Fortunately, Dwyn was close enough to catch herself on the edge of the chest. Holding on to it, her body like a board leaningagainst a low wall, she glanced back to the bed to be sure Geordie still slept, then dragged herself forward to sit on thechest. Dwyn took a minute to regroup then, but finally heaved herself back to her foot and opened the chest.
The gown on top was a royal blue color, much like the drapes of Geordie’s bed. Smiling, she pulled it out, and then grabbeda shift, closed the chest lid and sat on it to draw her naked foot up onto the chest with her so she didn’t accidentally setit in the rushes. Dwyn then set the dress next to her and quickly dragged her shift on. Her sisters had lowered the necklineon her shifts so that she could wear them under the dresses with the lower necklines, but the rose gown was so low she hadn’tbeen able to wear a shift under it. She was hoping to have better luck with the blue.
Finished with the shift, she shook out her dress in front of her, and then found the bottom and began to drag it over herhead. Normally, she would have stepped into it, but she wasn’t trying that on one foot. Tugging it into place so that it gatheredon top of the chest behind her and dropped to cover her legs in front, she quickly did up the lacings and then peered downat herself. A thin line of her shift showed, but she pushed that down under the neckline of the gown, and then stood on herfoot and looked down again.
“Good enough,” Dwyn muttered, and then realized she’d spoken aloud and glanced toward the bed. Geordie hadn’t moved.
Relaxing, she hopped the couple of feet to the door, one hand against the wall to balance herself as she went, and then openedit and hopped out. Much to her relief, the hall was empty. She could hear talking and laughing from below stairs and supposedeveryone was still down at the tables. That made her wonder what time it was, but it was hard to tell. She didn’t even knowwhat time it had been when she’d woken up the first time to find herself fully clothed in Geordie’s arms. If she had to guess,she would have said she thought it had been mid- to late afternoon. The sun had still been up and shining brightly then, andwas still up now. Not fully though; while there had been enough light coming through the window to see around the room, ithad been the dimmer light of a setting sun. So, she supposed it was probably time for the sup, or shortly after it.
Knowing that was as close as she was going to get to figuring it out on her own, she turned and hopped up the hall to thegarderobe, using one hand on the wall to steady herself as she went. Much to her relief, she made it there without encounteringanyone or falling over, and then hopped inside to tend to matters. She had come back out and paused by the door to carefullyexamine the floor to be sure there was nothing that might cut through her slipper or otherwise hurt her when she heard movementahead of her. Raising her head, she spotted Geordie’s brother Aulay even as he spotted her.
“Dwyn,” he said sharply, and moved quickly toward her, a scowl twisting his scar so that he looked quite ferocious. “Whatare ye doing out here by yerself, lass?”
“I had to use the garderobe,” she said with an exasperation that was as much at herself for the sudden fear his angry facecaused in her, as at him for being short with her.
“Yer foot is no’ bandaged,” he pointed out in a growl.
“Nay, but I—”
“And where the hell is Geordie?” Aulay snarled with annoyance, scooping her off her feet without warning.
“He’s sleeping, but—”
“Sleeping!” he barked. “Well, I shall wake him up, and—”
“Ye will no’!” she snapped, and when he stopped walking to look down at her with amazement, she warned, “M’laird, do ye no’stop snarling and growling at me like a vicious dog and start listening, I shall do what I do with me Angus and Barra, andput ye on yer side with me teeth at yer throat.”
“Now, I should like to see that.”
Dwyn glanced up the hall at those amused words and flushed as she watched Jetta walk toward them from the stairs. Sighing,she shook her head. “I am sorry. I should no’ have lost me temper like that,” she said to them both, and then turned to peerup at Aulay and added, “But ye should no’ be angry at Geordie. I did no’ wake him. Had I, I’ve no doubt he would ha’e bandagedme up and carried me to the garderobe. And I do no’ want ye to wake him now, because I was rather hoping to speak to ye andme father together anyway, and without him there. I suspect he would interfere if he was awake.”
“Ah,” Jetta said with understanding, and then glanced to her husband. “Should I go fetch her father?”
Aulay was silent for a minute, and then let his breath out and relaxed. “Aye. And Rory too, please, wife. Send them to mestudy. I shall
