Page 8 of A Bride for the Wicked Highlander (Daring a Highland Laird #2)

I ’ll never remember all of these.

Maddie sat on a bench in the gardens, the gray stone dappled with patches of lichen that she studied absently, making further notes in her mind: bleached whites, camouflaged grays, bright yellows, and rich browns.

Enjoying the afternoon sunlight that had deigned to shine upon this corner of Scotland, she bit into an apple as she sifted through the mental catalogue she’d put together.

She would have made notes of all the plants and flowers that grew in these complex gardens, but it had been drizzling when she’d come out, and there was nothing worse than hours of work being ruined by the rain.

Nothing calms a tempestuous mind so well as a garden.

She sighed contentedly and leaned back against the bench, chewing the juicy, tart apple as she let the sunshine caress her face. She’d known this would ease her nerves, and though it had taken most of the morning and afternoon to reach a place of serenity, she’d finally achieved it.

I’m safe here. Safer than I would be at Castle MacLogan with Grace. Safer than I would be at Horndean. No one will find me here.

The wedding was tomorrow and, seeing as Oscar was announcing it to the council, it seemed like she was out of danger. Her father hadn’t suddenly made an appearance, and even if he were to find out, he wouldn’t make it to Castle Muir in time to prevent it.

“Madeleine Arabella Huxley!” A familiar voice splintered her peace, her heart jolting into her throat as she spun around, almost choking on a mouthful of apple.

Across the jeweled grass, the blades swaying in the cold breeze, Grace marched toward her with a face like thunder. “What in heaven’s name do you think you’re doing?”

She wasn’t alone, followed at a slower pace by her husband, Hunter, and Maddie’s future husband. As if the men knew better than to get in the middle of whatever was about to be unleashed.

“Grace?” Maddie jumped up, wiping apple juice on her trousers. “What are you doing here?”

Grace wagged a finger. “No, Maddie, you answer my question first.”

“But... how can you be here?” Maddie asked desperately, ignoring her dear friend’s words. “Does anyone else know you’re here? Is my father with you?”

Grace halted, resting her hands on her hips, her frown deepening. “Why would your father be here?”

Swallowing thickly, Maddie told the brief version of the events that had carried her across the country to the west coast. “I’m not too proud to say that I panicked, Gracie,” she concluded. “I saw that carriage and I took leave of my senses. I needed to get as far from Horndean as I could.”

“Yes, well, you panicked Miss Sutton too,” Grace said, shaking her head.

“She sent Lilian to us in the middle of the night, claiming you’d been kidnapped by a man in a cart.

In truth, that was a misunderstanding on Lilian’s part— she thought you’d been kidnapped, but Miss Sutton explained you were willingly on your way to Kilmarnock, though she hadn’t the faintest idea why. ”

Maddie blinked. “How did she know that?”

“She had one of the girls posted at the entrance, in case you returned while she was trying to get rid of your father,” Grace explained. “The girl passed the message on to Miss Sutton who, in turn, passed it to Lilian, who passed it to us.” She exhaled in a rush, breathless by the end.

“Aye, nae everyone is like Hunter here, kidnappin’ lasses,” Oscar interjected with a cold smile, gaining a glare from Hunter.

“I didnae kidnap me wife,” Hunter replied bluntly. “I invited her to stay in me castle, and she came. I sent a carriage for her, which is more than can be said for ye.”

Oscar rolled his eyes. “I dinnae ken she was comin’ to me. Ye’ve seen us together; would ye ever have expected her to come to me willingly?”

A flicker of amusement softened Hunter’s scowl, a faint laugh spilling from his lips in huffing breaths. “Nay, ye’ve a point there.”

“Yes, he does have a point,” Grace urged, taking hold of Maddie’s hands, squeezing them as she searched her friend’s face. “Why didn’t you come to me, Maddie? We would have kept you safe at Castle MacLogan. I doubt your father would have searched there. He doesn’t know anything about us, does he?”

Maddie plucked a few of the more interesting garden plants out of her memory, silently reciting the details she’d noticed: the shape of the leaves, the presence of thorns, the depth of the roots, the unique texture of the stems and stalks.

