“You think not marrying Tom Cabbage will ruin your life, George?”
“His name is John Cabot.”
Calum had never seen anything like this.
George stood up and jammed her fists on her hips. “You kidnap us and keep us prisoners and I’m supposed to believe you won’t hurt us?”
She had a point.
Eachann was almost nose to nose with the woman. “I had my reasons.”
His brother was so damn stubborn. Calum had heard enough. He’d let them fight it out. He crossed over to Amy’s chair and scooped her up in his arms. “I’m not going to hurt you or Amy. But I think she needs to be sleeping in a bed.” He gave George a pointed look. “In a bedalone.”
“Oh my God...” was all George said.
He looked at her, but she wasn’t looking at him.
He heard Eachann mutter a curse.
Calum followed her look of horror to Amy’s chair. The whole right side was stained with blood.
Chapter Twenty-Six
If you fall, pick something up while you’re down there.
—New England Proverb
Georgina was wrapping a bandage on the flesh wound in Amy’s side. The bullet had sliced an angry path through the skin beneath her ribs. The gash was deep and ran in a jagged bloody streak about six inches long.
Georgina looked up at Calum MacLachlan, who was holding Amy up so she could finish.
His face was white. She almost felt sorry for him.
“I didn’t know she was hurt.” His voice was filled with angst. “There wasn’t any blood before.”
Georgina tied off the ends of the bandage. “You can lay her back down now.”
He was so gentle with Amy. It was almost as if he thought she was so fragile she would break in two. His concern was honest and open, so much so that she wanted to put his mind at ease.
“The cold water probably slowed her bleeding. Once you got her inside and by that fire it must have started again.”
Calum’s expression was still so guilt-ridden. “She never said a word. She just said she had a cramp in her side.”
“She probably didn’t even know she’d been hit. Didn’t you say she told you she’d fallen in when the gun went off?”
“Aye, that’s what she said. She was more worried about you and Kirsty.”
That was the Amy she’d come to know inside that cave. The same Amy who wouldn’t have left Georgina behind. The one who shared her food and part of herself. The little fool who believed in destiny and wishes on stars, in love and friendship.
Georgina looked down at her and wondered how people could be so very different. Amy did look fragile. She hadn’t awakened the whole time Georgina was cleaning and wrapping the wound.
Her face was still very pale. She brushed back some curly hair that had fallen over Amy’s face, then pulled the blanket back over her. She started to fold it back.
Calum reached for the covers. “I’ll do it.” Then he folded the wool blankets back with precise neat folds and began to pleat and tightly tuck in the sides.
Eachann opened the door and came inside. “How bad is it?”
Calum looked at his brother with an odd look that Georgina couldn’t read. He jerked the coverlet tightly over the foot of the bed and neatly tucked it under the mattress. “It’s a flesh wound. She’s lucky.”
