The Key (9 page)

Distracted by such thoughts, Iliana did not notice the way Angus was glaring atDuncan.
Neither did she notice the half-accusing, half-suspicious glances her husband sent her
way, as if suspecting she was to blame for his father's animosity, in fact, she was so
distracted that when she finished her meal and stood to leave the table and Duncan said he
would have a word with her, she merely smiled absently, nodded, and walked away, leaving
him glaring furiously after her.

“How many what?”

Drawing on her patience, Iliana forced a smile for Cailean Cummins's benefit, doing her
best to ignore the rather unpleasant smoke wafting from the pipe between his teeth. It had
taken nearly half an hour for her to find out where the plaids were made, then another
fifteen minutes to track down who was in charge of the operation. She had been sorely
disappointed upon meeting that man.

Cailean Cummins. He wasElgin's cousin. He was also testy, cantankerous, and not prone to
liking to deal with females. He made that more than obvious by the way he managed to
answer every question with a question of his own. She would also swear he was deliberately
blowing the smoke from his pipe directly into her face. He was making what should have
been a brief and simple conversation into a torturous trial. And quite frankly, she'd had
enough.

“ Tis not that difficult a question to understand, Cailean Cummins. If you do not know the
answer, you need simply say so.”

“I ken the answer,” he snapped, affronted enough to take the pipe out of his mouth.

Having started to turn as if to walk away, Iliana swung back now, eyebrows rising in doubt
to hide her satisfaction. “Aye? Well then, how many people are there atDunbar?”

“About four hundred.”

“Fine. Then I should like that many plaids.”

His eyes goggled at that, his jaw dropping open to allow his pipe to tumble out. Regaining
himself, he quickly tried to catch the well-used item, cursed as he burned himself in the
effort, then flushed as he realized just how foul a curse he had used and exactly in front
of whom. “Sorry,” he muttered. But what did ye say?"

“I should like four hundred plaids, please,” Iliana said patiently. “I shall, of course,
pay for them.” “I... Ye... What...”

Iliana rolled her eyes as the man continued to stammer at her, then patted his arm
soothingly. “You need only tell me if you can supply that many plaids. If you cannot,” she
added with a pleasant smile, “I shall, of course, purchase them elsewhere.”

His expression now shifted from dismayed to offended. Drawing himself up to his full
height which was still a good inch shorter than Iliana, he asked, “Would I be correct in
thinkin' ye be buyin' the plaids fer the people here?”

“Aye, ye would. Tis well past time each had anew plaid, do you not think?”

“Nay, I do not. His lairdship gives them one every year in January. Tis only June now.
These plaids will last another seven months.”

“They'll last a lot longer with two of them available,” Iliana responded at once. “
'Sides, with only one, they have nothing to wear while cleaning it.”

“Ye don't clean a plaid, me lady!” He seemed truly taken aback at the suggestion. “They
canna keep ye warm should ye clean them.”

Iliana rolled her eyes at that. “Can you or can you not supply me the plaids?”

He frowned over that, worry plucking at his brows. “My lady, 'tis not that I cannotsupply
them, but his laird”

“Has given me a free hand in tending to the keep and its people,” Iliana finished. The lie
had served her well so far; there seemed little reason to give it up. “As I said, if you
cannot supply them, I will purchase them elsewhere.” It was an unfair threat to use. She
knew he would not wish his people wearing any but their own plaids.

“He can supply the plaids.”

Iliana glanced toward the door of the hut they stood in front of, eyebrows rising slightly
as a tall, robust redhead moved toward them. Mr. Cummins's wife was a good six inches
taller than her husband. She also appeared to have a forceful personality. “Tell 'er ye
can, Cailie.”

The man grimaced at the order but nodded. “Aye. It would slow me down on filling another
order, but aye, I could sell ye the plaids.”

“When might I expect them?” “Ere the nooning meal,” his wife answered for him. “Ere the
nooning! Eda, 'tis almostnoonnow,” Cailean protested heatedly. “Ye must have that many
made, Cailean. All ye needs must do is count them out.” “Aye, but”

“That would be perfect,” Iliana enthused. “I can make the announcement at table. I will
expect you at noon, then.”

“Aye, me lady,” he answered resignedly, then turned to glare at his wife.

Iliana headed back toward the keep, smiling slightly as she heard Mr. Cummins berate his
wife for her interference, and she in turn put him in his place, adding 'twould be nice to
have more than one plaid at hand. Her smile faded abruptly, however, as the squabbling
suddenly stopped and Mr. Cummins called out a greeting that drew her head up in surprise
to see her husband striding toward her.

“Me laird.”

