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“Not soon enough, my love. We’ll apply for a marriage license tomorrow morning in Boston. Everything can be supplied on very short notice there. We only need ourselves and a judge. After that, we’ll leave for Europe. I have some business to attend to in London and Paris, but we can extend the stay and make it a fine honeymoon. When we return, we’ll have a proper wedding. One that’ll do justice to such a beautiful bride.”
It was all so fast, such a whirlwind of life-changing occurrences. I was glad, but it seemed unreal, undeserved.
“Are you happy?” he asked, unsure of my reaction.
“Terribly,” I replied, then tilted my head to be kissed again.
Callum was about to comply when a snap of underbrush alerted us to someone arriving. Rodney emerged into the rose garden, looking at us both with what I could describe only as brutal disapproval. Rodney and Callum locked eyes, intense, silent communication electrifying the air with a new animosity that I hadn’t seen between them.
“Congratulations are in order,” Rodney said, making it clear he’d overheard.
Callum put an arm around me, offering a tight, dishonest smile.
“They are, we thank you. Willowfield will have a new mistress come tomorrow.”
“Blessings to you both,” Rodney said, though it sounded more like a curse. He leveled his bright blue eyes on me, and I felt he was trying to relay a message somehow, one that I couldn’t fathom and didn’t think I wanted.
“Thank you.” I was the one toreply this time, putting my own arm around Callum in a show of solidarity in the only face of disapproval we’d encountered.
“May Willowfield bring more joy to you than it has done.” These were Rodney’s parting words, spoken directly to Callum, and he straightened his rolled-up sleeves aggressively, going back the way he’d come and leaving anger in his wake.
“Why in the world would he act like that?” I asked.
“It might be that he’s had his eye on you,” Callum said grimly.
“That’s ridiculous!” But I flushed remembering our flirtations and recalling the earlier time when I thought it might be nice to be with someone as carefree as the golden-headed groundskeeper. “He knew about us before I even did. Surely he wouldn’t interfere.”
Callum gave me a look that made me feel like a schoolgirl again, ignorant and naive.
“Margaret would disagree.”
“Margaret?” I paused, then processed. “Margaret andRodney? Together?”
“Several times to my knowledge. Rodney has never cared much for whether a woman was attached. Hence my previous comment about his plans on you.”
My opinion of the groundskeeper transformed. I thought it was one thing to tryst about and entirely another to do it when one of the people trysting was married.
“Does Mr. Horace know?” I hoped he did and that it was an agreed-upon arrangement.
“He does, but Margaret hasn’t got a clue he’s aware,” Callum replied.
“But you trust him?”
“Rodney? To run the grounds of Willowfield? Absolutely. The bastard knows more about the gardens than anyone else but myself, and I haven’t the time to tend to them. His proclivities have always been his own and never affected me or this house until now.” His tone suggested that Rodney had become a problem he would have to figure out.
I leaned into him. “Let’s not think about those things right now,” I said, trying to retrieve the previous mood we’d been enjoying.
“What shall we do instead?” Callum asked, his voice low. The encounter with Rodney had put a new look in his eye, a jealous one. He took me in now as though he would have me on a table in the middle of a crowded banquet just to show the world I was his. For the second time that morning I was at risk of being ravished in the middle of a garden. My own desire responded, so I took his hands and began to lead him toward the greenhouse.
“We’ll think of something,” I said.
Chapter 22
We stumbled out of the greenhouse an hour later, as thunderclouds began to move in, darkening the landscape, but not our elated spirits. Still dressing, Callum rushed me to get my things, but even as he insisted I hurry, he delayed me in his arms to place kisses on my cheeks.
“You are my blessing,” he said. “Who knows, perhaps there’s some magic in this place after all.”
“If there isn’t now, there will be,” I said, looking into his eyes and promising with all my heart.
