Chapter Twenty-Four
The rest of the morning felt like a dream to Callum.
They spoke of their plans, and then Angus arrived—Selina had sent for him—and Callum learned that the two of them had planned to go north to Bonnyrigg and start their own married lives.
Callum was surprised and pleased, especially because it would mean Penelope would have her friend with her.
“I really am glad for you,” Mortimer said, although he looked a little down in the mouth. “That awful Lady Hamlyn. Can I write her a reply and tell her to go and jump?”
“As much as I would like to do that—” his sister began.
“It’s a deal then.” Mortimer rubbed his hands together, but then his excitement dropped away. “I’ll miss you, Pen.”
“You can come with us,” Callum said, before he could stop himself. The boy had only just reconciled with his sister and now they were to be parted again, so it was only fair he make the offer.
Mortimer shot him a doubtful look. “Thank you, but I’m not sure that Scotland is the place for me. I will visit, of course I will, but I think London is where I am most comfortable. Can I stay here in Jasmyne Street? For the time being at least.”
“Of course you can. But Mortimer, how will you afford to live here? Please tell me you won’t be asking Uncle Bertie for help?”
“No, I am done with Uncle Bertie,” Mortimer said cheerfully. “I have had an offer from someone else who wants me to be their secretary. I have a reasonable hand and can spell, and I think that is all that is required.”
“Secretary?” Penelope blinked. “From whom, Mortimer?”
Her brother looked uncomfortable. “Lord Muir’s son.
Do you remember him? Sometimes Lord Muir would bring him to Chelsea, while he and you .
. .” He coughed. “He remembered me, and I think he was embarrassed about his father’s selfishness and that was why he has come to me with the offer.
I thought about turning him down, and I will if you want me to. If it is too awkward.”
Penelope thought a moment. Lord Muir’s son had turned out to be far more generous than his father. “No, don’t turn him down,” she said quickly. “I feel no animosity toward him or his father. That is in the past.” She looked at Callum, worried what he might think.
“I am more interested in the future,” he said firmly.
Selina had brought in tea and more cake and now she sat beside Angus. “So are we,” she said.
“I thought we could handfast at the border,” Angus added, smiling at his lady love.
Penelope looked puzzled. “You mean like Gretna Green?”
“Aye. We will join hands before the blacksmith and two witnesses, and swear to live the rest of our lives together. ’Tis as good a marriage as any.”
Callum could see that Penelope was less than thrilled about that. “We will marry from my aunt’s house,” he said soothingly. “I’ll get a license.” He wanted everything to be legal under British law, no loopholes that might cause questions and doubts in the future.
“Shouldn’t you wait until your father answers your letter?” Penelope said.
“No,” Callum replied gruffly. “I have told him what I am doing, and if he doesn’t like it then too bad.”
Angus snorted a laugh. “You sound just like him,” he said.
Then, “I remember when the MacKenzies returned to Bonnyrigg to fulfil their promise to the old duke. Callum here decided he didn’t like his new life and ran away.
Maxwell found him after several days of searching. The boy had made his home in a tree.”
There was laughter, but Callum remembered it painfully well. “I didn’t want to be a duke,” he said. “I wondered why I had to. Why I couldn’t do what I wanted, which was to live in a tree.”
Angus continued the story. “And Maxwell said, ‘Because you can’t!’”
Callum smiled. “And I insisted, ‘Why?’ and I was almost in tears. I was fourteen but still a wee boy inside.”
“Aye, you had a gentle heart,” Angus said fondly. “You were also verra stubborn.”
“And my father sighed and said, ‘I made a promise to return to Bonnyrigg. It was part of the deal when I married your mother, and I wanted to marry her above all else, Callum. You will understand one day, when you love a woman so much that you will sacrifice everything to be with her.’”
When he finished, there was silence, and he smiled at Penelope. “I understand now. And I understand that it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice because you are what I want, with or without Bonnyrigg.”
*
When the time for Callum and Penelope’s marriage arrived, there was still no reply from Maxwell, nor any sign of one.
Callum could only assume his father was extremely disappointed and displeased and would inform him of it when he saw him.
It did not matter. Well, it did, but he would not allow it to spoil his wedding day.
Aunt Jennie had arranged for a small gathering after the ceremony, and everyone was very merry. She reminisced about the old days at Bonnyrigg and they drank a toast to the days to come.
Afterward, in his bedchamber, Callum held Penelope in his arms. They had waited until this day to lie together again, and the waiting had been agony. His desire for her had not gone away, and judging by her eagerness to get him undressed, neither had hers.
They were to set off in the morning, with Angus and Selina, for the long journey north.
Callum was looking forward to it, but he suspected Penelope was developing a bad case of nerves.
She was sacrificing more than he was, he understood that, and he was very grateful, but if his father did not welcome them, then he had already decided they would ride on immediately to Inverness and take lodgings there.
Penelope seemed to think it was Callum who was worrying. “I wish you would stop frowning,” she said, and leaned over to kiss him. “Whatever happens, we will make our own happiness.”
“Of course we will.” He kissed her back, gently, and then with more passion.
She groaned and pressed against him. “You are like my favorite dessert, and I want a second helping. Or a third.”
He grinned in delight. “Raspberry syllabub?”
“Exactly. When you spilled it on your shirt, and then licked it off your chest. For goodness sake, Callum, I wanted to join in.”
He kissed her again, feeling himself already hard at the thought. He had planned several trysts around the estate at Bonnyrigg, and in various corners of the castle where they would not be discovered.
She pushed against his chest and, when he rolled over, climbed upon him like a naked goddess.
He cupped her breasts, tweaking at her nipples, and helped her to arrange herself over him.
As she pressed down, and he filled her, Callum said some words it was just as well she did not understand.
She would not approve, but he could not help it, because it was so good. It was always so good.
She scraped her nails across his belly and he groaned again, arching up. “Temptress,” he said.
“But you are so tempting,” she whispered.
He met her eyes and suddenly it was as if the moment went on forever, as if they were under a spell. He remembered again the stories his father had told, of the fairies who lured travelers to their magical abode and kept them there forever.
And then she was riding him and he forgot everything else in the exquisite pleasure.
How could he have been so lucky as to marry this woman?
Who would have thought, when he rode south to London, that he would be going to meet his destiny in the shape of a petite beauty with silver eyes and moonlight hair?
A woman with a sharp tongue that made him ache to claim her, and hold onto her forevermore.