Anything to calm her racing mind, which threatened to stampede toward complete and utter panic.

“I wrote to my sister after your wedding,” she whispered, while her mind circled the merits of flat-leaf parsley for aiding digestion.

“I was... excited for you, and she is always writing to ask if I have any interesting stories to tell. I finally had one. I don’t know if she told my father, but.

.. I couldn’t take the chance. As I say, I saw his carriage outside the school, and I lost all sense of reason. ”

“I thought ye didnae like yer sister,” Oscar said, tilting his head as he looked at her.

Maddie cleared her dry throat, wishing she had a cup of that delicious juice from breakfast. “It’s... more complicated than that. I love my sister very much.”

“Then, why were ye so against bein’ made to stay with her, servin’ her?” Oscar asked, as she had known he would.

But that part of her history wasn’t something she was prepared to discuss.

She’d barely allowed Grace and Lilian to pry it out of her, knowing how silly and weak it would make her seem.

Of course, her friends had sympathized and supported her, making their displeasure known on her behalf, but she didn’t need everyone else to know.

“Is that what your father commanded?” Grace asked, brushing a lock of hair out of Maddie’s face. “For you to go and serve your sister?”

“That or marry anyone who’d have me,” Maddie replied with a nod, her voice edged with bitterness.

“He didn’t care that I ran away when he had Colette’s happy news to appease him.

He didn’t care that I was at a school for wayward ladies when he thought it would fix me.

But I suspect my mother has badgered him, and now he cares about my future.

A future where I will never be permitted to learn as I please. ”

All the bluster abandoned Grace as she moved forward, pulling Maddie into her arms, hugging her tightly. Holding back any hint of a tear, fighting to suppress the geyser of feeling that surged through her, Maddie held her friend in return.

Goodness, how I’ve missed you.

She had always been good at putting her emotions into boxes, storing them away in the attic of her mind where they gathered dust. Of course, she had thought of her newly married friend often throughout her exploits at St. Andrews and Edinburgh, but the true weight of Grace’s absence hadn’t hit her until that moment.

After all, Grace and Lilian were like sisters to Maddie.

They’d been there to discuss everything and anything, championing Maddie’s plans, offering suggestions, but that had all changed when Grace married Hunter.

And Maddie hadn’t quite realized how important that constant presence of her friends had truly been.

Lilian was still at Horndean, true, but it wasn’t the same, both of them given separate rooms, barely able to steal a moment to talk between their respective work at the school.

Then, of course, Maddie had gone off to try and be a scholar, isolating herself from her friends entirely.

“But, my dearest Maddie,” Grace said quietly, pulling back, “you hate men. Why would you propose marriage to one that you seem to dislike more than most? All I can conclude is that you’re not in your right mind, and I must take you home with me at once.”

Home...

There had been a time when that meant Horndean.

“Because I knew he might need a bride,” Maddie replied stiffly. “And he is the only person I know who is this far away from the school, and unknown to my parents.”

Grace puffed out a strained breath, chewing her lip in consternation.

“Well, I can understand the impulse to run, now that you’ve explained it, but surely you don’t mean to go through with this.

” She gestured back to Hunter. “My husband has countless places where we can hide you until your father gives up.”

“Nay one is takin’ me bride anywhere,” Oscar said gruffly, his arms folded over his broad, muscular chest. “I’ve just convinced the council that a Sassenach isnae a bad thing to have in the Lady of Muir, and I’m nae about to believe I wasted me breath. I have a stake in this too, now.”

Grace whirled around. “What stake?”

“A stern message to a bothersome Laird,” Oscar replied, his gray eyes fixed on Maddie. “But go on, do continue to discuss why I’m nae suitable and why me bride hates me. I’m fascinated.”

“Your manners, for one thing,” Grace said with a click of her tongue. “Can we not have some privacy?”

The bride in question found herself staring at the corded neck of her future husband, her gaze wandering down, unbidden, to that open triangle of scarred and sun-browned skin.

The definition of his chest was all the more obvious in the afternoon sunlight.

Arms so thick and powerful, she wondered how he’d held her in that carriage, all those weeks ago, without crushing her.

