Rumors Among the Heather (13 page)

“It seems you’ve
thought of everything. Even so, can the caretaker be trusted?”

“I paid him enough. He
had better keep his mouth shut if he knows what’s good for him,”
Matthew stated quickly and just as rapidly dismissed the
caretaker.

“Matthew, I want to be
able to tell my cousin Hannah I’m married. I want everybody to know
how happy I am,” Julie blurted out nervously.

“I know you do, and I
do too. I want to show you off to my friends and take you to all
the social affaires. I want to show you the world. You understand
it’s impossible at this time, don’t you? Besides the obvious, if
the war goes wrong and the king’s agents knew you were my wife,
your life would not be safe.” Matthew took Julie in his arms.

“But when will we be
able to announce that we’re married? I don’t like to keep secrets.
And suppose…”

Julie meant to say,
“Suppose I become pregnant,” but before she could finish, Matthew
kissed away any doubts she might have. When he held her so close,
she found she did not want to think. She only wanted his lips to go
on teasing her, insistent and tender. She could hear his heart
pounding in time with her own. She trembled, feeling his warmth
surround her. Her arms came around his neck as she drew him closer.
He ran his hand through her hair and undid the pins holding it in
place.

“I want you more than
I’ve ever wanted anyone or anything. Tomorrow you’ll be mine to
love for all time. I want to make love to you the way a man was
meant to love a woman.”

Julie reached up and
touched his cheek with her hand. She looked into his eyes to see
the love of a lifetime, and refused to question the trust she
placed there. She did not harbor any doubt in her mind that this
was love. A love for all time. A love that would last.

“I want you to take me
now. Touch me, kiss me, give me the pleasure you’ve made me dream
of. I want to show you how much I love you, and I want you to make
me feel your love.”

“This wouldn’t be
right for you. I don’t want you to have any regrets. It’s only one
day more.”

She did not let go,
but continued to gaze into his eyes. She felt his intensity, his
control. He strained against her as they stood in the moonlight. He
lowered his head and claimed her lips again.

One last kiss and he
disappeared behind the panel.

* * *

Today was her wedding
day. At last she had someone to love. Julie stretched catlike and
reached for her wrapper without opening her eyes. A good-bye kiss
and the emptiness of abandonment still lay heavy on her heart. She
wanted him to be here, with her. She needed his assurance, but the
cold dawn of reality told her if this was all she could have, then
she would take it. His love she would never forget, no matter how
many years she would live, and if possible throughout eternity.

Julie felt the strain
of anticipation. The hours dragged by until Ian finished his
lessons early. After he left to go riding, she took out her
mother’s wedding dress. She’d taken everything she owned when she
left Wintersea, but never dreamed she would be standing here and
pressing the gown for her own wedding.

She permitted herself
the luxury of a long, hot bath amid jasmine-scented bubbles. Julie
even rinsed her hair in the scented water. Once finished, she
wrapped herself in her robe and sat by the fire brushing her hair.
Waiting for nightfall and for Matthew. The clock struck ten and
with it came the knock on the secret entrance to her room.

Julie went over to the
panel. “I’m here. Is it time?”

The panel moved, and
Matthew stood just inside the opening. “We’ll leave after the staff
is asleep. That should be shortly after midnight. Come down the
secret passage to my room when you’re ready. We’ll leave by the
back stairs, and Ribble will go with us to the mainland. One kiss,
my love, and I must leave. If I held you in my arms, I would not be
able to let go. I have much to do this night, and everything must
be done quickly and discreetly.” With one last look, Matthew
disappeared behind the panel.

Julie quickly dressed
in her mother’s wedding gown of hand-fingered ivory lace over satin
with a slight train at the back. It was cut low in the front with
the bodice decorated in seed pearls. She placed her mother’s pearls
around her neck, piled her hair high on her head, and wove it into
braids in the French fashion. Her mother’s pearl hairpins anchored
it in place.

She looked at herself
in the mirror and felt satisfied with her hasty toilette. After
donning a long cloak that completely covered her dress, she put her
satin slippers in the bandbox. Her hand trembled as she fingered
the catch to the panel. She took a deep breath, lit a candle, and
started down the stairs. When she reached Matthew’s room, she
listened to make sure he was alone, and then knocked on the panel.
The door was immediately thrown open.

