Duncan was across the room in three strides. With the first, he unfastened and removed the belt holding his sword at his waist. With the second, he gave a yank to his plaid that sent it slithering to the floor. With the third, he was tugging his shirt over his head and tossing it away. Then he was upon her, his mouth on hers before he had even landed fully. His left hand tangled in her hair, holding her head still beneath his as his right hand whipped the linen covering her aside and planted itself firmly at the apex of her thighs. Whether he was checking for the equipment a woman should have Iliana wasn’t sure, but the summary action startled her into opening her mouth. He immediately took advantage of that, his tongue sliding easily between her lips and ravishing her.

If this was not quite the reaction she had expected, it certainly had her attention. Her body was not exactly yawning either. Gasping as he took full advantage of his sudden freedom to explore her woman’s parts, she sucked frantically at the tongue invading her mouth and arched into the touch examining her so thoroughly, writhing as the investigation became a caress that rubbed her flesh in ways she had never imagined.

When his mouth suddenly left hers to kiss a trail down her neck, she moaned in despair and almost missed his garbled gasp of dismay as he caught a whiff of her.

“Gor!” He pulled away in horror, his nose wrinkled beyond distaste. “What the bloody hell!”

“I fell in manure,” Iliana explained quickly, catching his hand when he started to pull away. “But ’tis all right. Now I hardly notice your odor.” She tried to pull his head down to recapture his lips with hers then, but he was having none of that.

“Ye reek, woman!”

“No worse than you!” Iliana cried defensively, rubbing against him. “Kiss me.”

Duncan stared at his wife in dismay for a moment. Then his gaze dropped down over her body, taking in her breasts—nipples painfully erect—before shifting to the spot that had been hidden from him for so long. Part of him wanted to get as far away as possible. The other part, a much lower but louder part, was screaming at him to take advantage of this opportunity. His hand slid of its own accord to one of her breasts and he groaned briefly, then lowered his lips to hers again. Unfortunately, even holding his breath did not keep the scent of her from sneaking through and dragging at his passion.