“Nay. The king’s physician is in there. His men weren’t sure what to do, so they sent a message to the king. The physician showed up as I left to fetch you,” Grant explained. “His men are there too.”
“Go back to the barracks,” Caitlyn instructed. “His men won’t go anywhere. They’ll guard me as well as they do their tánaiste. No one can find you here.”
“Aye, my lady,” Duncan agreed, but Caitlyn could tell they were all hesitant to leave.
“It’s for the best,” Caitlyn reassured them before she pushed the door open. Her hand flew to her mouth as she stifled her gasp. Alex lay upon his bed, blood covering his battered face. She noticed patches of blood on his doublet where it leaked through slices to his abdomen. Her initial shock fleeting, she rushed across the room to the bed and climbed onto it without thinking. She cared not that Alex’s men and the king’s physician stared at her. She brushed back ebony locks from Alex’s forehead, wishing his emerald eyes would open and meet hers. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and breathed, “Alex.”
Alex groaned and his good hand twitched. Caitlyn grasped it and squeezed. She settled herself to face Alex as she clasped his hand in hers. She swallowed back tears, knowing they did no one any good, least of whom Alex. She peered at the physician.
“Should I step out while you undress him?” Caitlyn asked. She realized Grant must have come for her immediately if no one had removed Alex’s clothes yet.
“My lady,” one of Alex’s men stepped forward. Caitlyn looked back over her shoulder.
“Aye, Stephen?”
“You can’t go into the passageway alone, and if anyone noticed you with one of us, there would be even more trouble. Mayhap you could wait behind the screen while we help the physician.” As Stephen spoke, two other guards pulled the partition open. With another kiss to Alex’s forehead, Caitlyn slid off the bed and ducked behind the screen.
She scrunched her eyes closed and bit back her own cries as Alex groaned with pain. When he bellowed in agony, she assumed someone was moving his left arm. Each sound tore a piece of her heart away. She wanted to demand the men be more careful, but she was certain they were doing the best they could. When she heard no more movement, she peeked around the screen. Stephen nodded, so she emerged and moved back to the bedside. The sheet sat low over Alex’s waist.
It had been years since Caitlyn observed Alex without a shirt on, and she couldn’t stop her eyes from feasting on him. She took in the broad shoulders, her eyes lingering for a moment on his left shoulder’s scar. His chest’s rise and fall made his muscles ripple, drawing her attention away immediately. She’d seen nothing like Alex’s body. She’d witnessed men training without doublets or leines, but she’d never been so close to spy such intimate details as the path of hair from his navel to what lay beneath the sheet. She had a sudden desire to discover what his back and buttocks looked like. If they were as hewn as his front, Caitlyn feared she’d drool. While she admired the chiseled muscles, she noticed the various wounds he’d gained during the fight.
More cautiously than before, Caitlyn climbed onto the bed and took Alex’s hand. It surprised her when his eyes fluttered open, and he gazed at her. His lips separated, but he licked his lips before he tried to speak.
“Caity,” Alex croaked.
“Shh. Grant came to get me. I’m not going anywhere, so don’t bother starting,” Caitlyn said adamantly.
“Thank you,” Alex mumbled and squeezed her hand. He shifted his gaze to the physician, who opened a jar of leeches.
“No.”
Five sets of male eyes turned toward Caitlyn, her tone emphatic. The physician glowered at her and tsked as he continued to open the jar. “My lady, he needs the bad humors cleared from his body.”
“The only bad humor in this chamber shall be mine if you touch him with one of those. He has no sickness. He needs stitches and his bruises cleansed with witch hazel. He’s already lost blood from the gashes he has on his arms and that nasty one on his ribs. Sew him up and leave.”
“Caity,” Alex tried to say more.
“No, Alex. Losing more blood to those vile things will not make you better. If you had the ague or a fever, I might agree. But you know as well as I do, injured warriors don’t need leeches.”
“Mayhap leeches might have saved his maimed arm and kept him from being useless,” the physician stated, his tone condescending to an extreme.
“Get out,” Caitlyn hissed. “Get out before I shove you out. You will not touch him. I will sew his wounds and tend to him. How dare you say something so wretched?”
“My lady,” the physician said, patronizing her as he reached out to touch her head.
“Pat me like a dog, and you lose that hand. Get out,” Caitlyn threatened. She turned to Alex’s men. “One of you go to the barracks. There’s bound to be needles, thread, witch hazel, and yarrow there. Bring some to me, please.”
“Aye, my lady,” a man Caitlyn knew was called David hurried to the door. He didn’t turn back before he passed through.
“Lady Caitlyn has made her wishes clear,” Stephen said as he stood beside the door and glared at the king’s physician.
“King Robert shall hear of this,” the man sniffed.
“Be sure that he does,” Caitlyn challenged. The man grew red in the face as he collected his belongings and rushed from the chamber. Caitlyn leaned toward Alex and stroked his right cheek, the side easier to reach. His eyes flashed anger as her hand encountered the scar, but she thought nothing of it, too impatient for David to return. When he recognized only worry in Caitlyn’s gaze, he pulled his hand free and cupped it over his cheek and closed his eyes once more, relishing the feel of her gentle touch. Dropping her voice to a whisper, Caitlyn asked, “What happened?”
Alex’s hand pressed hers more firmly against his cheek. She glanced down when she realized she could feel Alex’s heartbeat beneath the other. She was unaware of when she’d placed her hand on his chest, but it felt natural. She waited for him to answer, knowing his men wanted to hear his answer as much as she did.
“The Scotts found me.” Alex couldn’t say more. It humiliated him too much to admit what happened when the storm was overhead, and he didn’t remember everything that happened during the fight. Caitlyn shifted her attention to Alex’s men and tilted her head toward the door. Stephen and the third guard, Mitcham, stepped into the passageway. She inched closer to Alex and pressed her lips to his mouth for a breath.
