He knew exactly what she meant. She was worried about how he was going to tend to her arm. He did not think it wise to tell her just yet. Best to keep her mind off the blade, mayhap even rile her a bit. “I mean to offer ye the privacy ye denied me while ye get oot of that shift.”
“You did not seem too bothered by my watching,” Kate couldn’t help but parry, as ill as she felt.
“Aye,” he conceded with a long, repentant sigh while he placed her behind the nearest tree. “Devils have nae honor.”
“But knights who offer a lady her privacy do.”
He stared after her, unable to look away as he had promised. Knights. He almost laughed. What did he know of them? Those noble heroes who brandished their swords against injustice. His blade was stained only with vengeance. The lass was daft. But hell, he felt more human around her. More like a man than a monster.
“You’re looking!” Kate shrieked at him from her hiding place.
Grinding his jaw, he turned swiftly away. He was enjoying very manly thoughts when she came up behind him a few moments later and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and looked down at her pale face with the residue of longing still heavy in his gaze.
“Drink this. It’ll keep ye warm.” He pushed Angus’s pouch between them before he was tempted to drag her into his embrace and do the like himself.
She accepted the whiskey and drank. Immediately a crimson blush streaked across her cheeks, just before the color changed to a greenish hue.
“Ye’ve fergotten to apply yer ointment,” he stated firmly, taking hold of her shoulder.
“I—och hell . . .” She squeezed her eyes shut and trembled all the way down to her toes. “I could not apply it to my back.” She swayed on her feet, but Callum caught her and sat her down gently on the ground.
He eased her kirtle off her shoulder with careful fingers. “’Tis no’ so bad,” he said, squatting over her and examining the wound. When she tried to look, he cupped her hand in his and brought the pouch to her lips for another drink. When he returned to his ministrations, his hands shook and he cursed himself. He’d tended to hundreds of wounds to keep his men alive. This was no different. But it was. Kate’s skin was cool silk, milky white, and no matter how hard he tried, his littlest finger kept brushing against the swell of her breast while he tried as gently as he could to remove the packing Mae Stewart had used on her.
Kate remained still until she saw Graham approaching with a glowing dagger pointing straight at her. “Nae!” She struggled to gain her feet, but Callum’s hold on her remained firm.
He lowered his lips to her ear, closing his eyes when her intoxicating scent wafted through his nostrils. “Come, Katie lass,” he whispered. “Ye have faced doun the Devil. Ye willna turn Campbell on me now, will ye?”
She clutched fistfuls of his plaid and smothered her face into his chest when Graham came closer. “Do not burn me!”
Warding off Graham momentarily, Callum held her, knowing firsthand how badly this was going to hurt. “Another drink, Kate. It needs be done. I willna have ye die on me.”
“Aye, I’m of more value to you alive.” She pushed away from him, glared at Graham, then squeezed her eyes shut.
She did not remember Graham leaving, or if she screamed. Just Callum’s arm around her, cradling her while he sealed her wound shut with Graham’s blade. She was certain he asked her forgiveness a time or two while the hot metal seared her flesh. She was also acutely aware of the warmth of his muscles and the controlled strength he used to hold her still. So close, she took in the angle of his jaw tightening beneath a dark dusting of facial hair. His mouth, so firm and decadently shaped.
“You kissed me in the water.”
“Aye.”
“Think you might ever do it again?”
He stopped tending to her arm and looked down into her drowsy gaze, wanting to kiss her now. “I’m afraid I might.”
“Will you make certain you are dressed next time?”
Her words were slurred enough to make Callum smile as he went about finishing his task. “If I must.”
“You really should smile more.”
When his brilliant blue eyes settled on hers again, she tried to show him how it was done, slanting her lips just before she belched loudly enough to rival Angus on his drunkest day.
“There, you see? Just like that.” Her eyelids drifted closed, but she fought to stay awake. “Aye, you are quite a handsome man when you smile. Though you are handsome when you frown, as well, Clalum MacKreglor. Damn it, that hurts.” She cried out softly when he poured some of Angus’s brew over her shoulder, as she had done to his leg.
“I’m done, Kate.” Tenderly, he adjusted her kirtle so that the fabric did not touch her flesh. His fingers grazed her face and then paused when she moved closer to his touch.
“Thank you for not killing my brother.”
Callum did not move his hand away but stroked her temple with the backs of his fingers.
