Okay so I was really debating on making there marriage an arranged one and then have them warm up to each other. Then I had this idea where Aileen was engaged to somebody else. I think the second one ended up coming out however. Which by the way leads to a later part in my story.
Everybody was milling around the party just starting up. King Fergus always knew how to throw a wild bash, no matter who the guests were. Ian and Merida's wedding was something everybody wanted to see, but only so many people were invited. So far it was all the clan leaders and there immediate family, minus the fact that everybody important from clan Macguffin had come like the serfs and what not.
Fergus had scanned the room noting how everybody was in a jolly good mood. Elinor was talking with Ladies Macintosh and Dingwall about something unknown to him. Merida and Ian were talking with Torrance, Aileen, Catherine, and Abernathy. The Donoghue clan was even here with small children running about around everybody's legs.
There was even some old peddler woman in the mix, claiming she was a whittler of wood. He didn't know how she got here, but the more the merrier. Bagpipers played until they needed drinks themselves. A wedding was a happy occasion that everybody needed to have fun at. He looked around once more to find that Ian and Merida had left. Hopefully they were just talking, none of that needed to be done until after the ceremony.
Torrance Macintosh only stared at the girl in front of him, and the first word running through his mind was perfection. Her green eyes pierced through him and he only stared with that smirk on his face. Aileen Mackenzie stared right back at him with her own smirk on her face. Torrance winked and for a second she had let her guard down, and flushing. So she wasn't that hard of a nut to crack, she was just stubborn.
"Aileen, come meet Lord Kennan," said her father Lord Donald Mackenzie. He lead her away by her arm and then she only flashed Torrance a look that said later. A promise that they would see each other later tonight. They have been meeting in secret for the past month or so getting to know each other. Torrance was teaching her how to use a sword. He usually felt proud to say that everything she knew was courtesy of himself.
Lady Mackenzie, Aileen's mother, pulled him into a conversation with Wee Dingwall and herself. Catherine was also listening taking in everything she was saying. They were talking about who that mysterious girl was that Wee, aka Abernathy, was head over heals for. It was Lady Audrey's Mackenzie mission to figure out what Torrance was looking for in a girl. That way she could lay it on pretty thick to Lord Magnus Macintosh.
From the corner of his eye, he was too busy paying attention to the raven haired beauty. The waves in her hair shimmered in the fiery light as she nodded at something she was saying. In that moment he took the time to drink the sight of her in. Other then the striking midnight waves, her emerald eyes were so foreign to him. Her father probably said something that confused her, because she loosened up. Her oh so rigid back sagged and her right foot moved backward, giving him a nice glance of backside. She had just the right sized hips for bearing children and her butt cute and pert.
He had every right to stare, she was one of the most beautiful women in the room. Even Merida seemed to pale in comparison, in his eyes. He had knew Aileen Mackenzie to long to notice her as soon as she entered the room.
From his spot it wasn't hard to study her soft face with a pink blush on her face. Then his eyes traveled down her body, her breasts moving from her breathing was hypnotizing him. Then snapping up when he heard Lady Mackenzie say something about Aileen then paid attention to the conversation for once. Then his eyes traveled up to her face, Aileen's face was full as she smiled and her wide eyes were sad for some reason.
She turned and started to walk fast past him her emerald eyes blurred. Quickly he excused himself from Lady Mackenzie and Abernathy following her from the room to another part of the castle.
"Aileen!" he called running after her. Pale dusty pink skirts were seen from the corner of her eye. A couple of people looked up but didn't try to stop the sobbing girl. One or two people from the Macguffin clan pointed him in the correct direction.
"Aileen this is Lord Alpin and his son Lyle Kennon," said Donald Mackenzie to his eldest daughter.
"Hello Lord Kennon," said Aileen to him, her back straight and her hand extended toward him. Lord Kennon was a tall with a lean frame, his blond hair thinning. Pale blue eyes meet hers. His son looked at her and smiled at her as well, except Lyle's smile didn't seem to reach his eyes. Instead he stared at her hungrily, a flash of lust crossed his face. She was quite beautiful; her long wavy black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, her green eyes sparkled like a gem. Her face full and skin pale, free of any flaws. The pink dress she wore hugged her curves and showed enough cleavage, enough to leave him guessing.
"Hello Lyle," she said trying hard not to notice the look he was giving her. Right now she really wished Torrance was with her and not mixed in somewhere in the crowd. She shook his eyes and could literally feel his eyes roving over her body. She politely started to listen to what her father was saying by her mind in another place. Perhaps tonight after the engagement party she would talk to Torrance...
Then her eyes snapped up when she heard the words 'Aileen is engaged to you.' Then trying to show her discomfort she looked up at the person, her father was saying you too. Lyle.
"Excuse me, but father what do you mean that I'm engaged to Lyle?" she asked alarmed at what she was hearing. That couldn't possibly be correct, could it? She was in love with Torrance (though she wouldn't admit it) not Lyle. Her blood ran cold and she felt her eyes go moist.
"Yes, it has been arranged since you were 10 years old," he said and then turned to Alpin. Lyle only looked at with what anybody else would call a charming smile. Instead it reminded her of a hungry animal ready to pounce on it's target. She bit her lip and excused herself from the three men. Finally after she was a safe distance away she burst into fresh tears and ran into another part of the castle.
Torrance made his way to her sobbing form in the hallway. Her salmon skirts were pulled up to her face and her hair covering her white skin. Her body was shaking along with the rest of her. He put his hand on her shoulder, but she didn't look up. So instead of trying to pry the information from her, he simply held her in his arms.
Finally she reduced her tears to nothing but shaking in her spot. Gulping for air she just looked at him and Torrance brushed dark waves away from her face. Then one hand cupped her cheek and had her looking at him. He didn't have to say anything before she finally spoke up.
"My father," she whimpered and buried her face in his kilt starting to cry again. He made a gentle soothing shush sound in her ear to calm her down. Never in the time that he knew her did Aileen ever have one of these fits.
"Aileen what did your father do?" he asked trying to make sense of things. Then a look crossed his face, one like someone had slapped him. No, no, that couldn't be what it was could it? Their mother's they had to have some kind of say in these matters. Kendra and Audrey must have talked with this to Magnus and Donald. Then again...
"Are you going to go through with it?" Torrance asked. He was so sure that she felt the same thing he felt for her. Aileen's head snapped up when she heard this. What? She had to marry Lyle otherwise that meant exile. It was the correct thing to do, backing out would mean a war between the Mackenzie and Kennan clan. It would be a disgrace and Aileen herself not marriage material. Aileen Saundra Mackenzie would be destined to die a spinster. Instead she sat quietly at those words.
Torrance grew quiet and looked at her with a hard look. He knew what that meant, Aileen wasn't going to stop this. She was going to let her father walk all over her like that. He stood up with an angry look on his face.
"Your not going to do nothing," he said walking up to the door. He wanted to be angry with her, but she had her reasons. No he was mad at her father, arranged marriages were common, yes. But he had every right to marry Aileen if he wanted to. They had become so close recently and he didn't want to break that up. Even through there fights they were still together.
He had a plan and it involved secrecy and trickery.
