She reached up to touch his forehead and only then realized she was still clutching one of the wilted flowers. She let go of the flower and began to stroke his brow.

He touched her forehead at the very same moment.

"I promised you I wouldn't leave you." Her voice sounded like a gruff old man's.

"I'll never let you." His voice sounded like dried leaves being stomped on.

They shared a smile. "You're all right now, Jamie? You weren't hurt?"

The caring in his eyes stunned her. "I knew you'd save me."

"How would you be knowing that?" he asked.

"Because you care, Alec Kincaid."

She had imitated his burr perfectly. Alec nodded, pleased with her answer. He stood up, keeping her head tucked under his chin. He noticed the crowd of soldiers when he turned to walk down the hill. "She's none the worse for her mishap," he called out.

Jamie tried to pull away just a little so she could nod to his men, but Alec slammed her back against his chest in a hug as fierce as a bear's.

He inadvertently squeezed another cough out of her, too. The man simply didn't know his own strength, she thought happily. He didn't know his actions were so telling, either. She could feel the tremors in his arms. And when she'd been waiting for him to save her, it was her name she'd heard him bellowing. He was beginning to love her, if only just a little, whether he was willing to admit it or not.

That realization made her forget all about her brush with death. "You took your sweet time coming after me, Kincaid," she reminded him.

"The hell I did," he countered with a grin. "I ran like Satan."

"I'm not so insignificant to you after all, am I?"

He didn't answer her until they'd reached the castle doors. "No, you're not."

She realized after a long minute that he wasn't going to give her any more than that. But all the same, she was enormously happy with him. One bite at a time, she reminded herself. That was how she'd boasted to Father Murdock she could eat a giant bear, and that was how she was going to conquer Alec Kincaid. She laughed again, though this time over her own foolishness. Why had it taken her so long to realize she needed his love as much as he needed hers?

"How can you be laughing now, Lady Kincaid?" Gavin asked. He saw the doors opened for them, then followed the pair inside. "I'm still shaking with anger."

"I was laughing because I've just realized something quite important," Jamie answered. "It's not going to be one bite at a time, you see, but one kiss at a time. There is a marked difference. And that's the only explanation you'll be getting out of me."

"The smoke has obviously affected her mind," Alec interjected, shaking his head.

"Why are you so angry, Gavin?" Jamie asked. She glanced over Alec's shoulder to see the soldier's face. "You can't be thinking this is all my fault, can you?"

Before Gavin could respond, Jamie turned back to Alec. "The wind caused my mishap, husband. It was so strong, it pushed the door right into my backside. It was high, all right," she continued when both men looked as if they didn't believe her. "The howling noise was eerie, too. Do you know it sounded as though someone was laughing at me? Alec, why are you looking so doubtful? Don't you believe me?"

"I believe you," Alec told her.

"We know it wasn't your fault, milady," Gavin interjected. "The door was…" He didn't finish his explanation when he caught Alec's signal.

"The door was what, Gavin?"

"Stuck. It was stuck," he blurted out.

"Aye, it surely was," Jamie agreed.

"Gavin, go and order a bath for Jamie. Then return to the hill and begin questioning the servants. Surely one of them will have a few important answers for us."

Alec carried Jamie behind the screen and gently placed her on his bed.

"After your bath, you'll stay in bed the rest of the day," he ordered.

"Why?"

"Why, Jamie? Because you need to recover," Alec explained.

"I've already recovered," Jamie argued.

Alec had to shake his head over her attitude. "You should be weeping now, lass, not smiling so sweetly up at me. Don't you know how soft you are?"

"I must stay in bed because I'm… soft? Alec, that doesn't make a bit of sense."

She sat there on the side of the bed, her face streaked with dirt, her hair tangled, her soot-marred hands folded demurely in her lap; she sat there looking absolutely beautiful to him. The servants marched in with buckets of water.

Jamie gave each one a cheerful greeting. She not only remembered their names but also the names of their husbands and children. Alec was impressed. Her memory was really quite remarkable. When she asked each woman about her kin, she was letting her know how much she valued her.

The women, he noticed, gave Jamie just as much affection in their greetings.

Why, even dour-faced old Hessie, the main cook, was smiling at her mistress.

"Will you be up to directing the men with the… kitchen work?" she asked, after giving her laird a timid look.

Jamie held her smile. "He noticed the hole, Hessie," she whispered. "And I have no intention of putting off the work. I'll-"

"I'll take over that duty," Alec announced.

"You will?"

She looked extremely pleased with him. He wondered then if that wasn't her goal all the while. "Angus can direct the soldiers," Alec stated, "after I've explained what I want done." He'd stressed the word "I" in his announcement, but he could tell by Jamie's smile that she still thought she was getting her own way. "The hole will be boarded up until the hall is finished."

"Hall? I don't understand," Jamie confessed.

"I don't want the kitchen directly attached," Alec countered. "The smoke from the cooking will fill the hall by noon. We'll make a covered hallway to connect the two buildings. Does that satisfy you?"

He guessed it didn't satisfy her when she gave him a suspicious look. "How long will this hallway be?"

"Not long," he heard himself promise.

She nodded, pleased now. "There, Hessie," she announced. "I told you Alec would see the rightness in this change." She noticed her husband's frown and hurried to add, "All of his clan is important to him." She turned back to Alec and added, "I've told Hessie that your soldiers and your servants deserve equal status in your mind."

He did surprise her then. "That is true," he said. "You needn't have told Hessie," he added with a nod toward the servant. "She understands her value."

The servant immediately straightened her shoulders with pride. Then she bowed to her laird and hurried to leave.

"Have your bath now, wife, before the wind turns your water to ice," he announced.

Alec had kept his smile firmly in place, yet when he was again on the other side of the screen, he quit his pretense. He started pacing in front of the hearth while he tried to reason through this atrocity. Someone had actually tried to kill his precious Jamie. If he hadn't gotten there in time… If he'd stayed inside the stables just a few minutes more…

"Alec? No one saw a damn thing."

Alec stopped pacing when Gavin called out to him. "Lower your voice," he ordered. "I don't want Jamie overhearing any of this talk."

"She's already overhearing," Jamie called out from behind the screen.

Alec let his exasperation show, then beckoned Gavin closer. "Jamie, don't listen," he called out.

"I can't help listening," she called back. "Have you noticed, Alec, the horrible lack of privacy? I asked Father Murdock if he thought I could move our things up to one of the bedrooms above the stairs, husband. Did he mention that request to you yet?"

"You should have asked me."

"You were busy," she shouted.

"She sure as hell doesn't sound as if she just went through a fire, does she, Gavin?"

"She's a lot stronger than we think she is," he told his lord quietly. "Father Murdock might be right, after all." Gavin had kept his voice low so his mistress wouldn't overhear him. His bid to exclude her didn't work, however.