Her chest tightened.
“Easy, lass.” Lachlan’s voice sounded from the other side of the room, soothing and warm.
Marian turned her head gently to look at him.
It is Lachlan’s bedchamber.
Her pulse quickened at the realization.
Lachlan appeared beside the bed, sinking onto the edge with a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth draped over his arm.
“I need to clean yer wound,” he said quietly, meeting her eyes. “It might sting.”
Marian nodded before she had the chance to think about it, her throat thickening slightly.
Her eyes followed him as he dipped the cloth into the water and wrung it out carefully. His large, calloused hands moved with surprising gentleness for a man known across the Highlands as a warrior.
He brought the cloth to her temple. Marian flinched, and he pulled back slightly.
“Sorry,” he murmured.
“No, it is…” Her voice was slightly hoarse. “It is fine. Please.”
Lachlan nodded.
He worked slowly, wiping the dried blood off her temple with careful strokes. His brow furrowed in concentration as he leaned in, and his jaw clenched harder.
Perhaps he is angry with me.
He met her eyes again, and his face instantly softened. Her fears vanished at once.
“Lachlan…” His name left her lips like a breath she had been holding for hours, and he stilled.
“Aye?”
“I am all right.”
Lachlan inhaled, his chest rising slowly. “Ye’re nae,” he said quietly. “Ye’re hurt. Ye nearly died today.”
“But I didn’t.” Marian reached up, her fingers wrapping around his wrist. “Because you came for me.”
He released a breath then. Something shifted in his expression, his anger giving way to something softer.
“I’ll always come for ye, Mairi,” he vowed. “Always.”
Marian swallowed. She knew he was speaking the truth. She knew it before he even said it. She had watched him kill a man for her. She did not need any more proof to know that he would always fight for her.
Her fingers curled tighter around his wrists, and he looked at her, an emotion flitting briefly across his face. His throat bobbed as he swallowed.
“I need to check yer ribs,” he said, setting the cloth aside. “Ye seem to have been hurt there.”
Marian’s breath caught. She’d almost forgotten about that injury amid the chaos. But now that he mentioned it, she could feel the deep ache in her side with every breath.
“I…” She hesitated. “I do not think anything is broken.”
“Let me see anyway.”
There was no arguing with that tone.
