The Key (23 page)

Iliana's eyebrows rose at that and he shrugged.

“I am an ignorant man at times, wife. Tis not that I am stupid, but sometimes I seem to
get all wrapped up in concerns about safety and such and forget such gentle concerns as
comfort and carin'. I suspect that may be a problem with most men. Mayhap 'tis why God
made women. To supply the softer needs.” Sighing impatiently, he shook his head. “I am not
saying this well. I had it all planned out and __”

“You are saying it well enough,” Iliana conected gently, taking a step farther onto the
room, a smile trembling on her lips. “You have said it with both your words and deeds.”

He tilted his head slightly, expression solemn. “And what is it I be saying?”

Iliana hesitated, head turning so that she could take in the room he had made for her,
then back to the tub he sat in, in this, the second room. She smiled uncertainly. “That
you would wish me happy because you care for me?”

“Care?” He said the word with some disgust. “Nay, wife. Tis not carin' I feel fer ye.
Ye've flouted me authority on countless occasions. Refused me me rights on others. Ye are
disobedient, contrary, and stubborn. And yet,” he added gently when Iliana started to
protest, “yet I was never so scared in me life as I was when I realized I had left ye here
with but a handful o' men to protect ye and Greenweld battering at the castle. And I was
never so proud o' anyone in me life as I was o' ye when Rabbie told me all ye had done to
defend yersel' and our home. Ye fire me blood. Ye awaken all me passions. I feel alive
when I am with ye.”

“Husband,” Iliana took a step toward the tub, only to pause when he stood suddenly,
holding out his hand as if warning her away. The water cascaded off him, splashing down
into the tub and onto the floor around it, leaving his body glearmng wet where he stood.

“Nay, there is something I would tell ye first,” he said solemnly, drawing her heated gaze
reluctantly back to his face. “I love ye. I kenned it when I thought ye dead from the fire
and I realized that I might have to spend the rest o' me life without ye. I love ye,
Iliana. Tis only sorry I am that I didn't tell ye when ye blurted yer feelings out to me.
I thought to save it fer when I returned. I wanted it to be a special moment. I didn't ken
I might have lost ye ere I could tell ye. But I'm tellin' ye now, I love ye, Iliana
Dunbar... and I need ye.”

Nothing could have held her back then. A small murmur of joy slipping from her lips,
Iliana rushed forward, meeting him at the edge of the tub and throwing herself against his
upper chest.

Shifting to maintain his balance, Duncan caught her there and kissed her with a gentleness
far different than the passion he normally poured over her.

Her eyes opening slowly, Iliana smiled at him. “Husband?” “Aye?” he murmured, pressing her
head to his damp chest and cradling her there. “You are bathing,” she pointed out, using
one finger to trail a drop of moisture down his bare chest.

“Aye. Tis not so much o' a chore to please me wife. Once I put aside me own stubbornness
Ifind I can even admit to likin' it.”

Iliana pulled back to eye him doubtfully. “You are claiming to like bathing?”

“Well...” He grinned slightly. “When the conditions are right.”

“Conditions?” Her eyebrows arched slightly.

“Aye. Fer instance...” Putting her a little away from him, he began to work at the stays
of her gown. “When yer naked and in it with me, I find I rather like it.”

Iliana chuckled softly at that, her hands trailing down over his body. “It must be because
I can help to scrub your back, my lord,” she murmured teasingly, and he considered it
briefly, then nodded.

“Aye. Though in truth I prefer it when ye scrubme front with yer own sweet soapy body.”

“Oh, my,” Iliana breathed huskily as a memory of their soapy bodies sliding slickly
together came back to her from the first time they had consummated their marriage.

Duncan had just managed to undo the last of her stays when the faint sound of knocking
came to them from the bedroom.

“Ignore it,” he ordered firmly, pushing her gown off her shoulders so that it slithered to
the floor.

“What if 'tis important?” Iliana asked as the knock sounded again. “After all, they know
we are in the bath; surely they would not interrupt unless it was important?”

Releasing the undertunic he had been about to divest her of, Duncan sighed and stepped out
of the tub. Trailing water, he crossed to the doorway between the two inner chambers and
bellowed, “What is it?”

“Lady Seonaid has returned.” Ebba's voice came muffled through the outer door as Iliana
stepped up behind her husband. “She rode into the bailey just moments ago followed by Lord
Rolfe, the bishop, and Lord Sherwell.”

“Good,” Duncan said firmly, turning to smile at Iliana and wrap her in his arms. “Now go
away!”

“I... but... she has locked herself in her room and will not come out.”

Duncan rolled his eyes at this news. “Tell me father. Tis his problem.”

“I tried, but he... er... was preoccupied.” “Preoccupied how?” Duncan asked suspiciously.

There was a pause, then Ebba half-whispered her answer, obviously not eager to say it loud
enough for all the keep to hear. “He is... er... assisting Lady Wildwood.”

“My mother?” Iliana frowned. “But my mother is taking a” “Bath?” Duncan asked with a smile
when she hesitated. Iliana's eyebrows rose. “How did you know?”

“Father was telling me that he used to enjoy 'assisting' my mother in her bath,” he
answered with a devilish grin. “Just as I enjoy assisting you.”

“My lord?” Ebba's uncertain voice queried. “Did you hear me?”

“Aye! And I am likewise engaged. The English will have to cool their heels!” he bellowed
back, then swept Iliana up in his arms.

“Duncan! What are you doing?” she asked in dismay as he kicked the door closed and carried
her toward the tub.

“Following my father's example and assisting me wife in her bath.”

“But my mother, and your father”

“Are full-grown adults. They neither need, nor would appreciate, our interference.”

Iliana frowned at that, but let it lie. “Well, what of Seonaid,then?”

“Seonaid can take care o' herself.”

“But she is locked in her room. Obviously Lord Sherwell wishes you to get her out.”

“That is Sherwell's problem. Every man must prove his worth.” He gave a slight laugh then.

“What?”

“I do not envy him. Seonaid is a handful, and I ken how difficult it can be to train a
wife.”

“Train a wife?” she echoed slowly, beginning to glower at him as he set her on her feet
before the tub.

“Aye. There are many lessons a man must teach his wife when they marry,” he assured her
solemnly as he tugged her undertunic off and let it slip to the floor.

“Oh? And what, pray tell, would they be, my lord?” she asked grimly.

“Many things,” Duncan murmured, lifting her up and over the lip of the tub to set her down
in the knee-high water before stepping in himself. “For instance, the value of silence.”

Iliana blinked, then closed her eyes as he bent to kiss her, his mouth caressing her own.
When his lips finally lifted from hers, a small smile was tugging at the corners of her
mouth. She opened her eyes slowly, understanding in their depths taking the place of her
earlier indignation. 'That would not be anything like teaching me to scream, would it, my
lord?"

“Aye.” Nodding with satisfaction, he bent to pick up the soap, dipping it and his hands in
the water they stood in, and beginning to work up a lather. “Ye're a fast study, lass. Ye
should have a full grasp o' this subject quickly enough.”

“Not too quickly, I hope.” Iliana sighed as he began to rub the lather he had made across
her chest, concentrating most of his efforts on her breasts.

“Nay,” he assured her huskily and kissed the tip of her nose, then her lips, before
murmuring, “But I give ye me oath 'tis a lesson ye'll never forget.”

“I think I begin to like yer lessons, my lord,” Iliana murmured as his soapy hands slid
around to her buttocks and he pulled her tight against him. “Aye,” she gasped as she felt
his manhood press against her belly. “ Tis certain I am that I do.”

The End