She wore his necklace.
“I give unto yer care the well-being and happiness of my only sister,” Jamesy said when they reached the dais. As he placed her hand upon Hall’s, he whispered, “And dinna you forget the warning I gave you last night, aye?”
As if Hall needed his brother-in-law’s admonition to watch after Bridget.
“You look...” He paused, awed by the moment.
“Amazing,” Chase whispered loudly.
“You look amazing,” Hall finished.
Perhaps this was why Lady Danielle had insisted that every groom needed a best man. To offer help when his words failed him.
He tried again on his own. “Your dress is...” Not like anything he’d ever seen before.
Bridget shrugged, her cheeks coloring a delightful pink. “A bit revealing, is it no? Lady Dani assures me it’s quite modern.”
“Beautiful,” Hall assured her. “The gown is almost as beautiful as the woman who wears it.”
“Oh,” she breathed, her eyes filling with tears.
“Vows!” Chase hissed, with an elbow to Hall’s back.
Vows. Yes. Everyone in the great hall waited for him to start.
He cleared his throat and squeezed the hand he held within his own two.
“I, Hall O’Donar, take thee, Bridget MacCulloch...” He began reciting the words that would change his life forever, setting him on a path to happiness far greater than he had ever expected.
Epilogue
BRIE UNFURLED HERblanket over the soft green grass and kneeled to unpack the basket of food she’d brought. Once the midday meal was laid out and ready, she sat back to await Hall’s arrival.
As usual, she was much too early.
Not that she would complain about sitting here in the quiet beauty of this Irish hilltop, with the sun warm upon her skin and nothing but green as far as she could see. Far from it. Haven Castle had truly lived up to its name.
The spring and summer in her new home had been the most glorious months of her life, with each and every day bringing some new delight.
Saturday, as today was, had become her favorite day of the week.
With the arrival of warm weather, she and Hall had taken to meeting out here for their midday meal every Saturday, followed by her lessons. Between her determination and Hall’s, she’d managed to turn her knowledge of letters into an ability to read and write over the past seven months.
More or less. Brie was the first to admit that she could decipher words much better than she could form them with the tedious quill and ink that often taxed her patience to its limit.
She might have mastered even more, had their Saturday lessons not always dissolved into unfettered lovemaking. Though, in truth, it was mostly the lovemaking that kept her coming back for the lessons.
A smile lit her face as she spotted her beloved husband in the distance. He rode toward her at breakneck speed, shirtless, standing in his stirrups, one arm raised in greeting.
Bare-chested! A shiver ran down her spine and ended up centering low in her belly. No shirt likely meant he’d stopped for a dip in the pond before coming to meet her. Andthatmeant they might skip lessons altogether this fine day.
A perfect way to say good-bye to summer if ever she’d imagined one.
“We’ve a letter!” he called as he jumped from his horse and gathered her up in his arms to greet her with the kisses she so anticipated. “Fresh from the messenger’s hands.”
She’d been right about the pond; his hair still held water droplets. And his face was freshly shaved, just the way he knew she liked it best.
With his bare, warm skin under her hands, her mind wandered down paths that had nothing to do with the letter he waved over his head, and everything to do with how quickly she could climb out of her shift.
