“Open the door.” Glancing around, Iliana saw that they had reached the bedchamber and reached out to do as her husband ordered, her gaze narrowing with suspicion as it fell on the bed. But in the next moment, Duncan had carried her inside, kicked the door closed and turned toward the opposite end of the room. When he set her down before the fireplace, she took a quick step away from him, and cleared her throat nervously. “You wished to speak to me, husband?”

Duncan nodded. He intended on wooing his way into her belt, but knew he would have to go about it with stealth and cunning. It was not unlike stealing a herd of cows from an enemy. He had to catch her unawares. Sneak up on her, so to speak. Which was why he had not taken her directly to the bed. She would have realized what he was about and built fences to keep him out.

“I’ve a wound ye must see to,” he announced, noting her sudden concern with surprise pleasure.

“You do not appear wounded,” she murmured, eyeing him.

“’Tis a trifling injury. Little more than a sliver, but ’tis festering and I have some worry over it.” Slipping the top of his plaid off of his shoulder to hang around his waist, he quickly removed his shirt.

Iliana stood still, eyes wide as he half-disrobed before her. ’Twas not the first time she had seen her husband’s naked chest, yet still it was an impressive sight. Her eyes slid over the skin he was baring as he shrugged off the shirt, watching the muscles in his arms and chest ripple beneath the velvet of his tanned skin as he dropped the shirt to the floor.

“I…I see no wound—” she began, her gaze devouring his chest, then paused as he held out his arm toward her, revealing that he did indeed have an injury, but she would hardly call it trifling. It was a two-inch cut in his upper arm, and it was indeed festering.

Frowning, she moved to the trunk nearest the bed and dug out some herbs and a small swath of clean linen. Then she moved to the basin of water at the head of the bed. “Come. Sit.”

Duncan sat upon the edge of the bed, waiting patiently as she mixed some water with her herbs, then dipped a strip of linen in the mixture.

“Hold out your arm,” she instructed, turning back to him.