“I see we are of a like mind about this,” Kendrick said. “Are you willing to marry me?”
Alyssa took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I’ve only known you an hour or so.”
“But your friends have known me much longer. One of your friends is my mother. Do you really think she’d have raised a son who would be a bad husband?”
Alyssa smiled. “I know she wouldn’t. I do want to marry, but…how do I know you’re the right man?”
“Because anyone else you marry will ask many questions, you’ll be incapable of answering. I already understand your background and where you came from because my brother and father are married to close friends of yours. I’m the safe option.”
Alyssa stopped walking and looked at him, really seeing him for he first time. He was a large, strong man, and he had a little dimple at the corner of his mouth that sent her heart fluttering. His muscles seemed to have muscles, and she knew it wasn’t because he spent all his spare time in a gym lifting weights. No, he was strong and muscular because work had made him that way. If only she knew how his kisses felt, she’d be able to answer quickly. “What do you do? I know you don’t lead the clan…” She hoped he wasn’t just a wastrel, living out his life with his family name leading the way.
“I am in charge of training the McClain men. Bryson found he was too busy with a need to deal with animals who are predators. I believe it was my grandfather who started the trend of having another member of the family train the men. He needed to so he could deal with healing. Now it is something every generation does. The powers the laird gets are too good to be wasted by a man who is busy training his men.”
Alyssa nodded. It was good to know he worked hard to contribute to his clan. “Will you kiss me?” she asked. “If I know I like your kisses, then I can agree with marrying you. Otherwise, we’ll have to spend months getting to know one another, and that won’t be fun for either of us.”
He stepped toward her, cupping her face in his hands. When his lips lowered onto hers, she didn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t what happened. Stars appeared before her closed eyes, and she wanted nothing more than to be close to him. Never in her life had she enjoyed a man’s kisses, but this guy? Wow.
When he raised his head, he saw that her eyes were still closed, and they didn’t seem to be in any hurry to open. “I ask again. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
Alyssa nodded her head, a smile just barely touching her lips. “I’ll marry you.” When her eyes opened, he could see the excitement in them, and he realized he’d done a good job kissing her.
“By the time we get back to the keep, I’m certain my mother will have already called for a feast. We share a priest with the Campbell Clan, who are the people of my great-grandmother. She is still with us. Her son keeps her and all the family healthy.”
“Heather won’t call for the priest without an answer from us, will she?”
Kendrick chuckled. “She’s already done it. The ceremony will be soon after we arrive.”
Alyssa sighed. “I don’t even get to plan my own wedding?”
“Be thankful it is my mother and your friend Holli planning the wedding. It means you will have Irish Nachos for your wedding feast.”
Alyssa couldn’t stop a grin from covering her face. “I guess Heather figured out how to grow the needed plants.”
“She did. I must tell you as we walk. We will live in a plain cottage like the rest of the clan. It will have three rooms. Does that change your mind about marrying me?”
Alyssa shrugged. “I left a six-bedroom house to find my destiny. If I’d wanted it that badly, I’d still be living in it.”
“And so, you would.”
“All right let’s go back to the keep and see what they’ve done to get ready for our wedding,” she said. “I hope you’re wrong, and they’ll leave at least a bit of it for me, but I doubt it.”
His arm went around her shoulders as he opened the front door of the keep. They walked in to see people bustling every which way.
One of the cooks, stopped and looked Alyssa up and down. “Ye best get above stairs. Lady Heather and Lady McClain are waiting ta dress ye for the wedding.”
Alyssa looked at Kendrick once more. “I’ll show you to the master bedroom,” he said. “I’m certain that’s where Mother and Holli are waiting.” Kendrick hurried up the stairs with Alyssa trailing behind him.
When he reached the top, he turned left, and knocked on the door there. Heather stuck her head out. “There you are! Wedding’s in fifteen, so we need to get you into a McClain kilt.”
Alyssa sighed. “You were supposed to wait for me to make a decision.” Wasn’t it just like Heather and Holli to make the decision for her? She remembered now why she hadn’t missed them for a week or two after they’d left.
Holli shrugged. “No time to argue now.” There was a blue dress in the McClain colors lying across the bed. “Strip to your slip, and we’ll get this on you quick.”
Alyssa realized there was no point fighting the two of them. She may as well go along, since she had done what they expected of her anyway. She stripped off the dress that she realized wasn’t at all like what Heather and Holli wore, though she’d been sure she’d had her dress made for the correct time. Perhaps they knew less about how the medieval Scots had dressed than she’d realized.
Once she was in the plaid of the clan, she went through the pockets of the dress she’d worn. “Where do I put thesethings?” she asked. “I don’t want anyone to stumble on them accidentally.”
“There’s a trunk under the bed,” Holli said. “All of the future stuff we bring goes there. You can take a phone back to your cottage of course, but you’ll have to keep it hidden yourself.”
