struggling to focus. âWhoâs this lass?â
Maddie offered her hand. âIâm Madeline.â
âThis is your sweetheart?â Grant asked Logan. âThe one what sent all the letters?â
Logan nodded. âIâm marrying her. Right now, as a matter of fact.â
âAre ye?â The man stared at her for a moment, and then a low chuckle rumbled from his chest. Grinning, he dug his elbow into Loganâs side. âYou lucky bastard.â
In that moment, Maddie knew one thing.
Private Malcolm Allan Grant was her new favorite person.
Heâd made her feel pretty on her wedding day. So long as she lived, she would never forget it.
âSay, can we go to Ross-Âshire soon, Captain?â Grant asked. âIâm keen to see my nan and the wee ones.â
âTomorrow,â Logan said. âWeâll go tomorrow.â
âThat will be fine.â
That settled, Logan steered her to the center of the room. âWeâd better get on with it.â
âWhoâs going to officiate?â
âMunro will do the honors, but we dinna need anyone to officiate. There arenât any rings to bless. Weâll keep this traditional, like the Highland ways of old. âTwill be a simple handfasting.â
âA handfasting? I thought those only last for a year and a day.â
âIn novels, perhaps. But the kirk put a stop to temporary unions some centuries ago. That doesna stop brides and grooms from exchanging vows in the old way. We clasp hands, like so.â He took her by the wrist, gripping her right forearm with his right hand. âNow take hold of me.â
She did as he asked, curling her fingers around his forearm as best she could.
âAnd the other,â he prompted.
He claimed her left wrist in the same manner, and she held onto his. Their linked hands now formed a cross between them. It looked something like a catâs cradle or a childrenâs game.
Logan nodded at Munro.
The man stepped forward and wound a length of plaid around their linked wrists, tying them together. Maddie watched, transfixed, as the strip of fabric wound over her wrist and under his, lashing them together.
Her heart began to beat faster. Her breathing, too. Her brain began to feel as light and misty as a cloud.
He must have been able to tell. His grip tightened on her wrist.
âCan we not do this in private?â she whispered.
âThere must be witnesses, lass.â
âYes, but this many? Itâs only that . . .â
She couldnât finish her plea. The numbness had closed in on her, just as it always did. The cold found her, no matter how well she hid. And the ice encased her from toes to tongue, forbidding her to speak or move. Her pulse beat dully in her ears and timeâs progress slowed to a glacial creep.
âLook at me,â he commanded.
When she did, she found him staring down at her. His eyes were intent, captivating.
âDinna worry about the others. Itâs only me and you now.â
His low words of assurance did something strange to her. Something she would have thought impossible. They heated her blood from the inside out and made her forget everyone else in the room. Heâd erected a shield against that beam of attention.
It truly was just the two of them now.
Suddenly, the rain, the dark, the candles, the primal symbolism of being tied to another human being . . . It all seemed magical. And more romantic than she could bear.
She was visited by the strange, unshakeable sensation that this was everything sheâd dreamed of since she was sixteen years old.
Donât, she pleaded with herself. Donât imagine this to be more than it is. Thatâs how all your trouble starts.
âNow ye repeat the words as I say them,â Logan said.
He murmured something in Gaelic, and she repeated the words aloud as best she could.
âGood,â he praised.
Again, she warmed inside.
Jane Hunt
Jonathan Maberry
K. Sterling
Tara Fox Hall
James Kakalios
Jacquie Rogers
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley
Elizabeth Moynihan
Shiloh Walker
Mary Balogh