A Perfect Wife(4)

He closed the door behind him. Something, perhaps a boot, hit it at the height of his head. It kept him chuckling all the way to his horse.





Chapter Two




Kiera stomped up the narrow stairs, one hand on the rope to ensure she didn’t slip on the uneven wedge-shaped steps.

She would not scream in frustration. She would not throw anything, not that there was much left in her chamber to throw. She was not a spiteful, bitter widow anymore. She was Lady Kiera MacKenzie of Kinrowan Castle. She would hold her head high and her temper in. She would show everyone she could be the best wife any laird ever had.

Even if she wanted to kick both husbands in the backside!

Her husbands were handsome, tall and muscular with dark hair and the most intense blue eyes she’d ever seen. Duff was fun, teasing and encouraging her to laugh. He was one of the few men who didn’t curse when she beat him at chess. Malcolm, though identical but for a few scars, was more concerned about what people thought of him.

Duff said his brother needed to have the stick pulled out of his arse every now and then. She was quite ready to do so! She stopped to catch her breath.

“Best wait to tell him off until he gives me a few of those toe-curling orgasms.”

Colin, her older brother and heir, told her MacDougals always made sure their wife had at least one orgasm before their own. Her pussy throbbed in memory. The downside to a MacDougal husband, especially with Malcolm, was that they demanded obedience. As Malcolm had become Laird Kinrowan when he married her, and all must obey their laird, she could do little about it.

Though she hated to admit it, she did like it that way.

What she didn’t like was them racing off the morning after their wedding on orders from her father. Instead of spending the first ten days getting to know one another better, most of which she’d hoped to do naked, she’d been alone. Not even Chester stayed with her now as Cook was fond of her dog, and he was fond of food. And to make it worse, Duff had ordered her not to give herself an orgasm!

No doubt her father and his men had filled Malcolm and Duff’s ears with all the stupid things she’d done over the years. All the times she’d said hurtful things. That was likely why her bedchamber had been stripped a few days after her husbands left. Some excuse about the furniture needing to be elsewhere, and since she was going to be gone soon anyway...

All they’d left her was a hard pallet and a stool, so she’d spent the time spinning or in the garden, avoiding everyone. Just an hour ago she’d been quietly using her spindle when a servant told her Silean, her new stepmother, needed something that only she, as the previous Lady MacKenzie, could find. Something that was high in the attics and required her to stick her head in numerous dusty old trunks. She’d searched eight of them before realizing she’d been sent on another fool’s errand.

She’d descended just far enough to discover her father, and her husbands, had finally returned. Furious at not being there to meet them in a fresh gown with a smile, she was eager to tidy her hair, clean the cobwebs off, and wash the dirt off before she was seen.

“Is that you on the stair, Kiera?”

Duff’s voice came from below. She turned at the top, caught. He stopped a few steps down from her. Though he wore the leather mask she could tell his surprise at her appearance. Malcolm pushed past him. Her new laird’s displeasure was easy to see. This was not how she’d planned to greet them after their long absence. She forced a smile she did not feel.

“A belated welcome, husbands,” she said, sinking into a graceful curtsy. “I regret I was not informed of your arrival, or I would have met you in the bailey, as no doubt my sainted stepmother did for my father.”

She rose, keeping her face calm and placid looking, just like Silean. Her new stepmother, only a few years older, was perfect, or so Kiera had been told too many times lately. She was beginning to think it was Silean’s servants who were behind the whispered comments, missed instructions, and downright lies. No matter, soon it would be over. They’d be at Kinrowan, and she’d be free of her past. Free to enjoy her new life with a pair of men who cared for her.

Malcolm didn’t look too caring at the moment, though.

“Laird MacKenzie said he sent word,” said Malcolm, his voice as cold as his expression.

She brushed her hair from her face. Finding dusty cobwebs on her hand, she wiped them on her skirt. This was just another in a series of strange happenings that made her all the more eager to escape Castle Leod for her own home. Her husbands had just arrived home and already her laird was angry at her. He would not know what had happened. At least, she didn’t think he did. Right now she didn’t know who was friend or foe.