“That barking is why he’s here. Our wife is not known for meekly following orders. If she does go out Chester will warn her of any approaching. There’s been no sign of Ross, but he may not ken we are here yet. We are but a few miles from Balnagowan Castle. All he must do is creep to Dunskeath Castle, then row barely a mile across Cromarty Strait under a reiver’s moon. He has ships so could anchor offshore, going in to capture and hold her.”
“I suppose her arse is too sore from riding to spank her as a warning?”
Malcolm choked at Duff’s mournful expression. “This night, aye. But we’ve got the rest of our lives.”
“Which mayn’t be long if Ross get his way.”
“Dinna take on troubles ye dinna need.” Malcolm slapped his brother on his back and continued up the stairs.
“I heard her muttering as we rode that she would be the best wife a laird could have, just like her mother.”
Malcolm shook his head at the thought. He’d enjoyed the wild, frisky woman he’d gotten to know for a few days before their wedding. She’d been different after they returned from Kinrowan, but then so had he. He hadn’t realized the weight of responsibility for all these people, keeping them alive and active, would be so great. There’d been only the steward here for too many years. It would take months for Malcolm to wade through everything. He considered having Kiera sift through and organize the papers for him as she could read far faster than he.
“And what was her mother like?”
“Laird MacKenzie said Lady Elizabeth meekly accepted him, tantrums and all,” said Duff. “She made his life comfortable, never complained, and never turned him from her bed, though was only enthusiastic about it when with child. He said Silean is much like Elizabeth, though she has much to learn.” Duff grimaced. “I dinna wish Kiera to be like that.”
“Nay? Ye want her to complain and turn ye from her bed?”
“I wish her to speak up. In private,” added Duff. “And she’d not be turning us from her bed because it is our bed.”
“Aye, but I wish her to learn to obey, for all our sakes. As there’s no sign of Ross, Kiera may get it in her head to wander without a guard. Taking Chester will give her notice if someone comes near, be they friend or foe.”
“He is good at following his nose to find her,” said Duff.
“Aye?”
“She was asleep in the meadow beside me when I saw the dog enter the clearing. As I had chased her, she’d not gone straight. The dog followed his nose rather than his eyes, tracing her steps to find her. If she gets…lost, Chester may find her.”
They both knew he didn’t mean Kiera would get lost, but that someone might take her.
“I dinna wish to see that.”
“What I do wish to see is our bed, and Kiera in it, naked,” said Duff. “MacKenzie was good to let us have it.”
Malcolm shrugged. “He is the one who wished his daughter to have two husbands. We are big men and need a big bed.” He left the stairs and entered the anteroom to their chamber and Kiera’s solar, to his left. “And the sooner I’m in it, the better.”
“I found out why that Chisholm Dragon took Kiera’s bed,” said Duff.
That stopped him. He cocked his head for more information.
“’Twas her son Dougal who almost married Kiera when she was fifteen.” Duff grimaced. “The dragon was already a widow, stuck in a small dower house. She’d counted on moving in with her son and ruling over him and Kiera. She blames our wife for calling off the wedding. When she found herself at Castle Leod with no laird in residence she played her hand against Kiera.” He showed his teeth like a wolf. “Laird MacKenzie sent her on her way the next day, after Colin checked her baggage and removed a few costly pieces.”
“Forget about all that. We have a wee wife who needs comforting after her long ride.”
Duff snickered. “And ye’ll comfort her by having her ride ye, and hard?”
“I thought I’d start with a mouth on her pussy and one on her nipple.”
“That will do fine. I claim her pussy.”
“I am the laird,” reminded Malcolm.
“Not in our chamber.” Duff stared back with the same mulish expression.
It hadn’t been until they’d both looked in a reflecting glass at Castle Fraser that Malcolm realized how much they looked alike. They’d always been opposites, he concerned and Duff playing the fool. This new life had changed both of them. It meant other things had to change as well.
“Aye, ye can kiss Kiera’s pussy first. But my cock claims her.”