Page 112 of The Highland Laird’s Hellion Bride

“Good.” She settled back against him and looked up. “Because I prefer beasts anyway.”

He smiled. She felt it brush her hair, rare and unhurried, and his arm tightened around her.

“Aye,” he rumbled. “And yer beast finally brought ye to see the stars.”

She looked up at the sky, brighter than any poem had ever gotten it right. Her mind flashed back to her fourteen-year-old self with her green ink and her dramatic poetry, being certain beyond a doubt that love would arrive with good hair and a prepared speech.

“At last.” She smiled gently.

Magnus stood up and extended a hand toward her. She looked up at him, the stars framing his dark hair. There was a certain expression on his face. It looked settled, content.

“We’ll be seein’ the stars together, wife,” he said.

She took a brief look at his hand and then at his face. Understanding spread warm across her cheeks, and she pointed a finger at him.

“Magnus Wallace.”

“Aye.”

“Ye brought me up a hill in the dark on the night of our handfasting to look at the stars.”

“I did.”

“And now ye’re suggesting…”

“I’m suggesting we go inside.” His mouth curved teasingly at the corner. “Where it’s warmer.”

“That’s all ye’re suggesting.”

“I’m a practical man, Elspeth.”

She took his hand and let him pull her up and tuck her under his arm. He turned them back toward the track, and she laughed into his shoulder.

“Ye promised me stars,” she complained playfully.

“And I fully intend to keep me promise.” He kissed her temple, the line of her jaw, the shell of her ear, working his way down with unhurried thoroughness while they walked, and she shivered. “We’ll be seein’ them from a more comfortable position.”

“Indoors, in me chamber.”

“Aye.”

“That’s very practical of ye.”

“I’ve always been practical.” He lifted her at the steep section of the track, easily and without warning. She let out a sound of surprise and grabbed his coat while he carried her down the hill toward the castle with minimum effort.

“Ye’re going to drop me,” she teased.

“I’ve nae dropped ye yet.”

“The night is young.”

“Elspeth.” He looked at her briefly, the golden glow of the Great Hall windows catching in his eyes as they came down into the yard. “I willnae drop ye.”

She looked at his face and believed him.

It surprised her slightly how easily she trusted him, how little she had had to work at it once she had started.

She pressed her lips to the underside of his jaw and felt his arms tighten around her. She kept her lips there, allowing his warmth to seep in, while he carried her toward the door. Above them, the stars kept their watch over Ben Cruachan. Below, the music played on, and neither of them looked back.