When he gagged at the taste, her chuckle had him questioning her role. Was she seeing to him or was she the source of his discomfort?
“Ye laugh at my pain?” he asked.
“Ah, so ye are among the living?” It was Ethne. She was worth opening his eyes for. Her tone had been light, but her deep frown spoke of her concern. “I was afeared our Uradech was a greater warrior than we knew.”
Lachlann turned to search out the man in the room, but sharp pain stabbed at his temple, stilling the motion.
“Oh, none of that now. Keep yer head still.” She put the foul-tasting broth to his lips again. “Get a little more of this into ye, and the pain will ease.”
With that promise, Lachlann forced down as much as she gave him.
“Verra good.” She smiled, moving a refreshingly cool cloth about his face.
“I heard voices. Where are the others?” Lachlann asked.
“They’ve left ye to my tender care. Ye’ll sleep now, but I’ll be here by yer side.”
He grabbed her wrist, the damp cloth still in her grasp. “Promise me?”
She stilled and searched his face. “I promise ye.”
* * *
A large blaze heated the cave, but still Lachlann shivered. A heavy skin covered him, the fur soft against his bare torso.
“How is yer head?” Ethne swished a cloth in a pan of water.
He turned slightly. “Better. As ye had said it would be.”
“If ye can eat, ye’ll feel even better.”
She squeezed the soaking material and leaned over him again to follow the curve of his face with the warm cloth. His eyes closed in pleasure, and he moaned.
“Now that sounds like a man over the worst of it.” Her breath was warm against his face, and her voice was pleasant to his ears. Comforting.
He wanted to keep her talking. “Where is everyone?”
“My brother has taken yer friends to Aidan’s as ye’d planned. Finn is sleeping.”
His eyes flew open. “’Tis night time?”
“’Tis night timeagain.Nearly daybreak.”
“I have slept so many days?”
She shrugged, focusing instead on the cloth that soothed him.
“My friends care so little for me that they left me here?” He made light of the situation. “But ye stayed by my side.” He held her gaze until she lowered her eyes. The coverings suddenly seemed a bit too warm, and he pushed them down around his hips. His side still burned. “Did they, at the verra least, make sure I would live before they abandoned me?”
Ethne chuckled, gliding the refreshed cloth across his bare chest and the designs prominently displayed there. “Well, Finn was so concerned about ye that he missed the chance to see yer horses.”
Lachlann watched her, her eyes on her work, not noticing him looking at her.
“But aye, the bleeding had stopped, and I was able to secure the poultice. That is the pain ye feel in yer side.”
Wetting her mouth with a swipe of her tongue, she rubbed her lips together. When she let out a long, slow breath, his discomfort was quickly forgotten.
He studied her, the quickened breath and mesmerizing motion. “And how long will I have this pain?”
