Jaxon openedthe door to reveal a spacious sitting room bathed in soft light as the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon rose over the hills. Plush chairs upholstered in deep green surrounded a low table carved with curling vines, and a thick rug warmed the stone beneath her slippers. Shelves lined one wall, already filled with books and small treasures, while a hearth stood ready for evening fires.
Gracie breathedin and said softly, “It is a very lovely room.”
He turnedto April and said, “This is where ye will be able to find yer mistress. For now, Brianna will show ye to yer room in the servant quarters.”
“Callfor me if ye need me, Lady McMillan” April said.
She nodded to Gracie,her eyes shining with pride, and followed Brianna from the chambers without protest. The door closed behind them with a muted thud, leaving Gracie alone with her new husband. The quiet settled thickly, filled only by the distant sounds of the castle’s life.
Gracie driftedacross the sitting chamber, fingertips brushing carved wood and embroidered cushions as though to assure herself it was real. Everything gleamed with care and wealth, and she felt suddenly small within its grandeur, a girl from a humbler keep stepping into a laird’s world. She crossed to the tall window and looked down upon the courtyard where horses were being led away and servants hurried about their tasks. Beyond the walls, the river curved like a silver ribbon through green fields, glittering under the moonlight and the sight stole her breath.
She thoughtof her childhood rooms at Castle McDougal, modest yet warm, and felt a pang for the safety they had always promised. This place was beautiful, yet vast, and it whispered of expectations she did not yet understand.
WillI be equal to this, or will these walls one day echo with me failures?
Her hand driftedto the mole near her eye, and she forced herself to lower it.
“Are ye pleased, lass?”he asked, his voice low and steady.
Gracie turned from the window,meeting his eyes. “Aye, I am,” she replied, and meant it, though her heart still trembled.
She drew a breath and added,“It feels like a dream, and I fear I’ll wake to find it gone.”
“It is nae a dream,and it will be yers for the rest of yer life.”
His certainty wrappedaround her like a cloak, heavy yet strangely comforting. She studied his face, the strong lines and steady gaze, and wondered if she might one day believe him without question.
“Thank ye,”she said quietly, unsure what else to offer in this moment between strangers bound by vows.
Gracie returned to the window,but now she stood taller, imagining herself walking those battlements and greeting those servants as their Lady. The castle no longer completely new, but full of possibility, like a book whose first page had just been turned. She did not know what her marriage would become, yet a small spark of hope stirred within her. Perhaps, in time, this grand place would feel like home.
Jaxon pushed openanother door from the sitting room.
“And this is our bedchamber.”Warm firelight revealed a romantic space, with a great canopy bed draped in pale linen, a hearth crackling softly at the far wall, and a small table with two carved chairs set beside a window.
Rich tapestries hungbetween stone columns, and candles cast a golden glow across polished wood and embroidered cushions. Gracie halted in the doorway, cheeks blooming pink as she took it in.
“Ourbedchamber?”she asked, voice barely above a whisper. “As in… we both sleep here?”
Jaxon lifted a brow,a hint of amusement touching his eyes. “Aye, ye are me wife, are ye nae?”
She claspedher hands before her and said quickly, “I am nae ready to perform me marital duties, me laird, for I have only just met ye this very day.”
A smirk tuggedat his mouth, and he replied, “Are these the same terms ye would have given me brother?”
Heat rushed to her face,and she snapped, “I daenae ken, for yer brother left me at the altar.”
Jaxon’s gaze hardened,and he said, “He is a bampot, and his loss is me gain.”
Gracie drewin a breath and asked, “Why would ye marry me when ye could have anyone ye wished?”
He stepped closerand answered simply, “Why would I want anyone else?”
Her heart began to pound,hope fluttering in her chest at the thought that he might truly find her comely. For a fleeting moment, she imagined that perhaps she was not as unwanted as she had always believed.
Then Jaxon added,almost casually, “I need a maither for me daughters, and ye will do just fine.”
The words struckher like a chill wind, and she echoed, “Daughters?”
