She glanced sidelong at him. “What do you think would have happened had I remained at Balhaire? Would we have found our way, do you think?”

“I’d like to think we would have overcome our differences, aye.”

“You mean I might have overcome my differences.”

He smiled.

“And what of you, Laird Mackenzie? You were not so pleased with me, if you’ve forgotten.”

“I wanted to turn you over my bloody knee,” he agreed.

She giggled again and pushed wet hair from his face. She was so bloody bonny when she smiled. Eyes sparkling with mirth, a smile that seemed to reach from ear to ear.

“Aye, but I was smitten,” he grumbled as she sank down onto his chest. “The mistake I made was thinking you might be a wee bit smitten, too.”

“Some fall hard into affection, while others land softly. I was intrigued by you, but I was so fearful. I’d scarcely been away from Norwood Park in all my life.”

“No matter—look at you now, leannan. No’ a trembling bone in your body, aye?”

Margot leaned forward and kissed him. “What a journey we’ve had, my lord husband.”

Aye, what a journey they’d had. He lived with a constant sense of unease, what with the lack of trust between them and the uncertainty of what would happen at Norwood Park. If by some miracle he was able to survive this, he wondered whether she would return to Balhaire with him. Or would she remain in England with her balls and gaming tables and gentleman admirers?

What if she returned to Balhaire? Would he ever learn to trust her again? He wanted children and laughter and to grow old with his spouse, to watch her hair turn to silver. He did not want to live his life wondering if she would leave him again, if she was conspiring against him again.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“That when your father first came to me with his proposition, I was a young man with many dreams,” he said. “I was finding ways that Balhaire might prosper and I might sustain it for my clan. Marriage, an heir—I couldna accomplish all that I desired without them, aye? It seemed a perfect union—it gave me lands in England, a woman to give me sons.”

“That is what marriage is generally about,” she said absently as she combed her fingers through his wet hair.

“Aye...but then I saw you, Margot,” he said, brushing his hand roughly against her face. “I saw you on the balcony at Norwood Park, and from that moment on, my life could never be the same.”

“Oh, Arran.” She sighed.