Grace grabbed Maddie by the arm, leading her further across the lawn, to a rather barren patch of flowerbeds that would undoubtedly bloom gloriously in the springtime: snowdrops, hyacinths, Irish lady’s tresses, orchids, and roses.

A bare cherry blossom stood watch over them, the wind muttering its disapproval of the men through the wintry branches. At least, Maddie imagined it was.

“You can’t marry him, Maddie,” Grace whispered.

“Certainly not tomorrow. You need time to think, for that exemplary brain of yours to come up with an alternative. If you rush into this, you won’t be able to get out of it, and I can’t bear to think of you stuck in a marriage with a man you can’t abide. ”

Maddie flashed her friend a sad smile. Did Grace really think she hadn’t considered all the options? Did Grace think she hadn’t gone through the same doubts over and over, frustrated that her “exemplary brain” couldn’t think of anything better each and every time?

“You don’t know my father,” she said softly.

“He is a remarkably powerful man and well connected. If I don’t take matters into my own hands, he will find me, and he will make me return to London.

I can’t go back there to be paraded around in front of scornful gentlemen who won’t listen to anything I have to say.

Nor will I spend a moment in the same house as my sister’s husband, to suffer a different kind of unease. ”

Grace looked to the sky, perhaps for inspiration. “Do you find him at all appealing? Laird Muir, I mean.”

“That doesn’t interest me,” Maddie replied.

“So, you don’t think him handsome?”

Maddie’s gaze drifted back to where Oscar and Hunter still stood, a short distance from the bench where she’d left her half-eaten apple. They were deep in discussion and she could guess the topic, the two of them probably having the same conversation as the two women, more or less.

So, she wasn’t expecting Oscar to turn at that moment, flashing her a wink.

“I hadn’t noticed,” Maddie muttered, immediately returning her attention to Grace. Her stomach felt a little strange, making her wonder if the apple had been too sour.

Grace frowned. “Really? Even I can admit he’s handsome.”

“Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. All I know is that Oscar has made assurances and that is all I am concerned with,” Maddie said, a note too quickly. “I insisted upon it before I concluded that this was my best option. He will allow me my education. Indeed, he has promised to arrange it for me.”

Grace’s head dropped, eyeing Maddie suspiciously. “Why would he do that? I confess, I don’t know him well, but he hardly seems like the kind of man who would help someone without gaining something in return.”

“He helped Ellie for no reason other than to aid his friend,” Maddie pointed out. “He helped you with John, too. He’d have killed him if you’d have asked him to.”

Why am I defending him? Clearly, she had lost more of her sane mind than she had thought.

Grace blushed a little, lowering her gaze. “Yes, I suppose I can’t argue there.” She scuffed the toe of her boot against the grass. “But he has asked for something in return, hasn’t he?”

“This benefits me as much as it benefits him,” Maddie replied, remaining as vague as possible. “He will do as he pleases once we’re married, and so will I. That’s the agreement. I won’t protest his rakish ways, and he will facilitate my education.”

And have his child, at some point…

She was trying her best not to remember that part, choosing instead to think of the two years she had put between that moment and now.

Two years was a long time. Anything could happen in that time.

By then, he might not care for the idea of having a child with her, barely remembering that he had a wife at all.

“Oh...” Grace blinked, her eyes almost as wide as Lilian’s huge blue eyes. “Oh... so you will be at liberty to study while he... um... entertains other company?”

Against her will, Maddie found her gaze drawn back to her future husband. Her stomach twinged again as she met his eye, and his eyebrow rose up in a challenge.

Digging her fingernails into her palms, clenching her fists as tightly as she could, Maddie replied, “Exactly.”

“And... you don’t mind that?” Grace asked, furrowing her brow.

Maddie flashed a cold smile back at Oscar. “No. Not in the slightest. Indeed, I’m counting on it.”

Otherwise, how was she ever going to convince him that he ought to have an heir with someone else, raised as their own in name only?

They might have been having their wedding tomorrow, but that didn’t mean they ever needed to have a wedding night.

After all, he needed to uphold his end of the bargain first; she would insist upon it.