Duncan stiffened at those softly panted words by his ear. Letting her legs slip back to the ground, he lifted his head from her shoulder, where he had dropped it after finding his own fulfillment.

Seeing the soft, sated look in her eyes and face, he smiled to himself with satisfaction at the compliment he imagined she gave him, only to pause when she added, “Surely the whole castle would have heard your screams were we not so far away.”

Catching the teasing light in her eyes, Duncan’s face split in a grin. He had indeed screamed as he had spilled his seed inside her. He had howled like a wolf on a cold winter night. He’d probably scared away all the game for miles. “As I recall, ’twas ye who were supposed to scream,” he murmured, sliding his hands up and down her arms.

“That would not be ladylike,” she demurred coyly, and Duncan’s grin widened further before he lifted her in his arms and moved to a less rocky patch of grass to lay her there.

“I’ve a mind to see me lady unladylike,” he murmured, sprawling out beside her and moving his hand across the sweet flesh revealed by her gaping gown.

“You tore my gown.” It was more an observation than an accusation.

“I was eager. Ye did not seem to mind at the time.”

“I did not even notice at the time,” Iliana admitted wryly.

His eyes filled with interest at that admission, then brightened. “So! I drove ye to distraction?”

“Aye, husband,” she admitted gently, deciding he deserved to preen a bit.

“But ye didn’t scream,” he pointed out, his hand sliding across her belly and lower. “And ye will scream ere we leave here, sweetling. Ye’ll scream with pleasure ere we leave here, and that’s a solemn oath.”

Deciding she rather liked the sound of that oath, Iliana smiled widely and drew his head down to hers for a kiss.

“Iliana?” Shaking off the web of sleep that had been drifting gently over her, Iliana sat up in the bedside chair, her gaze immediately alert as she saw that her mother had awakened. It was a week since the older woman had arrived. A week during which Iliana had not left the room but once when Duncan had dragged her off on his horse. Since that sojourn into the woods, she had remained in the room, taking her meals and sleeping there, spending the hours of wakefulness hovering anxiously over her mother.

“Mama?” Reaching for the woman’s uninjured hand, she clasped it gently and leaned closer. Lady Wildwood did not look much better than she had upon arriving. The bruises she bore were only just beginning to fade and her eyes were all but sealed shut with the swelling. “Can you see?”