Page 31 of A Temptress in Tartan

“Nay,” she protested as she settled beside him. “You have already given me too much.”

“It is a gift that has already been bestowed on us both.” He propped himself up on his elbow, gazing at her. “I know it disturbs you to think of me as a Douglas, and if I am truly honest with you, I flinch inside when I hear your Ruthven name. Both of our pasts are filled with violence and hatred of one clan toward the other. But you and I no longer have to claim those names.”

“But those are our names.”

“Nay. When the king gave me this castle as part of your dowry, he also bestowed upon us both a title: I am the Earl of March and you the Countess of March. We can make it be known that we prefer to use our titles instead of our clan names. Would that be acceptable by you?” He reached for her hand, held it in his own with uncertain fingers, afraid suddenly of what her answer might be.

“Aye,” she replied with a catch in her voice. “That is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me. I accept, Laird March.”

“I am pleased, Countess March.”

A moment later her eyes filled with a question. “Was the grass in the meadow what you wanted to show me?”

With a quick smile, he lay back down on the blanket and pointed to the sky that had faded into black. “Behold, the stars.”

“I’ve seen stars before,” she said a moment before she gasped. “Oh my, they were never as sharply defined against the night sky as this.” She shifted her body toward his until she was settled against his side. “You’re trembling,” she whispered, sounding surprised.

“You do that to me.”

She tightened her fingers around his and scooted closer.

Warmed by the feel of her body against his, he stared not at the sky but at her. A soft breeze continued to tousle Elizabeth’s hair as she searched the star-blazed sky. Thousands of stars glittered like diamonds overhead. “The Greeks called that swath of orange and gold above us the Milky Circle.”

“Where did you learn about the stars?”

“From my father. He taught me about astronomy. After he and mother were gone, I spent much of my early life alone. But wherever I looked up at the night sky I could always imagine them watching down over me.” He paused. “I’ve never told anyone that before.”

“Thank you for sharing that with me. It couldn’t have been easy.” She said nothing more, but he knew where her thoughts went. It was because of her clan that he had been so alone.

He drew in her fragrance as he reveled in her closeness. “If you are interested in learning more about the night sky, there is a book in the library that might interest you, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus. He theorized that the center of our universe is the sun and not the Earth, as scientists have thought.”

“I’d like to read that book.” Her eyes appeared luminescent as the stars danced in their depths.

Wrapped in silence, they watched the stars glitter in the sky and as they did, Lachlan realized tonight Elizabeth had given him a gift as well. She had given him back his dreams. While the entirety of his life had been filled with one battle after another, he’d had to suppress any hopes for the future. And when he did allow himself to imagine the future, half the time he didn’t think he deserved for his dreams to become reality, the other half he was terrified they’d be stolen away, and he was too afraid of the pain.

Yet at Elizabeth’s side tonight, anything seemed possible, even those things he’d never allowed himself to want. A wife. A family. A future.

She turned to him and her eyes searched his briefly. To his surprise she stretched over him and lightly kissed him on the lips.

He responded, touched by her sweetness, her warmth.

When they came apart a moment later, she pulled back with a smile. “We should make our way back to the castle. You might not fear my father, but I do.” Her eyes became troubled. “I do not understand why he is taking so long to arrive.”

Lachlan stood, then helped her up. “Perhaps he has changed his mind and will leave things as they are.”

“Perhaps.” The word was barely a whisper.

He folded the blanket and tucked it under his arm. When he was done, he took her hand once more in his own, and hand-in-hand they walked slowly back to the horses. Lachlan smiled into the darkness as he set Elizabeth atop her horse. Even though he hadn’t thought of Elizabeth in a favorable way at the time of their marriage, the king and queen had done him a greater service than he’d ever imagined. His enemy had become his friend, and with luck they would become a lot more in the days and weeks ahead.

If only he could win her father over as easily.

Chapter Ten

The first dress arrived the next morning. It was an exquisite pale yellow silk gown with clean lines that fit Elizabeth’s body to perfection. Gold braid had been added to the bodice and sleeves and accented with tiny seed pearls. It was the most sumptuous dress she had ever owned, and she wore it now in the solar as she finished her first lesson with twelve of the castle’s servants—four women and eight men. Mistress Barron and Peter Grayden were among them.

For two hours they had practiced the alphabet, and by the end of their time together all twelve had learned to write their names. Pride filled Elizabeth as she accepted Mistress Barron’s slate with her name spelled properly upon the gray-green sheet of stone. “You did well today.”

She curtsied as she said, “As long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted tae learn how tae read and write. ’Tis truly more than I ever dreamed possible. Thank ye, milady.”