The House of the Laird (20 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

The porter was s
towing the light luggage away on the rack, while the heavier luggage, including several pigskin suitcases and a trunk or two, was already disposed in the guard
’
s van. The compartment was first-class, and looking about it Karen realized that this was the first time she had travelled in so much comfort, unless, in the days before she could remember things clearly and before her parents had suffered their disastrous financial crash, they had found it unnecessary to limit themselves to third-class tickets when they journeyed from place to place.

She sat down in a
corner
seat, while Iain rewarded the porter—who was none other than the man who should have relieved her of her ticket on the night she first arrived in Inverlochie, and who was looking at her with a polite, pleased smile of recognition iii his eyes—for his exertions. And then he crossed over and sat beside his very newly-made wife, while the porter slammed the door upon them, and the train started to move slowly out of Inverlochie station.

Once again the steep High Street was bathed in late afternoon sunshine, and once again the narrow church steeple was silhouetted against a background of jagged purple mountain and rose-flushed sky. The woods clothing the lower slopes were greener now, and there were bright flashes of running water finding their way down from the heights, and all the burns around Inverlochie were rippling with movement, too. And the air was much milder—it was no longer freezingly cold.

Iain sat looking closely at his wife as she averted her face from him and watched the tiny platform slide away from them. She was wearing a pearl-grey outfit, and a little jewel-blue velvet cap which clung closely to the back of her
head and allowed her soft, fair curls to escape below it and form a kind of nimbus about her face. Her skin looked soft like the petals
o
f a flower, and there was an unmistakable light blush on her cheeks, and her long eyelashes were inclined to droop over her eyes.

Iain said quietly:

“
Well, Mrs. Mackenzie! There
’
s no backing out now!
”

Karen turned to him at once, and her shyness vanished as if it had never been. She answered him reproachfully:

“
As if I would want to back out! As if I
could
want to back out!
”

He smiled at her and put his fingers under her chin and lifted it.

“
So sure?
”
he asked.

“
I couldn
’
t be more sure!
”

A vivid flush of earnestness overspread her face, and her eyes gleamed at him under her lashes with the same jewel-like brilliance as her blue velvet hat. Her mouth looked soft and tremulous—and very, very inviting.

He kissed it, softly, lingeringly.

“
I
’
ve told you so many times I love you,
”
he said hoarsely.
“
I shall go on repeating it at intervals throughout our lives, but I hope you
’
ll never again disbelieve me when I say it. You won
’
t, will you, my darling?
”

And because the way she looked at him was sufficient answer in itself he caught her into his arms and buried his face against the softness of her hair. He kissed her again, only not so gently this time, and when at last he lifted his head her lips were tingling and scarlet from the almost bruising contact with his. His
grey eyes looked dark and brooding like the summits of the mountains surrounding Craigie House.

“
I love you, I love you,
”
he said.

“
I love you,
”
Karen answered, clinging, to him almost fiercely.
“
I
’
ll never stop loving you!
”

“
If you ever do,
I
promise you I
’
ll punish you much more severely than I did yesterday afternoon!
”

“
Was it only yesterday afternoon?
”
She put back her head against his shoulder and looked up at him. It was incredible that so much had happened since he had come.to her out of the mist and the dusk of only the afternoon before. He had taken her back to Auchenwiel and handed her once more over to the care of his aunt, who had reproached her neither by word nor look, while Fiona was no longer a member of the household, and seemed to have been called away hurriedly for some reason.

Iain had stated quite bluntly that he was no longer prepared to wait even a few days to marry Karen.

“
I can
’
t trust you,
”
he said.
“
I can
’
t trust you either to look after yourself or to behave sensibly, and as I can
’
t trust anybody else to look after you I
’
m going to marry you straight away. And I
’
m not going to take you back to Craigie House yet—in spite of what you said to me before I went to London. I want to get away from here for a bit, somewhere where we won
’
t have any reminders of the past nightmarish hours spent looking for you.
”
And because there was something almost haggard in his face when he said this she yielded at once, bitterly reproaching herself because it was she who had caused him so much unnecessary suffering. And as to their return to Craigie House—well, that would be something to which they could look forward when they had wandered for a while in the sun-filled lands he wanted to show to her. It was his wish that she should see them with him, and she had no other conscious thought but that by agreeing with everything he suggested she would be making him as blissfully happy as she was herself.

And if he had suggested honeymooning oh a desert island, where there were few amenities, and no comforts, she would have been just as happy.

The minister was contacted and the wedding took place at noon on the morning of the day after her lonely adventure on the moor. And afterwards, while Aunt Horry
’
s maid packed for her hurriedly, and Iain
’
s things were assembled for him hastily at Craigie House, they had a very pleasant lunch at Auchenwiel. The health of the bride and bridegroom was drunk in champagne, and Aunt Horry was a little misty-eyed because Karen, she thought,
w
as such a lovely bride, even if she didn
’
t wear white and carry a bouquet, and she did somehow manage to look almost too
young to be embracing all the responsibilities which the acceptance of a wedding ring would inevitably place on her slender shoulders.

After lunch they drove into the village, and Karen said goodbye to Ellen McBain, and received her congratulations at the same time. Ellen whispered to her before they left:

“
I told you it would be all right, didn
’
t I?
”

And now here they were in the train, and t
hi
s time tomorrow night she would be in London again with Iain, and the following night in Paris. And after that she didn
’
t quite know where she would be, but it was all almost unbelievable, because wherever she went Iain would be with her. She was his wife!

“
Have you fully realized yet that you now possess a husband?
”
Iain asked her, as the train got into its stride and roared on its way southwards.

Karen
’
s ready color stung her cheeks.

“
I—I haven
’
t had much time to do so, have I?
”
she answered, wishing he would give her the opportunity to hide her face, but his fingers were ruthlessly holding her face up into the open.

He smiled, and there was something more than a slightly quizzical amusement under his thick eyelashes.

“
That reminds me,
”
he said.
“
I
’
d better go and make sure our sleeper arrangements are all right, and if we
’
re to have any dinner I
’
d better check up on that, too. But the sleeper is important. I can
’
t have you repeating that extraordinary performance you put up when you travelled north three months ago—sitting up all night in a railway compartment!
”

And then because she blushed so vividly he caught her back into his arms and kissed her with almost fierce tenderness.