one of the rooms upstairs, Elizabeth. You must remember your condition. Angus will be angry if he wakes up and finds you exhausted.'
Elizabeth made a formal curtsy. 'Thank you, milord,' she said.
'Marcus? Take Elizabeth to her cottage to get her things,' Alec called out.
Jamie stood next to the bed, watching Angus. Elizabeth walked over to her side, hesitated, then reached out to touch her hand. 'I would thank you, mistress,' she whispered.
'You won't have to wake Edith and Annie,' Jamie replied.
Elizabeth smiled. 'No, I won't have to wake them.' She started to turn away, then changed her mind. 'My son will carry his father's name when he arrives.'
'When does this blessed event take place?' Jamie asked.
'In six months' time. And if it's a girl…'
'Yes?'
'I shall name her after you, milady.'
Jamie would have laughed if she'd had the strength. She was so exhausted, though, she could only manage a smile. 'Did you hear her promise, Alec?
Elizabeth doesn't seem to think Jamie is a man's name. What think you of that.'
Elizabeth smiled at Alec, received his nod, and then said, 'Jamie? I thought your name was Jane, milady.'
Alec laughed for his wife. Elizabeth squeezed Jamie's hand to let her know she was jesting, then left the hall with Marcus.
'Does that man ever smile?' Jamie asked Alec when they were once again alone.
'Who?'
'Marcus.'
'Nay, he doesn't, Jamie.'
'He dislikes me immensely.'
'Aye, he does.'
Jamie gave Alec a disgruntled look over his easy compliance, then mixed another potion that was known to chase fever away. She was walking back to the bed when she suddenly realized she hadn't looked at the lower half of Angus's body to see if there were other injuries needing her attention.
She decided to let Alec do the looking while she kept her eyes closed.
'There aren't any other injuries,' Alec announced after he'd done as Jamie asked.
Her relief was short-lived. When she opened her eyes, Alec was standing just a foot or so away, smiling down at her. 'You're blushing, wife. Answer me this question,' he commanded in a soft, teasing voice. 'If there had been injury, what would you have done?'
'Repaired it if possible,' Jamie answered. 'And probably blushed all the while.
You must remember, Alec, I'm a mere woman.'
She waited for him to contradict her.
'Aye, you are that.'
The way he was looking at her made her blush intensify. Whatever was the matter with him? He acted as though he wanted to say something more to her, yet couldn't make up his mind.
'Am I back to looking ugly, husband? I know I must look a mess.'
'You were never ugly,' Alec answered. He brushed a lock of her hair back over her shoulder. The tender action sent a shiver down her arms. 'But you do look a mess.'
She didn't know how to take that remark. He was smiling at her, so she guessed he hadn't just insulted her. Or had he? The man did have an odd sense of what was amusing.
The longer he continued to stare at her, the more nervous she became. 'Here, make Angus drink this.' She thrust the goblet into his hands.
'For the last several hours you've snapped out orders like a commander on a field of battle, Jamie. Now you act shy with me. What has caused this change?'
'You,' Jamie replied. 'You make me shy when you stare at me like that.'
''Tis good to know.'
'No, it certainly is not good to know,' Jamie muttered.
She snatched the goblet out of his hands, hurried over to Angus's side, and nagged her patient into drinking the full portion.
'I want you to wear my plaid,' Alec said.
'What?'
'I want you to wear my colors, wife.'
'Why?'
'Because you belong to me now,' Alec patiently explained.
'I'll wear your plaid when my heart wants to belong to you, Kincaid, and not a minute sooner. What think you of that?'
'I could order you to-'
'But you won't.'
Alec smiled. His gentle little wife was beginning to understand him, after all.
But he was also learning just how her mind worked. The foolish woman didn't realize her heart had already softened toward him. Still, he wanted her to admit it. 'Did you mean what you said to Elizabeth? Would you have stayed by my side if I'd been wounded?'
'Of course.'
She didn't even look over her shoulder when she added, 'You can rid yourself of that cocky smile, husband. Any wife would stay by her husband. It's her duty.'
'And you would always do your duty.'
'I would.'
'I will give you two weeks to make up your mind, Jamie, but you will eventually wear my plaid.'
While he watched Jamie, the truth nudged a rather contradictory admission from him. He actually wanted her to care for him. He wanted her to love him. He was, however, quite determined not to love her. His reason was simple: a warrior did not love his wife; he owned her. There was good reason for this, of course: love complicated a relationship. It could also undermine the duties of a laird. No, he could never love Jamie. But he'd be damned if she didn't start to love him soon. 'Two weeks.'
She didn't need that reminder. 'You are very arrogant, husband.'
''Tis good of you to notice.'
Alec left the hall before she could stifle her laughter enough to bait him again. His soldiers would be waiting in the courtyard and the bailey below, wishing to hear how their friend was doing. Several hundred men were keeping Angus's deathwatch. They wouldn't take to their pallets until they'd come inside to see their friend. It was their right, and Alec wouldn't deny them.
Angus was just waking up from his drug-induced sleep when Jamie was closing her eyes. She knelt on the floor, her feet tucked under the hem of her robe. Her long hair was spread like a blanket across her back. Angus groaned when he tried to move his throbbing arm. He wanted to rub the sting away, yet when he tried to move his other hand, he felt someone take hold of him.
He opened his eyes and immediately saw the woman. Her head rested next to his thigh. Her eyes were closed. He didn't know how he knew, but he was certain her eyes were violet, clear, enchanting violet.
Angus thought she was asleep, yet when he tried to pull his hand away from her grasp, she wouldn't let him.
The soldiers began to file into the hall then, drawing his attention. His friends were all smiling at him. Angus tried to return their greeting. He was in pain, aye, but their smiles told him he was not dying. Perhaps, he thought, the last rites he'd overheard were for someone else.
Alec, with Gavin at his side, stood near the entrance, waiting. Alec stared at his wife, but Gavin watched the men.
It was a magical moment, by Gavin's reckoning. The soldiers looked stunned by the sight they witnessed. One and all knew Lady Kincaid had saved their friend from certain death. Angus's weak smile confirmed the
