“No! I’ll be damned if you transport me to some hellhole. I’ve got one card to play yet!” With a wild burst of energy he hurtled toward Diantha, hands outstretched to grab her. He meant to use her life as a bargaining chip, she realized. Instinctively, she looped her jacket over the lowest branch of the tree and swung out of his reach.
His fingertips just grazed the skirt before he overbalanced and toppled over the edge. Landing on the opposite side of the trunk, she cringed as his scream of terror ended abruptly.
“Diantha! Oh God, no!” Kieran collapsed on his arms, nearly sobbing her name.
“Darling, shhh, I’m safe.” She rushed to him, stroking his back and neck. “We’re both safe now. Can you turn over for me? I must see to that wound.” With his cooperation, she rolled him onto his back. To her alarm, he started to shake.
“Thank God the Comtesse didn’t catch you.” He made the jest through chattering teeth.
“Do be quiet, my love. Why ever are you shaking so?” She stood, and lifting her skirts, unfastened the billowing petticoat underneath.
“Shock. Need warmth.”
Frantically she located a seam and ripped off a muslin flounce. Forming it into a pad, she bound it over the bullet hole in his flesh with another ruffle. Not knowing what else to do, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed close, covering him with her body and skirts. He tried to put his arms around her, but she guided his chilled hands to rest between her belly and his.
“Help will be here soon. Stay with me Kier, don’t drift off.”
“Don’t want to.” She forced him to converse with her until Archie and Billy Green reached them. By then, dusk had fallen and she had to guide them with her voice.
“My laird! Thank God, I thought it was you tha’ fell.” The grizzled man’s face crumpled in the light of the lantern he carried.
“Don’t be such a cawker, Green.” Kier gasped out the words from the ground. “You didn’t think I’d ever harm my lady.”
The ghillie looked downright foolish. “Ye’re both safe after all.”
Diantha shook her head, unable to keep her voice from trembling. “Barclay shot his lordship and he’s still bleeding.” The lamplight showed the reddened hue of her makeshift bandage.
The brothers sprang into action. Using their pocketknives, they easily cut her petticoat intostrips. Archie replaced her messy handiwork with a larger pad firmly tied over the wound with neat bandages.
“Billy, you ride back to the house, tell them what’s happened.” Archie frowned. “We’ll have to put the laird on horseback and follow slower. Her ladyship can ride with him; I’ll walk.”
Diantha told them about Barclay’s horses. “I can ride one of them.”
She alternated between frustration and agony during the ordeal of getting Kieran on horseback, but pressed her lips together and helped where she could.
He barely nodded when she explained what they wanted to do. Watching him try to help their rescuers despite his pain and light-headedness wrung her heart. Billy mounted his horse and tore off down the road as soon as his brother had Kieran securely in his grip.
Picking up the lantern with one hand and taking the reins with the other, Diantha urged her horse down the trail.
Her awareness shrunk to just herself, Archie, and Kieran during the jolting horseback ride that returned them to the house. Her husband drifted in and out of consciousness while the ghillie held him upright and kept steady pressure on the wound. She had to grit her teeth to keep from urging the horses on, for she knew a faster pace would only make it harder to staunch the flow of blood. In the bobbing light of the lantern, she saw that despite the servant’s efforts, more red stained the bandages.
As Kieran’s periods of lucidity shortened, her insides twisted in fear. Even the sight of Doctor Andrews and Billy driving a wagon to meet them inthe main valley did not comfort her, for her husband barely roused.
“Lay him down.” The doctor helped ease the wounded man onto his back in the wagon. “Green, I’ll need you at hand. My lady, help us cover his lordship as much as possible, and hold that lantern steady. We don’t dare wait to get to the house.” The four of them quickly arranged a warm blanket over Kieran’s body and placed hot water bottles at his head and feet. Billy slapped the reins and the wagon jerked into motion.
“Keep that light steady!” The medical man barked the order as he searched his bag for the instruments he needed. With Archie’s help, he poured alcohol over a steel probe and began to search for the bullet. Crouched next to Kieran’s head, Diantha balanced the lantern in her hands and watched the grisly business as little as possible.
Her arms ached with the strain as the doctor carefully extracted the flattened piece of lead. Asking her to shine light on the wound, he examined it as best he could. “At least there don’t appear to be any bone fragments.”
After bandaging Kieran’s wound, the doctor informed her that he had made what preparations he could at the house, and asked about Barclay.
Before she could think of a story to explain his absence, Archie gave an account of what little he had observed of the struggle, including Barclay’s death. Doctor Andrews regarded her silently for a few heartbeats.
“Well done.” He cleared his throat. “I believe I can think of something to put on the death certificate.”
Chapter 17
They arrived to find the house in an uproar. Mrs. Menzies approached Diantha, wringing her hands. “Is it true about Lord Rossburn and Mr. Upton, my lady?” She jerked her chin to the ceiling. “Lady William disappeared into her room as soon as Billy Green brought the news, but I followed the doctor’s directives to the best of my ability.” She sniffled. “My poor Lady William.”
