Jetta nodded, and then offered her a reassuring smile before turning to hurry to the stairs.
“Who are Angus and Barra?”
Dwyn tore her gaze away from the departing woman, and met Aulay’s curious gaze. Grimacing then, she admitted, “Me dogs. They’rehuge beasts. Deerhound and boarhound mix.”
His eyebrows rose at that, and then he started to walk and asked with amusement, “Do ye really put them on their sides andbite their necks?”
“Aye,” she admitted, and then explained, “They did no’ like to listen much when they were young, at least no’ to me. But theyalways obeyed their mother, and she used to grab them by the throat and force them to the ground when they misbehaved. I knewthey were going to be big dogs, and I’d best get them used to listening to me while still small enough I could handle them,so one day when Angus was being difficult, I grabbed his legs, whipped them out from under him so he landed on his side andthen leaned over him and bit his neck. Not hard,” Dwyn added quickly, lest Aulay think her mean. “I just closed my teeth onhim firmly, so he knew they were there. He stopped moving at once, but I waited until he relaxed and submitted as he did withhis mother, and then let him up.”
“And it worked?” he asked with interest.
“Oh, aye,” she assured him. “Surprisingly well. He started obeying me at once like his mother. So I did it to Barra the verynext time he would no’ listen to me and they both became very good dogs.” Dwyn paused briefly, and then admitted, “I do haveto pull them to the ground and bite their necks again on occasion when they get rambunctious. But that’s only about once everysix months or so now. Thank goodness,” she added with a wry smile. “Because they each weigh more than I do and, do ye stretchthem out, are probably taller than me too. But they’re very obedient pups for the most part.”
“Pups?” he asked dubiously.
“They’re not quite three years old now,” she said.
“Hmm,” Aulay murmured, and then asked, “And is that how ye brought Geordie to heel?”
“Nay, o’ course no’! I—” Dwyn paused abruptly when she saw the sparkle in his eyes. Clucking her tongue, she said, “Ye wereteasing.”
“Aye,” he said gently. “And I do no’ think ye’d have tried it with me either.”
“Nay,” she admitted. “But it has proven a very effective threat with Aileen and Una. I just used it with you out o’ habit.”
“Surely yer sisters do no’ really believe ye’d do such a thing to them, do they?” Aulay asked with disbelief, pausing in frontof the door to his study.
“I do no’ think they’re quite sure whether I would, or would no’,” Dwyn admitted as she reached out to open the door for him.When she looked back to see his doubting expression, she smiled faintly and said, “Ye’d understand did ye see the size o’Angus’s and Barra’s teeth. Me sisters canno’ believe I put me face that close to their mouths without fear, so are no’ surewhat else I might do.”
Aulay chuckled at that and carried her into his study.
Chapter 11
Geordie stirred sleepily, and turned on his side to wrap his arm around Dwyn, but blinked his eyes open when he found onlyempty bed. Frowning, he rolled onto his back and looked to the other side of the bed, but she was not there either. That realizationhad him jerking upright to quickly scan the room. Dwyn was not there.
Panic clutched at him at once. While Catriona and Sasha had been sent away, and they all hoped that would bring an end tothe attacks on Dwyn, they couldn’t be positive it would since they had no proof the two women were behind the broken glassand poison. Aulay had offered to put guards on Dwyn for the rest of her stay there, but Geordie had assured him that wouldnot be necessary. He would stay by her side every moment of every day while she was here, and even after, once they left forInnes. Yet, here it was, not even twenty-four hours later, and he’d already lost her.
Cursing under his breath, Geordie scrambled off the bed and rushed out into the hall. When Aulay barked his name, he glancedover his shoulder, mouth open to explain that he’d lost Dwyn, but he whirled toward them when he saw her in his brother’sarms. Her father was behind and to the side of them, he saw, eyeing him with raised brows.
Ignoring both men, Geordie sighed her name with relief and rushed toward them, asking, “What are ye doing up, lass? Why didye no’ wake me?”
“Perhaps she was scared off by that monster between yer legs, brother,” Aulay said dryly, and then added with exasperation,“Could ye no’ have at least grabbed yer plaid on the way out the door?”
Geordie ignored that too. He had eyes only for Dwyn, who was staring at his erection with a concern he didn’t understand,until she asked worriedly, “Did ye damage yerself, husband? There’s blood on yer pillicock.”
Geordie glanced down at the dried blood on his cock, and almost laughed aloud. It was her blood from the breaching, and whilehe would have expected it to have been removed the second or third or even the fourth time he’d loved her, it had apparentlymerely mixed with their juices and dried on him all over again after each use. Or perhaps she’d continued to bleed after thebreaching, he thought with a frown. It was possible. She had assured him she was not feeling any pain, but perhaps they shouldn’thave been so enthusiastic and vigorous after the breaching. The thought made his erection begin to wane.
“Geordie?” Dwyn asked, real worry in her voice now.
Sighing, he raised his head, and offered a reassuring smile as he took her from his brother. “Nay. I’m no’ hurt. The bloodis yers, lass. The proof o’ yer innocence.”
“Oh.” She flushed a bit at
