Chapter 140 140

Chapter 140 140

Nova looks up at me, those gold-flecked eyes wide and questioning. Her cheeks are flushed, wisps of dark hair escaping her elegant updo. There’s straw caught in the hem of her dress, and a smear of something on her shoulder that will probably ruin the fabric forever.

She’s never been more beautiful.

When I pull her to her feet, she comes willingly. Her body trembles against mine—from the chill or from emotion, I’m not sure. Don’t care. I just need to feel her, taste her, remind myself that this is real.

I cup her face in my hands. “My father sees weakness where I see strength. He thinks love makes you vulnerable. Makes you breakable.” I press my forehead to hers. “But watching you tonight, krasavitsa… I finally understand what true power looks like.”

Nova’s fingers curl into my shirt. “Sam? Did something happen with your father?”

“That doesn’t matter right now.” I brush my lips across her temple, breathing in the scent of her skin beneath the barn’s earthy musk. “The only thing that matters is you.”

She makes a soft sound of protest, but I silence it with a kiss. Gentle at first, then deeper as she melts against me. Her mouth opens under mine, tasting of champagne and promises I’m finally ready to keep.

When we break apart, she studies my face in the lantern light. Those gold-flecked eyes see too much—always have. But for the first time, I don’t feel the need to hide from her scrutiny.

“You’re freezing,” I murmur, shrugging out of my jacket to wrap it around her shoulders. The fabric swallows her small frame, and something primitive stirs in my chest at the sight of her wearing my clothes.

“The puppies—” she starts.

“Will be fine for a few minutes. Right now, I need you more than they do.”

She looks at me. Squints. Wonders. But then she nods, and when my mouth finds hers, I wonder if it’s possible to live in this moment forever.

Our second kiss starts soft but quickly blazes into something deeper, hungrier. More desperate. Nova’s fingers dig into my shoulders as I lift her, pressing her back against a wooden beam. The silk of her dress whispers as it slides up her thighs.

“Sam,” she breathes against my mouth. “Please.”

That one word shatters my control. I take her there in the barn, surrounded by new life and old stone, my father’s poison burning away into the ether with each gasp and moan she makes. When she cries out my name, her voice echoing in the rafters, it feels like forgiveness. Like grace.

It feels like coming home.

36

NOVA

The sheep look like cotton balls scattered across the misty fields below. I turn from the window and look again at the chaos engulfing the castle feast room. Just as she’s been doing since the first hint of dawn this morning, Mrs. Morris barks orders at the staff like a four-foot-eleven general commanding troops into battle.

“The linens must be pressed twice, Callum! And for heaven’s sake, Malcolm, polish those doorknobs until I see my reflection. If I spy so much as a hint of a fingerprint, so help me God…”

I hide my smile. The castle’s already gleaming, but our housekeeper won’t rest until every surface sparkles like the diamonds Sam gave me last week.

Speaking of my fiancé…

I descend the spiral staircase and find him at the breakfast table, phone in hand, dark brows furrowed in concentration. Nothing abnormal there. But his jaw twitches when I enter, and he checks his Patek Philippe three times in the thirty seconds I spend standing in the doorway, shamelessly admiring him.

“Important meeting?” I slide into the chair beside him, stealing a piece of bacon from his plate.

“Mm.” He doesn’t look up from his screen, but his free hand finds my thigh under the table, squeezing gently.

“Must be. Mrs. Morris is treating today like the Queen’s coming for tea.”

“Mrs. Morris is... enthusiastic.” His lips quirk. “She takes initiative.”

“‘Initiative.’“ I snort. “Is that what we’re calling this not-so-covert military operation?”

Sam finally meets my eyes, and the tenderness there makes my heart stutter. “You deserve the best, krasavitsa.”

“I already have it. Though if you’d like to tell me what the hell is going on, I really wouldn’t mind that at all.” I lean in to kiss him, but before I can Mrs. Morris’s voice rings out again.

“—no, no! The flowers must be arranged precisely as I showed you. No, not like that⁠—”

I sigh and pinch Sam’s chin between my thumb and forefinger so he has no choice but to look at me. “One more time—and I really am begging this time—please, for all that is good and holy, tell me what is happening.”

Sam grins and starts to give me the same answer he’s given me for the last week, ever since the dinner party disaster, when he started dropping hints about a great “surprise” that will “blow me away.” “You’ll⁠—”

I press a finger to Sam’s lips. “If you say ‘you’ll see’ one more time, I swear I’ll⁠—”

The familiar deep woof echoing across the castle grounds stops my heart mid-threat.

That bark.

I know that bark.

I’m out the door before the bark has even stopped echoing, nearly face-planting on the front gate’s steps in my rush. The Scottish morning mist parts like a curtain as I sprint across the drive, my heart thundering against my ribs.

One black Range Rover has already stopped in front of the courtyard fountain. Another crawls through the gates and eases into park behind it.

Suddenly, I’m that seven-year-old girl again, watching life unfold in slow motion. But this time, instead of fear coiling in my gut, it’s pure joy exploding within.

And then something actually explodes through the rear door of the first car.

Two somethings, actually. A pair of furry black shadows, each slobbering in their effort to outrace the other. I’m on my knees, ready to greet them, but there’s no such thing as “ready” for what happens next.

Rufus and Ruby hit me like the runaway trains that they are. We flop backwards onto the soft sand of the driveway, a tangled mess of limbs and tails and tongues and me laughing again and again as tears I can’t stop pour unchecked down my cheeks.

“Ru! Ru!” I keep crying out again and again. They whine, bark, squeal, squeak, and when they can’t figure out how else to express their happiness, they run frantic circles before jumping on me to start the process all over again.

Through my happy tears, I spot two more figures emerging from the Range Rover. My heart, already full to bursting, somehow expands even more.

“Nova, darling!” Grams’s voice carries across the courtyard.

Then I’m up and running, and I collide with Grams almost as hard as Rufus and Ruby collided with me.

“Be careful with her!” Hope scolds, hovering like a mother hen as I squeeze my grandmother in the hardest hug I can muster.

Grams waves off her helping hand. “Oh, hush. I may be old, but I’m not made of glass.” Her eyes sparkle with their familiar mischief as she leans away, though she keeps her hands on my elbows so I can’t go too far. She takes in the castle looming behind me. “Though I must say, this place looks like it’s made of something even more precious.”