Their joining wasn’t artful or practiced, just hot and real, and exquisitely pleasurable. There was much grunting and moaning, much touching and exploration, and always joy in their union, for they both appreciated the chance they had been given to make a good marriage.
As their bodies soared to the stars together, Bram felt the rightness of their bond and knew he was the luckiest man in the world to have found Miranda.
She had won his heart the moment she’d hurled that first vase at him at Lanark Castle. It was a losing battle for him from then on.
He was hers.
She had conquered him, heart, body, and soul.
Perhaps Miranda’s residing on Duchess Square was an omen.
She was now his duchess.
And while their lives and home life would be mostly at Lanark Castle, he did not mind being a Scot on Duchess Square whenever he was in London.
Epilogue
Duchess Square, London
October, 1821
Miranda loved wakingup in Bram’s arms each morning.
Truly, his arms belonged in a museum because they were so perfectly sculpted. But all of his body was warrior hard. She knew this because he always slept naked, apparently even in winter, and would tease her whenever she wrapped herself in woolens on the few cold nights they had shared together so far in almost six months of marriage.
His body was a fiery roar and he often slept atop the covers.
They had spent an enchanted summer at Lanark Castle and were back in London now for the upcoming session of Parliament. This was something Bram loathed, and he often used salty language to describe the Englishmen he had to deal with in the House of Lords. “They’re such slimy toads,” he would tell her, and then release a string of invectives that would make a sailor blush.
As for herself, Miranda was eager to see her neighbors on Duchess Square. She knew she would fall back into her easy friendships with Berry, Gwendolyn, and Suzanna now that she had returned. It would take her no more than a day to settle in and join their Ladies Tea Society meetings or just get together out of pleasure.
She and Bram were still abed, having arrived late last night after a particularly wet and muddy journey. But their drapes had been left open because Miranda enjoyed being awakened by the sun shining on her face.
Rays of sunlight now streamed in through the windows to spread a soft light across their bed and hold promise of a spectacular autumn day.
She loved London in October, when the air was crisp and the sky often a magnificently vivid blue.
She heard Bram beginning to grunt and grumble beside her, and knew he would soon be awake. He opened his eyes when she turned to face him. “Och, my Miranda,” he said with a sleepy grin, and placed an arm lovingly around her waist. This was how they fell asleep, too—he with his arms around her. “Ye get more beautiful every day.”
She smiled and gave him a sweet wake-up kiss. “Good morning, Bram.”
He looked so appealingly rugged with a day’s growth of beard on his firm jaw and that sleepy look of mischief in his eyes.
“I love ye, my sweetheart,” he said, rolling her under him and kissing her with tender heat before settling once more on his back and taking her into his arms. “Have ye planned anything for today? I hope it’s better than mine is expected to be.”
He then went into an extended grumble about the government meetings he would be involved in all day.
More salty language. More grumbling.
Miranda listened patiently, for this was his first day back in London and it had to be hard for him to adjust to a new routine, especially when he enjoyed his time at Lanark Castle so much. And what was not to love about their time in Scotland? The estate was beautiful, his farms were thriving, and the view of the North Sea and surrounding countryside was breathtaking.
“Once I finish our unpacking, I’ll stop in to see my friends,” she said. “They’ll be eager to hear how Gwenys and Douglas are doing, especially now that they are expecting their first child.”
“If it’s a boy, let’s hope he does no’ grow up to be anidjitlike his uncle, Mongo.”
“You are quite the grumpy bear this morning,” she said with a lilt of laughter. “Mongo has been on his best behavior for several months now.”
Bram sat up, his stomach muscles taut and rippled. “Aye, because I’ve kept him and his brainless friends on a tight tether. It is only a matter of time before he does something foolish, especially now that I am here and no’ at Lanark Castle to stop him. I’ll kick his scrawny arse from here to kingdom come if he takes a step out of line while I am gone.”
