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Grace opened the curtain, peering out the window of the carriage. With a frown, she swung her gaze to Calum, only to find him sitting across from her with a smug expression. When they departed the inn, she had thought he only remained to accompany her to England. His sense of pride would make it a necessity to see her home safely. However, it would appear he had other intentions.
“Why have we stopped?”
“A small matter we need to take care of before we return home,” Calum drawled.
Grace bristled in her seat at the mention of home. “I am not returning with you to Lockhart Manor.”
Calum didn’t argue, only offered her a patronizing smile before he opened the carriage door and climbed down the steps. He turned and held out his hand for her to disembark. She had no choice but to follow him. When she had disagreed with him in the past, it had been while they were alone. However, the carriage driver and footmen stood behind Calum, wearing the silliest of grins. It prevented her from refusing him. Grace grew more confused about why they had stopped.
Calum slid her hand into the crook of his arm and walked toward the shops nestled in the small village. She looked over her shoulder to see if the other servants followed them. However, they had scattered away to the unknown. She glanced at the carriage and noted nothing out of the ordinary that would delay their travel.
“Is there a problem with the carriage?” Grace asked.
Calum hummed before replying. “No.”
“Has a footman taken ill?”
Calum patted her hand. “Perhaps suffering from a headache but otherwise in perfect health.”
Grace dug in her heels to keep them from moving. “Then why are we not taking advantage of the daylight?”
Calum peered into the window of a storefront, pretending he found interest in the finery. The color of the dress would look lovely on Grace, but it lacked the quality he wanted her adorned in. When they returned, he would have his mother take Grace shopping. A hardship his mother would love to suffer, especially if she gained a few purchases of her own. Perhaps there might be something in the shop he would enjoy buying Grace. Or at least it would give him the chance to stall longer until Samuel located the local blacksmith.
He pulled the door open. “Shall we?”
Grace gritted her teeth, fighting back the reply she wished to make. She noticed the shopkeeper waiting near the doorway, ready to pounce on them as soon as they entered. The woman noticed the fine cut of Calum’s attire and hoped to entice him to spend his coin on her merchandise. Another obstacle in her path, making it impossible for her to argue with Calum.
“Good day, my lord. May I be of assistance to you and your lady?” the shopkeeper asked.
Grace emitted a low growl at the woman’s assumption. She detached herself from Calum and wandered away. She needed to put distance between them before she caused a scene. Grace couldn’t risk any attention and attach any more slander to her name. The gentleman may hold the ability to dissemble her senses with his wicked mouth, but he was still the most infuriating devil to contend with.
She did not belong in a shop of this standing. While it wasn’t an establishment the aristocrats would frequent, it still held the goods Grace could never afford. However, while she waited for Calum to appease his amusement, she would enjoy looking around. Hopefully, it would distract her from her troubles.
Calum lowered his voice once Grace had moved away. “I wish to surprise my bride-to-be with a trinket that will remind her of our wedding day. Something she can treasure over the lifetime of our marriage.”
The shopkeeper clutched her heart. “Oh, ye are here to marry.”
Calum held his finger to his lips. “Another surprise.”
Her eyes widened, and then she smiled. “Ye must love yer lady very much.”
Calum gazed at Grace as she slid the ribbons on display between her fingers. “Aye.”
Love was too tame of a description to define how he cared about Grace. Each day, his feelings grew stronger and more out of control. However, instead of his emotions making him unbalanced, they calmed his soul. She brought sunshine into his life when his burdens seemed to suffocate him.
His display of affection for Grace awed the shopkeeper. “I have the perfect gift for ye. If you will follow me.”
Calum followed the shopkeeper toward the front of the shop. She moved behind the counter and bent over, rummaging around on the shelves underneath. She stood up with a box in her hands. Once she dusted off the container, she opened the lid to reveal a necklace made of the finest chain connected with a Serch Bythol. The symbol of eternal love. An emerald sat nestled in the middle of the symbol. It would look exquisite across Grace’s pale skin.
He raised his head with a smile. “’Tis perfect.”
She nodded. “As yer love for the lady.”
Calum smiled as the shopkeeper hurried to wrap the purchase before Grace wandered toward them. He paid the lady a handsome coin for the trinket and slipped it inside his suit coat. He couldn’t wait to surprise Grace with the gift. However, he must make her his bride first. A task he would meet with much resistance once Grace learned the reason behind their delay.
Grace waited near the door for him. He wouldn’t disgrace her by asking if she would like him to buy her anything. He understood her pride only so well. It was an admirable quality he loved about her.
He swept her out the door and walked back toward the carriage. By now, Samuel should have made the arrangements he had requested.
Before he guided Grace across the street, a man of the cloth stopped them. “Lord Lockhart?”
“Aye.”
“I hope you do not think me too presumptuous. I learned of the services you required of the blacksmith, and I wished to offer my services instead,” the priest rambled off in one breath.
The man’s generous offer pleased Calum. It would be less difficult to convince Grace to marry him than if he offered to have them married by a blacksmith.
Calum patted the man on the back. “A most generous offer. I am pleased to accept.”
“Perhaps by the ridge over yonder near the heather.” The priest pointed to a spot near the edge of town.
Calum nodded. “An excellent idea. If you would be so kind as to wait, we shall join you soon.”
The stout man with a balding pate rushed away to the spot he had indicated. Once he arrived under the tree, he withdrew a Bible from under his arm and flipped through the pages.
