That bellow near his ear drove all thought out of Duncan’s head. Eyes popping open, he was about to force himself to sit up when a second pitcher, this one full of whiskey, splashed into his face. That brought him upright at once, cursing and spluttering as the liquid burned his eyes. “Dammit father, I be awake! Jist give me a minute to—”

“There be no minute to give ye. Git up, man!” Grabbing his arm, the Dunbar tugged Duncan to his feet, then sighed at the sight he made.

“Ye’ve blinded me! Damn ye!”

“It’ll pass. But ye’ve ale and whiskey all over ye, lad,” his father chastised gruffly, taking up a corner of his own plaid to wipe roughly at his face.

“Aye, well, ye put it there, didn’t ye?” Duncan muttered, grabbing at the cloth moving across his face and trying to use it to wipe at his burning eyes.

“Never mind that.” Angus tugged the plaid away and straightened it about himself, then turned toward the door. “Come along.”

“I cannot see!” Duncan protested, still rubbing at his eyes.

“Then I shall lead ye! I want to see the mother o’ me grandbabies.”

“We are no even wed yet, Father. ’Twill be awhile ere there is fruit from it,” Duncan muttered, allowing himself to be dragged across the great hall.

“Nine months. ’Tis all the time I’ll be givin’ ye. Then I expect the squall o’ bairns to echo off these old walls. It has been too long since that sound has filled these hollow chambers.”

Pushing the keep doors open, his father dragged him out onto the steps and paused as he saw the riders crossing the bailey toward them.

“Damn,” Angus murmured suddenly. “Damn me all to hell.”

“What?” Duncan scowled into the bleary distance. All he could make out was the blur of a large party crossing the bailey toward them on horseback.

“She’s bonnie.”

“Bonnie?”

“Aye. No beauty, but bonnie. She looks fair delicate, though,” he added, worry obvious in his tones. “A real lady. Sits her mount like a queen, she does. Her wee back straight as a sword…. Aye, a real lady.”

Duncan watched the blurred figures draw nearer suspiciously. “What exactly do ya mean by a real lady?”

“I mean the kind that’ll no approve o’ yer sister’s shenanigans,” he said dryly, then shook his head. “Mark me words, lad. Yon wee Sassenach lass’ll set this place to rights straight off.”

Duncan frowned over that. To his mind, there was nothing that needed setting to rights at Dunbar.

“Ah well.” The older man sighed resignedly. “We couldna expect to live the grand bachelor’s life forever.”

“Which one do you think he is, my lady?” Iliana Wildwood gave a start at that question and drew her eyes from the two men standing on the keep steps to glance worriedly down at her maid.