Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Ye’re lookin’ a bit warm,” Cameron said as their carriage came to a stop later that evening. The sun was kissing the horizon, and when Margo glanced out of her window, the entire world seemed to be painted in brilliant shades of red and orange. “Are ye feelin’ well?”
“I just need a bit of air,” Margo said, shifting herself to the edge of the bench.
“Aye, the last stretch of the ride is a bit harsh,” Cameron agreed with a nod, already reaching for the door. “Especially when ye are ridin’ in a carriage.”
Margo hummed her acknowledgement. He didn’t need to know she was flushed because she had been thinking about his words. Part of her flush was due to her embarrassment at being so vulnerable to him.
It was so much easier to be upset with him when we were not sharing any space. He does not speak to me for days, and then he tells me we will lie together. And I do not even protest!
She was not given much more time to dwell on her thoughts. As soon as Cameron stepped into the courtyard of Glen Carrick, she heard herself being asked after. Then, Cameron’s hand appeared once more, beckoning Margo to join them in the dying sunlight.
When she grabbed onto him, their palms pressing together, her breath hitched. Forcing air into her lungs, she let him guide her from the cab. The motion was slow, giving her time to collect herself before her feet hit the ground.
He is properly introducing me as his wife!
Margo’s hand tightened around his for a fleeting moment, consciously drawing strength from him and their arrangement for the first time.
Though she had tucked her anxiety away, she was not sure what to expect from the women she had been told she would meet.
Just as the feeling was resurging, slender fingers wrapped around her wrist.
“Margo! I have so been looking forward to meeting you!” the woman said, her accent curling around the words the same way Margo’s did. “I am Marian. How was the journey?”
“The journey was pleasant enough,” Margo replied, her eyes tracking Cameron as he walked away with the man that she guessed was Laird Carrick. “I am quite happy to be on solid ground again, though.”
“Perhaps a short walk around the gardens would do you good,” Marian suggested, giving her wrist a final squeeze before letting go of Margo. She turned to where Gavin was helping Eleanor from her carriage. “Eleanor is invited to join us as well.”
“I am sure she will appreciate that,” Margo said with a smile. This welcome was so much warmer than what she expected. Marian acted as if they were old friends. “She did seem a bit put out that she was travelling alone.”
“She will not lack company here,” Marian told her as she waved Eleanor over to them. “Anna and Lilly are waiting in the Atrium. We were a bit worried that the excitement of your arrival might be a bit too much for her in her current state.”
Before Margo could question that, Eleanor joined them. She rolled her shoulders back, stretching her body as best she could without making a spectacle. As she opened and closed her hands, she said, “I am pleased to meet you.”
“This is Marian,” Margo said, grinning when Marian took hold of Eleanor’s wrists and greeted her with the same enthusiasm.
“I am so pleased that you were able to join us,” Marian said, squeezing once before releasing Eleanor.
“I hope there is not a problem out here,” a new, equally accented voice said.
Margo turned toward it, finding two women making their way toward them. The speaker was a pretty, soft-looking woman with brown hair pinned up, out of her face. The woman following her had a hand resting on the swell of her belly.
“Lilly, are you sure you should be out here?” Marian asked, putting her hands on her hips as she watched her maid approaching. “We were just coming to get you.”
“I felt as though I were going mad inside,” Lilly reported. She looked over at Anna and said, “You thought I would be fine, didn’t you?”
“You said that you did not think this was too exciting!” Anna said, sounding as if she could not believe she had been implicated. “I was content to wait until we were fetched.”
“Well, you didn’t stop me, and I cannot leave my Lady alone for too long,” Lilly said with a wave of her hand, fixing her gaze on Margo. “And you are the reason for this celebration.”
“From what I am told, Marian is the real reason for the ceilidh taking place,” Margo replied, unable to keep a girlish grin from her face.
The energy of the other women was infectious, and though she had only just met them, she could feel sisterhood burgeoning between them.
“If it was not for her planning it, we would not all be gathered here.”
“You gave me a reason to plan it,” Marian said, turning the attention right back on Margo. She herded them away from the carriages as the grooms arrived to stable the horses. “And I was eager to meet my new neighbors. We are only a day’s journey from one another.”
“I did not know that you were so close until Laird MacLeod told me that we would be coming for the ceilidh,” Margo admitted, a partial truth. She had no idea that there was another Englishwoman so close to the MacLeod land.
“I am a bit jealous,” Anna said, patting Lilly’s arm, linking their elbows together. “I have several days of travel to spend time with anyone.”
