"Do be quiet!" Johanna ordered in another shout. She threaded her fingers through her hair and lowered her voice when she continued. "You make me want to scream! God's truth, you do!"

"You are screaming, m'lady," Lindsay pointed out.

She took a deep breath. By God, she would make them listen to reason or die trying. Surely a few of them realized how sinful their idea was. It was up to her to convince the others. They were members of her clan, after all, and, therefore, her responsibility.

"Heaven help me," she whispered.

"What did she say?" Lindsay asked.

"I cannot believe you would consider blinding the poor man," she cried out.

"You gave us the idea, m'lady."

"Keith, if I had a bowl handy, I swear I would…"

"You're getting your mistress riled up," Auggie warned.

She turned to her husband. "No one's going to blind the man. I won't hear of it. When I said there was more than one way into the keep, I was giving the men a lesson and I-dear God, Keith, if you try to instruct me again about the number of entrances I swear I will throw something at you-what I mean to say, husband… Oh, Lord, now I've lost my thought."

"You were trying to remember how to get into the keep," Bryan reminded her.

"I was not," she snapped. "I was giving you a lesson, you daft men. There's more than one way to skin a fish, you see; and if you don't want the noser to see the cave, then you simply blindfold him when you take him there."

"We don't skin our fish here," Lindsay said. "We eat them whole."

She wanted to kill the soldier. She glared him into silence instead.

"You're getting her upset," Auggie shouted. "It ain't good, given her illness. Make your apology, boy," he ordered.

"Gabriel, I want your word you won't harm the noser," Johanna demanded.

Her husband was frowning at her. Lindsay was stammering out his apology, Keith thought it necessary to go over the number of entrances to the keep one last time, and Calum was wondering aloud if the English skinned their fish before they ate them. He believed they were ignorant enough to follow such a practice.

"Shouldn't m'lady be wearing our colors today?" Michael, the youngest of the Maclaurin soldiers, had only just noticed the breach.

Keith nodded. He sounded resigned when he said, "She should."

"Auggie, what the hell did you mean when you said my wife was ailing?"

"She fainted this afternoon, Laird," Auggie explained. "Went down like a corpse, she did."

Gabriel's roar echoed throughout the hall. Everyone immediately fell silent.

Two months ago, such behavior would have sent her running. Aye, she would have been terrified. She'd come a long way, she thought to herself, for Gabriel's fury merely irritated her now.

Her ears were ringing from his bellow. She covered them with her hands and glared at her husband. "Must you do that?" she asked.

He ignored her rebuke. "You actually fainted? You weren't pretending this time?"

She didn't answer him. "Why does everyone have to shout all the time? I'm warning you now, men," she added as she scanned her audience. "When my mama comes here, no one's going to speak above a respectable whisper."

The men didn't agree with her dictate fast enough. "Do you understand me?" she asked in a fair bellow of her own.

The soldiers nodded in unison. She let out a very unladylike grunt of satisfaction. Then she caught Father MacKechnie's smile. Her attention was turned, of course, because she couldn't imagine what he found so amusing. She had to think about his odd behavior for a second or two.

Gabriel wasn't going to be ignored. "Answer me, damn it."

He was determined to gain a proper explanation. Her shoulders slumped. She pictured herself in bed for the next five or six months and grimaced in reaction.

She guessed she'd better try to placate him. He was her husband, after all, and he seemed to be very distressed over her possible illness.

"It isn't at all what it seems to be," she said. "I'm not sick."

"Did you or did you not faint?"

The chair flew backward when Gabriel stood up. He loomed over her like the avenging archangel she'd likened him to in her fantasies, and Lord, he was magnificent. He leaned down until his face was just inches away from hers, obviously intent on intimidating her into answering him.

She reached up and placed her hand on the side of his face. "Promise me you won't harm the noser, then I'll explain what happened."

He caught hold of her hand before replying. "I'm not in the mood to negotiate, wife. What reason would you have to pretend to faint in front of Auggie?"

"It weren't a pretense, Laird. I'd be knowing the difference."

"I'll be happy to discuss this matter in privacy with you," Johanna whispered.

"I took her over to Glynis to gain some advice," Auggie announced.

"Does our laird think she pretended to faint last night?" Bryan asked.

"She's mean enough to try to trick us," Lindsay commented.

Calum was in agreement with the Maclaurin. "Aye, she is mean enough."

Johanna was aghast by the men's insults against her character. She jerked her hand away from her husband's hold and turned to the soldiers.

"How can you say I'm mean?" she cried out.

"'Cause you are, m'lady," Bryan cheerfully told her.

She turned back to Gabriel. She fully expected him to come to her defense.

He fully expected her to tell him what the hell was the matter with her.

"Gabriel, how can you allow your men to defame me?"

"It's a compliment they're giving you, damn it. You will give me your full attention. When I ask a question, I expect to have it answered."

"Yes, of course you do," she agreed, trying to soothe him. "It's just that now isn't the time…" Her mind was still focused on the soldiers' opinion of her. "I cannot believe you think I'm mean!" she cried out.

"You killed our pet and three others," Calum reminded her.

"That was necessary, not mean."

"You came up with the plan to blind the noser," Keith said.

"Blindfold him," she corrected.

"You put an arrow in the MacInnes soldier. That was damned mean, m'lady."

"I'd do it again," she announced. She wasn't about to pretend she was sorry she'd injured the soldier. He had meant to kick Clare MacKay, and she couldn't let that happen.

"Aye, you would do it again," Keith agreed. "And that's the reason we're all thinking you're a mean one, m'lady. It's an honor to have you for our mistress."

Grunts of approval followed Keith's compliment. Johanna became flustered. She brushed her hair back over her shoulders in an attempt to act as though she hadn't been overly affected by Keith's remarks. "I suppose it's all right for you to call me mean, men, but you won't be saying such things in front of my mama. She wouldn't understand."

"Johanna!"

Gabriel shouted her name. She decided he'd run out of patience. He had waited a long while to get her full attention. She turned back to her husband and smiled up at him. "Did you want something, m'lord?" His eyelid twitched. He'd used up all his patience all right. Johanna braced herself and then blurted out, "I didn't pretend to faint the first time and I did faint again this afternoon. However," she quickly added before he could start in bellowing again, "I'm really not sick. Glynis explained what was wrong with me."

"You're going to bed."

"I knew you would overreact!" she cried out. He took hold of her hand and turned to drag her across the hall. She wasn't being very cooperative. She kept trying to pull away. "How long must I stay in bed?"

"Until you've recovered from whatever it is ailing you," he commanded. "Damn it, I knew you weren't strong enough to last a full year."

Her gasp filled the hall. She'd taken grave exception to his remark. The soldiers were all watching, of course, and when they heard their laird's comment and his wife's reaction, they smiled in unison.