She was no longerthe frightened girl who’d been rescued from a hunt. She was a woman who knew her mind and heart, who’d chosen her destiny.
“Ready,”she said.
Hector openedthe door to reveal Erica standing in the hallway, her hands on her hips and a knowing smirk on her face.
“About time,”she huffed, then her expression softened as she took in Gabriella’s glowing face. “Och, lass. Ye look radiant.”
“I feel radiant,”Gabriella admitted, her cheeks pink with happiness.
“Good.”Erica linked their arms and began to pull her toward the stairs. “Because ye’ve got a castle full of women waitin’ to make ye even more beautiful, if such a thing is possible.”
“Take care of her,”Hector called after them.
“We always do,”Erica replied without looking back. “Now, go find something useful to do while we work our magic. And Hector?”
“Aye?”
She turned back with a grin.“Well done.”
Gabriella’s laughterechoed through the corridors. Suddenly, she ran back into the room and kissed him.
“Thank ye, Me Laird.”
“Aye.”Hector smiled. “Ye’ll soon be me wife in truth as well as in heart.”
EPILOGUE
“Ye need to clean yerself up,” Erica said with a knowing smirk, bustling into Gabriella’s chambers. “I’ll go gather the women. Dinnae worry—I willnae tell them where I found ye.”
Gabriella’s cheeksflushed crimson as she quickly hugged her. “Thank ye,” she whispered.
As she slippedinto the adjoining bathing chamber, she heard Erica’s footsteps retreating down the corridor.
The warm waterfelt heavenly against her skin as she hurriedly bathed, trying to wash away any evidence of her night with Hector while her heart still raced from their passionate hours together.
She had barely steppedout of the copper tub when voices filled the outer chamber—feminine laughter and excited chatter that made her pulse quicken with nervous anticipation.
“Gabriella!”Andrea’s warm voice called out. “Where are ye, child?”
Gabriella quickly wrappedherself in a soft linen towel and emerged to find her chambers crowded with women. Andrea stood near the window with a radiant smile, while three other young women she recognized with a surge of joy were arranging flowers and ribbons on the bed.
Time seemedto stop as Gabriella looked at her three friends. They looked so different from the broken, terrified girls she’d last seen on that terrible day when they’d all been rescued.
“Madison! Piper! Flora!”she exclaimed, her eyes welling with tears of joy as she rushed toward them, clutching her towel to her chest. “How are ye? Are ye well? Are ye happy?”
Madison wasthe first to embrace her, tears streaming down her cheeks. “We’re well, Gabriella. So much better than we ever hoped to be.”
“Aye,”Piper added, her voice thick with emotion as she joined the embrace. “We had time to talk since we arrived for yer weddin’. The other Lairds have been… they’ve been good to us. We’re healin’.”
Flora,still quiet but no longer the terrified mute girl from before, simply nodded and squeezed Gabriella’s hand, her eyes bright with unshed tears of happiness.
“And ye?”Madison asked softly, searching Gabriella’s face. “Are ye truly happy? He treats ye well?”
“Better than I ever dreamed possible,”Gabriella whispered, her heart full to bursting. “He loves me, and I love him. Truly.”
The four youngwomen held each other for a long moment, remembering the darkness they’d shared and marveling at the light they’d all found.
Piper then pulled back.“But where were ye, lass?” she asked with a teasing grin, looking remarkably different from the angry, frightened girl Gabriella remembered. Her face was full and healthy now, her eyes bright with mischief. “We were lookin’ everywhere for ye!”
