Chapter Twenty-Seven
Selina was washing at the basin and was not aware of her husband’s arrival in their room. Not until he caught her around the waist and squeezed.
“Angus!” she scolded him.
“Can I not cuddle my wife?” he asked her, a little hurt, and stepping back as she turned to face him.
They had been married for several weeks now.
Selina remembered their handfasting ceremony with joy, and their arrival at Bonnyrigg.
The MacKenzies had been kind to her, even Maxwell, and she had taken her place as Penelope’s maid.
Thank goodness her friend had been accepted, too—some days she shone with happiness.
Only now there was a complication and Selina didn’t know what to do about it.
She wanted to protect Angus from disappointment, if matters did not go as they should, but instead of protecting him, she was pushing him away.
This was the second time today she had scolded him for nothing at all. No wonder he was hurt and confused.
“Selina,” he said, and she could see the worry in his eyes as he held out his hand. “What is it? Are you no’ happy here?”
He would offer to go elsewhere, tear up his roots for her sake, and she could not have that.
“I am happy,” she said, and took his hand in hers. “Angus, it isn’t that.”
He shook his head. “’Tis something, I know it. Tell me what is wrong, so I can make it right.”
Of course he would say that. He had promised at their handfasting that he would make her happy.
“I am having a baby and I’m too old!” She wailed the words. “I am forty, Angus, and I’m sure it will go wrong, and you will be so upset with me, and . . .”
The rest of her words were smothered by his broad chest as he held her, rocking her close. After a time, when she was calm, he said, “It is grand news, aye, it is. Mabbe it will not finish well, but I willna think of that, my love. I will just be happy for each day that passes.”
“Yes,” she agreed. He was right. What was the use in expecting the worst instead of taking each day as it came? She sniffed and let him wipe her cheeks dry of tears.
“’Tis not what I expected,” he admitted. “I thought you’d decided Bonnyrigg was no’ for you, or worse, I was no’ for you.”
“Angus, I could never not want you,” she murmured, kissing his whiskery cheek.
“Then let us enjoy this moment,” he said firmly. “I do not believe in borrowing trouble.”
Distracted, he looked out of the window at the sky.
“It will rain soon,” he said, with the certainty of someone who knew the weather well.
“The home Callum made for his creatures has a leak in it. He has found dry corners for most of them, apart from two.” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Do you want the squirrel or the crow?”
Selina giggled. “The crow, please.”
She had seen all the creatures now, and the crow was less trouble.
“What do you think Penelope will think when her husband arrives in their bedchamber with the squirrel?”
Selina laughed out loud. “She will forgive him,” she said, “because she loves him.”
Angus looked uncertain. “Will we tell people?” he asked. “About the baby? Luna is good with such things, you know. Women come to her for help.”
Selina had not known that and was glad to hear it. “Not just yet,” she said. “I want to enjoy it with you.”
He kissed her cheek. “Thank you,” he whispered.
*
Penelope rested her head on her husband’s chest and closed her eyes.
She was happy and contented. Callum’s parents had accepted her.
They were kindhearted people and her sad story had won them around, although Callum said it was her handling of the oatcake situation that had done the trick.
Whatever the reason, she was determined she would continue to prove herself a valuable asset when it came to Maxwell’s ambitions for his family.
This was only the beginning, and she was looking forward to the challenges ahead.
“I know I said we could live in Inverness,” Callum said, his voice rumbling in his chest, “but I am glad we don’t have to go.”
“I am glad, too.”
Outside, a summer storm was pelting rain against the windows and bending the trees in the forest. Callum had been out to check on his creatures, and she suspected he had brought some of them into the bedchamber, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
There was a rustling beneath the bed that sounded very suspicious.
“You know it is not socially acceptable to share your bed with animals,” she said. “Unless they are cats or dogs, I suppose, and even then . . .”
“Ah, Penelope, I could not leave them outside in this. There is a leak in the roof of the home I made for them.”
“And who are ‘they’? Please, not another mouse.”
He laughed. “Remember that night? I should tell Rory, he will enjoy the laugh.”
“Did I hear right? Is Rory going to London to stay with your Aunt Jennie?”
“Yes, he is.” Callum looked up at the canopy above the bed. “I told him you could give him some lessons in etiquette but he said as he wasn’t hanging out for a wife, he did not need any.”
“Then why is he going?”
Callum guffawed. “He doesn’t want me to be the only one to conquer the English.”
Penelope could have said some things about that, but she decided not to. She snuggled closer. “I am so glad your aunt employed me. I cannot imagine my life without you in it.”
“Nor me.”
He bent his head to kiss her, and their kisses occupied them for some time.
“Selina is very happy with her new husband,” she said at last, sleepily. “I am glad I did not have to leave her behind.”
“It has worked out verra well for us all,” Callum said smugly, as if it was all his doing.
There was that rustle again, and he flicked her a nervous glance. “’Tis only the blind squirrel,” he soothed her. “She was afraid, and I could not leave her out there. Tomorrow I will build them a better place, I promise.”
“I will hold you to that,” Penelope said sternly.
“The headmistress voice,” Callum groaned and rolled over, his mouth on her throat, and then he began kissing his way south.
“I cannot have you disobeying the rules,” she went on even more sternly, but she was trying not to laugh.
He pressed his face between her legs, his tongue busy, and she arched up with a gasp of pleasure. No more words were spoken as he brought matters to a pleasurable conclusion.
Penelope forgot about the animal under the bed, drawing his face up to hers again, as he pushed himself inside her, deep and deeper still.
They had spoken about children, and it was something she dearly wanted, but for now she was happy just to have Callum as her husband and to settle into life at Bonnyrigg.
Who would have thought that she would be so happy? The girl who had taken an improper proposal for the sake of her brother, and then fought her way back to respectability. The girl who had taught the unteachable how to succeed in society, and married her student despite the reasons she should not.
The woman who was so loved.
Callum was looking down at her, amusement warming his dark eyes. “Where did you go?” he asked.
Penelope stretched up to kiss his lips. “Nowhere. I am right here where I belong.”