Matthew helped Julie
inside the room and marveled at her quiet calm. He had been nervous
as a cat all day. She stopped by the lamp on his desk, and his
breath caught at the beauty before him. The flush of excitement on
her cheeks highlighted the brilliance of her emerald-green eyes.
For a moment, he found himself lost in their depths. Still holding
her hand, he heard the synchronized beating of two hearts.

They came down to
earth when Ribble entered the room. Matthew kept her hand enclosed
in his and quickly drew her with him down the back stairs and the
path to the cove where Ribble had readied a skiff to take them to
the mainland.

Their trip over was
smooth with Ribble at the helm, and they landed on a deserted
stretch of beach. Matthew whisked Julie from the boat and into a
waiting carriage.

Suddenly, Julie
gasped, “I don’t have any flowers! I forgot. I picked a bouquet
this morning, and I left them in my room.”

“Don’t worry about it.
I think they’ll still let us get married without them,” he
teased.

Julie looked so
serious Matthew told Ribble to stop at the next vacant lot. He
stepped out and returned a few minutes later with a handful of
white heather dripping with dew.

“Rumor has it a true
lady of Scotland’s marriage would nae be legal without a sprig of
white heather to bring her luck,” he said, bowing over her
hand.

They continued on
through the dimly lit streets of Gairloch, until the carriage
stopped in the shadows across from the pitch-black church. Its
steeple, silhouetted against a stormy sky, took on an eerie aura.
Matthew helped Julie from the carriage, and together they hurried
across to the steps of the church.

Suddenly, from out of
the bushes stepped a specter clothed entirely in black. Julie
gasped, and Matthew said reassuringly, “Don’t worry, it’s only the
minister.”

Matthew and Reverend
Frederick Mackenzie shook hands. The minister was a tall, thin man
of indeterminate age. He had the kind of face that would look the
same from his early teens to old age. The man sported a waxed
handlebar mustache he kept fingering nervously. His eyes darted
from bush, to tree, to rock until they came back to settle on Julie
and Matthew.

“Quickly, let’s go
inside. The night has eyes and ears sometimes. I have a small
candle to read by, and I suspect that’s all the light we dare use.”
When the minister spoke, his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down like a
buoy in a rough sea. Fascinated, Julie could not take her eyes off
him.

“Yes, I think you’re
right. Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible,” Matthew
said in a whisper.

Julie looked on in a
daze. The whole ceremony seemed surreal. She went through it
without thinking. She guessed she must have answered the questions
correctly, but she could not remember a thing after the minister
started speaking.

The next thing she
knew, Matthew brushed a kiss across her lips as the words “I now
pronounce you husband and wife” rang in her ears.

The minister showed
Ribble and the caretaker where to sign his book, and just as
quickly as he’d appeared before them, he also disappeared, leaving
them alone in the dark church.

“I know this is not
what you wanted, Julie, and I’m sorry, but this is the best I could
arrange under the circumstances.”

“Just tell me you love
me and everything will be all right,” Julie said quietly.

He took her in his
arms and kissed away her fears or any other thoughts. The caretaker
left as discreetly as the minister, and Ribble absented himself to
check the area. He came back a few minutes later and motioned for
them to follow. Quietly, they left the church, and their footsteps
softly echoed off the silent walls as the door closed behind them.
No one would ever know two lives were forged together in less than
a quarter hour of time.

The calm sea grew
choppy on their homeward journey, and the wind threatened to
overturn the small boat, but Ribble seemed to take it in stride.
Rumor had it that his younger days were spent in the flourishing
smuggling trade along the coast. He knew the waters between the
mainland and the island as well as he knew his own name, and he
knew the sea in all its different moods. The sun’s rays were
peeping over the horizon when they finally arrived in the little
sheltered cove. Matthew took Julie’s hand, and they hurried toward
the castle. They must act quickly if they were to reenter without
waking anyone.

Matthew followed Julie
up the secret passageway to her room. “It won’t always be like
this. I promise. It would be impossible for me to stay with you.
The servants will be up and about before long. We can’t have any
rumors. We must be discreet. You do understand, don’t you?”

