“I am not with child,” Iliana muttered impatiently, then grimaced and glanced toward the small hill of manure beside her as its putrid smell wafted to her nose. As promised, Angus’d had two men cart the manure the stablemaster had offered her to the garden yesterday afternoon. They’d dumped it at the base of the garden, putting it within easy reach for spreading once they were ready for it. Unfortunately, Iliana kept forgetting about the blessed thing and had stepped it every time she had reached the end of a row of seeds. As she had this time, she saw with a sigh.

She was about to step to the side, away from the pile, when a buzzing by her ear brought her head up warily. A bee was buzzing ominously about her.

Frowning, she waved a hand in front of her face and stepped instinctively backward as the bee swooped at her.

“Me lady!”

Iliana had a glimpse of Janna’s dismayed face and realized at once her mistake, but ’twas too late. The manure beneath her feet was slick and wet, and her slippers immediately skidded on the sloppy ground. She twisted frantically, trying to save herself, and instead managed to send herself sideways into the mire of the oozing, smelly muck.

Janna, Mavis, and Seonaid rushed forward at once, gasping and gagging as they grabbed at her hands to pull her free of the mire, but the ground was slippery with the stuff. Janna and Mavis both had her by the hands and were dragging her back to her feet when those feet skidded out from beneath her again. This time when she fell she took both women with her. They landed in the manure beside her with dismayed squeals. Seonaid joined them a split-second later as Janna’s flailing legs caught her at the ankles and swept them out from beneath her.

The smell was putrid, the feel disgusting. Iliana was nearly in tears as she struggled to her knees in the goo and crawled to the edge of the pile. Reaching the good clean dirt, she regained her feet, and turned back toward the hill. Janna and Mavis, too, had struggled to their feet and were slip-sliding together out of the manure, while Seonaid was simply lying where she had landed, laughing so hard she could not seem to move.