pierced by the sharp tip to find it. She really didn't want to have to explain she'd lost the pin.
When that turned up nothing, Evelinde sat back on her heels with a sigh and peered into the paddock. The pin might have opened when she climbed the fence, but hung briefly from the material, falling out at some point between this and the other side of the paddock.
Or it may have hung there until she and Cullen were walking back toward the keep, she thought with sudden hope. Standing, Evelinde moved back to the path and followed it past the bull's paddock, eyes scanning the ground as she went. When she reached the spot where she thought they'd cut across the grass between the two paddocks, she got back to her hands and knees to search the grass along the path they'd taken.
"Wife!"
Evelinde closed her eyes at that bark, and there was no other word for it. Cullen sounded angry… again. Not wishing to lose her spot, she turned on her hands and knees to glance up at him, her eyes widening as she saw he wasn't alone. There were two men and a woman with him, she noted with dismay… and every single one of them, Cullen included, were staring at her with a sort of fascinated horror she didn't understand. Surely it wasn't that shocking to find her looking for something on the ground?
"Wife, ye—yer—" Apparently at a loss, Cullen gestured toward his upper chest, then rushed forward.
Evelinde glanced down at the gesture, a blush of embarrassment heating her face as she realized her borrowed gown was gaping wide and—with her on all fours—she was giving them a lovely view all the way down to her knees. Gasping, she sat up abruptly and gasped again as Cullen caught her by the arm and yanked her to her feet.
Before she could reach back to gather the folds and make the gown more presentable, Cullen had already done so. He caught the excess material in a fist and used that hold to turn her toward him as he hissed, "What are ye doing? I told ye to go change."
"Aye, but I lost—" Evelinde paused abruptly when she realized she was about to tell him she'd lost his pin, but he didn't notice, he was already snapping at her again.
"When I tell ye to do something, ye do it, lass." The words were hard and uncompromising.
"I—"
"Obey was one of the vows ye gave," he reminded grimly.
Evelinde blinked at the words, then said sharply, "As I recall I did not vow anything, husband. I flopped about like a landed fish."
Cullen growled and opened his mouth, no doubt to give another order, but was interrupted by a woman's voice saying, "Oh my, that sounds an interesting tale, dear. I cannot wait to hear it."
Evelinde turned wide eyes to the woman, noting with distraction that the trio she had first noted with her husband had moved closer.
"You are English," she said with surprise, her gaze moving over the tall, curvy woman with interest.
"Born and raised," the woman agreed with a smile. "And here I feared I'd taken on a Scottish accent after all these years."
"You have a bit of one," Evelinde said. "But not so much I have to struggle to understand you as I do everyone else here."
The woman laughed, but Cullen and the other two men scowled as if she'd insulted them. Obviously, she could not do anything right today, not even speak, she decided unhappily. Her thoughts were distracted when Cullen suddenly urged her forward with the handful of skirt he held, his fist goosing her—unintentionally, she was sure.
"Wife, the Comyns. Comyns, me wife," Cullen announced as he directed them all up the path again. Evelinde rolled her eyes at his idea of an introduction, but then smiled as graciously as she could manage and said, "Welcome."
Lady Comyn—at least Evelinde thought she must be Lady Comyn, though it was hard to say after that introduction, she thought irritably—chuckled and moved to slip her arm through Evelinde's to lead her toward the keep.
"Call me Ellie, dear. My name is Eleanor, but only people I do not like call me that."
"And I am Evelinde," she murmured, glancing impatiently back at her husband, who was still holding the back of her gown and trying to steer her by it. She attempted to brush his hand away and take over holding the gown with her own free hand, but he ignored her efforts and merely