A maxine? Oh! “A vaccine?”
“Aye, that.”
“Does he think he can really make one?”
“He seems to think so. ‘Tis a boon,aye?”
“If true, yes.”
“Have faith. The mon has not let you downyet.”
An expression he couldna name stole o’erVeronica’s face. “You’re right,” she said. “He’s much like you inthat way.”
Lachlan’s eyes glittered. “Do you meanthis?”
“I do.”
His heartbeat picked up. The woman had thepower to turn him to mush with her words alone. He dinna kenwhether to smile from that knowledge or frown because of it. Hesettled on a grunt.
His wife grinned. “It amuses me that I knowwhat your noises mean just by the look in your eyes while you makethem.”
“You ken me that well, eh?”
“I do.” Her countenance grew serious. “And Ivery much like all that I know to be true about you.”
There went his bedamned heartbeat again.Aye, his wife had bewitched him. Leastways, he could think of worsefates.
Chapter Twenty
It had been a happy, if long, day. Catrionaand Victor had decided to marry tomorrow morning rather than wait afew more days. As a result, the castle had been abuzz with lastminute preparations for most of the late afternoon and into theearly evening. Poor Maisie and her crew would likely be up untilthe wee hours of the morning preparing foodstuffs.
A messenger had been sent into the villageboth to announce the upcoming festivities to the clanspeople aswell as to retrieve Father Archer who had been busily christeningthe newest additions to Clan Gunn. By the time Veronica and Lachlanmade it up to their bedroom, the sun had set and servants had litcandles for them all over the place so they could see what waswhat.
Veronica still hadn’t gotten a chance tospeak with Victor. Now that he was marrying in the morning, shedoubted she’d get him alone for a while. Still, he was going tohave to make the time to talk, newly married or not, because theywould be conversing come hell or high water. She wanted to knowwhat was going on at the Campbells’ and she wanted to hear it fromthe horse’s mouth. And a vaccine? Or, she thought on a smile, amaxine? It seemed too much to hope for, yet she found herselfhoping regardless.
“’Twas a fine eve,” Lachlan announced as hepulled off his boots. “Mum seems both intrigued and scandalized byyour hellion attire.”
She could only snort at that as she removedthe clothes in question, set them on her nightstand, and crawledinto bed. Lachlan was so busy removing his own clothes that hehadn’t noticed she’d failed to put on a chemise. Suddenly feeling abit nervous, Veronica pulled up the covers. Good grief. She wasacting like a skittish vir—
Oh lord. What if Lachlan expected her to bea virgin? The memory of him cutting his own hand to put blood onthe sheets returned. Apparently that was a big deal in this world.What if, post-consummation, he somehow knew she wasn’t one andrejected her as his wife because of it? Her nostrils flared at thethought. How dare he make her care about him and then leave her?How dare he—
Stop it, Veronica! You’re working yourselfup into a fit over something that hasn’t even happened yet.
“I’m not a virgin.” The words just hungthere like a dark cloud on an otherwise sunny day. It felt likeforever before Lachlan glanced over to meet her gaze. Sheimmediately wished she could take back her confession as he strodetoward the bed and hovered over her. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want alie between us.”
He was silent for a long moment. “Did youlove this mon?”
She swallowed, wide-eyed. Actually there hadbeen three men and one woman, but she figured he didn’t need toknow all that. There was honesty and then there was good oldfashioned stupidity. She stuck with honesty. “No. There was no lovebetween us.” That much was true of all her past lovers. It had justbeen sex, a physical release.
“Good,” Lachlan said, surprising her. “Idinna think you were a virgin nor did I care.”
“Why didn’t you think I was a virgin?”
“Virgins dinna come. Oh and you are tooold.”
“Old?!”
She could see his grin in the candlelight.“’Tis not an insult, wife. You are the most beautiful of lasses,whether twenty-nine, twenty, or one hundred.”