“Nothing is stopping you from inviting us over for a visit,” Marian pointed out, her eyes softening as they passed by Lachlan and Cameron. “Except, perhaps, your husband.”
“But if you come to our lands, you leave behind the sea,” Anna sighed.
“You also leave behind the storms and dangerous cliffs,” Marian said with a huff.
“You know,” Margo said as Eleanor fell into step at her side, “I am starting to believe that the Land uses the storms to communicate with us.”
For a beat, everyone went silent. Then Marian leaned in close, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial tone, “I have been thinking the same thing, but Lachlan told me to get my head out of the clouds.”
“I can feel it!” Anna said, giggling. “Like there’s a whole other person here.”
“She is quite right now,” Eleanor said, looking up at the sky, squinting at the clouds on the horizon. “And looks as though she will be staying that way.”
“She?” Margo asked as she followed her sister’s gaze.
“It makes sense,” Lilly murmured thoughtfully. “Only a woman could come in like a storm and leave things better than she found them.”
“You are right!” Margo agreed a little breathlessly, her cheeks hurting from smiling.
“Perhaps she is celebrating with us,” Anna suggested.
Margo nodded, at a loss for words. She was so overwhelmed with the warmth of belonging that her voice had been stolen. It seemed that Eleanor felt the same, her body relaxing as she laughed freely.
Yes. I do think the Land is celebrating with us. I think the weather is her gift. A blessing. Perhaps an omen that things with Cameron will work themselves out?
“They’re gettin’ on quite nicely,” Lachlan observed as the group of women sauntered into the garden, already conversing as if they were old friends.
“Aye, but I cannae say that I’m surprised,” Cameron said, refusing to address the warmth that had taken residency in his chest at the sight of Margo relaxing into the social fold. “Marian had already decided they were friends the second she learned Margo existed.”
“She does have an excitable spirit,” Lachlan said with a fond laugh. “I think she could tell that Margo needed a friend nearby. I ken ye told me she had her sister, but they are stayin’ in the same place. Ye cannae write letters to someone that lives down the hall from ye.”
“Are ye implyin’ that’s what friendship is, Lachlan?” Cameron scoffed, turning his attention to the servants.
They were unloading the carriages methodically, treating the chests inside with great care.
He could not hear their conversation, but the ladies seemed to be just as invigorated by the upcoming ceilidh as Margo.
It was the kind of spectacle he never wanted for himself.
He could not deny, however, that there was an infectious quality to the merriment in the air.
“Nay, but it is part of it, is it nae?” Lachlan replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “She can have a life outside the walls of Castle MacLeod.”
“I was never stoppin’ her from doin’ so,” Cameron said. The defensiveness was reflexive. He knew that his cousin wasn not incorrect in his observations. “Though this will open her world up significantly. It has been a bit since we last hosted guests at MacLeod.”
The servants finished with the carts and carriages, stepping back to allow the grooms to finish the job. Lachlan and Cameron stayed quiet for a few minutes, overseeing the work. When the last cart was pulled away, Lachlan turned to walk inside.
“Marian and the other Ladies will be includin’ her in their preparations,” Lachlan said as they left the courtyard. “I believe she wishes to teach Margo what goes into plannin’ a gatherin’ like this. She’s been quite desperate to attend more ceilidhs.”
Cameron grunted, nodding at the maids who had helped him during his previous stay. “I’m sure the villagers would be eager to attend as well. Ye ken that throwin’ parties isnae something I particularly enjoy.”
Lachlan laughed, stopping in the Atrium and waving a maid over. “We’ve put ye and Margo in separate chambers for the evening. I ken ye are already wed, but I assumed that Marian and the others would keep Margo up half the night with plannin’.”
Cameron wasn’t foolish enough to believe that Lachlan had made the decision solely because of the women keeping Margo awake.
It was his cousin’s way of giving him an out, a reason to not push Margo any further than he would when they returned to the MacLeod Castle.
If he were not still chastising himself for his abruptness with her in the carriage, he may have argued against the arrangement if only on principle.
I daenae care more about me image than I do about Margo’s comfort. I will let her have the next few days to herself.
“Show Laird MacLeod to his quarters,” Lachlan ordered the maid standing closest to them. Then, he turned to Cameron and said, “Yer chambers are connected to Margo’s. The door along the right wall locks on her side.”
With a final grunt of acknowledgement, Cameron followed the maid. It was practical, giving Margo control over that connection, but part of him hoped that she would choose to leave it unlocked; that she would invite him in.
Daenae let me force meself upon ye, lass.