THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

“Nay, Duncan, just terrified. I’ve just spent two hours trying to keep your clan well-occupied by telling stories only half remembered from my childhood.”
    “Ah.” He watched mothers collecting their ale-besotted husbands and sleepy children, while others cleared the tables. “Ye apparently did it well.”
    Nodding toward the Bruce who remained in conversation with his men at the far end of the hall, she asked, “Did your meeting go well?”
    “As well as could be expected given the man’s predisposition to maneuver all to his advantage.”
    Beth studied the Bruce for a moment longer, suddenly wondering about the attack on the night of her arrival. Even Rachael had said little about it. “Was it his men who attacked the coach I was in?”
    Duncan nodded. “But the men were mercenaries, not of his clan. In the fray, I’d not thought to keep one alive to question, so I canna prove what I feel in my gut to be so.”
    “I’m sorry if my arrival caused a further rift...” She stopped as the Bruce men inexplicably settle around the room in twos. “Duncan?” She clutched his arm. “Are they all spending the night?”
    He patted her hand as they ambled past families settling around the hall. “Aye, but dinna fash. We’ve guards aplenty.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “And ye already ken how to bar yon solar door if ye have a mind.”
    “This,” she mumbled through clenched teeth and a false smile as she nodded to the child who wished her good sleep, “is not something to jest about. You just said you believe the man to be a murderer .”
    To make matters more untenable, all the weapons had been put away as some sort of peacekeeping gesture.
    She could picture waking—-if she hadn’t been killed in the night—to the hall looking like a monument to carnage.
    He patted her hand. “Some would say the same of me.”
    She huffed. Even if only half the tales she’d heard at supper were true, some might call her husband bloodthirsty or even a mercenary, but never a murderer. She knew to her bones that his honor had—and always would—hold him in check. But the same, she suspected, could not be said for the man Rachael now guided toward the third floor chamber designated for their elite guest.
    Just the thought of the Bruce lurking only feet below their bed pushed any desire for romance out of her head.
    Her hands started to perspire again. As she twisted the ring on her left hand to ease the itch beneath the band, she knew she’d get no sleep tonight.
    “My lady.”
    Beth turned to stare straight into Miss I’m Too Sexy’s huge brown eyes. The thought of taking shears to the woman’s long kangaroo lashes made her smile. “Yes, Flora?”
    “ Madame , I regret not having had opportunity earlier to thank ye for saving my life. I am most assuredly grateful, for I ken few would have made the effort.”
    “You are most welcome, but I’m sure any here would have done the same. I just happened to see your trouble first.”
    “Nay, my lady.” Flora cast a quick glance toward Duncan then about the room. “I fear...” She shook her head and dropped into a deep curtsey. “I humbly thank ye and am at ye service.”
    As she glided away, Beth asked, “What do you make of that, husband?”
    “She has the right of it. Had it been left to me, she’d have choked to death.”
    “ Duncan! ” She swatted his arm. “Don’t even say that in jest.”
    He captured her hand and brought it to his lips. “Lady, I must attend to matters before retiring. Can ye find yer way to our bed without me?”
    “Yes, but hurry.” She didn’t care to be alone with the enemy just paces away.
    He ran his tongue over her knuckles causing her to shiver. “Ah, ‘tis gratifying, yer impatience.”
    She gaped at him. Here her stomach churned with worry—that their throats would be slit as they slept, and he’s got his mind on sex? God love a duck! Had she known he’d stop thinking with his head and start thinking with what dangled beneath his kilt, she never would have acquiesced to following him into the barn, let alone made love to him.
    “Duncan, just do whatever it is you need to do in record time and get your butt up those stairs.”
    When he wiggled a brow, she just rolled her eyes and hurried toward the solar.
    She kicked off her ridiculous long-toed slippers as she rushed into their room. Dropping to her knees, she routed under the bed and pulled out Duncan’s heavy claymour. In the process she heard