Wincing at the memory flooding back to him, Errol felt embarrassment, too, that he had collapsed like a child’s straw doll in the bailey—och, why was he thinking of that wretched moment when a much better one was Tira coming to the infirmary to see him?
His heart begun to pound, Errol glanced over to where Ambrose stood with his back to him, but he didn’t need to ask the healer if he was well enough to get up from the cot. He threw aside the blanket and sat up…only to feel some lightheadedness that he hadn’t expected, though he gritted his teeth and threw his legs over the side.
The same side where Tira had sat so close to him, her hip pressing against his forearm, and he had become choked up, his chest heaving.
“Och, you unmanned yourself,” Errol muttered, wondering what Tira must have thought to see him sobbing…but at least she knew now why he hadn’t gone looking for her sooner?—
“Dinna stand up too quickly!” came Ambrose’s warning even as Errol rose from the cot, his knees so shaky that he sank back down with a groan.
“Och, I warned you, lad. It’s the sleeping tonic I gave you last night. You were beside yourself?—”
“I know, I remember,” Errol said tersely, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head and glanced at the window, guessing it must be close to midday. “How long before I’m steady enough tae leave this place?”
“You can go now, aye, you’re awake and your color is better. You must take it slowly and you’ll soon regain your full strength. Lady Cora came by tae see you moments ago, but you were still sleeping—och, didna you hear me?”
Errol had lunged from the cot, willing his legs not to tremble as he hastened toward the door.
A quick glance told him that his sword belt and sword were missing, but Lorne must have taken his weapon for fear he would jump up from the dirt and start swinging again—och, what a wild display he had made of himself!
Cursing and shouting and taunting Gavin’s men to fight him, his agonized frustration overwhelming him that Tira had seemed repelled by his touch—and yet she had come to see him and clasped his hand so tightly, pleading for him to wake up.
Aye, it had been her sweet voice that made him open his eyes, he remembered all of it now, the last traces of the healer’s potion thankfully clearing from Errol’s mind and his legs.
I feel so terrible for treating you so badly.
Those had been Tira’s very words, Errol feeling a burgeoning sense of hope for the first time since he had rescued her from Hoy.
He stepped outside into the bailey, suppressing a laugh when several men nearby turned and went the other way to avoid him—och, it wasn’t so bad a thing to have earned some respect for his skill with the sword. Yet where was his weapon? He felt naked without it?—
“Errol!”
He spun around to find Ambrose hurrying after him with a sword and leather belt in his hands, an incongruous sight for so slight and aging a healer.
“You left so fast, lad—ah, tae be young and vigorous again. If I didna know better, I would never guess you spent the night in the infirmary.”
Errol gave a wry smile and murmured his thanks, the belt scarcely fastened around his waist when he heard another voice from across the bailey.
“Errol, thank God!”
He turned to see Cora rushing toward him in a flutter of green silk, Gavin’s wife truly one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen—other than Tira.
Cora so kind, too, Errol grateful for everything she had done since they had arrived at Castle MacLachlan, which included her accompanying Tira to the infirmary. He had no sooner strode up to her than Cora reached out to clasp his hands, her blue eyes alight.
“I have wonderful news! Tira has agreed tae become your wife, aye, this very day if you will have her.”
Dumbstruck, Errol could only stare at Cora as his heartbeat seemed to slam in his throat, which only made her laugh gaily at his surprise.
“Aye, it’s true! What do you say?”
Say? He had never felt so stunned, Cora’s news nothing he would have expected at all—even after what Tira had told him in the infirmary about treating him so badly.
Had his injury caused so swift a change of heart? Was it possible that she might love him still?
“Och, you worry me, Errol. Are you not pleased? You told me you love her and she needs a father for her bairns, she canna face the world alone. She will need time before—well, you know of what I speak…but with kindness and patience, Tira will come around again tae the young woman you knew before. I’m certain of it!”
Errol slowly nodded, Cora’s words cutting him to the quick even though he knew he should feel elated.
Of course Tira had agreed to marry him. What else was she to do?
