She spoke only Gaelic, and worse, only if she was addressed first. She’d at least stopped jumping at loud sounds and now was rarely lost to nightmares when they slept. But her submissiveness and her complacency were killing him. ’Twas only at night when they made love that he saw glimpses of the Gwen he now missed so much. Only then did she resemble, if but barely, the woman he once knew.

He couldn’t blame her for her behavior as it now was. She’d been through so much and not just in the hours that Malcolm and his men had held her. The past year had been filled with countless blessings, as well as horrible tragedies. He had to do something, though, and he knew the answer was there, he just couldn’t seem to find what he was searching for.

He had just left Gwen with his sister in the library when he called for his mother and Gavin to meet him in the study. The furnishing had finally arrived, and he sat behind his new desk while Gavin and his mother sat in front of him.

“I want my wife back,” he stated emphatically as he looked to them.

Gavin heartily agreed with him that Gwen was not the same, and he missed her too. His mother, however, didn’t quite see things the same way. “Greylen,” she said quickly. “Gwendolyn is fine. Why, she’s the perfect embodiment of a wife.”

“Fine?” he challenged. “You think that she is fine?” He was shocked that she could say such a thing. “I don’t want the perfect wife, Mother. ’Tis my wife I want. My Gwendolyn.”

“She is here, Greylen,” Lady Madelyn soothed. “Think you she is so different?” she asked honestly.

Greylen looked at her as if she had just sprouted horns and he wanted to rip them from her head. How could she not see it? To prove his point, he yelled for his wife. “Gwendolyn.”

She was there in seconds. Tristan on her hip as she stood in the open doorway.

“Wife?” he asked as she looked to the floor.

“Aye, husband?”

He fisted his hands when she didn’t look up to address him. Resolved, he continued, “You seem tired this day. Mayhap you should nap before supper.”

“Aye, Greylen,” she agreed easily and began to turn.

He stopped her, further proving his point. “Wife?”

“Aye?”

“Your clothes, those you run in,” he clarified. “I wish for you to relinquish them.”

“Very well,” she said quickly. “I’ll have Anna remove them before I retire.”

Gavin wasn’t as shocked as Lady Madelyn, who finally came to realize that Gwen was, in fact, further gone than she had thought. Her shame showed on her face.

“Greylen?” Gwen asked timidly.

“Aye, Gwen.” Look at me, damn it!

“Tristan isn’t ready for his nap yet. Should I leave him with Anna?”