Epilogue
Weddings were emotional affairs Talia loved, but hers was an affair that had her heart leaping in her chest.
The ceremony was a lavish affair that had frightened her at first, but when she finally stood beside Darragh, she felt she could breathe. His hands around hers kept her grounded, even though she wished it were just the two of them in the chapel.
She had wanted a small ceremony, since their betrothal had been a large affair, but Orlagh and Amber had been against it.
She understood Orlagh’s excitement, though. Darragh was a laird and her eldest son. It didn’t even seem real that she had gone from hating him to loving him in a matter of a few short weeks. For a future she had once feared, she found herself looking forward to it with joy.
The ceremony progressed with her barely hearing anything as the blood roared in her ears, but when it came time to say their vows, the look in Darragh’s eyes pulled her back into the present.
“I will love ye with all me heart, all me mind, and all me strength,” he said. “Until the end of me days on this earth.”
Her mouth went dry at the conviction in his eyes, and she nodded.
“And I will love ye with all me heart, all me mind, and all me strength,” she echoed. “Until me days end on this earth.”
He kissed her then, and she felt the truth of those words travel from his lips to hers and down to her toes.
Darragh watched Talia dance and smiled at the joy on her face. She had looked nervous when they had stood in the chapel, but perhaps the wine in her belly had rid her of her fear.
His wife didn’t like being the center of attention, even if she was usually fearless.
His wife.
To think that a month ago, his only concern was restoring the castle and saving his people. But now, he had a wife and a future he was earnestly looking forward to.
Perhaps that had been Jonathan’s intention when he had added that clause to his will, but Darragh would never know. He owed the man for giving him money to repair his castle, but owed him even more for giving him Talia.
She was a light that burned away every single reason he had had to shun happiness, and he was grateful for her.
“Ye must be brimming with happiness, Braither,” Jenson commented, coming to sit beside him at the high table.
“Aye,” Darragh answered. “I am.”
“Ye’re lucky,” Jenson said. “She is nae only beautiful but also brave for loving a hard-headed man like ye.”
Darragh laughed and punched his brother in the shoulder. “Yer wife will be the brave one for tolerating someone as annoying as ye.”
“I daenae intend to get married for many years,” Jenson scoffed, wrinkling his nose.
“We’ll see,” Darragh mused. “Now, if ye’ll excuse me, I will go and dance with me wife.”
“Aye, aye,” Jenson laughed. “Go and dance with yer wife.”
Darragh rose from his seat and made his way to where she stood on the makeshift dance floor, just as the musicians started playing the first strains of a waltz. She turned to him, and her lips curled into a smile that had his heart racing in his chest.
“Have ye come to claim me for this dance, husband?” she asked.
A hot shiver ran down his spine at the final word.
“Aye,” he answered. “But I must admit I am nae an accomplished dancer.”
“It doesnae matter to me,” she assured him.
He pulled her into his arms and swayed them to the music. She was warm, warm in a way that made him never want to let her go again. He pulled her closer and nuzzled her hair, releasing a sigh.
“What is it?” she asked, looking up at him with a small smile.
“I am happy,” he murmured. “I didnae believe I could ever be so happy as I am now.”
She grinned and nodded. “I feel much the same. ‘Tis funny how I didnae want to marry, but here I am, happier than I have ever felt in me life.”
“I am inclined to believe this was Jonathan’s intention from the beginning.”
“Aye,” she agreed. “I believe so as well.”
He kissed her then, not caring that people were around them, ignoring the cheers that went up in the room. When he pulled away, he admired the flush on her cheeks.
He wanted to be alone with his bonny wife and away from his people’s prying eyes.
He led her out of the hall and towards his chambers, which he would soon convert to theirs because he never wanted to be apart from her any longer.
When they were safely behind his door, he pulled her into his arms again and kissed her. His hands found the laces of her dress, making quick work of them until she was naked before him.
He kissed her long and slow, undressing as he did so, and when he was finally naked, he moved them till she was beneath him on the bed.
Their kisses turned frantic as they caressed each other. It was nothing like their first coupling, where she had been shy and tentative.
She wrapped her arms around him, kissing him with as much fervency as she possessed. He smiled against her lips and ground his cock against her slick sex.
She shivered and bucked her hips, seeking him, and he obliged her, sinking into her warmth slowly, keeping his pace slow until her nails dug into his skin. He loved how she didn’t need him to treat her delicately.
His groans joined her cries, and soon he found it hard to keep a perfect rhythm as he drew closer to the edge. His hand slipped between them, drawing circles around her bud.
“I love ye, Talia,” he whispered. “Mind, body, and soul.”
She gasped and dug her nails into his scalp. “I love ye, Darragh. Mind, body, and soul.”
Their cries mingled as they both reached their peak, and once he finished spilling inside her, he rolled off her, pulling her into his chest.
“I love ye, husband,” she whispered softly.
He kissed her hair and breathed her in. “I love ye too, wife.”
The End?