The MacNaughton Bride (5 page)

Finally, she was ready for
the short trip to the church, which was on the castle grounds.
 
Once the ceremony was over, they would
return to the great hall for a hearty meal, dancing, and music. Once
Aislinn
had fallen asleep, Jenny had found the man who was
to be her master to find out the details of what was going to happen on their
wedding day, and had translated them as best she could to her mistress this
morning.

The coach that brought them
to the church was a simple one, but it had been adorned by someone – they
didn’t know who – with all sorts of flowers and ribbons in both blue and
white.
 
The trip was thankfully
short.
 
Jenny could see that
Aislinn
was growing more and more nervous by the minute;
she kept fidgeting with her hair and her dress, and fretting aloud about her
shoes.

When they came to the stop,
the footman jumped down and tried to open the door, but
Aislinn
held it shut, saying, “Not just yet, please.”
 
She was trying to decide whether to give in gracefully and
get it over with, or see how far she could run before the train got caught in
the bushes.
 

Chapter 3

Jenny put her hand over
Aislinn’s
and waited for the young woman to notice
her.
 
She could almost see panic in
those frightened eyes.
 
She leaned
out the door and told the footman to go away until he was called.
 
Then
 
Jenny switched sides of the carriage and hugged the girl to
her tightly, rocking just a bit as she had when
Aislinn
awoke screaming from a nightmare.
 
“Now, a lot has happened pretty quickly for you, hasn’t it?
 
And now you’re going to become that
young man’s wife, and you barely know him.”
 
Aislinn
nodded against her
chest.
 
“But I can tell he’s a
wonderful man, my girl.
 
Just from
meeting him last night.
 
He’s seen
to your comfort, hasn’t he?
 
He
gave you a right proper room, didn’t he? And I could tell he was none to happy
when you told him that your Uncle had probably spent the money he’d left for
your trousseau.
 
He looks like a
healthy, brave man, and you’re going to settle into life here before you know
it.
 
We both will.
 
Why, you’re going to be a fine lady,
and I’m going to be
forgettin
’ to bow and scrape to
you, like I should!”

Aislinn
almost laughed at the idea of Jenny bowing to her, and that was just what the
older woman was after.
 
It wasn’t
like
Aislinn
to be frightened.
 
She’d been through a lot in her young
life, and she generally met things head on.
 
But this was different, somehow, and Jenny understood her
hesitation.
 
In a few minutes,
Aislinn
was going to confer upon a total stranger the right
to share more than just her company – he was going to have complete and
utter rights to her.
 
All of her
– including her body.
 
Aislinn
was as pure as the driven snow – Jenny knew
that for a fact.
 
She’d never
encouraged any man to court her because of her father – she never knew if
the young man would come over on one of her father’s “bad days”, and the older
she grew, the fewer and few good days there were.

Jenny had wanted to talk to
Aislinn
about what she could expect – Jenny’s
husband Arthur had stuck by
Aislinn’s
family right
along with her, functioning as a jack of all trades, and they had been married
for almost thirty years.
 
But that
kind of thing wasn’t discussed in polite company, and there had been no
openings that Jenny had seen to begin such a conversation.
 
Jenny couldn’t even be sure that the
girl was a true version – there was no telling what kind of evil mischief
that Uncle of hers got up to when she wasn’t around to guard her chick.
 
There was very little that Jenny would
put past Bertram Montgomery.
 
He
was pure snake in human clothing.

And if Lord
MacNaughton
found out that
Aislinn
wasn’t a virgin – if she wasn’t – Jenny was sure that they’d all be
tossed out in the cold on their ears, with no place to go.
 
They certainly couldn’t go back to
Aislinn’s
uncle, not that they would even consider
that.
 
They wouldn’t.
 
So they would be left penniless in the
street if
Aislinn’s
uncle hadn’t been able to keep
his hands to himself.

She didn’t know if that was
the case, but then
 
and there Jenny
made up her mind to do something to assure that the Master had no doubt at all
as to
Aislinn’s
innocence in their marriage bed.
 
There were always ways around things,
and Jenny knew them all.

Someone knocked sharply on
the carriage door.
 
“Is everything
all right?”

Even after such short
acquaintance, both Jenny and
Aislinn
recognized the
owner of that no nonsense voice.
 
“Yes, everything’s fine,”
Aislinn
answered,
proud that her tone revealed no tremor at all, despite the fact that
butterflies were still somersaulting in her stomach.

“We’re ready,” he said,
subtlely
letting her know that they were waiting for her.

“That’s good,”
Aislinn
answered, not aware that she sounded somewhat
flippant to her anxious groom.

Kell
wasn’t at all happy with that response.
 
He had a whole church full of people – relatives, friends,
townspeople, who all had waited what they considered to be an inordinate amount
of time for him to select a bride.
 
They were interested in waiting much longer, to say nothing of the fact
that they were anticipating the ales and lagers that would flow – as well
as the feast – at the reception.

It was in
Kell’s
mind to pull open the door and drag her out, but
Grant and Burke each laid a hand on his shoulder when he made a preemptive
reach for the handle.
 
“Give her
some time, brother,” Burke advised, speaking low and slow, as he would to a
wild animal he was trying to calm.
 
“She’s not one of your men to be ordered about and forced to your
will.
 
She’s new to you – new
to here – new to everything.
 
Let her come to you in her own time.”

Kell
gaze down at his a man who was a mere year his junior with a sharp eye.
 
“How did you get to be so wise?”

“I had a good teacher,” he
smiled back.

Kell
let himself be corralled back to the alter, where he tried to wait for his
bride as patiently as possible, fidgeting the entire time and causing small
smiles to be exchanged between his brothers, who found a nervous
Kell
– which was a heretofore unknown commodity
– vastly amusing.

