a kiss across her lips.
25
It wasn’t quite as Rae had wished. Her heart demanded the two of them leave that very second. Her brain, however, pleaded for logic and convinced her to pack a few things first.
While she packed some travel clothes, and a few costumes for a few extra days, at Brooke’s urging, of course, Simon said he needed to run a quick errand and would come back to collect her.
The three hours she waited for his return ticked by so slowly she was beginning to wonder if time had stood still.
Then at last, her dashing groom was on the front door stoop, ready to whisk her away.
The two-day trip to Scotland was both heaven and hell all rolled into one. Being so close and exchanging kisses all day made falling asleep impossible. Even awake, it was a struggle to remember their morals. With each kiss their lips would linger and their hands would start to wander. But always the gentleman, Simon would stop before he’d disrespected her.
Not that Rae believed Simon would ever disrespect her, but the fact that he was mindful of their boundaries and limitations as an unwed couple warmed her heart.
“The innkeeper said only four more hours,” Rae said as much for her own benefit as for Simon’s as soon as the door was closed behind them after their last stop.
“Good. Then fifteen minutes for the ceremony and then you’re all mine.”
“I’m already all yours,” she said, sidling up beside him.
Simon wrapped his arm around Rae and pulled her close. “Is your neck stiff?” he murmured against her hair.
Rae nodded.
Simon’s strong hand found the nape of her neck and started to slowly massage her neck and upper shoulders. “Perhaps we can stay in Scotland for a few days,” he suggested.
A thrill of excitement shot through Rae. Even though they weren’t truly running away, the idea of staying longer than just the wedding and wedding night suddenly made the trip seem that much more scandalous. She closed her eyes, letting her mind fill with daydreams of Simon and her kissing in the Scottish countryside.
“We’re here,” Simon said, pulling Rae from her slumber.
Groggily, she tried to sit up and right herself. Outside the windows were little wooden and stone buildings, similar to the village where she grew up, only there were far more buildings—and people.
“What about that place?” Simon asked, pointing toward a blacksmith’s shop across the street.
“It’d have to be a smithy, wouldn’t it?”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Simon said.
“No, it seems somewhat appropriate,” Rae said. “If it weren’t for a blasted smithy we wouldn’t be here having our wedding.”
Fortunately for Rae, going into Mr. McFarland’s smithy shop didn’t bring about the same chills that Mr. Fisher’s shop evoked.
“Can I help ye with something?” an older man with soft brown eyes asked.
“We’d like to get married,” Simon said.
The corners of the older man’s eyes crinkled. He quickly removed his apron and waved Rae and Simon over. “Me name is Douglas McFarland,” he said.
“Simon Appleton and this is Miss Henrietta Hughes,” Simon said.
“Good, good.” The older man swiveled on his stool and reached his hand into the dusty cabinet behind him. “Ye look like ye’d prefer the two-minute version.”
Rae released an uncontrollable giggle.
“Unless a one-minute version is an option,” Simon said with a wink.
“No.” The older man flipped through a little book in front of him. “Two minutes or two hours.”
“Two minutes,” Simon and Rae said in unison.
“That’s what I thought.” He shook his head and shuddered. “Only once have I been asked to make the ceremony so tedious.” He flipped a few more pages. “All right, ye two hold hands, look into each other’s eyes and repeat after me, ‘I pledge to love and honor you until death comes a-callin’—”
Simon and Rae repeated the man’s words to one another.
“—I will forsake all others for you—”
Again, they repeated the man’s words.
“—and will honor, love, and worship you with my lips…and body.”
Simon and Rae both looked at the man.
He made a rolling hand gesture. “My Fiona and I had seventeen urchins.’Tis an important promise.”
Despite the way her face burned, Rae repeated the words and vowed to love and worship Simon with her body.
“Kiss yer bride, Mr. Appleton,” Mr. McFarland said with a wink.
Simon wasted no time closing the gap between them. His soft lips found hers, searing her with a warm kiss that sent sparks all the way down to her toes.
“If ye’ll both sign here, ye can go across the street and start honoring yer vows.”
Rae jerked