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"Disappointed?" she repeated, looking at him as though he had taken leave of his senses. "Oh, Nathaniel, how could I possibly be disappointed? We have discovered something that has lain hidden for thousands of years, and I think it is the most wonderful thing. To think that someone loved that dog enough to bury him with his own golden collar! I cannot wait to learn more about him."

"I thought you might feel that way," he said, smiling. "Although I confess I had not expected to spend the afternoon examining the remains of a dog. I have made some unusual discoveries in my time, but this may be one of the strangest."

"And one of the loveliest," she added, slipping her arms around his waist.

He looked down at her, feeling a great rush of affection. Her bonnet hung down her back, several curls had escaped their pins and there was a small smear of dirt upon her cheek. He reached up and brushed it away with his thumb, allowing his hand to linger against her soft skin and trace the freckles there. Good Lord, she was beautiful. Those great brown eyes were looking up at him with such love, and he wondered how he had been fortunate enough to be loved by such a woman.

"I love you, Cathy," he said softly, bending to kiss her.

Her lips were warm and wonderfully familiar now, and she returned his kiss with an enthusiasm that made him forget all about the excavation. Her arms wound around his neck, her fingers slipping into the hair at his nape, and he drew her firmly against him. He had intended only a gentle kiss, but when she rose onto her toes and opened her mouth beneath his, he was lost to her. His hands moved over her back, following the lovely dip of her spine before settling upon the swell of her bottom and pulling her closer still. She made a soft sound of pleasure against his lips, and he felt her fingers tighten in his hair. He broke the kiss only to press his mouth against her cheek and trail kisses down the soft skin of her neck, enjoying the way she tipped her head to allow him better access. When he returned to her mouth, and her tongue teased his, he felt he would not have been able to provide his own name if asked. Good God, he wanted her. He wanted to go on kissing her until neither of them could hold a single thought in their head, and it was with a tremendous effort that he managed to tear himself away, breathing hard.

When they finally drew apart, she was smiling up at him, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. Her hands remained clasped behind his neck, and she ran her fingers affectionately through his hair before bringing one down to stroke his cheek. "And I love you, Nathaniel. So very much."

He turned his face into her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm before drawing her close again. There was something so delicious about being able to hold her like this, to kiss her whenever the desire took him. He supposed her father would take a dim view of finding them wrapped around one another in the middle of his estate, but Nathaniel was prepared to risk a little paternal displeasure for another kiss from his future wife.

For a little while they stood together in the sunshine, her cheek resting against his chest and his chin nestled into her soft curls, listening to the birds in the trees and the distant sound of laughter from the family making its way towards the house. Nathaniel stroked her back absently, enjoying the comfortable weight of her in his arms, and thought of the life that lay ahead of them. He had spent so many years travelling about the world, never staying in one place for long and always feeling that somewhere beyond the next horizon lay something he had not yet found. He still wanted to see those places, to make wonderful discoveries and experience all the world had to offer, but now he wanted to do it with Cathy beside him.

Although there was one little matter he had been considering, and he thought it might be best to ask her about it before making any arrangements. He drew back a little, brushing an escaped curl away from her cheek, and looked down at her with a grin that he could not contain. "Now, my darling Cathy, how do you feel about indulging me in one rather mad idea?"

Chapter Twenty

Two weeks later, Gretna Green

"Well, I've seen some queer things here on the border in my time, but I dinnae believe I've ever married an eloping couple who've brought their parents, half their relations and a blasted dog along with them!" said the portly, red-faced man standing at the front of the small but neatly kept parlour in one of the whitewashed buildings that lined the road through Gretna Green. He gave a booming laugh as he spread his hands to indicate the small crowd before him.

His wife stood to one side, fussing with a decanter of wine and a collection of mismatched glasses, and gave her husband a reproving look. "Och, leave them be, Donald. I think it's lovely. It's grand to see a young couple with so much family behind them. Most of the poor wee things who come through our door are half frightened out of their wits, wondering if their fathers are about to come charging in after them!"

