A Perfect Wife(23)

Malcolm rested his head on his bent left arm. He used his right to troll his fingers from her thighs over her bottom and up her back to her neck, then back again in a slow loop.

“We are yer husbands and ye are our wife, Kiera,” he said. He dropped his chin to kiss her shoulder. “But I didna wish to speak of ye as a possession. Ye are like a dream to me, only one that is still there when I wake.” Another kiss, this one gentler. “Ye are yerself, and what we need. Ye could have had far greater men as husbands. I hope we are enough for ye.”

She laid her head on Duff’s chest to think that one over. His heart beat was quicker than normal but still regular. Hers had sped up.

Yes, she could have had a husband of more power and wealth, yet she could not imagine any of them caring for her even half as much. The three of them had many challenges ahead. She’d seen little of Kinrowan but the stairs and this chamber where Bessie had chattered while she bathed. Though she’d been Lady MacKenzie of Castle Leod she worried one false step would bring her down. She’d destroyed her name while in her father’s home. She could not do so here. It would be intolerable to be shunned and shamed in her own castle. She would follow Bessie’s guidance, along with Hattie and the other women she’d not yet met. And her husbands, of course.

“If you count wealth and power as being great, then aye, men like that coveted what I could bring them,” she replied. “But they didn’t want me, Kiera.” She rolled her head so her chin rested directly on Duff’s chest. He’d complained about her chin being pointed before so she opened and closed her jaw a few times, grinding it into him. He yelped as expected, his eyes laughing at her.

“None are greater men than you, and most come nowhere near. My father trusts you to be for the MacKenzies. He would not trust those more powerful, and greedy, men.”

“Are ye likely to find contentment with us?” asked Duff.

“If you hush so I can rest, mayhaps.” He patted her bottom in warning. She didn’t really want them to be quiet as she was enjoying their time together and didn’t know when they’d have another. “Tell me of your visit with my father. What did you do?”

“I watched how he acted as Lord MacKenzie,” said Malcolm. “He praised but only where it was deserved. If something was wrong he acted quickly to fix it, not blaming unless it was deserved. The first morning when we all went to train I expected him to stay with the men. Instead he went to the young lads and their wooden practice swords.”

“He left you to prove yourselves.” She snickered. “I saw the bruises on you. Are you likely to get more?”

“It will take some weeks for all the garrison to test us,” said Duff with a groan. “There are dozens of servants, and they all want to have their say.”

“Do they have good ideas?”

“Some of them, aye. Others wish to get their complaints in first, or gain something they may not deserve.”

She could see having the same problem herself. “What do you do?”

“Nod wisely, say ‘I see,’ and that I will think it over.”

Malcolm’s hand stopped, resting on her bottom. “Yer father said to watch the ones who work hard and dinna look to see who is watching. Even better if they do what needs doing afore ye ask for it.”

“You learned much from my father.”

“He is the only laird I’ve seen much of, other than Somerled.”

“Our oldest brother is dour and harsh,” said Duff. “He’s had to be as he took over our clan at sixteen because our father was worse than useless. Luckily Niall, his twin, is easier to be with.”

“Yer father can laugh with his men, flirt with the women, and cuddle a bairn, yet acts with deadly force when he must. I wish to be like that.”

“Bessie said you already showed both sides of being a laird. What did she mean?”

“A woman had brought forward the charge of rape against one of the more prosperous men in the village,” said Duff. “The man said he’d paid her before and expected the same services. She said she’d only accepted coin when her children were starving in the late winter and tried to fight him off. Others heard and came, but ’twas too late.”

“They were witnesses to the act, but not the reason,” said Kiera. She waited to hear what Malcolm had ordered done. It would say so much about him as a laird, a man, and a husband.

“I sentenced him to ten lashes and said he must provide her with enough coin to buy peat for the winter,” said Malcolm. “He would pay double for what he’d taken, but as a fine to help her little ones get through the coming winter.”