Duncan had slowly moved from irritated to furious during the ceremony. He was aware of the circumstances behind this wedding, he was saving her from her stepfather. He was her Sir Galahad. And how did she thank him? By making it obvious that she would wish herself anywhere but here and humiliating him in front of his own people. Hell! The worst of it was, by the time his wife had arrived for the wedding, he had been able to fully see again…and he found her oddly appealing.

Grimacing, Duncan glared at her. He did not have a clue what appealed to him so. Her hair was brown. ’Twas a lovely shade of brown, a mixture of the color of walnuts and cherry wood, but brown all the same. He had always been partial to blondes before now. Her eyes were large and gray, rather like a rainy day. He’d always preferred green eyes. Her nose was small and straight. That was fine, but her lips were heart-shaped, sweet and full. Duncan had never seen lips quite like hers. They were enough to give a man ideas, and had been giving him many diverse and erotic ones for the past several hours.

His friends and clansmen were not helping much. What with their jests and good-natured teasing about the night ahead, they were only managing to fan the fire that had already been growing in his nether regions at an alarming rate. It seemed no amount of ale was going to drown it either, for he had been pouring that liquid down his throat steadily all night and still it had not dampened his ardor any. He was becoming fair impatient to bed her, and that fact was infuriating when she was making it so obvious that she did not feel the same way.

“Does yer gaze fer yer wee wife become any hotter, it’ll set the rushes ablaze. Mayhap ye should take a dip in the loch.”

Tearing his eyes from his bride, Duncan glanced at the man who had spoken. Flame-haired, as tall as he himself was, and near as wide, Allistair was as much a friend as a cousin. Or at least he used to be, Duncan realized with regret. That closeness had dissipated somewhat over the last few years as he had begun to take over some of the responsibilities of clan chief from his father. As more and more of his time was taken up with the task, Duncan had less and less time to spare for hunting trips with Allistair, Aelfread, and Seonaid. Not that those three had drifted apart. If anything, his absence had seemed to push them closer together.

“No night swim’ll be helping what ails him, Allie,” Aelfread murmured with amusement, sharing a look with Seonaid that made Duncan’s sister grin widely.