piss-faced drunk and had to be carried up to yer bedchambers.”
Neil sighed, not wanting to remember his first marriage at a time like this. “I’d rather nae speak about her right now.”
“Right, ye dinnae want to mix yer first marriage with yer second one. But since they are both just contracts to ye, are they nae the same? Nay reason to look like ye want to tear apart yer clansmen with yer bare hands,” Arthur concluded with a smirk.
He was getting a little too comfortable with his version of the truth, in Neil’s opinion.
“Life with Ceana willnae be like life with Jessica—I’ve taken measures to ensure that,” Neil stated firmly, hoping to end the conversation.
He could hardly think about his first wife without getting irritated. He wasn’t a man who could easily get over things. He was quick and strategic, and perhaps if he had been facing Jessica on a battlefield as a tactician, he would have been able to commend her prowess and deception. But as his first wife? As the mother of his child? No, thinking about her only enraged him further.
She was brilliant in her last moments. The things that she had whispered to him on her deathbed were… life-altering. Everything that he had thought he had known about his marriage was wiped away in an instant.
The lump in his throat felt like it was thickening all over again, and he swallowed past it to steady himself and push all of those emotions back down where they belonged.
