Page 36 of The Highlander’s Auctioned Hellion (Auctioned Highland Brides #4)

ONE MONTH LATER…

“Callum, you will let me get up this instant.”

The Laird’s only response was to tighten his hold on her waist.

“Callum.”

“Mm.”

“I need to get up. Hannah is waiting for me in my bedchamber.”

“Nae important.”

Lydia sighed, glancing behind her at Callum, who was pretending to be fast asleep. She wriggled out from under his arm only to have his thigh descend on her waist, pinning her down.

“It isn’t fair that you use your size against me.”

“Stay in bed. Ye dinnae need to get up.”

“Yes, I do. Mother and Tommy will be here in a few hours. Do you want the castle not to be ready for them?”

“Tommy will just want to play outside with Raven and the girls anyway.”

“Let me up.”

“Urgh, fine, but I demand a kiss as payment.”

Lydia snorted and rolled over, planting a kiss on his lips as Callum groaned.

“What time is it, woman?”

“It’s past seven.”

“ Seven? I am nae gettin’ up before ten.”

“Fine.”

Callum cracked one eye open. “Really?”

“Yes. I shall bring Alexander up here with a large bucket of water and command him to pour it over your head. Would that work better?”

Callum swore at her, pushing the covers off the bed and swinging his legs over the side.

“If ye will keep a man up until dawn, ye shouldnae force him out of bed three hours later.”

“I take no blame for that; it was you keeping me awake, as I recall,” she retorted, pulling on her nightgown and heading to the adjoining door.

“Will you take Tommy to the loch this afternoon?” she asked. “He has been writing to me about seeing the pike for the past month.”

“There is nay pike. But yes, I will take him. Someone should teach the lad how to fish.”

“Father certainly isn’t interested in such things,” she quipped as she opened the door and blew him a kiss before heading through to her bedchamber.

There she found Hannah standing at the foot of the bed, contemplating a large box that had been placed at the end.

“What is that?” Lydia asked.

“I don’t know, my lady, but Kristen brought it up for you; she said that it was a late wedding gift from her and Alexander.”

“Wedding gift? But she has already made me my wedding dress, surely that was gift enough.”

“Shall we open it?” Hannah asked excitedly, and Lydia smiled.

“You open it, let’s see what she has brought me.”

Hannah opened the box, and both women exclaimed excitedly at the exquisite clothes that had been placed inside.

Kristen had made Tommy a full set of Highland clothing, complete with trews, a kilt, a léine, and a greatcoat.

Long woolen stockings completed the look, and Lydia clapped her hands excitedly as Hannah held each item up.

“Oh, they are bonnie!” her maid said. Hannah had begun to speak with Scottish words now and had fully embraced the culture of the Highlands.

Lydia rather suspected she had a sweetheart in the village, too. Her maid had been humming nonstop for days.

“Oh, they are beautiful, I can’t believe Kristen made them,” Lydia said, beyond touched by the gesture. “He will be over the moon.”

“There’s something else underneath,” Hannah said, and pulled out a golden gown that had been covered over with soft velvet fabric at the base of the box.

Silver embroidery covered every inch, even more stars and moons than had covered her wedding dress, but this time it was the stars and the sun to match the golden fabric.

“Oh, she is a wicked woman. This is so beautiful. It must have taken her days to make it.”

“It is wonderful, M’Lady, would you like to wear it today?”

“Certainly, I can hardly wear anything else. I must thank her. I have never been so well dressed as I have in the Highlands!”

Once Lydia was dressed, she went through to Callum’s room to check he was out of bed. He was nowhere to be found, and she frowned, wondering where he had gone.

She went downstairs, expecting to find him eating breakfast with the girls, but it was just Amy, Eilis, and Raven at the table. Lydia waited for Callum to join them, but he never appeared.

Finishing her eggs, she laughed as Raven tried to swipe some off her plate.

“Amy, my darling, would you please take the cat off the table? You know I love him, but these are my eggs, not his.”

“I think he is growing,” Amy insisted. “He keeps eating all day long.”

Lydia smiled fondly at her as she lifted the kitten from the table and set him on her lap.

