She opened her mouth to retort, then closed it. Her heartwasfluttering. His words were hardly romantic, but she didn’t believe in such flowery sentiments anyway. She enjoyed sparring with this man. No one could roil her temper as quickly as he did, but anticipating which of them would win the argument made her tingle in several places that he’d explored last night and this morning. She lifted a shoulder. “It might be fluttering a little.”
“Just a little?”
“I do not want to give you cause for conceit.”
He placed his hand over his own heart. “Ye wound me, lass.”
She rolled her eyes, then she straightened in her saddle. “But I will admit this. I would like to stay handfasted to you.”
Rory’s eyes darkened, and he sobered. “Ye ken what that means?”
“Iken. It means that after a year, if neither of us objects, we will be considered truly married for life.”
“’Tis what ye want?”
Juliana nodded. She’d never felt more sure of something. “It is.”
“’Tis what I want, too, lass.” Rory leaned over, half lifting her out of the saddle, and gave her a soul-deep kiss, not releasing her until both horses began to shift below them. “My brothers are never going to believe this.”
“Nor are my sisters.”
“’Twill be interesting to see which is more shocked, aye?”
“I am sure Emily and Lorelei will be.”
Rory shook his head. “I think Ian, Devon, and Carr will be more.”
“Are we going to argue about this?”
“Mayhap. I will win, though.”
“I do not think so, sir. I know my sisters.”
“And I ken my brothers.”
They grinned at each other then and spurred their horses toward home. It would soon be a new year and a new beginning. Juliana was sure there would be new challenges nearly every day, but those were to be looked forward to.
For who knew who would win them?
Epilogue
Three months later
Rory returned the smile Juliana gave him as she settled next to him on the sofa in the library. They’d just spent nearly half the morning lying abed before Devon had pounded on their door and reminded them that there wasotherbusiness to attend to.
“I suppose ye are a bit surprised over what ye’ve missed?” Rory asked his brother Alasdair, who’d just returned home from Ireland.
“Ye might say that.” He poured a second dram of whisky from the decanter on the desk. “I’ve heard rumors of building unrest and possible revolution in the Colonies, but I hadn’t expected to come home to find Strae Castle turned upside down.”
“’Tis nae completely turned upside down.”
“Nae?” He turned back to look at his assembled brothers and the Caldwell sisters. “I missed the un-proscription celebration in December because I was in Ireland. I didn’t realize it would also be a joint celebration that included Ian marrying Emily, although in hindsight, that wasn’t a total surprise. Butye, Rory…handfasted?” He shook his head. “Maybe I should be surprised that ye are nae married, too.”
Juliana shot him a look. “I wanted to wait for a proper wedding when my sister comes back from her Season.”
“To say nothing of the fact that we have to get the distillery up and running again,” Rory added and smiled at Juliana. “It seems my intended is rather good with keeping the books.”
“And I’m learning to drink whisky,” she said with a grin. “I wouldn’t want to pass out at my own wedding.”