“I do, but I don’t
want you to leave. Please stay,” Julie pleaded hoarsely. Tears
beckoned as she realized how their marriage would impact her life,
and it frightened her.

“Julie, my love, you
know I can’t stay. We have to keep up appearances. You know why I
can’t stay, and why we can’t tell anyone we’re married. I’ll come
to you tonight. I promise.”

He kissed her briefly
and turned to go. Before he could go through the passage, Julie ran
to him and claimed his lips again. She felt his touch, and his
love, as his arms crushed her to him in one last embrace.

Sleep evaded Julie
after Matthew left her, so her day began early. Once Ian finished
his lessons and went riding, she paced around the room. Too nervous
to sit still, she could not eat her supper when it arrived hours
later.

Now, she stood by her
window and watched the tide come in and leave. It seemed to her the
earth stopped spinning and time stood still before the sun finally
set, and night closed in around the castle. After attending to the
fire she sat down in her rocker to wait. Waiting for the men in her
life seemed to have become commonplace.

Soon the castle
settled into a quiet cocoon, until the clock in the schoolroom
struck midnight. The tolling of the hour also brought a tapping at
the secret panel in her room. The tension left her body.

The panel moved, and
Matthew stepped inside. She remembered the first time she’d seen
him. His handsome face wore a mask of boredom giving him an aloof,
untouchable presence. But this evening she could see a change in
him. He looked younger, and his eyes glowed. Those eyes so cold, so
dangerous when she did not know the true Matthew were now soft and
warm. She marveled at how much she loved him. Although eager to
sample the bliss of being his wife, Julie stepped back. She wanted
to feast on the man who would soon be her husband in all ways.

Matthew did not see
his new bride when he entered the room. His gaze scanned the
fire-lit chamber and came to rest on Julie standing in the shadows.
He crossed to her side, and took her in his arms. He held her
there, marveling at how the firelight flickered across her face,
bringing to bear the fragile beauty who now belonged to him. He
never tired of looking into her eyes or memorizing every inch of
her stunning countenance. No other’s charms had caused him to lose
a minute’s sleep. He could not believe he had fallen in love for
the first time in his life, and he felt for the first time this was
enough to sustain him through anything.

“Julie, last night
went so quickly, I had no time to tell you how much I love you or
to show you what’s in my heart. You looked so beautiful I felt
bewitched. You’re what I’ve been searching for all my life. I don’t
know how you found your way so far north, but I’m glad you did. I
know if I had missed you, I would have missed the best part of my
life.”

“I don’t know what
fates threw us together either. I was alone in the world and
lonesome, and then I found you. Oh, Matthew, I couldn’t love you
any more if my life depended on it. Nothing could make me change
how I feel.”

The need for control
had passed. His restraint crumbled, and passion overwhelmed him
when Julie took his hand and led him to the bed. Her wrapper slid
off her shoulders, and her gown puddled onto the floor at her
feet—revealing a body made for love. Almost in a daze, his gaze
roamed over her.

She’d never looked
more enchanting or more vulnerable. Matthew shrugged out of his
coat with Julie’s help. Her hands were inexperienced, but this did
not seem to matter; if anything, it aroused him more. At last he
was free of his clothes. Her gaze skimmed his body, and he exulted
in the slow exquisite torture as her fingers reached out to touch
his skin.

He trapped her hands
and kissed her fingertips, sucking gently on each. Her hands
stroked his back and his passion for her escalated.

Matthew peppered
gentle kisses against her eyelids, her brow, and the lobes of her
ears, before trailing his lips down her neck. His hands cupped her
breasts, and her body shivered where his hands touched. She moaned,
and her back arched toward him as his mouth teased her taut
nipples. He moved between her thighs. Julie’s eyes were wide open,
he hoped with pleasure. She strained against him, and Matthew felt
the same desire driving him. His hands explored every curve, every
hidden valley. Again, he felt her shiver with desire, and his need
to take her grew. He wanted to go slowly because of her
inexperience, but at this moment, he savored the slow, wonderful
torture for his own pleasure. He did not want this to end. The
pleasure increased to the point of intoxication.