Bonnie linked her arm with Alexander’s as they sat side by side on the walls high up on the Castle Keep. It had always been one of Bonnie’s favorite places and the night sky twinkled brightly above them as the moon rose high and full.
“I love the night,” she whispered as she turned and looked into his eyes.
“That’s a strange coincidence, because so do I,” he smiled.
Bonnie felt herself blushing again, each time her eyes caught his and she realized how wide and dilated with lust his pupils were, it made her tingle with excitement and need. She had always heard about women who fell in love at first sight, but she had never truly believed that it could be real, and yet, there she was with a man she had only met earlier that day, and she already knew that she was crazy about him.
She looked up to the sky again and was sure she saw a shooting star trail above them.
“Wow,” she gasped. “Did you see it?”
“No,” Alexander whispered, “I was too busy looking at you.”
Bonnie turned to look at him again and he moved his hand slowly up to the side of her face and cupped her cheek before he pulled her face gently toward his. When he kissed her, the first thing she thought was how hot and alive he felt. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and took her breath away, his skin feeling like it was on fire.
She had never been kissed before, and it had been worth the wait. Her virgin lips tingled with anticipation and excitement, and with each graze of his tongue, he awakened parts of her that Bonnie had never even known existed.
Alexander slowly moved his face from hers and looked her deep in the eyes, the ice blue of his reflecting in the azure of her own.
“I would like to ask your father for your hand…” he said. “Is this something that would please you?”
Bonnie could barely contain her excitement, but she tried to keep her decorum.
“That is something that would please me very much,” she smiled.
They got to their feet and Alexander wrapped his hand in hers. His skin and palm were red hot and fiery, and she thought of how she had never felt someone with such a blaze inside of them.
They made their way back down toward the main hall and even though Bonnie was tipsy from the wine, she was determined to commit every part of what was happening to memory.
She had finally found the man who she was supposed to be with… And he was going to ask her father for her hand in marriage. Could this day get any more perfect after it had started out so uncertain and worrying?
As they re-entered the main hall, the party was still in full swing and Bonnie could see that her parents were still wrapped up in each other and dancing with some other couples from the clan and the bard. Alexander dropped her hand out of respect but rested his palm flat against her back and led her through the crowd to her mother and father.
“Well, well, well,” her father bellowed as he noticed them heading toward him. “This is something I definitely like to see! My beautiful girl with a very fine suitor indeed! Alexander is from one of the most powerful families in all of the Highlands, Lassie!” he said as he looked to Bonnie.
Bonnie smiled and nodded, her stomach and heart in knots waiting for Alexander to ask what he had promised. She looked up to him and he was smiling down at her, aware of her nerves but finding them nothing but adorable and endearing.
“Lord Grant,” Alexander spoke up, “I have something I would like to discuss with you.”
Bonnie’s father smiled from ear to ear and patted Alexander on the back.
“Of course, laddie, what would you like to know?”
“Well,” Alexander began, barely able to hide his own happiness “I have been completely taken with your beautiful Bonaventure and I would like to ask if I may have the honor of taking her hand in marriage?”
Bonnie’s heartbeat picked up even more and she swallowed down her nerves. Her father looked from Alexander to Bonnie with a look of uncertainty on his face, which then quickly turned into a beaming smile and a roaring laugh.
“Of course you may!” he bellowed as he slapped Alexander affectionately on the back once more. “This is the best news to hit Castle Grant in many years!”
He pulled both Alexander and Bonnie into his big, chubby arms and hugged them both tight. Bonnie could barely even register what was happening, but she knew one thing for certain… She was going to be wed; she was going to become a wife.
“There isn’t a moment to lose!” her father shouted as he looked around the room. “Come! The Campbell’s are leaving Castle Grant at first light, let us wed these two this very night and send them off as newlyweds the morrow!”
Bonnie couldn’t help but squeal with excitement. She was getting everything she had ever hoped for and more… She was going to become part of a powerful Highland dynasty.
As her mother and father got the bard to play around the room, they raced to wake the priest and sent the peasant boys to gather flowers from the fields. Bonnie was rushed upon by the chambermaids and her mother as they placed petals in her hair, and she knew, at once, that it didn’t matter how or when her wedding took place, as long as she was marrying Alexander, everything would be right in the world.
As she stood by him at the altar and looked into his eyes, she knew that she had finally found the piece of her that had been missing. A man with dangerous secrets, and a power that most others would crave.
Now Bonnie was about to be welcomed into the Campbell Clan… And whatever secrets they were hiding were about to be revealed. It should have scared her, but she had never been more intrigued and excited in her entire life.