Page 37 of The Lyon Deception

“Do you want to ask her to come north with us?” Rory asked his wife. “She would be company for you when I’m not there.”

Jennie had learned that her reckless nephew had settled down a great deal. These days he was more likely to be found seeing to the tenants and mediating in any disputes that flared up than causing mischief.

“Do you think she would come?” Grace’s brown eyes brightened as she looked up at him. “I would dearly love her there with me.”

“Then we shall ask her,” Rory replied. “And if she says no, then we will kidnap her.”

Jennie choked on a laugh. Perhaps Rory had not changed that much after all, she thought, as she joined her sister where she sat, a little apart, watching on.

“It is good to see the next generations enjoying themselves at Bonnyrigg,” Luna said. “But I can remember when things at the castle were very different.” Their father, the old duke, might be long gone, but there had been a time when the two sisters had been at odds. That was until Maxwell had arrived, the handsome new gamekeeper, and stolen Luna’s heart.

“I remember when you married Maxwell,” Jennie said with a faraway smile. “You were so in love with him. Silly with it. And then you went off into the forest and lived like wild animals.”

“We were free,” Luna retorted, “and nothing like wild animals. I remember you marrying James. The tears you shed when you thought he was betrothed to someone else! It was always him for you.”

“Just look at their faces,” Jennie nudged her and nodded in the direction of the happy couple. Cat was radiant, and Sinclair held her hand, looking down at her as if he couldn’t believe his luck. “It brings back memories.”

“And it is thanks to Cat, and to Sinclair, that we have Bonnyrigg safe again,” Luna said, her voice trembling with emotion. “What a lovely boy he is, and perfect for Cat. He will always watch over her, and she will always care for him.”

“Everything has ended just as it should.”

“Not quite,” Luna said with a smile. “We should dance with our husbands.”

“Yes, let’s show everyone we are not as old as we look.”

Luna snorted a laugh and set off after her sister.

Cat’s tower room had been cleaned and aired, ready for her wedding night. They had danced and celebrated well into the night, and she was tired, but so happy. She had come up here first, to be dressed in her nightgown by loving hands, and then Sinclair had arrived, carried by her exuberant brothers.

Callum shooed them out when the teasing became too rowdy, and as he closed the door he gave Cat a wink. And then finally, at last, they were alone.

“Are you sure they are really gone?” Sinclair asked, turning his head on the pillow to look at her.

She laughed. “Yes, they are. I’m sorry—they are a lot, but they are only like that because they think of you as one of them.”

“Rory seems to be enjoying his stewardship of my grandfather’s land.”

“It has done him good,” Cat agreed. “He has made it his own. It’s rather wild up there, just like him. Grace says that Harriet will be joining them. At least she can’t get into any mischief in so isolated a place.”

Sinclair wasn’t sure about that. He had never told Cat about Harriet’s advice to him. If it weren’t for her, he may not have gone to the Lyon’s Den and revealed his true self to Cat. He wasn’t sure what he would have done.

Cat wrapped one of his curls around her finger. “Thank you for giving us back our home. We are so grateful. I feel as if I should apologize for ever thinking you were a wastrel and a scoundrel.”

“Ah no, Cat,” he protested, rolling closer to take her in his arms. “It is because of you that I have become the man I am. You have made me want to be better.”

She kissed him, and after a moment the kisses grew warmer and more urgent. They had shared many heated kisses in the last months, and sometimes he had not wanted to stop. It was only the thought of this night, of making it special for Cat, that had made him draw back. He needed to be slow and gentle. The perfect husband.

But to his surprise, Cat did not seem to want gentle. She kissed him again, deep and messy kisses. “I am burning up for you,” she whispered then, pressing her face into his throat. “I can’t stand it, Sinclair. Will you make me yours?”

His body responded instantly, and he groaned. “I want that,” he said.

Cat sat up and flung off her nightgown, and there she was, gloriously naked. Her breasts tipped with pink nipples, her creamy skin perfect as she leaned over him. “I thought about creeping into your chamber,” she admitted. There was a flush on her cheeks.

He was having trouble breathing. “I thought about taking you down into the forest,” he admitted roughly. “But I knew that once would not be enough.”

She had begun to unbutton his shirt. “How many times will be enough?” she asked him. Her face changed as she ran her hands over his chest and bent to kiss his overheated skin.

“I don’t think I have a—a figure in my head,” he managed, fumbling with his breeches, his gaze on her body.