“We have to get a marriage license and it takes a few days.”
This was a good point that I needed to keep in mind. He was a traditional man, I was going to be his wife. I needed to have a little decorum, be a little chaste...
I pushed my chair away and said, “I suppose until then you would sleep in the back-shack?”
He picked up his beer and took a drink. “I will, aye. If ye want me tae sleep there, mo leannan, tis where I will sleep.”
He put the bottle down and looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t figure out how.
So I decided to speak, “Ofcourse...When we were traveling, we spent quite a few nights together. It seems like since we already have, and we want to marry, which we do, maybe it’s okay to keep going...”
He raised his brow. “But we arna married, yet, ye ken?—”
“True. But wemeanto, and, here’s the thing, you’d be able to protect me better from inside my house.”
He watched me with a cocky amusement. “Tis true, I could protect ye verra well from the inside of yer house, I could protect ye even better from inside yer bedroom.”
I shifted in my seat. I wanted him. Could I have him? He was mine, but I didn’t know the rules. “But Idohave a guest room. Maybe that would be for the best... since we aren’t married, being married is probably important to you, I think.”
He nodded, looking down. “Aye, tis important. I will sleep in the guest room. We arna married. That is how it must be.”
I said, “But... maybe we could...”
He brought his eyes up to mine. “We could what?”
“Nothing, I mean, yeah, you can sleep in the guest room. That would be for the best. Except...”
He leaned forward, and raised his brow. “Except what?”
“Except you have already sworn an oath to keep me.”
He chuckled. “Aye, I hae sworn tae keep ye always. I held yer hands and told ye I love ye and that I want tae marry ye, Alexandria.”
I blinked, a little speechless. “You just used my name...”
“Aye, because ye are tae be my wife —Alexandria.” The way he said it vibrated me through. “Ye like it?”
“I do, I like it very much.” I blew up on my forehead. “And you like me. In some ways that’s like you’ve already said your marriage vows.”
He nodded. I had a glimpse of his chest through the opening on his shirt, rising and falling with his breaths.
I moved my eyes away. “It’s almost like I wish we could just get married right here right now.”
“Och, the princess is in a hurry tae marry her Torin?”
I pretended to sigh. “Yes, I actually wish we werealreadymarried.”
He laughed, outright. “Och, ye daena hae any patience.”
I waved his words away, laughing. “It could takedays,Torin.”
He shook his head. “Och, days? I daena ken if ye can wait days.”
“So true, and — wait, you’ll need documents! Do you even have a birth certificate? And what would it say!”
“What is a birth certificate — ye mean the church register? I was baptized in St Michael’s at Linlithgow. If the old register’s still kept.”
I said, “That will take forever, and how would we explain it? We couldn’t. But we already made promises, God heard them, right?”
