Page 55 of Kidnapping Cordelia

Muir groaned. “Damn him,” he muttered, finding Lyall beside him, giving him a sympathetic smile. His brother reached over, patting him on the back.

“He’s the last one still single and likely feeling a bit adrift, aye?” Lyall said, proving to Muir not for the first time that his eldest brother thought about things more than he let on. “Things are changing and every time he comes home, it feels different to him. I have Wildsyde and ye have Brabster Farm, but he’s in Wick.”

“Aye, and making a fortune so I hear,” Muir said with a laugh.

“True enough, but money doesnae buy ye happiness,” Lyall said with a shrug. “It sets him apart, ye ken. I think he feels the distance and misses the life here. If ye ask me, he wants to come home, but he cannae. Not yet.”

Muir nodded, understanding that. “He needs a wife.”

“Aye.” Muir and Lyall exchanged glances and grinned. “And there’s yer ammunition. Consider it a wedding present.”

Muir laughed and turned his attention back to Hamilton, who was sweeping Delia about the room in an energetic polka. Her blonde hair was escaping its pins, her cheeks were flushed pink, and the ribbons and lace on her gown fluttered and bounced along with her. Everything about her was movement and joy and Muir felt a rush of pure happiness watching her dancing with his brother.

When the dance finally ended and Hamilton returned Delia to him, Muir took her hand firmly in his. “Ye look bonnie when ye dance, wife, but I think I shall take ye away from all this celebrating now, if ye dinnae mind it too much.”

The colour in her cheeks deepened, but she held his gaze. “I don’t mind,” she replied, smiling shyly.

“Ach, now, Muir,” Hamilton began, but Muir interrupted him.

“It’s all right, Hamilton,” he said, using a kindly big brother tone that was sure to irritate him. “I ken yer feeling a wee bit jealous now both yer brothers have beautiful wives to come home to, but yer turn will come, laddie. Perhaps in a few weeks ye can come back and Lyall and I will sit ye down and we’ll have a wee talk about the future. I hear Rona is still on the hunt for a husband, aye?”

“Ach, yer bums oot the windae,” Hamilton retorted in disgust. “I dinnae need nae help from the likes of ye two eejits.”

“So ye say, but yer nae wed, laddie,” Muir said, wagging a finger at Hamilton and towing Delia out of the room as he did so.

Thanking the heavens that the weather had calmed and there was no rain as they hurried out to their waiting carriage, Muir hoped he’d made his escape. The guests all rushed after them, however, throwing rice and ribald comments as they went. So, he stood beside Delia, and they leaned out of the window and waved, watching the sea of smiling faces, every one of them wishing them happiness for the futures as the carriage drew them away.

The carriage jolted over a stone in the road and Delia gave a little shriek as she lost her balance. Muir grasped her around the waist and pulled her into his lap before she could fall, kissing her soundly. Her arms reached up, coiling around his neck as she sighed happily.

“Nae regrets?” he asked softly, when he finally released her.

“Not a one,” she replied without hesitation, studying his face. “And you?”

“Only that I was so daft as to nae marry ye the moment we arrived in Scotland. I am nae usually so slow on the uptake, but I’m a stubborn fellow, ye ken. I’m sorry for it.”

“I’m not,” Delia said simply. “We’ve had this time to get to know each other, and to discover that this is what we want, not something we had to do. I can’t regret that, not a moment of it.”

“Aye, well ye have proven yerself to be the wisest of the two of us, lassie,” he said, cupping her face with his hand and looking down at her. “I am glad, so very glad that I was there that day, and I shall never stop thanking providence for putting you in my path.”

“Me either,” she said, snuggling against him.

Muir held her close. Though it was only a short drive to the farm, he wished the driver would get a move on. Anticipation was thrumming through his veins and memories of the way her skin had felt beneath his fingers made his pulse speed.

Finally, the carriage arrived at the farm and Delia exclaimed over the fields of sheep and the lambs gambolling about. “I shall never grow tired of looking out in the springtime and seeing such a sight.”

“Aye, it’s a fitting reward for all the hard work, and it never gets old,” he said, kissing her again as she turned to him with a smile. “Come then, Lady Delia Anderson, for we have things to attend to.”

“So we do, Mr Anderson,” she replied with a breathless laugh. “So we do.”

Chapter 15

Dearest Delia,

I hope you do not mind me addressing you with such familiarity, but I have been speaking to Evie, whom you know so well through Emmeline, and I feel like I know you already. I am so happy to know that such a lovely young woman has joined our family and will be a sister to me. I hope you and Muir will be blissfully happy together, but if you occasionally need help in lifting heavy objects to throw in his direction, I would be glad to help.

I love my brother dearly, but he can be the most exasperating creature on earth, as I’m sure you must already know. That you have been brave and kind enough to overlook this and see the good in him tells me you have the strength of character to be everything he needs.

Welcome to the family, my dear. I am so very disappointed not to be able to share your special day with you, but as soon as my ‘happy event’ has arrived and I am strong enough to travel, you may rely upon a visit from your very own sister, Georgie.