THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

She then murmured, “This will hurt a wee bit more,” and jerked the dressing from his back. He grit his teeth against the agony and wondered what the hell she considered truly painful.
    Duncan praised the saints that he was abed. He knew to his marrow his legs wouldn’t have held him had he been standing, so great were his back spasms.
    “Are you okay?”
    When he didn’t respond, for he couldn’t just yet, she asked, “Did I cause you much pain?”
    He blinked the tears away, thankful his back was to her. “Nay.” He took a deep shuddering breath and managed, “About the odd woman.”
    “Ah, yes, the odd woman. Mrs. Wade took great pains to find fault with Kathy from her hair roots to the soles of her feet. Between the woman’s constant badgering and Kathy’s inability to read like her peers, Kathy had many headaches.” Beth stopped to dry his back. “One day when Kathy complained about another headache Mrs. Wade snuck up behind Kathy, lifted Kathy’s pony tail—her long hair had been tied with a band at the top of her head—-and cut it off. At the scalp.”
    “Ack, the poor lass had lice.”
    “No. Just headaches and now no hair.”
    “Humph.” Many a lass’s only beauty lay in her hair. No wonder Lady Beth’s voice cracked.
    A moment later Beth warned, “I’m sorry, but this will sting.”
    His ladywife did not lie. The salt-infused packing stung, but not nearly as horribly as the removal of the first. After a moment he felt compelled to ask, “Why doth the odd woman bear such ill will toward Kathy?”
    “I don’t know. In any event, she told Kathy, ‘Now, you’ll have no more headaches.’”
    “Do the headaches vanish?”
    “Eventually, but not until Kathy turns eighteen and escapes the woman.”
    Silent now, Beth wrapped a fresh strip of sheeting around his shoulder with gentle hands. As he lifted his left arm to accommodate her, he murmured, “Ye tell a sad tale, wife.”
    “Not so sad. Kathy grew into womanhood, tougher than most. She worked hard and became a respected lady.”
    He frowned as Beth helped him roll onto his back. “Doth ye knowest this Lady Kathy?”
    She nibbled at her bottom lip. “I’m afraid so.”
    Before he could ask if Lady Kathy married and lived happily ever after, someone knocked.
    Seeing his solicitor, Duncan smiled. “Ah, Isaac. Come in.”
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
    After Beth excused herself, Isaac asked, “How fare ye, mon ami ?”
    “I live. Something I hear ‘twas in serious question not long past.”
    “Aye. Ye look better. Have ye much pain?”
    “Nay, though I feel as brawn a newborn bairn.”
    “‘Tis good to hear for I bring troubling news.”
    “The Bruce?”
    “Mayhap. ’Tis regarding yer good ladywife.”
    Brow furrowing, Duncan growled, “Out with it, man.”
    “I’m verra sorry to say this, but I believe ye wife isna the woman sent by Albany.”
    Duncan guffawed. “Ye’re as wode as I first thought Lady Beth, Isaac.”
    “Nay, something is verra wrong. I questioned the lass myself, as has Rachael. Lady Beth claims never to have lived in France and never to have married. Her tale remains unchanged with each telling.”
    “But she wears my ring.”
    “Aye, but Lady Beth has no memory of how it came into her possession. She claims you must have placed it on her hand after she fainted.”
    Duncan looked incredulous. “Nay! She had it on when I lifted her from the carriage. She must be the one.”
    “ Mon ami , I’m just relaying my concerns. Ye are married to a woman we know little or nothing about, who claims her Christian name to be Katherine Elizabeth MacDougall Pudding. ‘Tis not the name of the woman ye contracted to marry. Lady Beth may well be the right bride, but is so delus... insense’ she does not know who she is. Or she could be another, entirely.”
    Isaac started to pace. Lady Beth had not hesitated to answer when asked about her past. Only one truly crazed—or intent on appearing so—would respond in such a manner. More troubling was her denying being Catholic. “We must discover the truth before Albany hears of this. If he believes you deliberately defied him by marrying a woman not of his choosing, or worse, if she is his niece and he hears ye refused to consummate because she’s crazed, he’ll not hesitate to strip ye of all ye have.”
    “Aye.” Duncan scowled out the window in thought. “Lady Beth must be Albany’s niece. Why else would the Bruce have tried to kill her? ‘Tis no