I sat across the room from Lord Duncan and Lady Tara feeling more than a tad out of place. Sure, I'd written their story, but they were the ones who told it to me.
In the great hall of the MacCoinnich Keep I found myself fidgeting with the clothes they asked me to wear. I sat under more layers of material than I ever had before and reminded myself to buy more cotton garments once I returned home. The wool itched my skin something fierce, but I wasn't about to complain. I wanted to be invited back in the future so I could keep the fans of Binding Vows current on all that was happening in Tara and Duncan's world.
Duncan sat in a massive high back chair, while Tara sat on a smaller couch at his left. I placed the 1960's advertisement into Duncan's hand.
He lifted one eyebrow in my direction before turning to his wife. "See, lass. Even in your time husbands take a firm hand with their wives." Duncan slid the picture into Tara's hands.
"Don't get any ideas. Take a better look at the picture."
"What am I to look for?"
"Look at the dress. Did you notice the woman was wearing a dress?"
"Aye, what of it?"
"Duncan, when you met me, was I wearing a dress? Ah, wait... don't answer that. All of the women at the Faire were in dresses," she said more to herself than to him. "Remember the clothes I brought with me? The clothes I have hidden in the trunk in our room?"
Duncan leaned his massive frame further into the chair. A smile played on his lips. "Aye. I like the shorts best," he offered.
Tara rolled her eyes. "Does your mind ever leave the bedroom?"
"Why should it when we have so much to enjoy there?"
Grasping the advertisement from his fingertips, Tara waved in front of his eyes. "Well, let me warn you now, love. If you think you're going to get away with anything like this and keep all the fun in the bedroom going, you've got another thing coming. This add was printed about thirty or forty years before my birth. The woman is wearing a skirt, which you know I didn't do in my time. Husbands spanking their wives was done away with a long time ago." Tara waved her hand toward a candle sitting on the table in the room and called a flame. The tiny light flickered as she casually lit the advertisement and then left it on a silver platter to burn to ashes.
When she reached over the table to lift a glass of water to her lips, Duncan grasped onto her wrist and swiftly pulled her onto his lap. Strong warrior fingers fanned over her backside and kept her from retreating.
"Duncan, what are you doing?"
His lips found her throat and showered it with long lingering kisses.
Tara squirmed in his lap. Her hand reached into his long hair as her eyes drifted close. "Ms. Bybee is still in the room, love."
The words no sooner left Tara's mouth when Duncan lifted his hand from her bum and gave it a hearty smack.
Tara gasped and attempted to pull away. But her lips were spread into a grin that was anything but mad. "What are you doing?"
"That, my love, is for ever implying that I won't have my way with you in our chambers."
"Men don't spank their wives," she said firmly.
The two were silent for a few moments. My guess is they were talking to each other with their minds, something Druids who married the way they did do from time to time. I waited to see if they were going to reveal their thoughts to me.
Tara glanced over her shoulder to me briefly and her face lit up more shades of red than I'd ever seen. Duncan had returned to kissing her neck and the wool of my dress was really starting to heat me up.
Duncan nudged Tara off his lap and they both stood. "If you'll excuse us, Ms. Bybee. We seem to have something we need to discuss in private."
"Of course. Thank you for letting me stop by."
The two of them were walking from the room, heads together and not saying a word that I could hear. Just as Tara turned up the stairs, she whacked Duncan on his ass so hard the dogs by the doors jumped.
Lifting her skirts, Tara ran up the stairs laughing.
"Ye'll pay for that, lass."
Tara laughed harder and disappeared from my sight.
I thought of the other questions I had for the two newlyweds. I guess they'll have to wait until later.
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