The older man rushed past her then, eager to tattle, and for a moment, Iliana feared that
her attempt to gain new plaids for her people was about to be nixed, for she feared her
husband would not be thrilled by the idea. But whether he would allow her to buy them or
not never became a concern, since he had no time for Mr. Cummins.

Ignoring the man's attempts to draw him aside,Duncanstrode right past him to his wife.
Grabbing her arm, he whirled back the way he had come. “I would have a word with ye, wife.”

“A word, my lord?” Iliana asked worriedly, glancing over her shoulder at the consternation
on Mr. Cummins's face and the amusement on his wife's face as she took it all in.

“Aye.”

“What about, my lord?” Iliana panted, hurrying to keep up with his stride.

“Did I not say at table this mom that I would have a word with ye?”

“I... Did you, my lord? I am sorry, I do not recall.”

“Well, I did.”

“I see. Well, I am sorry. I may have been distracted.”

“Duncan!”

Having just reached the steps to the keep, they both slid to a halt at that roar from
Angus Dunbar as he crossed the bailey toward them.

“What the devil are ye doin', boy? Ye ken she's suppose to rest, yet yer joggin' her about
like a __”

“Ye're absolutely right. Da,”Duncaninterrupted. “ Tis wrong o' me to hurry her about so.”
Scooping Iliana up into his arms, he arched an eyebrow. “Better?” Without waiting for a
response, he whirled and jogged up the steps, bouncing her about in his arms as he went.

Iliana held on for dear life asDuncancharged up the steps to the keep doors, wincing when
he paused to kick one of them open. A glance behind them, as he then started directly up
the stairs to the second floor with her, showed his father in hot pursuit. Angus had just
started Determinedly up the steps after them when Seonaid appeared from the kitchen,
hailing her father. Iliana saw theDunbarhesitate, then he turned

reluctantly to meet her.

“Open the door.” Glancing around, Iliana saw that they had reached the bedchamber and
reached out to do as her husband ordered, her gaze narrowing with suspicion as it fell on
the bed. But in the next moment,Duncanhad carried her inside, kicked the door closed and
turned toward the opposite end of the room. When he set her down before the fireplace, she
took a quick step away from him, and cleared her throat nervously. “You wished to speak to
me, husband?”

Duncannodded. He intended on wooing his way into her belt, but knew he would have to go
about it with stealth and cunning. It was not unlike stealing a herd of cows from an
enemy. He had to catch her unawares. Sneak up on her, so to speak. Which was why he had
not taken her directly to the bed. She would have realized what he was about and built
fences to keep him out.

“I've a wound ye must see to,” he announced, noting her sudden concern with surprise
pleasure.

“You do not appear wounded,” she murmured, eyeing him.

“ Tis a trifling injury. Little more than a sliver, but 'tis festering and I have some
worry over it.” Slipping the top of his plaid off of his shoulder to hang around his
waist, he quickly removed his shirt.

Iliana stood still, eyes wide as he half-disrobed before her. 'Twas not the first time she
had seen her husband's naked chest, yet still it was an impressive sight. Her eyes slid
over the skin he was baring as he shrugged off the shirt, watching the muscles in his arms
and chest ripple beneath the velvet of his tanned skin as he dropped the shirt to the
floor.

“I... I see no wound” she began, her gaze devouring his chest, then paused as he held out
his arm toward her, revealing that he did indeed have an injury, but she would hardly call
it trifling. It was a two-inch cut in his upper arm, and it was indeed festering.

Frowning, she moved to the trunk nearest the bed and dug out some herbs and a small swath
of clean linen. Then she moved to the basin of water at the head of the bed. “Come. Sit.”

Duncansat upon the edge of the bed, waiting patiently as she mixed some water with her
herbs, then dipped a strip of linen in the mixture.

“Hold out your arm,” she instructed, turning back to him.

Duncanlifted his arm, watching with interest as she cleaned the injury. He wasn't sure how
he had gained it. Probably when he had taken that tumble over the bench while trying to
stop Seonaid from starting the bedding ceremony. Whatever the case, he had first noticed
it the morning after the wedding, but it had seemed insignificant then. He had only
realized this morning that it was beginning to fester. He had thought to take a hot poker
to it to burn off the poison tonight after sup. Infection was dangerous. It could take a
limb, or worse, a life. Now he watched his wife minister to it and decided to give her
herbs a day or so to work, then tend to it himself if they did not.

His gaze slid to Iliana's face and a slow smile tugged at his lips. She was nibbling away
fiercely at her lower lip as she worked, her forehead drawn into a frown of concentration.
He would not mind smoothing that frown away and nibbling at her lip himself. And he would.
Her wariness was gone now.

