No response.
She leaned down closer andpulledthe wavy locks of his hair aside to whisper in his ear, “Duncan, wake up. Please, wake up.”
Al of a sudden he jerked and tugged at the chains, flipped over onto his back, kicked his legs, and fought for a few brief seconds, until he realized the extent of his injuries, and groaned. He grimaced and writhed violently on the floor.
The guard was bursting through the door in an instant.
“Are youallright, milady?” There was panic in his voice.
“I am fine,” she replied. “The prisoner woke up, that isall.
Now leave us, please. Now!”
The guard reluctantly backed out and closed the door.
“Try not to move,” she said to Duncan, keeping her voice as quiet as possible so the guard would not hear the echoes of her despair. “You’re hurt. Your hand seems to be broken.”
But there was so much more than that. She now found herself beholding the gruesome horror of his face, cut and swollen beyond recognition. His nose was broken, his cheekbone mangled, his lip cut and inflated. This at least explained why no one knew him. Even her uncle would not make the connection. Not in this state.
“My God, what have they done to you?”
“I don’t remember.” He struggled to breathe. “Ah, God, my ribs.”
“They found you in the cave,” she told him. “The one who captured you was the soldier who attacked me on the beach.
He has identified you, Duncan. I am so sorry. It isallmy fault.
If I had not run away that night…”
He fought to breathe steadily and seemed to gain some command over the pain. “Nay, do not say you’re sorry. This is my fault, and no other’s. You did nothing wrong, lass.”
She could not bear it any longer. She touched her forehead to his shoulder and wept. “What can I do? How can I make this better?”
“You’ve already given me what I wanted. Just seeing your face and hearing your voice is enough. I thought you’d already returned to your own country, and that I’d never see you again. I thought you hated me.”
She lifted her face. “Of course I do not hate you.”
“But you must accept now that I am a savage. You wanted a gentleman, but what gentleman is ever as bloody and broken as this?”
“No.”
“Can you forgive me forallthe things I’ve done?”
“Yes,” she heedlessly answered, without hesitation.
Without even thinking. “I forgive you, but I cannot bear to see you like this.”
He shook his head. “If I die here tonight, it’ll be a better death than any other, knowing that you do not hate me, and that you are safe from Bennett, and in the care of your uncle.
He is a good man. Let him take you home, and know in your heart that I wouldn’t change any of this.”
“Please do not say these things.”
“I must say them while I can, lass. I need you to know that I have no regrets, and because of what you taught me, there may be some hope for me in the afterlife. If you could send for a priest…”
She shook her head. “No!”
She looked over her shoulder, worried that the guard might have heard the distress in her voice. “I am not going to send for a priest. I am going to get you out of here somehow.
