Page 11 of A Highland Duke to Claim Her Heart

“Well… many young women go to their weddings happy,” she said. “They are in love, or think they are, with a man they have met half a dozen times and who has charmed them by showing them only one side of himself. But they do not really know him. Their happiness will undoubtedly be short-lived, once they getto know their husband as he truly is. But my hope is practical. Measured. Reasonable. I think I know who Lord Christopher is, and I am hopeful that we shall be a good match, despite our differences.”

The man grunted again. His eyes were no longer on her, but the road. “That is… very wise,” he said after a long moment. “I hope you are right. I hope that Lord Christopher is who you think he is.”

Cassandra said nothing. In truth, she wasn’t sure. She had come here to find out, only to find him missing. But his being missing told her a great deal as well. He was a man who might shirk responsibility. Who, very likely, was wild and unreliable.

But that could be used to her advantage, she supposed, if her mother was to be believed.

If she could be the one who was reliable and dutiful, then perhaps that was how she would win the approval and respect of the duke. It wasn’t how she wanted to think about her brother-in-law, but she knew her mother might be right.

At last, they crested a bluff, and Calder Castle came into view, sitting on the hill opposite them, the turrets rising up high, the stone reflecting the afternoon sun and making it look golden.

The man let out a small sigh, and his expression was lighter, happier, as he led the horse down the hill toward the castle.

They did not speak again until they reached the drawbridge of the castle, which was already lowered.

“Perhaps I should go alone—” she began, her fear at the idea of being seen together making her hands prickle with sweat. But before she could finish her sentence, a shout rang out across the courtyard.

“You are home!”

Cassandra looked up to see the little girl she had seen yesterday running toward them from the front doors of the house, her arms stretched wide as if to embrace… someone.

Cassandra felt her heart tighten, and she nearly stopped breathing. Because the man, her rescuer, was now striding forward, a smile on his wild face and his arms open.

And then the little girl, the daughter of the duke, was throwing herself into his arms and shouting, “Papa! I missed you!”

Cassandra felt so faint she thought she might fall off her horse.

Her rescuer was none other than Ewan Dunmore, Duke of Calder.

Chapter 5

Ewan swept his daughter up into his arms, pressing his face into her hair and twirling her around. She laughed delightedly, and when he set her back down, she was beaming.

“Papa, I missed you!” she said. “You were gone a full two days!”

Ewan laughed and ruffled the top of her head. “Two days is not long, surely?”

She gave him a pouty look. “Yes, it is. Especially since you missed our guests! Uncle Christopher’s bride is here!”

Her eyes slid to Cassandra then before going wide. “Oh… What happened, Papa?”

“Lady Cassandra went for a swim,” Ewan said, smiling at his daughter before turning back around to Cassandra, who had slid from the horse and was now glaring at him with a mixture of shock and irritation.

“Why did you not tell me who you are?” she hissed at him, clearly trying to speak quietly enough that Annabelle wouldn’t hear. “You let me ramble on about my upcoming marriage, and the whole time, you knew I was speaking about yourbrother?”

“Not the whole time,” Ewan said. “I was not sure at first of your identity. But then when you said that you were staying at Calder Castle, with the intention of being married…”

She put her hands on her hips. “Yes, that was the perfect moment to mention that you are the Duke of Calder, and that it is your brother I shall be marrying.”

Ewan flushed slightly, embarrassment creeping up through him. In truth, he wasn’t entirely certain why he had kept his identity a secret. He had been curious, he supposed, about the woman who would be marrying Christopher, and eager to hear her thoughts about his brother before having to come clean to her about the truth of his disappearance.

But it wasn’t only that.

Some part of him had not wanted her to know, quite yet, that he would be her future brother-in-law.

But why?

All he knew was that there had been something delightfully playful about it, even mischievous. And Ewan could not remember the last time he was mischievous.