Caden found himself wondering how a gently bred lady had such calloused hands.
Shouldnae she be spending her time needlepointing all day or something?
“As with this cord, ye’ll be bound together through strength and unity,” the priest was saying. “Now, do ye, Caden Hunt, Laird of Clan MacCabe Clan, take Lady Ava Dougal to be yer lawfully wedded wife? Do ye promise to lead, protect, and care for her until yer dying day?”
Caden’s chest tightened. He looked at his bride to gauge her reaction to the priest’s words. There was none. Her was chin lifted with quiet resolve, but her gaze was fixed ahead rather than upon him.
Another chill ran down his spine.
Ava.
“I do.” He looked back at the priest, afraid of what her expression would do to him.
“And do ye, Lady Ava Dougal, niece of Archibald Dougal, the Laird MacFinn of MacFinn Clan take Caden Hunt, Laird of Clan MacCabe, to be yer lawfully wedded husband? Do ye promise to honor, respect, and care for him until yer dying day?”
Caden looked back at her.
“I do.” Ava’s cold eyes held his gaze.
At the priest’s nod, Caden drew his dirk and, with one clean stroke, cut the cord that had bound them, a gesture sealing the contract even as it freed their hands.
Cheers erupted. Ava glared at everyone celebrating.
Caden would rather have faced her fiery anger instead.
The world went quiet. Ava hated that she could hear her heartbeat in her ears the second she heard Caden’s name. She hated his large, muscular figure. She hated his deep brown eyes, which seemed to look right through her.
The Hunt brothers and the Dougal sisters had spent part of their childhood together until Caden had gone off to school to get a proper education before assuming his responsibilities as heir.
Finlay had never talked about Caden much after he left. Ava had not seen him since they were children. Now he had a mask over his face.
Clearly, there were a lot of things her best friend had not discussed with her.
She had not thought to ask about Caden. She and Finlay had been friends and nothing more. They both liked it that way.
Curse that man for abandoning me. Now, me plans are ruined. I’m stuck with a man I notdaenae ken and havenae spoken to since we were bairns. Now I’m supposed to marry him? Curse ye, Finlay!
And as for Caden? Her husband would never get the better of her. She did not know him well enough, and she had no intention of getting to know him either. Her life and freedom would be her own.
Caden Hunt will never have me heart.
Ava had never thought much of wedding vows. She had been so adamant about not getting married that she had never truly considered them. When the priest started listing the things she would do for her new husband, she prayed silently that obedience was not in the list. To her surprise and pleasure, it was not.
She found it relatively easy to say I do and put the ring on her groom’s finger. She could not help but feel the calluses on his fingers when he slid a small silver band onto her finger.
Rough hands from work and war…
“By the power vested in me by the King of Scots, I pronounce ye man and wife. Ye may kiss yer bride.”
Ava swallowed back her breakfast before looking at her husband. Her breath caught halfway up her throat. Caden’s eyes wereboring into hers, a soft smirk playing at the corners of his lips. And he was close. Too close. Surely he was not planning to…Oh dear. Caden looked like hewantedto kiss her.
He stepped even closer, if that was possible, his tall frame towering over her. His rough hand came up to cup her face. She tilted her chin to look up at him. Everything around them disappeared as he slowly leaned down to kiss her. Their lips were merely a hair’s breath from each other.
Ava felt herself leaning into him. She could not really tell why. Maybe it was the hungry look in his eyes, or the way he smelled of soap and something else, something manly that she had never noticed before on any other man…No! Of course not. It was just the crowd’s expectations of her leading her.
It was definitely not the way she noticed how hard his muscles must be, how his chest seemed extremely big compared to her, how his eyes roamed over her face.
She could not stand to look at him any longer, so she let her eyes flutter shut.
