Chapter Five
“I refuse to allow it!” The duke had drawn a line and was not going to cross it. “You are a commoner, MacKenzie.”
“But am I?” he said, his mouth curling into a secretive smile. “Have you noticed how much I resemble the first duke of Bonnyrigg?”
The present duke paled.
Jennie sucked in a sharp breath. She shot Luna a glance that seemed half warning and half excitement. “Father told me of the first duke. Bonnyrigg belonged to him,” she said, “and then our family cheated him out and took it and the title from him. That’s true, isn’t it, Father?”
Luna turned to their father. Here was an explanation of why he had been standing staring at the portrait, lost in thought. Was Jennie right, did their father suffer with the guilt of that long ago crime?
“I am a descendant of that man,” MacKenzie announced in a ringing voice. His gaze slid from the duke to Luna. “I may be a commoner now, but my family were once noble, as noble as you.”
Luna took a step toward him, and then closer, until they were shoulder to shoulder. “You see, Father,” she said, “it is perfectly reasonably for me to marry MacKenzie. In fact,” she went on, warming to the subject, “it is the right thing to do. It will allow you to make reparation for our family’s wrongdoing after all this time.”
Her father swallowed. He looked uncomfortable, and Luna knew she had been right. He felt ashamed of his family’s good fortune, unfairly gained by stealing another man’s land and wealth—not an uncommon story even in these times, and yet it seemed her father felt the weight of it.
“Let Luna marry the man she loves,” Jennie said gently, taking the duke’s arm in hers. “Give her this, and you will have made right a wrong, fulfilled our mother’s wish, and I can write at once to James to set a date for our marriage.”
Her voice shook, and the duke, always susceptible when it came to his favorite daughter, heaved a big sigh. “Yes,” he said. “You are right. I have always felt deeply the cruel trick that was played upon that long ago duke. He invited those he thought his friends into his home, and they turned on him. He was banished from his own castle and the dogs were set on him when he tried to return. They say that sometimes you can hear their ghostly barking.” He gave a shudder.
“Then you give your consent?” MacKenzie asked, his hand finding Luna’s and squeezing hard. Her heartbeat felt like thunder in her ears as she waited for the response.
“I do,” the duke said. “You may marry my daughter.”
Jennie gave a squeal, and Luna rushed to embrace her. MacKenzie reached for the duke’s hand. “You will not regret this,” he said.
But the duke held up his hand and the excitement drained away into silence. “I ask for a promise of my own,” he said. “You may marry Luna and go where you will, but when I die you will return here to Bonnyrigg and take up residence and assume the title.”
“I’m not sure MacKenzie can be held to such a thing,” Luna spoke doubtfully. Had she been given her heart’s desire only to have it taken away again?
But MacKenzie surprised her. “Och, Luna, ’tis fine. We will have many years of freedom. Your father is hearty and will live a long life. At the end of it, we will return to Bonnyrigg and fulfil our promise to him.”
Years of freedom, the sort of life she had always dreamed of, with this man she loved, and at the end, Bonnyrigg. Was that so bad?
“Will you say yes then?” MacKenzie said softly, peering into her eyes while his hair fell into his.
She reached up to tuck it back, her fingers lingering. “Yes, MacKenzie,” she said.
He bent to kiss her, his mouth warm with promises, and when he eased back he was smiling. “You’d better learn to call me Maxwell then,” he said.