“Arran Gilroy.” Skye laughed in shock. “Ye have been lying in bed, near death, for two days, and this is how ye wake up? Ye should be thankful that ye are breathin’!”
He leaned back, his face serious. “I hae a terrible need, Skye.”
“Ye have a terrible need torest, me Laird.”
She sat up, but he only pulled her back into his arms.
“That’s nae what I need, Skye,” he said in a smooth voice.
Skye wanted to whack him on the head, but she allowed him to pull her in for a kiss. And it didn’t end there. Her need for his touch surprised her, and soon her hands were roaming over his chest and down his abdomen. But then she stopped.
“Arran, ye havenae recovered. Ye shouldnae be exertin’ yerself. It might nae be best for ye right now, no matter how ye feel.”
Arran looked disappointed, but then he gave her a devilish grin. “I guess me beautiful wife will be me motivation for recovery. I cannae wait to have ye again, me darlin’.”
A few minutes later, Ava knocked at the door. She found Skye sitting decorously beside her husband’s bed.
“Go,” she said. “Get some breakfast, take a walk in the garden. I’ll sit with our patient until ye return. One full walk around the garden, mind. No less.”
“Must I?” Skye asked.
“Ye must,” Ava insisted. “Else we’ll have two patients instead of one. Go, eat, rest. Then ye can come back.
Reluctantly, Skye went down to the kitchen where she got some bread and cheese to take with her as she walked.
She finished eating, and stopped by the fountain for a drink. As she rounded the next corner of the garden, she found her mother in her usual spot. But her embroidery lay on her lap.
Helena looked up as Skye approached. “How is he?” she asked.
“Better. Much, much better,” Skye replied, sitting down on the bench beside her mother. “Well enough that he wanted…” she felt her cheeks grow warm.
Her mother laughed. “That is generally a good sign. Did he take no for an answer?”
“Reluctantly, but yes, he did. Then Ava came, and told me to go eat and walk in the garden.”
Helena nodded. “She told me that she might. Ye’ve labored long and hard to save Arran’s life. Ava says that without yer work and that of the healer, Nelda, it would have been unlikely that he would have lived until she arrived.”
“But what I did was not enough,” Skye protested. “Oh, Maither, I would ha’ lost him.”
“Would it trouble ye sae much?” Helena asked.
“Yes, I think it would. Maither, what does it feel like to love someone truly?”
“I’m not sure I can tell ye that,” Helena temporized. “It’s different for everyone. Losing yer father was the hardest thing that ever came to me. For a time, I feared I would lose ye too. That would hae broke me for sure.”
“I love ye, Maither,” Skye said, giving her a hug. “But this is different. It’s like, oh, I don’t know. Like pulling on a glove on a cold winter day, and realizing ye needed it, and just didn’t know it. Or like taking a drink of cold water when ye are thirsted near to death.”
“If ye truly love him, ye’ll be able to care for him through the thinnest of times. An’ ye’ll not hae to aske yer tired old mother what it feels like to love.”
“Oh, Maither, ye’re not old,” Skye protested.
“How else could I be with a grown-up daughter who has a husband?” Helena teased.
“Oh, ye!” Skye laughed a little. Then she went on, “I think I should be getting back. Ava should be finished with dressing Arran’s wound by now.”
“Ye do that, dear child,” Helena said. “I’ll just go back to me embroidery.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
