The MacGalloways: Books #1-3

Chapter 30

30

A fter Martin produced the note hastily drawn up by his solicitor not only proving all debt was settled but that he had transferred the title of Huntly Manor into Julia’s name, he took great satisfaction in booting the scoundrel’s arse out the door. He slammed it closed and brushed off his hands, turning to find Julia standing in the archway of the entry with the note in her grasp.

But she didn’t rush into his arms as he’d imagined she’d do during Martin’s hours upon hours of thunderous riding. The paper in Her Ladyship’s hands trembled, the expression on her face stunned, unsure, and filled with worry. “You did this for me?” she asked with a shaky voice. Though she was wearing black, there was no question that Julia was thinner, her face a tad drawn with dark smudges beneath her eyes.

He’d behaved like such a cad, first admiring the woman for her unselfish and dutiful care of her father, then casting her aside as if she were vermin because she had done the unthinkable to safeguard her family’s estate. “I did.”

She dropped her hands to her sides. “But I thought you never wanted to see me again.”

“Forgive me.” In two strides, Martin crossed the vestibule and collected her hand between his much larger palms. “There is no excuse for my behavior at the pier?—”

“But you were caught unawares. And I did defy convention, don men’s clothes, and accept a position only reserved for a man for the sole purpose of?—”

“Paying your father’s debts. I ken, lass. And after you left, my sister helped me see exactly how extraordinary you are. I know not a single woman who would have risked everything to pay her father’s debts and keep his estate afloat. I didn’t properly listen when you explained the disparity between the fairer sex opposed to their unfeeling male counterparts. Yes, a man’s role is to protect his own, but when a lass has lost that protection, she canna be thrown to the wolves.”

Julia’s eyebrows slanted outward while she clutched a fist beneath her chin. “Then you agree she ought to be allowed to join an orchestra?”

“Aye, or become a steward.” He drew her hand to his lips and kissed it, hoping he imparted a modicum of the strength of the love in his heart. “Och, ye were the best steward I’ve ever known. My word, you single-handedly pulled me from an icy loch and saved my life.”

Julia said nothing while a single tear slid onto her cheek.

What could he say to make her realize how much she’d come to mean to him? As a steward he’d come to know her in ways he never would have imagined. She was not only brilliant, she was funny, fiercely loyal, and fearless. He took her palm and flattened it over his heart. “I owe you not only an apology, but a debt of gratitude.”

“No,” she said, splaying her fingers across his chest. “It is I who must make amends. It is I who was wrong.”

“Never. You are a shining beacon among thorns. You are a wondrously astounding and talented woman, and I do not wish to spend another day away from you.”

“You would have me return as your steward?”

“If being a steward will fulfill all your dreams, I would employ no one else, but you can do so much more as the Duchess of Dunscaby.” Martin dropped to one knee and gazed into a pair of the most beautiful mahogany eyes flecked with amber he’d ever beheld. The eyes that had transfixed him and claimed his heart. “Lady Julia St. Vincent, it would make this duke the happiest man alive if you would agree to be my wife.”

Those glorious brown eyes flecked with amber widened with her wee gasp. “Wife?”

“Aye. Please say you will marry me.” He took the palm of her hand and pressed it against his cheek. “I love you more than life itself and promise to spend the rest of my days making amends for my deplorable behavior.”

A tear dribbled from the corner of her eye as Julia’s head bobbed. “Yes. Yes, I will marry you. I fear I have loved you since the day you climbed down from the library ladder and served me with your own hand.” She pulled him to his feet. “I cannot believe you are here.”

He didn’t care if they were in the vestibule or in a crowded hall or if it were the middle of the day. Martin tugged her into his arms and kissed her. “Believe it lass. I am here now and shall remain by your side always. I give you my solemn vow you will never want for anything.”

“With you, I know I could face any hardship.” An adorable chuckle rumbled through her nose as Martin took his kerchief and wiped her tears. “How did you come to arrive so quickly?”

