“Why areye nae excited to be gettin’ married?” Hallie asked. “Is it because there is someone else ye’d rather be with?”
“It doesnae matter.He doesnae want to be with me. If he did, he wouldnae have just dropped me off without a word. He wouldnae have given me that stupid necklace,” Madison reached for the silver chain around her neck and yanked it off. She’d been wearing it since Boyd put it on her, and now, it felt like a noose around her neck. If she was to be married to another, she couldn’t wear something reminding her of another life.
“What was his name again?The laird ye mumble in yer sleep?” Hallie asked.
“Ye cannae make me say it,”Madison said.
“Laird McPeon?”Hallie asked as she nudged Madison playfully with her elbow.
“MacLeon,”Madison corrected.
“Aye,that’s the one. He’s the one at the house.”
“What?”Madison jumped to her feet. “And ye only now decided to mention that to me?”
“I couldnae think of it before,”Hallie answered as she stood and dusty the grass from her dress. “But he’s at the house negotiatin’ for yer hand.”
“If ye’re lyin’to me, I will smother ye in yer sleep with a pillow,” Madison answered as she turned on her heels and started back for the cottage.
Hope madeher lighter than air as she raced along the dirt path. Every fiber in her being jolted as if she’d been hit with electricity the moment she caught sight of Theodore’s horse tied to her parent’s post. She skidded to a stop and rubbed her eyes ensuring she wasn’t hallucinating. Her pulse fluttered sporadically as she started for the cottage.
“Then we have an agreement,”she heard her father proclaim. Anger sliced through Madison as she pushed through the door.
“Naewithout me say in the matter, ye daenae,” she snapped as she charged into the cottage. Her heart dropped to the pit ofher stomach the second she saw him. Theodore. He stood in the corner near the fire as if he’d been made out of the house. How he managed to fit inside was beyond her. He always seemed so much bigger to her.
“And here’sthe happy bride to be as we speak,” her father said as he guided her over to Theodore.
“Laird MacLeon has askedfor yer hand,” her father whispered into her ear. The words sounded foreign. There was no way Theodore was standing before her. She had to be dreaming.
“Lady Madison.”Her name dripped off his tongue like it was honey and a balm to her soul. It seeped into every broken bit of her and solidified like resin. She wanted to throw herself in to his arms. “I ken that ye’ve only just returned to yer family, but I was hopin’ that ye’d come and be me family.”
Madison’s chesttightened as she glanced over at her parents. They shared the same eager expression as if they were hanging on every word that escaped her lips.
“CanI please have a moment alone with the laird?” Madison asked. Her parents stood straighter, both shocked at the request but were eager to comply. She watched her father usher her mother from the cottage, leaving her alone with the laird.
She swallowed hard,hoping that she’d have the courage to look at him directly. Despite how intimidating he was in size, he reminded her of one of the orphans, so vulnerable and weak.
“Madison,come back with me and stay,” he said as he inched closer.
“Ye left with nay word,nay hope, only a necklace,” she grumbled.
“I kenand believe me when I say I hadnae expect to come here,” he confessed. His voice broke with emotion she never heard escape him before. “I thought the necklace would be all that ye’d have to remember me by. And I was alright thinkin’ that.”
“Then why are ye here?”
“It was Sister Marget,”Theodore confessed. “She told me ye were to be married to another. I couldnae stand to think of ye with another. They wouldnae treat ye the way ye rightfully deserve. I came to tell that man that if I heard he violated ye in anyway, he’d answer to me. But then yer father told me I had been misled.”
“Aye,there’s nay one to come for my hand. Mine or me sister’s. The hunt ruined me and ye leavin’ the way ye did, it dinnae help to squash the rumors.”
She watchedas Theodore bobbed his head as if he understood all too well the isolation she had gone through. And as much as she wanted to be angry with him, she couldn’t. It was him after all she craved over everything else. He’d become her rock and safe place. The thought of any other man touching her the way he had done sent her body into a violent tremor.
“I could have handlethe situation differently, I see that now. But what else was I to do? If I kept ye, the rumors would that I stole ye for myself. Then what sort of marriage would we have if I dinnae give ye that choice?”
Madison openedher mouth to respond, only to clamp it shut once again. She looked at him as he dared to steal another step closer to her.
“I dinnae wantto let ye go then, and I daenae have it in me to let ye go now. I’ll go mad thinkin’ another has ye. I cannae promise our life will be easy. But I will promise to love and honor ye.”
Madison tiltedher head as a smile stretched across her lips. “What was that? Say that again.”