Placing her cutlery together, Lydia dabbed at her mouth and rose, looking up at the door as she heard footsteps passing, but Callum still didn’t appear.

Where has that man got to?

“Remember, girls, my mother and Tommy should be arriving at midday if they have a fair journey. You make sure everything is ready for them, won’t you?”

The girls nodded at her in excitement, and Lydia smiled, going in search of her husband.

After looking in all the usual places, she found him in his study.

Alexander was with him, and both men looked very grim indeed.

The man-at-arms brightened when she entered the room; however, he still bowed low.

“Good mornin’, M’Lady,” he said warmly.

“Good morning, Alexander. Please, could you tell Kristen that she must stop making me such beautiful clothes?” she said as Alexander frowned. “I am getting quite spoiled.”

“I can’t do that, M’Lady. She loves it so, and has said many times that she enjoys havin’ such a beautiful lady to dress,” he said with a grin.

Callum made a low grunting sound in the back of his throat, and Alexander raised his hands hastily in defense.

“Her words, nae mine, M’Laird,” and he slipped quickly from the room as Callum’s gaze found hers. He looked so serious, Lydia’s heart stuttered.

“What is it?”

He brandished a letter. “We have received word from Moira.”

Lydia’s chest tightened as she approached the desk, plucking the letter from his outstretched fingers.

The writing was beautiful and uniform, the letter short and to the point, written on cheap paper where the ink had run.

Callum,

If you do not open this, I understand. I have come to know the error of my ways since I have spent time in the convent. I know that you will have little care for me after what I have done, but I wanted to write to apologize for my conduct.

I know that you will not believe that I have changed, but with faith in God and the help of the good sisters, I now understand how I was ruled by lust for so long.

I wish you and Lydia happiness, and hope you can live a long and fulfilling life together.

Moira.

Lydia turned the letter over to see if anything had been written on the back, but it was blank.

“What do you think it means?” she asked, and Callum shook his head.

“I dinnae ken. Came out of the blue. She has nae been in the convent for too long. Perhaps it’s just part of her manipulations again. Or maybe she had seen the error of her ways. Who kens? I dinnae wish to think on it nae more.”

He lifted another letter, still sealed, from the pile of correspondence on his desk.

“There was another letter for ye, delivered this mornin’.”

Lydia recognized the handwriting instantly and broke it open, reading it eagerly.

“It is from Joanna!” she said happily.

Callum frowned. “Who is Joanna?”

“Oh, she is my best friend from London. After everything that has happened, I have barely had a chance to write to her. She has said she will come to visit soon.”

“Perhaps ye will find her a laird of her own,” he muttered.

“Oh no, Joanna isn’t interested in marriage. She is far too independent for that.”

Callum scoffed. “She does sound like someone I ken.”

Lydia folded the letter away to read in full later and was about to leave the room when Callum called after her.

“Dae ye have somewhere to be?” he asked.

“Not right now, no, but I promised the cook I would review what she is planning to make for my mother. I think she is worried that the Scottish fare will be too rich for her.”

“Well, yer maither can like it if she is in me castle,” Callum muttered, but his eyes widened when Lydia narrowed her gaze. “Nae offense meant to yer maither, but there is nothin’ wrong with Scottish food.”

“I never said there was. Was there something you needed me for?”

Callum nodded his head toward the other door. “Come with me, I want to show ye somethin’.”

But after he rose, he slowed his pace, stopping beside a chair by the door.

He paused, fiddling awkwardly with his sleeves. Callum was wearing his léine as he usually did without a jacket, but then he pulled something off the back of the chair, looking particularly awkward.

Lydia frowned at him as he pulled a jacket over his shoulders that she had not seen before.

“It is a foolish thing, the woman has lost her mind,” he said with a rumbling growl, and Lydia could not hold back a smile. The jacket he wore was gold, just like her dress.

“Kristen has some ridiculous notion that we should match. I dinnae ken why,” Callum complained.

The jacket was beautiful, made from the same hue of gold, but a little darker than Lydia’s gown. Stars were sewn all over it with dark buttons at the center of each one, and the sun had been stitched across Callum’s shoulder.

It was beautiful, and Lydia brushed her hand down the front admiringly.