“There are some benefits to being a wealthy duke. Mr. MacCutcheon secured Huntly Manor shortly after I paid a visit to Deuce’s. When I discovered Skinner had already left town, I rode day and night, only stopping to change horses.”

“My word, you must be exhausted.”

“Never when you are in my arms.” Unable to drink his fill of her loveliness, he tilted her chin up with the crook of his finger. “You should have told me how deeply indebted your father had become and that you were shouldering his burden.”

“I could never have burdened you with my problems.”

“Nay.” He brushed his lips across her forehead. “Instead you bravely ventured out and stepped into a man’s role.”

“I was capable, if not the right gender.”

“You were and are and I am ever so glad you came into my life.”

She ran her finger across his lips making them tingle with the need to kiss her. “As Mr. Smallwood?”

Martin grasped one of her wayward fingers and licked it. “Mr. Smallwood was quite efficient, and very accommodating, it turns out. Though after watching him box, I reckon he never would have amounted to much of a man.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Och, what I meant to say is the woman surpasses the man tenfold.” Before he dug his hole any deeper, Martin captured Julia’s bow-shaped lips with his own and kissed her. When their lips fused together, he fully intended to start slow, but by the way the fire in his heart inflamed, he clutched her flush with his body and showed her exactly how much she meant to him. His hands roved up her back and down the soft curves of her bottom.

Julia sighed when she pulled away. “Did you not say you were hungry?

“Ravenous.”

She took his hand and tugged him into a drawing room. “I do believe we have some fresh bread and jam.”

He stopped abruptly and inclined his head toward the stairs. “It isna food I covet, lass.”

Surreal anticipation swirled around them as Julia kept ahold of Martin’s hand, leading him through the house until she pushed into a bedchamber in pinks and lavenders. It smelled of roses and lilacs, but most of all, the scent of Julia floated through the air. The lace bedcurtains on the fourposter presented the lair of a fair maiden, making Martin’s mouth grow dry. “What do you want?” he asked while she tugged him inside, the door softly closing behind them.

She met his gaze, brown and serious. “You.” She fingered his neckcloth and tugged, releasing the knot. “All of you.”

“Are you certain, lass?”

She released the buttons on his topcoat. “Did you not just ride day and night to save me from a vile miscreant? Did you not just propose marriage?”

“Aye,” he croaked, removing his coat, waistcoat, and shirt within three ticks of the mantel clock. “It might hurt.”

“I care not.” Her eyes raked up and down his torso before she stepped nearer and smoothed her hands over his chest. “You are perfect. Like a marble statue but real, hot-blooded, and virile.”

If a man ever wanted to beat his chest and roar, Martin did in this moment. Rather, they came together in a frenzy of caresses, kisses, bodies connecting and rubbing while clothes fell to the carpet. Completely naked and fused together, they tumbled to the bed.

In a tangle of legs and arms, Martin rolled her on top of him, allowing Julia to take control while, in broad daylight, they explored each other—every inch of skin, finding every sensitive crevice as they delighted in each other’s pleasure.

Martin removed the pins from her hair, pulling handfuls of silken waves to his face and inhaled. “This is heaven.”

“You are heaven. Nothing could feel better than this.” Straddling him, she pushed up and looked into his eyes with wonder. “Does it feel as good for you as it does for me?”

“Aye. Better, I’d reckon.”

“And this?” she asked, kissing his nipple and swirling her tongue around the sensitive peak. “How does it make you feel?”

“Ravenous,” he growled.

Chuckling, she moved downward until she placed her lips upon his cock, licking tentatively before she sealed her lips around him and suckled, interchanging with light scrapes of her teeth while her hand worked magic along his shaft. God, the woman had taken to pleasure like a swan to a loch.

Martin gasped, plunging his fingers into her mane of chestnut locks and whispering her name. And when he could bear no more, he gently urged her chin upward.

“Is something amiss?” she asked.

He laughed and pulled her beside him. “God, no. It feels too good. Did you not say you wanted…”

“It all? Yes.” She rolled onto her back, looking like Aphrodite incarnate as she opened her legs for him. “Show me.”

