Page 20 of The Laird’s Wrong Wife

Ceana nodded and then left.

The housekeeper waited a short distance down the passageway, her attention moving from Ceana’s warm face to the closed door behind her.

“Do ye require anythin’, me Lady?” she asked.

“Sleep. Lots of it.”

The older woman touched her arm briefly before leading her toward the stairs.

Ceana kept one hand closed around the one Oscar had shaken. Before she reached the first step, his voice carried from the study as he summoned Lennan and ordered the final contract prepared at dawn.

There was no going back now.

CHAPTER 6

Ceana stopped beside the chair at Oscar’s right hand.

Is this really necessary?

At supper the previous evening, she had eaten alone in her chamber. This morning, the servants had given her the position of a future wife before the household had heard the official announcement.

A maid adjusted the cup near her plate and withdrew. Two others continued setting breakfast on the sideboard, though their gazes flicked between Ceana and Oscar. Meanwhile, the housekeeper supervised them slowly from the far end of the room.

Oscar sat at the head of the table as if returning from a festival with an unexpected bride belonged to the ordinary business of ruling MacKane Castle. When he reached for his cup, Ceana remembered those same fingers closing around hers across the contract. The memory brought warmth to her palm before she pressed it against her gown.

She took the chair without asking whether she should.

Paisley sat straight-backed across from her, already dressed for lessons. Tommy occupied the chair beside his sister, while Ness hid beneath the table. The boy tore a piece from his oatcake and lowered one hand.

Oscar looked at him.

Tommy placed the oatcake on his own plate and whispered to the tablecloth, “He saw me.”

Paisley nudged his cup closer before he could spill it with his elbow. The small correction seemed seamless, as if she’d done it many times before. Tommy drank and left a pale line of milk across his upper lip.

Once the servants had finished pouring ale and setting down the warm dishes, Oscar placed his cup on the table.

“Ceana Tulloch will become Lady MacKane,” he announced. “We will marry in one week.”

Ceana turned toward him. She had agreed to the marriage and the terms in the drafted contract, but she had not agreed to marry in seven days.

Oscar glanced at the housekeeper. “Prepare the invitations and send word to our allies. Use the list from our last formal gatherin’.”

The housekeeper paused with one hand on the back of an empty chair. Her eyebrows rose slightly. “Will Lady Ceana’s parents arrive before the date is fixed, me Laird?”

“The contract and invitation will reach them together.”

Her gaze shifted to Ceana for one brief moment before she inclined her head. “Aye, me Laird.”

She began discussing stores with a servant, though the faint tightening around her mouth made her opinion of Oscar’s decision clear enough.

Ceana looked across the table at the children. Oscar had announced the marriage before them and ordered half the household into action without asking how either child felt about another woman taking their mother’s place. She wouldn’t do that.

“What do ye think of this?” she asked.

Tommy smiled at once. “Does that mean ye will stay here forever?”

“If the agreement holds, I intend to remain.”