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“Why?”
“I knew I loved her. I guessed that she shared my feelings and I determined to leave Lansing Hall until you were back at Graenfrae and we were both safe from temptation.”
“Should I believe you?” He asked the question almost musing to himself.
Edward took it to heart. “Yes.” He cursed. “You are not the only member of this family with honor. You should have let me explain then.” Ian felt chains loosen and fall away from his heart. “If you loved each other, why not tell me? Did you believe it would be better for me to marry a woman who loved my brother?”
Edward frowned. “I thought her feelings would change after you wed. I hoped they would.”
Ian shook his head.
His brother was a fool. The best thing that could have happened was for Ian to have caught him and Jenna in the garden. All an ugly misunderstanding and he had lost two years of his life with his brother because of it. And gained Belle. From evil came good.
He sighed. “Are you happy?”
Edward nodded. “Yes. It really hurt her, you know. You just taking off. Even if I had not loved her, I would have married her.”
Ian believed him. Another misunderstanding. He had felt that Edward had been given a hero’s role when in fact he had been betrayer. Now, he knew his brother had truly acted the hero, at least in part. Ian did not know if he would ever share the same closeness
he once had with Edward, but he no longer carried the deep burden of pain and betrayal that had weighted his heart for so long. “She is blessed to have you for her husband.” Edward looked startled. “I am blessed to have her for my wife.”
“Aye.” Ian surprised himself by smiling again. “Soon you will have a child.” Edward grinned. “Yes, but if anyone told me how difficult pregnant women could be, I would have stayed celibate.”
Ian laughed at his brother’s lie. “Not bloody likely.” Edward joined in his laughter. “No. I guess not. But just you wait. When Annabelle starts increasing, you will find all manner of excuses to keep you about the estate.” Ian doubted it and he doubted his brother did either. If the look of concern on his face could be believed, Edward kept a very close eye on his pregnant wife.
Edward’s next words confirmed it. “I had better check on Jenna. She should not be climbing the stairs so often, but she will not listen.” Ian followed Edward up the stairs to find Belle. He wanted to see if she would be interested in giving his future niece or nephew a cousin.
He found her pacing their bedroom. She stopped and faced him, her stance challenging.
“Lady Lansing wanted to give us separate chambers, but I explained that you prefer to share one.”
She frowned at him as if she expected him to deny it. She was still angry about the aged spinster remark. He almost smiled, but did not want to bring out the wrath simmering below the surface. “Aye.”
She relaxed somewhat. “Yes. Well then.” She peered into his face. “How did your talk with your brother go?”
He wanted to pull her into his arms. The wary look in her eyes stopped him. “We discussed what occurred two years ago.”
She nodded, but did not speak.
“They weren’t going to betray me. Edward planned to leave until after the marriage.”
“Why did he kiss her?”
“He was saying good-bye.”
She snorted. “Most people say good-bye with a word or a handshake.” Belle did not think much of his brother. “He loved her.”
“Did she love him?”
Ian nodded. He hoped they were about done with this conversation. He needed to feel his wife’s body against his.
Her eyes glistened. “I’m sorry.”
He could not hold back any longer. He pulled her close. “Why are you sorry, lass?”
“Because your fiancée loved your brother. She should have loved you.” She sounded so sincere. He did not dare laugh.
“They are happy.”
She sniffed against him. “She is very beautiful.” He shrugged. “Her beauty holds no appeal for me now.”
“Did it before? Did you want her, Ian?” He could tell the question was difficult for her to ask.
He swung her up in his arms. She gasped. He leaned down and placed a hard, possessive kiss on Belle’s soft lips. “I dinna want her, not the way I want you every waking moment.”
She locked her hands around his neck. “Are you happy, Ian? As happy as your brother?”
“Nay.”
She went stiff in his arms.
“I am happier than my brother could ever hope to be. He only has Jenna. I have you.”
He fell on the bed with his wife under him.
She smiled, a smile full of mystery and promise. “Let me show you how happy I can make you.”
“Ah, lass, ’tis my only wish right now.”
“We haven’t a lot of time. Your mother said they keep country hours. We have to dress for dinner soon.”
“So, stop talking and kiss me.”
He muffled her laughter with his lips.
Chapter Twenty-one
Ian lay curled around Belle in their bed at Graenfrae. He smiled when he thought of his worries about how she would fit in among his people and what she would think of her new home. The people adored her. He and Belle had been there less than a month and she had already started a school for the tenants’ children, a group for men and women interested in the plight of women in Great Britain and had charmed his housekeeper into keeping fresh flowers in all the public rooms of the castle.
Belle took personal care of his library and their bedroom. He had discovered the source of a beckoning scent of roses in his library only that morning. She had placed bowls of dried rose petals and heather on several shelves in his library. He should mind that his private retreat now smelled like flowers. He didn’t. It reminded him of his wife and he liked it. He wondered if that had been her plan all along.
She seemed to be on a campaign of keeping herself at the edges of his consciousness when they were not together. She w
ould walk into his library when he was going over the estate books, brush a light kiss on his cheek and float out again. When he was out checking on the estate, he would spy her across a field conversing with a tenant. She would give him a jaunty wave and blow him a kiss.
She immersed herself in the improvements he wanted to make to Graenfrae. None of his projects was without her influence. She talked to farmers’ wives, found out their needs and reported back to him. She continued making subtle and not so subtle changes to their home as well. The linens he had bought in London covered their tables and were draped over furnishings throughout the house. She made sure that surfaces were polished and threadbare upholstery was repaired.
Yet, she insisted on keeping the natural décor to their home. She had told him in no uncertain terms that she loved it and did not want to live in a replica of her aunt’s more formal house. She liked her Scottish castle just fine.
She loved her husband.
Ian still felt amazement at the passion and approval she showed him daily. She exhausted him nightly, forcing him to teach her the flexible intricacies of making love.
He almost laughed out loud. Forcing indeed. He hungered for her company and the silky smoothness of her body constantly. Far from making excuses to be out on the estate, he sought ways to do his business from the castle. He wanted to be with his wife.
His favorite time of the day had become evening when Belle joined him in his library. She curled up in a chair near the fire and read while he studied new farming and sheep breeding methods. She wanted his mother to come for a visit. He wanted his wife all to himself.
His mother would be arriving within the week for a prolonged stay.
She wanted to invite Hamilton and his wife to stay before Lady Hamilton could no longer travel. He told her to wait until after the baby was born.
The Hamiltons would be arriving in a few weeks and a bloody entourage of servants to care for the increasing marchioness.