Kneeling between her silky thighs, he placed his palm on her nest of curls. “Are you certain, mo leannan ?” he asked, uttering a Gaelic endearment that seemed so entirely right in this moment.

“I’ve never been so certain of anything. I want to join with you.”

He slid the pad of his thumb over her sensitive button, making Julia arch her back and buck. Martin chuckled, sliding a finger into her slick core, ever so wet. “You are ready for me.”

“Now, please.”

Unable to wait a moment longer, he settled himself over her, shifting until he barely pushed inside her, allowing her body time to adjust. “Does it hurt?”

“Only a little.” Her lithe fingers grasped his buttocks and she tugged him further, causing a wee gasp. “It feels… Oh my, it is indescribable.”

“Then dunna try to put it into words, just be.”

Martin pushed a bit more, clenching his muscles to keep himself from thrusting, trying not to hurt her.

“More!”

“More?” he asked, moving deeper and earning another gasp. “Does it hurt?” he asked again.

Her fingers clenched with urgency as she arched her back and tugged him deeper still. “This is what I want, Martin!”

“I love hearing the sound of my name on your lips,” he whispered into her ear, reveling in being buried to his hilt. He reached down between them and stroked her. “You are in control, my love. Show me what you want with your hands and your body.”

“This,” she said rocking and tugging, arching, and writhing.

Teetering on the edge of the abyss, Martin matched her fervor, thrusting and obeying the demands of her fingers. “You’ll bring me undone, lass.”

“Yes!” She tossed her head from side to side, convulsing around him. “Yes, yes, yes!”

And he was lost, sailing over the precipice of no return, Martin lost his mind as with three more deep thrusts, glorious release took him to the stars and back.

His breath came in fast pants as he collapsed atop her, the only sound in the chamber, their gasps for air as together they gradually sailed back to this time and this place.

Martin rolled to the side, urging her to face him and they lay there for a moment, saying nothing, staring into each other’s eyes. No words existed to express the depth of the love he held for this woman, but he wanted, needed to tell her, to reassure her. “I love you.”

The joyous smile spreading across her lips was enough to make him happy for the rest of his days. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

“I have a lifetime for you to show me, mo leannan .” He kissed her, then pulled away just a tad. “Now that Huntly Manor is yours, what do you intend to do with it?”

“Well…” She swirled her finger through the curls on his chest, making him hard again. “If only there were a way to open it up to ladies who’ve lost their means of support as I did with Papa.”

“Now why dinna I think of that? What a fabulous idea.”

She tapped his chest. “We’ll have to find a woman to run it—someone who’s kind and considerate, yet efficient.”

He licked her finger. “I’m certain with the right enquiries the ideal candidate will soon be upon our doorstep.”

She grinned again, curling against him. “How can I be so happy?”

“Because you deserve to be the happiest woman in all of Christendom,” he said, kissing her temple. “You selflessly gave up your dreams to care for your father. You’re brilliant and enterprising and, now that this house is yours, you have decided to help others with it. I have never met anyone with a heart the size of yours.”

Julia wriggled. “Believe it or not, your heart is every bit as large as mine.”

“Nay.”

“I beg to differ. What would have happened if you had not arrived when you did and confronted Mr. Skinner.”

Martin pressed his lips together. He didn’t want to argue, nor did he ever again want to hear that vile miscreant’s name.

Julia balled her fist with a triumphant glint in her eyes. “Mr. Jackson’s lesson did come in handy.”

“Aye, your aim was astounding.” Throwing his head back, Martin laughed and laughed. “I canna believe you actually stepped into the ring with a goliath like Gentleman Jackson.”

“Mind you, I tried to beg off, but you were ever so insistent on enhancing Smallwood’s masculinity.”

He closed his eyes, recalling how intent he was to give the little steward an education. “I still canna believe you fooled me all that time.”

“I hope I performed my duties to your satisfaction.”

“Och, I’m verra satisfied lass.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. “And so verra, verra happy.”