A few minutes before, the eyes of the anvil priest had grown wider and wider as, one after another, the Darcy family had trooped into the little room. The last to enter had been Mina, wearing a pretty sky-blue day dress and bonnet, with Pegasus wriggling in her arms and barking joyfully at the occasion. They made quite a crush in the little parlour, and Kate had caught her father looking around with concern at the number of people squeezed between the furniture.

"We are a happy bunch," said Nathaniel, smiling broadly at his bride-to-be.

"And we wouldn't have missed it for the world!" called Bella from somewhere towards the back of the crowd, where she stood beside George with William upon her hip.

"I would have preferred a more traditional affair," said her father solemnly, "but what matters is that their marriage will be solemnised and that we shall all be here to witness the happy event."

"Did Mrs Darcy give you those words exactly?" asked George, laughing. "Are you sure you have not been practising them on the journey, sir?"

"They are my own sentiments, Harwood, although I am beginning to regret allowing your marriage to go ahead."

"Now, now, gentlemen," said her mama, laughing as she slipped her arm through her husband's. "We have come a long way to see these two married, and I should be most displeased if we spent the occasion arguing amongst ourselves. Do carry on, sir. I promise we are all very well behaved when we put our minds to it."

The man looked around at the laughing company, gave a good-natured shrug and turned his attention back to the young couple standing before him.

Kate could scarcely believe that she was about to be married. She was wearing a deep ochre-coloured day dress, with a pretty little bonnet trimmed with ribbons that matched the gown. It was nothing so fine as the wedding dress her mother might have chosen for her had they married at Pemberley, but it had been comfortable for travelling, and Sarah had taken great pains with her hair that morning, arranging her curls elegantly beneath the bonnet. Her mother's emerald necklace lay against her chest, and she had tucked a small posy of flowers into her hand that Mina and Bella had collected that morning from a meadow beside the inn. She felt very pretty, and when she looked at Nathaniel, who stood beside her looking impossibly handsome in his green waistcoat and beautifully fitted coat, she thought she must be the luckiest bride in the world.

When he had first put his mad idea to her, suggesting that they marry at Gretna Green so that they could continue straight on to Scotland and she could join him at his next excavation, she had thought he had lost his mind. But upon consideration, it had seemed a sensible way of going about things. It meant that they would not have to wait several months to marry, a state of affairs which had been frustrating them both, and they could begin their married life doing something they loved together. The prospect of spending her honeymoon digging about in an ancient Scottish burial cairn might not appeal to every young woman, but to Kate it sounded wonderful.

Her father had been more difficult to convince. He had declared the whole plan outrageous, asking why any daughter of his ought to marry at Gretna Green when she had a father who was only too willing to see her properly married.

Her mother, sensing just how desperately the young couple wished to be joined in marriage, had set about persuading her husband that there was no reason why they could not make a happy family occasion of it. She had reminded him that the marriage would be legal, that they could all be present to witness it and that there was something wonderfully romantic about allowing Kate and Nathaniel to begin their life together with an adventure. Over the course of two days, she had worked upon him so successfully that he had finally relented, although he continued to mutter about the impropriety of the business.

Once his consent had been secured, arrangements had been made with all haste. Carriages were prepared, trunks packed and a merry party formed to travel north towards the Scottish border. They had spent several days upon the road, stopping at comfortable inns along the way, and Kate had enjoyed the journey enormously. She had never travelled so far from Derbyshire before, and she found herself fascinated by the changing countryside as they made their way north. Nathaniel had been an entertaining travelling companion, telling her stories of his expeditions and pointing out anything of geological or historical interest they encountered. She had filled several pages of her notebook before they had even reached Scotland.

And now here they were, in a little village just beyond the English border. Gretna Green itself was a modest place, with low whitewashed buildings and a few inns and houses clustered along the road, hardly the setting for a fashionable wedding. But Kate thought it was charming, and there was something amusing about the idea that she and Nathaniel had come here accompanied by practically every member of her family.

The anvil priest cleared his throat, drawing her attention back to the matter at hand. He had explained that in Scotland there was no need for a clergyman or the publication of banns. All that was required was for the couple to declare their intention to marry before witnesses, and their union would be as legal and binding as any ceremony conducted in an English church.

"Now then," he said, looking from Kate to Nathaniel, "if you're both ready, we shall get on with the business of making you man and wife."