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what she could change.
    But she didn’t. She couldn’t, so she only cried until she was so sore and tired she couldn’t cry any more. Even then, she couldn’t sleep. She just kept replaying the wretched conversation over and over in her mind.
    If I find you in this room again, you will be punished. Severely punished.
    His hands had made fists when he said that, and she knew he meant he would hurt her with his hands. He would beat her, just as all men beat women who weren’t obedient to their demands.
    If you ever leave your guard without an idea of your whereabouts, you will rue the day you were born.
    He was so big, so strong. It would hurt terribly if he rained blows on her in anger. Still, at least then he would be touching her. At least then he would take notice of her. She thought, somehow, it would be better than this grief.

 
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Oh, she was an imp. She really was. If she was testing him, she was about to reap the very real rewards of such folly. She’d eluded her guard again, but this time he’d seen the entire thing unfold from his vantage point on the upper practice field. He watched her hurry for the orchard, looking back over her shoulder.
    “Ian, I’ll return in a while. I leave you in charge. When Desmond arrives to report my wife missing, relieve him of his duty for the day without prejudice.”
    “Yes, sir,” Ian said, barely disguising his puzzlement.
    Duncan mounted his horse and wheeled towards the orchard, knowing exactly which tree she’d crawled into. He’d promised her punishment the next time she evaded her guard. So be it. When he reached the tree he dismounted. He approached the leafy apple tree and looked up through the branches to find Caitlyn balancing on a bough near the top.
    “Come down,” he said sharply. “If that branch breaks and you fall—”
    “It won’t matter, will it? You don’t want me anyway. If you’re lucky I’ll break my neck.”
    “Caitlyn. Come down. Right now.”
    “No,” she yelled.
    He stared up at her in surprise. Her chin jutted out and she pouted down at him. His little mouse was not so mousy after all.
    “Caitlyn, either way you’ll be punished just as I promised you. If I have to drag you down, it will go worse, much worse.”
    He watched her consider that. Fear and anxiety clouded her expression for a moment, and then she turned churlish again.
    “Why do you care if I leave my guard, anyway? If you value me so little?”
    He sighed heavily. He’d like to climb up in the tree and shake some sense into the little twit, but the branches were barely strong enough to support her, much less his massive bulk.
    “I value you as much as any man values his wife.”
    “ Which is not at all. ”
    “Whether I value you or not is not the issue here. You were told not to wander off alone. You were warned that you would be punished if you did. I know you don’t know me very well, but I’m a man of my word and I do what I say. You will be punished before we leave this orchard.”
    “Punished how?” she asked, a slight tremor in her voice.
    Good, she was listening.
    “I’m going to bend you over my lap and spank your bottom until it hurts you to sit down. Hopefully that will teach you how important it is to obey my commands.”
    “Well,” she said after a moment. “In that case, I’m never coming down.”
    Duncan stifled a smile. It really wasn’t funny. He shouldn’t have been laughing, but the cowed expression on her face, the resolve in her voice... She truly believed if she just sat in the tree long enough that he’d give up and go away. He crossed his arms over his chest and schooled his face to a stern glare.
    “I promise you I can wait here an awfully long time, Cait . All night if I must.”
    She didn’t answer. He peered up to find her biting into an apple and gazing down at him with a baleful expression.
    He sucked in a breath. God, she plagued him. But he wanted her. He wanted her so badly he ached. He was