Chapter 9
The following day,Meredith woke up early and lay there for a few minutes, watching Ryder’s sleeping profile before finally becoming too impatient to wait another moment for him to wake.
“Ouch!” Ryder sat up suddenly, rubbing his arm where Meredith had prodded him sharply, before rolling over and pretending to still be asleep. Her new husband, however, wasn’t fooled.
“Ye wouldnae be trying to wake me up, by any chance, would ye?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her from behind and drawing her body towards his.
“Nay! Whatever makes ye think that?” Meredith asked, her eyes widening in faux innocence - and then widening again as she felt the hardness of him against her back, through the thin nightgown.
“That’s good,” Ryder said softly, his voice muffled by her mass of dark hair as he nuzzled at her neck. “We wouldnae want our marriage to get off to a bad start, after all, would we?”
“Och, I think it’s already got off to a very good start, daenae ye?” Meredith giggled, enjoying the feel of his muscular arms around her. “It’s nice to wake up like this, isn’t it?” she said, rolling over to face him and looping her arms around his neck. “I was half expecting ye to be up and out like ye normally are. It’s not like ye to stay abed so long!”
“Nay, it isnae,” Ryder agreed, realizing with surprise that she was right. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he’d fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep, not waking until Meredith had prodded him. “Ye’re teaching me bad habits, wife!”
“Och, I daenae think they’re so bad,” Meredith replied, punctuating her words by kissing him softly on the lips. Ryder enthusiastically returned the kiss, and before long, her shift was once more on the floor by the bed as they explored each other with their hands and lips, discovering all of the best places to touch. Unlike the previous night, when there had been an urgency to their lovemaking, this morning they took their time, knowing that there was plenty of it and that there would be many more mornings like these, as well as nights like the one that had preceded it.
“We’re so lucky,” Meredith sighed contentedly as they lay together afterward, trying to find the will to get out of bed. “So very lucky.”
“Aye,” Ryder agreed, stroking her back. “We are indeed.”
* * *
Mrs. MacDonald had arranged for breakfast to be served in the Great Hall for the next few mornings, the morning room being too small to comfortably accommodate so many guests.
By the time Meredith and Ryder made their appearance, Meredith blushing slightly at the good-natured jests relating to their lateness and what might have caused it, Felix and Angus were giggling together over something at one end of the table while her father and Matthew spoke earnestly together at the other.
“Where’s Mam?” Meredith asked, seeing Melissa sitting beside Margaret and Marion Murray, but no sign of her mother.
“Och, she’s in the kitchen, swapping recipes with Mrs. MacDonald,” said Margaret, looking up from her bowl of porridge. “We couldnae drag her away!”
“And it’s as well ye couldnae,” said Erin Quinn, appearing through the open door, with the cook close behind her, carrying yet another tray of food. “For I’ve acquired a long list of instructions which I’ll be taking back to our own cook, seeing as I’ve been unable to steal Mrs. MacDonald away from Ryder and Meredith!”
Mrs. MacDonald smiled at her new friend as she bustled around the table, placing plates and bowls at intervals along it. It was rare to see the cook out of her kitchen, as she usually left such tasks to the serving boys, but this morning she had apparently made a rare exception - keen, no doubt, to see how everyone was getting along in the aftermath of the wedding.
“Nay, Lady Quinn,” she said, shaking her head solemnly as she stood back to admire her handiwork, “I’ll not be stolen by anyone. I know Me Lairdship has his moments, but he’s no’ a bad master to work for, so I’m afraid to say he’s stuck with me.”
Ryder raised his eyebrows at the rare compliment. “And very pleased to be so,” he said gallantly, as the cook left the room once more, satisfied that everything was in order. Around the table, everyone was chatting happily, and helping themselves to more breakfast - all except Felix, of course, who had been noticeably silent since Ryder’s entrance, his conversation with Angus forgotten. Nursing a mighty hangover, no doubt, thought Ryder, glancing down the table at the boy, who was resolutely avoiding his gaze. Maybe I should try to spend some time with the lad, see if we can call a truce?
“Felix,” he called down the table, forcing the boy to look up at him, “I’d like ye to come for a ride with me this morning, as soon as we’re done here. Angus, yer welcome to join us if ye like.”
* * *
Felix and Angus exchanged a glance, then Felix shrugged, trying his best to look unconcerned by the prospect of a morning in the company of his terrifying new brother-in-law. Once they were out on the moor, high above the castle, however, the young man appeared to have a change of heart.
“Ye daenae have to do this, ye ken,” he said stiffly as they drew their horses to a halt and waited for Angus to catch up with them. “I know we dinnae get off to the best start. I wouldnae blame ye if ye wanted nothing to do wi’ me.”
“I dinnae,” Ryder had said bluntly, looking the boy in the eye. “But that was before ye apologized for yer behavior at the wedding — and before yer sister told me a bit more about why ye might be feeling a wee bit put out that yer faither handed over his lands to me, rather than leaving them all to ye.”
Felix shifted uncomfortably in his saddle, feeling as if Ryder had somehow managed to see right through him. The loss of his home had affected him more deeply than he would ever have admitted, and, strange though it was to admit it, with Meredith and Melissa so preoccupied with the wedding and the new life they were both embarking in, Ryder appeared to be the only person who had truly noticed that Felix was struggling with his own, less happy, change in circumstance.
Then again, there wasn’t much Ryder didn’t notice — as Felix had already found out to his cost. He supposed all that moody silence of his at least gave him plenty of time to sit back and observe what was going on around him.
“Besides,” Ryder continued, as Angus's horse finally appeared on the horizon, “Yer me wife’s brother. That makes ye family, and family stick together — whether they like each other or no’.”
Felix grinned despite himself. He was still less happy with the situation than he knew his parents and sisters would like him to be, but as they turned their horses for home, and set off at a gallop he had to admit, he had a newfound respect for his brother-in-law. They were not yet friends. It was far too soon for that. But if anyone were to ask him at that moment who he most wanted to be like when he was older, the name Ryder Higgins would have been the first one on his tongue.
* * *