“There.” Straightening, Iliana discarded the soiled linen and retrieved a clean one. “I
shall bandage it for now, but it shall have to be cleaned again this eve before we
retire,” she told him, beginning to wrap the

strip of cloth around his arm as she spoke.

“Aye,” he murmured, beginning to tense on the bed.

“You should have shown it to me earlier. Tis dangerous to allow infection to grow,” she
lectured, tying off the bandage. Then she straightened to look over her handiwork.
Satisfied, she nodded, then turned toward the table again, intent on putting her herbs
away and returning belowstairs. But before she even grabbed up her pouch, she
feltDuncantake her hand. Turning, she was surprised to find him now standing.

“I would thank ye fer yer efforts on me behalf,” he rumbled, then tipped up her chin with
one finger and dropped his mouth to cover hers.

Iliana went as still as death in his arms. Even her heart seemed startled into stopping.
She simply stood there, eyes wide and mouth still beneath his as he nibbed his own lips
across them.

One benefit of such a surprise was that she had been startled into holding her breath. At
least she'd stopped breathing, which meant she wasn't breathing in the scent of him as he
kissed her. It allowed her the opportunity to simply enjoy the sensations his touch awoke
inside her, without suffering his scent. And oddly enough, hewas stilling things to life
in her with that soft caress.

Alarmed by the odd sensations, Iliana brought her hands up to push at his chest, her lips
opening on a protest. Her mouth was invaded at once by his seeking tongue. Gasping in
surprise, she found that the hands that had started out pushing at him began tugging at
his bare shoulders instead as her legs suddenly grew weak beneath her.

Sensing her response,Duncansmiled against her mouth, the tension leaving his body. He was
sure he had found the way to her key. In a few minutes she would be begging him to unlock
her secrets. Placing his hands at either side of her waist, he slid them up to cup her
breasts through the material of her gown When she jumped slightly in his arms in surprise,
then moaned, he squeezed gently, then continued to massage a breast with one hand as the
other slid down to cup her behind and draw her against him. This time he was not startled
by the hardness that pressed against his own. He savored it as the temporary obstruction
he was now sure it was, then set about removing her gown, distracting her from the fact
that he was doing so by deepening his kisses and caresses.

As soon as he had her gown undone, he urged it down her shoulders, then rolled it off her
hips. It slid to the floor with a rustle as he quickly stepped backward to the edge of the
bed. Catching Iliana up in his arms, he dropped to sit upon it, settling her on his lap
and continuing to kiss her as he set to work unlacing her undertunic. Pushing that off her
shoulders a moment later, he left it to gather in a pool at her waist as his hands slid to
caress the soft flesh he had revealed. He enjoyed the weight of her generous breasts in
his palms briefly, finding their hard centers with his thumbs and teasing them to excited
life, then found it wasn't enough and tugged his lips from hers.

In that brief moment after he abandoned her lips, Iliana blinked her eyes open, amazed to
find herself seated on his lap, naked but for the undertunic gathered around her waist.
Alarm bells began ringing inside her head at once. Then her husband closed his lips around
one of the ripe nipples he had bared to the afternoon air, and she cried out in surprise
and need, all protests forgotten as new sensations, more powerful even than those he had
roused before, clamored to life.

Gasping and shuddering as he set to suckling at her breast, Iliana caught his head in her
hands and pressed him closer. She arched against the arm around her back and wiggled in
his lap as he slid one

hand up her leg beneath the undertunic until it rested against the thick leather of her
belt. But when he slid one finger beneath to explore her more intimately, Iliana stiffened
in his lap, her head snapping up.

Catching her mouth quickly, he silenced any protest she might have given and continued to
slide his finger between the leather and her skin. Grunting at the telltale damp heat he
found, he did his best to increase her excitement with his touch as he kissed her.

Iliana's entire body clenched. Her legs tightened on either side of his hand. Her fingers
knotted in his hair. Even her nipples seemed to clench in an agony of wanting. Part of her
wanted to make him stop. The other part thought she would die if he did. Moaning, she
twisted her face into his neck, then quickly away as the scent of him began to intrude on
the excitement she was experiencing.

“Sweetling,” he groaned as she twisted, rubbing against him, pressing the belt tightly
against herself. Barely hearing him, Iliana moaned and gasped as he nipped gently at her
ear. “Sweetling.” “Mmni?” she breathed. “I want to pleasure ye, sweetling,” he told her in
a pained gasp.

“Pleasure me?” she whimpered, catching those two words only. “Aye. Pleasure ye proper.”
“Proper?”