“You look very handsome,” she said appreciatively, delighted when his cheeks reddened.

“Away with ye,” he murmured as he headed out the door and along the corridor toward the library.

Once they were inside, Lydia saw a thick wooden box on the chair beside the hearth and frowned as Callum picked it up and presented it to her.

“It is a gift. Ye dinnae have to use it,” he said inelegantly, crossing his arms over his chest as she took it.

“For me?”

“Aye. It isnae anythin’ special.”

Lydia opened the box and stared in wonder at what was inside. It was a brand-new silver telescope, with constellations carved across it. The swirling, tumbling patterns were beautiful, and she traced them with her fingers in amazement.

“Where did you get this?” she asked, enchanted.

“There is a man whom I kenned in Orkney who studies the stars. I wrote to him, and he offered to make me somethin’. The telescope Angus and I have been usin’ is old and nae as good as that one. There’s a stand for it, too,” he said, waving vaguely behind him.

Callum was decidedly bad at giving anyone presents.

“Anyway, that is all I wanted to give ye.” He made to leave the room, and Lydia stopped him.

“Hold your horses, Callum Lawson, you cannot give me a beautiful telescope as a gift without getting anything in return.”

He set his jaw. “I dinnae want anythin’ in return.”

“Not even a kiss?” she asked, running her hands over his jacket, feeling the buttons catch beneath her skin.

Callum huffed out a breath. “Aye. I can take that.”

Lydia chuckled. “Thank you,” she said, placing a gentle kiss on his mouth. “I love it.”

“You are right, Lydia, this is not something I would ever have seen in London.”

Lydia smiled back at her mother as they stood on the tallest tower of the castle, looking up at the sky.

Callum had spent several minutes setting up the new telescope, and now he, Tommy, and the girls were taking it in turns to look through it at various angles.

She adored seeing Tommy with Callum. Their dynamic was entirely different from that of her brother and her father. Callum was patient and quiet with him, never scolding, only explaining when he might get something wrong.

Her mother seemed well, too, sitting beside her on a stool that had been brought up from the castle.

The Duchess had arrived with some cacao and cinnamon as a gift, and the cook had sent up a beautiful-smelling drink for them all to enjoy. It was thick, creamy, and delicious, and warmed them all as they stood beneath the sky.

It was a clear night, and that had made it chilly on the ramparts. Eilis and Amy were bundled up in their coats, and Lydia and her mother sat with blankets over their knees.

“Should we go in soon, do you think?” Lydia asked Callum. “It is getting rather cold up here.”

“Oh, Maither, can we stay a little longer?” Eilis said, and then she froze, blushing furiously.

Lydia stared at her, amazed to hear the word mother from her lips. Eilis looked back at Amy, twisting her hands in front of her awkwardly.

“Och, I said that out loud, did I nae? Well, we secretly have been callin’ ye mother for a long time,” Eilis said. “Ever since ye first came!”

Lydia held back tears as Eilis approached her, and Amy followed behind. She grabbed them both, hugging them tightly and kissing them on the tops of their heads.

“And you are not just calling me that so you can stay up for a little longer?” she asked teasingly, her voice choked with emotion.

The girls giggled.

“Nay, but can we?”

“Yes,” Lydia said. As if I could deny them anything now . “But we will need to get you to bed after that. What will Raven do if he has no one to keep him warm when the wind howls through the corridors?”

Eilis grinned, trotting back over with her sister as they used the older telescope to look at the stars.

“Lydia, come and have a look at this,” Callum said, holding out an arm to her.

Lydia handed her mother her cup and went over to look through the telescope.

“Venus, am I right?” Callum asked proudly as she checked the lens and looked back at him, smiling.

“You are quite right, you do listen to me when I am babbling about stars!”

“I try to,” he said, pulling her toward him and holding her close to his body.

After a moment, he bent down and kissed her on the cheek as the girls giggled together.

“I love ye,” he whispered, as the giggling grew louder still.

“I love you, too,” Lydia said as Eilis, Tommy, and Amy burst out laughing, and Lydia smiled, surrounded by the people she loved most in the world, looking up at the endless, twinkling stars above.

The End?