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“Well, if that is the case, I am afraid I am guilty,” he conceded with a formal bow, and Astrid shook her head laughingly.
“Now, how must I punish ye?”
“However ye wish.”
“Ye will have to take me to Edinburgh today and let me buy as many dresses and books as I desire. I think that will be punishment enough for ye.”
Flynn laughed at her demand but was quite happy to hear it. It only meant he would get to spend some more time with her without anyone else around them. This was all he had wished for. Astrid’s company.
“I accept my punishment, Me Lady. Should we leave in an hour?”
“Yer goin’ to agree just like that?” she asked, appearing surprised.
“Of course. I did a wrong thing and must pay for me mistake.” He bowed as if he was really truly apologetic about it.
“Well, in that case, an hour it is.”
She grinned at Keira, clearly excited at the prospect of going to Edinburgh with him. At that moment, Flynn realized that he had gotten to the point where he would do anything for Astrid’s happiness, even if it was going to Edinburgh with her. She was slowly becoming the center of his world, and he did not dislike the idea at all.
* * *
“Astrid, fifteen books! Ye have bought fifteen books in one go, and now, ye want more?” Flynn exclaimed as he watched his betrothed walk towards yet another stall selling books.
What made the entire situation even funnier was the fact that the MacKie library had every book a person could ever wish for, yet Astrid still went through Edinburgh buying books.
“It was yer punishment, Me Laird,” she replied with a smile. “It is yer duty to buy me anything I wish to buy.”
“By that, I meant dresses and jewelry, perhaps accessories for yer hair or a tinted rouge for yer cheeks, nae books,” Flynn said, walking beside her.
She had handed him everything she had bought up till now, and he certainly did not look like the Laird of one of the most powerful clans in Scotland but simply a man moving around at the whims of the woman he was engaged to marry.
“Ye certainly ken a lot about women and what things they require,” she said suspiciously, and it was his turn to smile cheekily at her.
“Me reputation with women had always been quite marvelous, Me Lady,” he explained, and Astrid stopped entirely and turned sideways to face him, folding her arms across her chest.
He could see an emotion akin to jealousy on her face, and he wondered if he was right.
“Truly?”
“Truly,” he replied seriously, “women have always been quite fond of me.”
“And that is why ye ken all about their needs and dresses and what they use and nae use?”
“Precisely.”
“So, ye must have gone out this way with several women before me, I presume?” she asked, her voice entirely emotionless as if she was trying her best to sound as nonchalant as she possibly could.
Flynn could have lied to her in order to fuel her jealousy and said he had gone out this way with several women in the past, even though he had done no such thing. His relations with women had purely been based on physical needs and nothing beyond that.
There had been no woman before Astrid with whom Flynn had wished to spend more time or go out and do things. Astrid was the first, and he hoped to God for her to be the last.
The expression he saw on her face already appeared rather serious, as if she did not wish to look hurt or vulnerable. Flynn knew he would not be able to stand there and make her suffer this way, so he decided to go with the truth.
“Nay, Astrid, I have never been out with another woman this way. Ever.” He leaned into her as he said the last word, purposefully lowering his voice to make sure she understood he was not lying and meant every single word he said. “I never wished to do it with anyone else but ye.”
Astrid’s eyes widened at the declaration, and she blushed beautifully, which only made Flynn’s heartbeat accelerate. “That is a very kind thing to say, Me Laird.”
“I would never want to be anything but kind to ye, Astrid.”
