He lied.
Before she could question him further, he flicked the reins and started forward.
Fear forgotten and furious once again, she rode up beside him. “Someone should look at it.”
He didn’t bother turning to look at her, but his jaw clenched. “Someone has. I will have her look at it again when we return.”
Her?“I can look at it, if you like.” Over the past few years of pretending to be a nun, she’d done quite a bit of nursing.
He glanced over at her. “That won’t be necessary.”
“But I’ve nursed—”
“Helen isn’t a nurse. She’s one of the best healers I’ve ever seen. She could be a physician, if she wanted.”
If it were true, it would be an extraordinary achievement. She’d never heard of a female physician. Janet felt a hard sting in her chest. The admiration in his voice when he spoke of the woman’s skill couldn’t be ignored—and neither could his lack of regard for hers. She’d thought he was a man like her father and brother who could not approve of a woman in a position other than wife and mother, but apparently she was wrong. It was just her of whom he didn’t approve.
But there was something else about how he said the woman’s name. A familiarity. A fondness. “She must be very old to have become so accomplished.”
He looked at her oddly, as befit the question. “Helen isn’t old. She’s younger than you.”
This sting was more like a stab. Had she really found his bluntness and frank manner of speech charming? Did he think her so old? She was past the first blush of youth certainly, but she liked the way her face had matured. Was he seeing something she wasn’t? “How can you tell beneath all the warts and moles?”
He looked at her as if she were daft, which was exactly how she felt. “You don’t have warts and moles.”
“Not me,” she said, frustration rising inside her and threatening to spill over in a deluge of embarrassing tears. “The healer. Healers are always old and wrinkly, with lots of warts and moles.”
He threw his head back and laughed. The sight was so rare and wonderful that for a moment it stole her breath. Her chest squeezed.
Oh God.
Oh no.
He looked so different. So happy and carefree. Not rigid and uncompromising at all. He looked…He looked like a man who could steal her heart without even trying.
Then he spoke and ruined it. “Helen is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. But I’ll make sure to tell her that.”
He laughed some more, and Janet wished she could sink into her saddle and disappear.
She felt like a fool, and worse, a jealous fool. The only good thing was that he didn’t seem to have any clue as to the reason for her silly questions.
Janet fell into a rare silence as she tried to sort out her tangled emotions.
Not only did he obviously respect this Helen for her skills, he also thought her beautiful. And in that moment, with her heart squeezing and tears stinging her eyes, Janet knew she wanted him to feel that way about her. For some reason, his respect was important to her.
He couldn’t be so indifferent to her. The infuriating man had disturbed her thoughts for months! It hadn’t been just her, and she intended to prove it. But how?
She had plenty of time to consider her options as they rode north for miles, not retracing their path along the road, but circling back through the hills and forests. It was dusk when he finally stopped in a dense patch of trees near a river, which she assumed was the Tweed, which they’d tried to cross on the way to Berwick before. She looked around for a bridge or ford to cross but didn’t see anything.
He dismounted and then moved to help her do the same. “We’ll rest here until it’s dark.”
“I thought we were going to meet the others?”
One side of his mouth curved. “We are. They’re here.”
He whistled, and an instant later three figures stepped out of the shadows like ghosts. Big, fearsome ghosts dressed from head to foot in black. Even their helms were blackened. They’d been only a few feet from her, but she hadn’t seen them. They seemed to blend into the night.
She took a step back, unconsciously seeking his protection. His hand slid around her waist to steady her, as if it belonged there. She sank against him, letting the hard strength of his body surround her and envelop her in its heat.