“Hmmm. I need the key, sweetling,” he whispered by her ear. Then he leaned back slightly
to take in her expression, frowning as some of the dazed passion in her eyes faded away
like mist under the heat of the sun.

“I do not” she began, her body stilling, andDuncancovered her mouth with his, kissing her
with desperate passion. He had moved too soon. He should have been more patient, he
berated himself, working feverishly to rekindle the fire he had seen dying in her eyes.
When she lay still in his arms, neither responding nor pushing him away, he knew she was
teetering dangerously on the brink.

Taking the risk of breaking the kiss briefly again, he turned to lay her across the bottom
of the bed. He quickly lowered himself atop her, his mouth taking possession of her lips
again as he slid one of his legs between hers and urged them apart.

Iliana tried to hang on to the brief clearing of her thoughts, but his kisses, coupled
with the feel of his bare chest moving against her own, was hard to ignore. The small,
wiry hairs of his chest were bringing her skin to startling life. Then he tore his lips
from hers and kissed a trail down her neck until he found and suckled at one ripe breast.
But it was just a teasing he offered this time; at the first moan she gave, he pressed on,
his lips sliding over her ribs to her stomach.

When her undertunic got in the way, he raised his head and flipped it up to lie against
her stomach. Then he dropped his head to nibble at the sensitive flesh of her hip just
above the belt, his hands sliding beneath her to cup her buttocks as he did.

“No... Oh,” Iliana gasped, writhing in his hands under the caress, then groaned in
disappointment despite her words when his lips left the area. In the next instant, Iliana
was twisting her head on the bed

and moaning aloud as he set to work nibbling at the flesh of her inner thigh. Her heart
was beating so fast, she feared she'd die. When he slid one hand out from beneath her and
slid his finger back beneath the leather of her belt again to caress her, she was sure she
had.

Drawing her legs up on either side of his head, Iliana dug her heels into the bed and
arched her pelvis upward instinctively, unsure of what she sought, but some inner voice
was telling her this was how to gain it. Her focus was so intent on his caresses, she
hardly even noticed when he stopped his nibbling kisses, though she noticed when he slid
back along her body to kiss her lips.

Turning her face into the kiss, her own tongue came out to duel with his this time, and
she continued to arch into his touch. She was disappointed when he broke the kiss again to
speak but could not avoid the words he murmured as he nibbled away at her ear.

“Do ye like this, sweetling?” he murmured silkily.

She nodded her head a bit frantically.

“Me, too.” He followed that with a sigh. “Would that I could help ye to find satisfaction.”

“Satisfaction?” Iliana murmured dazedly.

“ Tis what yer body is straining fer. Do ye feel it? Straining toward something like a
flower toward the sun?”

“Aye,” she gasped, arching again as he slid a second finger beneath the belt, adding to
the pressure as he massaged her woman's parts. “Aye, I'd like that. Please.”

“I cannot.”

“You cannot?” she gasped, disappointment obvious in her tone.

“Nay, my sweet. Not without the key.” “But”

“ Tis sorry I am, sweetling, but I cannot,” he breathed. “Unless ye'd be giving me the
key.”

“The key?” she panted, too distracted to pay attention to the alarms this time. The fire
in her was building to an almost frightening level.

“Where be it?”

“What?” she gasped. “The key.”

“It's oooh,” she breathed. Her entire body was shaking with passion. It was difficult to
concentrate on anything but what she was feeling, yetDuncankept pestering her about
something. What was it? she wondered, trying to shut out the low hum that was dancing
along her nerves.

“Where is the key, sweetling?” “Oh, aye,” she breathed. “The key. It's” “My lady?” Ebba's
voice was accompanied by a tap on the door, and Iliana stiffened at the sounds.

They were as effective as a pail of cold water being thrown over her.

“Go away!”Duncanbellowed even as Iliana asked, “What is it?”

There was a hesitation, then, “ Tis nooning time. And there is a Mr. Cummins below asking
for you. He says he has some goods for you.”

“Go away!” Duncan roared again, cursing as Iliana struggled out from under him and hurried
to the door, tugging her tunic back on as she went. She had the thin gown on and done up
before reaching it. Careless of his own nudity,Duncanmuttered a string of curses and
dropped back on the bed in despair.

“I” Ebba's words came to a halt as Iliana tugged the door open.

Iliana blushed under her gaze, suddenly wishing she had put on her gown. In the next
second, as she whirled away to do just that, she saw Lord Angus approaching. While her
maid had seemed surprised and speculative upon seeing Iliana's rumpled state,
theDunbarlooked positively grim. Flying back to the bed, she scooped her gown off the
floor, but had barely managed to straighten with it whenDuncan grabbed her about the waist
and tugged her back into his lap.