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“Ladies, I must be gone,” he said, taking deliberate motions to remove the hands latching on to him. “I am mobilizing an army as we speak. Good day to you.”

He took several hasty steps backward, making sure they didn’t follow him. The women watched him with wide, adoring eyes. Miranda even waved. But when he turned around to continue on his way, they rushed up behind him and snared him like a rabbit in a trap.

“Then we will walk with you, my lord.” Vanessa said loudly. “Surely there is no harm in that.”

William stopped and rolled his eye in irritation. He felt like shouting at them but controlled his temper, at least, for the moment.

“You may not accompany me,” he said with great restraint.

“Please, my lord,” Miranda begged. “We have had so little time to get to know the great Wolf.”

William was rapidly becoming angered. His jaw began to tick.

“Would you ladies kindly let go of my arms?” he said through clenched teeth. “I am losing circulation in them.”

“And I am losing patience,” came a sharp Scot accent.

William’s head snapped around to see his wife standing a few feet away. God in Heaven, he hadn’t even seen her coming. What in the hell was she doing out of bed?

“Jordan?” he gasped.

“Aye, Jordan,” She walked toward him, albeit very stiffly, glaring at the three women hot enough to melt steel. “Unhand my husband, ye hussies. How dare ye touch the king’s champion, as if he were a prize stallion to be inspected!”

Scot temper was legendary. The women let go of William and backed off, staring in astonishment at the beautiful, red-faced woman. Jordan stalked them, and with every step she took forward, they would back up a pace.

“I ought to kill the lot of ye for so much as speaking to him,” she snarled. “Ye’re nothing but whores in court guise, pretending to be innocent virgins so ye can catch a husband, when the truth is that yer legs are open for anything in breeches.”

The three women backed into an outraged group, stopping to face off against the charges.

“How dare you speak…!” Miranda began.

“Shut yer mouth, bitch,” Jordan snapped viciously, jabbing her finger at the cluster. “Hear me well, all of ye. If I so much as catch wind that ye’ve been near my husband again, I shall take a mace to ye. Do ye understand?”

Vanessa was red in the face. “You cannot speak to us like that.”

“I can and I did. What do ye intend to do about it? Have yer male kin come after me?” she demanded, putting her hands on her hips arrogantly. “Go right ahead, but make sure ye tell them that the woman they are to punish is The Wolf’s wife. I am sure they will be most eager to defend ye with that bit of knowledge.”

Duly stumped, the women continued to back away from the livid woman, shooting her angry glances as they skulked back across the compound. Jordan glared daggers at them the entire way, until they disappeared into the depths of the castle.

When the women were gone from sight, Jordan heard slow, deliberate clapping behind her. Still furious, she turned to see William applauding her with a lazy smile on his face.

“Bravo, Lady de Wolfe,” he said wryly. “Remind me never to get your dander up.”

She glowered at him. “One of us had to discourage them,” she said coldly. “Since ye couldna seem to find the backbone for it, I had to.”

His smile faded. “Jordan, you are wrong on that assumption and you know it. ’Tis much more difficult for a man to be rude to a woman than for a woman to be rude to another woman.”

She sighed heavily, disgusted. She had been watching for him from her window overlooking the courtyard and had seen the entire confrontation. True, her husband had tried to break away from them, but he had not been near firm enough, in her opinion, which was why she had hastily dressed and moved faster than she thought possible with her soreness. She knew she should not be out of bed, much less walking, but she was so damn jealous and angry that her emotions outweighed her better sense.

“I am tired,” she began to walk away from him.

William was upon her in two strides, sweeping her into his arms. “No doubt, my lady,” he said sternly. “You should not have come down here.”

She went rigid. “But I did, and a good thing, too, or those whores would still be pawing ye.”

He sighed, walking rapidly into the castle. “Can we simply forget about this, please? I must leave at dusk and I would hate to spend the last precious hours fighting with you.”

She was still angry but when he mentioned his departure, her fury quickly banked. Pouting, she held onto his neck and stroked his skin the entire way back to their apartments.