Bonus scene

“Come on, now, girl,” Mary murmured to Snowflake, dipping her head down so the horse could hear her. “We can’t let the boys beat us now, can we?”

Whether or not the horse could understand her, the creature—the same white mare that Kiernan had picked out for her all those years ago—picked up her hooves, and galloped steadily across the hills to where Kiernan and his steed had managed to pull ahead of them.

The sun glistened from the dew-soaked grass as the two of them took their morning ride. It had become something of a habit for them, as the Spring had begun to draw in again, the brightness of the longer mornings too tempting to resist. Though Mary was still learning how best to ride, she loved the feeling of the wind in her hair mixed with the scent of heather, and the way that Kiernan and she always competed to get to the same spot down by the river that both of them loved so much.

Today, it looked as though he had managed to make it there before her, slowing his horse at the edge of the bend of the river. Flowers had begun to sprout up from beneath the fallow earth in the last few days, yellows and reds and purples catching the sunlight.

She finally caught up with him, slowing Snowflake down to a halt and running her hand through the horse’s mane. Snowflake let out a little snort, as though irritated that she had allowed Kiernan to win, though, in truth, Mary did not much mind.

He offered her a hand to help her down from Snowflake, and, with her feet on the ground once more, she smiled up at him.

“You’re a very gracious victor,” she remarked, and he chuckled.

“Not difficult, when my opponent is as sweet as my beautiful wife,” he teased her, pulling her into his arms for a kiss. She smiled into his embrace, leaning up to plant her lips against his, letting the delicious warmth of his touch rush to every inch of her body. Though it was still cool on those early mornings, there was a heat to the way he laid hands on her that made all of it fall away.

Once he had drawn back, he pulled his cloak from his shoulders and laid it on the dew-sodden grass below them, sinking down onto it and inviting her to do the same with a pat of his hand. She did as she was asked at once, how could she not? Her husband made so much effort to find these precious moments for the two of them, even amongst all the work he had been doing with Arran to open trading lines between the Aitken and Fraser estate. She knew it had been taking up much of his headspace, but she was grateful that he still created these soft, sweet moments, just for the two of them.

He draped his arm around her, and she planted her hand against his chest, breathing in the scent of him, mingled with the deep, earthy scent of the grass. The river’s quiet rumble moved at their feet, and she peered down at the water, watching as it smoothed over rocks and carried twigs to their final destination.

“I think this must have been the same river we were at when we met at Stonehaven,” he remarked to her, and she raised her eyebrows at him.

“You still remember that?”

He turned to her, as though surprised she had even to ask.

“Of course I do, lass. You think I’d forget a day like that?”

“That’s very sweet of you,” she teased him. “What will everyone think, when I tell them that Kiernan Fraser is a sweet man underneath that rough exterior?”

He cocked an eyebrow at her, flashing her a bright grin.

“I’d wager to say that most of them already ken how sweet I am on you.”

Her heart stirred with a happy pulse inside of her.

“I’d wager that they do,” she agreed. She would have guessed, actually, that there were a few of her lady’s maids who slept on the same floor as her who were well and truly tired of hearing their passion for each other, late into the night, but she tried not to think about it.

“Aye, that’s why yer family were so keen to keep me away from you at Stonehaven,” he remarked. She laughed.

“You weren’t sweet on me then, were you?”

He looked at her for a long moment, simply staring in her eyes, as though he could hardly believe what she was asking. She frowned at him and then laughed.

“What’s got your tongue?” she teased. He reached up, brushing the hair back from her face before he replied.

“I’ve always been sweet on you, Mary. God knows I have. From the moment I saw ye at that ceilidh, all those months ago, I knew that there was something between us… something that I’d spend the rest of my life trying to capture, if that’s what it came tae.”

She gazed at him for a moment, letting his words wash through her. Of course, she knew exactly what he meant. Even then, she had felt a connection with him, one that she had never sensed with anyone before. She had craved him, body and soul, his face filling her dreams and her heart with a weight she could not ignore. And to think that he had been imagining the same thing, feeling the same warmth between them? It was almost more than she could make sense of.

“Well,” she whispered to him, as she snuggled in a little closer. “I think it’s safe to say you’ve well and truly got me, Kiernan Fraser.”

A slightly cocky grin lit up his face, as he lowered his lips to kiss her once more.

“Aye,” he agreed in the moment before their mouths came together. “It’s safe to say I do.”