Calum’s luck kept exceeding him by bounds on this beauty of a day. It all began by waking up with Grace in his arms, then the necklace, and now with the priest offering to marry them without the stipulation of a license. Granted, one was not required in Gretna Green, nor in Scotland for that matter. However, the clergy frowned upon impromptu marriages and preferred following the strict guidelines of the English command. To have a priest offer to perform their nuptials only proved their destiny to wed one another. Only Grace in his bed this evening, as his wife, would end this day to perfection.
“Calum?”
Calum focused back on Grace and her questioning look. “Yes, my love?”
Grace blushed and swung her gaze around to see if anyone had overheard Calum. His charming smile should have been a warning. However, when he stared at her with such intensity, she melted and her heart fluttered in her chest.
She swept her hand toward the priest once she tampered down her reaction to him. “What is your need of the clergy?”
Calum strolled them toward the man at a slow pace, halting a distance away so the man couldn’t hear Grace’s refusal. “He is to perform our marriage.”
Grace took a step back, her eyes widening in shock. She shook her head in rapid succession, back and forth. Calum was officially mad. His behavior now made perfect sense. Since they slept together, Calum thought he must offer for her hand in marriage to protect the virtue she had willingly given him out of love. She refused to marry him out of his sense of obligation. Especially since once they departed, she would be nothing but a forgotten memory for Calum.
“No!”
To her annoyance, his infuriating smile stayed in place, along with his answer. “Yes.”
She attempted to walk past Calum, but he only blocked her path. “Step aside. I must find transportation to England since you have no intention of helping me return home.”
“On the contrary, my dearest, it has been my sole purpose for our journey today. However, before we can return home, I must make a proper lady of you. Mother will not allow us to share a bed without a marriage. Also, you must consider the children and the example we must set forth for them. We do not want them to think it is acceptable to indulge without marriage between a man and a woman. Do we?”
Grace growled. “Lockhart Manor is not my home, and I will not marry you today. I absolve you of reacting to your honorable code of a gentleman. You do not need to offer me the status of your wife because of your guilty conscience. Now please allow me to pass.”
Calum drew Grace into his arms and placed his knuckle under her chin so he could stare into her eyes as he declared his intentions. “Lockhart Manor became your home the first moment you smiled and offered your kindness and love to my family. I am not offering you the status of my wife out of obligation but only because of how much I love you. As I told you before we made love, I will always chase after you. No matter how far or fast you run away.”
He took Grace’s lips under his in a tender kiss, holding back from the passion that always simmered between them. “I love you with all my heart and soul.”
Grace backed away in denial. “’Tis not possible.”
Calum caressed his thumb across her cheek. “Why ever not?”
“Because you are a marquess and I am a governess. Also, we never agree on anything,” Grace tried to argue her point.
“I have no regard for the status of a person in the hierarchy of society. Only how they conduct themselves in my presence. I only see you as the woman I have waited a lifetime for. As for never agreeing on anything, ‘tis what sparks our attraction to one another, and I, for one, enjoy our exchanges immensely.”
“You are mad.”
Calum chuckled. “Only for you, my love.”
His endearment weakened her defenses. “Your family.”
He brushed his lips across hers again. “They adore you and cannot wait for me to bring you back to them.”
“They are as mad as you.”
Calum tipped his head back and laughed with abandonment. “Aye. On that, we will agree.”
“Society will never accept me. It will leave a stain on your family’s reputation,” Grace continued.
“Society can hang, and my family will more than agree. Now that I have refuted every argument, will you please accept my offer?”
Grace bit her bottom lip, glancing at the priest, then back at Calum. His sincerity rang clear with each rebuke of her arguments. Love shone from his eyes as he held her with a tenderness she never expected of him. She wanted to believe every word he spoke was true, but Grace hesitated to trust Calum when she was so unsure of herself. His profession of love filled her heart and helped to vanish the doubts lingering in her thoughts. Did she dare to allow hope into her heart?
If she were to accept his proposal, then her life would alter into another sphere she was unfamiliar with. However, Lady Lockhart and Vivian could help guide her into becoming a proper lady who would make Calum proud. She had grown to love his family as her own. It had broken her heart when she left them behind without so much of a farewell.
None of those aspects mattered as much as becoming Calum’s wife. She loved him with deep affection and didn’t know how she would survive without him. And that alone was the only reason for her answer.
“Yes.”
Calum had held his breath, waiting for Grace’s answer. When her whisper swept from her lips, he picked her up and swung her around until she laughed alongside him with the same happiness. He stopped and touched his forehead to hers.
“Yes?”
Grace placed her hand against his heart. “Yes.”
Lockhart smiled, grabbed her hand, and led her to the priest. He wanted them married before she contemplated her answer and changed her mind. He knew doubts still lingered, but he promised to conquer her fears and give her the security she needed.
Grace wanted to laugh at Calum’s exuberance. He acted like a young man who was eager for the experience before him. How could she not want to marry this gentleman and share a life with the same eagerness? She ached to express her love for him but held back. Her fear of him regretting this act lingered and clung to her doubts. However, she refused to allow them to destroy the joyous moment Calum had created for them.
“Are ye ready, my lord?”
Calum turned to Grace, and she offered him the smile he ached to see on her lips every day. He would work to destroy the doubt lingering in her gaze by showing how their love would last forever.
“Aye,” he responded, smiling at Grace with all the love in his heart.
A love he refused to allow her to deny another day.