Aislinn
,
meanwhile, had taken several deep breaths and made peace with herself and her
future, at least to the extent that she’d asked Jenny to get the footman to
help her get out of the carriage.

What surprised her was that
the two men who appeared to assist her weren’t the footman she’d seen when she
entered the carriage.
 
They
reminded her of her husband to be, but each of them was just a bit different
from him.

Before she could say a word,
they each offered her a hand and assisted her to the ground.
 
Jenny manned the train, unbuttoning it
from the bustle but draping it over her arm until they got into the vestibule.
 
“Please allow us to introduce
ourselves,” one of the gentlemen addressed her.
 
“I’m your groom’s brother, Burke
MacNaughton
.”
 
He was grinning from ear to ear, and it
was positively infectious.

“And I’m the cute one of
the brothers, my dear new sister, Grant
MacNaughton
,
at your service,” he winked rakishly at
Aislinn
as he
bowed, also smiling goofily.

Aislinn
was feeling better by the minute.
 
“It’s wonderful to meet you kind sirs.
 
I’m
Aislinn
Montgomery –
soon to be a
MacNaughton
, too.” she executed a deep,
formal curtsey to each of them, a smile of her own wreathing her face.

But Burke could see those
cloudy eyes.
 
She’d been
crying.
 
There were no streaks in
her make up, thankfully.
 
Kell
hated made up women.
 
Eager to reassure her, Burke said, “A most welcome and
beautiful addition to the family, I must say.”
 
His brother nodded eagerly in agreement.

“We knew you didn’t have a
father or an uncle in attendance at the wedding, so we’ve deserted our brother
in hopes that you’d do us the honor of escorting you down the aisle,” Grant
offered graciously, as they wandered slowly into the church.

Tears came unbidden and
spilled down her cheeks.
 
That two
complete strangers would have thought of her – cared enough about a woman
they didn’t know to want to do that for her.
 
She was touched beyond belief.
 
“I would be honored to be on your arms.”

Jenny fanned out the
elaborate train and gave
Aislinn
the once over, not
hesitating in the least to push either of the brothers aside to get to the
young woman she considered her daughter.
 
“Smile,
lovey
.
 
This is your day of days.
 
Today you are queen.”

When Jenny pronounced her
ready, the brothers produced a small bouquet of roses and orange blossom
– the roses for love, and the orange blossoms a sign of purity and
innocence.
 
Aislinn
didn’t know what to do when faced with such kindness.

The inner doors of the
church were closed, so no one had seen them yet.
 
They were free to make their arrangements as they
would.
 
Another bouquet was
produced out of nowhere for Jenny, who was then hustled to the door, protesting
all the way.
 
“But, sirs, I was
just going to sit at the back of the church.
 
I’m just a maid!”

Aislinn
started to protest that she’d never been just a maid to her, but the youngest
beat her to it.
 
“Go on with you
now.
 
You’ll find we don’t stand as
much on formality here as you might be used to.
 
From what I gather from my brother, you’ve seen to this
young woman since she was born and her mother died.
 
You should stand up with her.”
 
He looked to
Aislinn
for
agreement, and found her crying and nodding at the same time.
 
“Good.
 
That’s all settled.
 
Go down to the altar and try to keep
Kell
from
fidgeting himself to death.
 
Tell
him we’ll be right there.”

Burke turned
Aislinn
towards him and considered her gravely, lifting her
veil to daub at her tears gently.
 
It was then that he noticed the patch of
MacNaughton
plaid at her shoulder, smiling broadly.
 
“Aye, lass, you’ll do, I say.
 
You’ll more than do.”
 
He
didn’t know if anyone had told her to reflect fairly closely the flying plaid
her husband was wearing, but it was a very endearing thing to do.
 
Kell
–
and everyone else – was going to love it.

Finally, it was time.
 
Each man tucked her small, cold hand
into an elbow and Grant looked over at a man that
Aislinn
hadn’t even seen until then – a Highlander, no doubt, who began blowing
an almost mournful tune on his pipes.
 
The double doors opened as if by magic, and they began their walk down
the aisle as the piper followed them in.

The church was small and
plain, but each pew, as well as the altar, had been tastefully decorated with
heather and bows and ribbons of the favorite plaid as well as complimentary
colors.
 
It looked gorgeous, and
Aislinn
was again touched by the outpouring of affection
she felt from people who didn’t a whit about her.
 
They walked very slowly, the men next to her nodding and
smiling at the people they knew – who seemed to be pretty much everyone
in the church – as they passed by.
 
Aislinn
was concentrating on not falling down,
she was shaking so much.
 
She tried
to give herself a talking to – it wasn’t like her to be nervous or afraid
about anything.
 
She’d always met
life’s challenges head on and dealt with them fearlessly.

But not this,
apparently.
 
Her knees were
knocking so loudly she was afraid the guests could hear them.
 
She was pretty sure the brothers could
. . . It took all too short a time for them to make it down the aisle, no
matter how slowly they were moving.
 
Before she knew it, she was being handed over to her groom, who smiled
at her as he tucked her hand into his arm.
 
Kell
was alarmed at how frigid her
fingers were, and he could feel them tremble at the crook of his elbow.
 
He patted those fingers in what he
hoped was a reassuring manner, but it didn’t still her shaking one bit.

Even her voice shook when
she had to say “I do.”
 
She was
ever so glad that she wasn’t going to be required to say anything more –
she wasn’t at all sure that she’d be able to get it out.
 
Her throat and mouth were as dry as any
desert she’d ever read about.