I’m glad they brought me the wrong girl. Love, Bram.
She laughed. “Help me put it on.”
This was him. No flowery words. No references to stars or moons or rosebud lips.
The wrong girl.
It was perfect. It was Bram.
“There, love.” He finished clasping it and then gave her a light kiss on the neck that shot flames through her.
Dear heaven.She would be a wild, hot, passionate mess tonight.
“I did not get anything for you.” She silently berated herself for not giving this a single thought.
He shook his head. “Ye gave me yerself, Miranda. It is all I’ll ever want or need. I love ye, lass. Ye’re the best gift I could ever receive.”
Miranda burst into tears. “Oh, now look what you’ve done. You’ve turned me into a watering pot.”
“So long as those ye shed are always happy ones.”
She nodded and laughed as she hurriedly wiped them off her cheeks. “Yes, they are. They always will be.”
It felt as though hardly a minute had passed before the others came out of the church, led by Gwenys and Douglas, who were eager to ride off to their newlywed life in Scotland.
Miranda quickly dried the last of her tears as farewells were said, but found herself crying again as she hugged Gwenys. “I shall miss you, my dearest girl.”
“You had better come up to visit us in the summer,” Gwenys responded, hugging her fiercely.
Miranda suppressed a wince. Although her ribs were fairly well mended, they still had a little more healing to do before they were fully restored.
“Aye, we’ll be up as soon as this session of Parliament has ended,” Bram replied in her stead, no doubt noticing her discomfort that she’d tried to keep well hidden.
Hugh and James stepped forward to address Bram. “Ye chose a fine lass,” Hugh said, giving him a solid pat on the back. “I’ll be a happy man if I find myself a bride half as perfect as yer Miranda.”
“We had better be off now, too.” James took a turn patting Bram on the back. “We need to get Lord Lowery back home before his wife and her evil colleague are released from the constabulary cell. Montrose will be the one escorting Lowery to his door, since we dare no’ be seen anywhere near their home.”
Hugh winked at Miranda. “Make sure ye read this morning’s gossip rag.”
She cast him a beaming smile, not a bit remorseful in the knowledge that their headline would be a humiliation for those two spiteful crones. It was the best wedding present these Lanarks could give her. “I will have that edition framed and mounted in a place of honor on my wall.”
The Lanarks rode off with Gwenys’s father. Gwenys was bubbling with happiness, but also making no secret of her remorse in parting from Miranda.
However, Miranda was not going to allow this moment to be sad. Gwenys was about to embark on her new life with Douglas. Miranda knew those two would be happy as larks.
“Oh, I am going to miss you so much, Aunt Miranda,” Gwenys declared.
Miranda gave her another fierce hug before nudging her into Douglas’s waiting carriage. “Off with you now. I’ll see you this summer.”
She and Bram were left with her Duchess Square friends, who were to join them for the wedding breakfast arranged by Berry and Gideon at the Denby Arms. This establishment happened to be one of London’s best hotels and was owned by Gideon and Bonham. Their dining room was exceptional and renowned for its quality.
Miranda could not wait to taste their wedding meal.
What awaited them was a groaning table replete with silver salvers containing everything from eggs and kippers, to muttonand leeks, roast goose in a plum sauce, and their specialty, a duck cassoulet.
When the meal was over and they had all imbibed too much champagne and inhaled everything on those salvers—including the delicious duck cassoulet, which Miranda decided was the best thing she had ever tasted—they all returned to their respective homes.
She and Bram had agreed her townhouse on Duchess Square would become their London residence, because this charming enclave of beautiful homes was filled with good friends that meant so much to her. And Bram did not wish to take her away from this important source of her happiness.
