Oh shoals, I’d have to lift my shirt and he would touch me again. My face immediately felt hotter and, far from wanting to expose my injury, I wanted to turn tail and run.Stop being preposterous, I scolded myself. He didn’t mean anything by it. He just wanted to make sure I wasn’t developing an infection, that was all. It wasn’t like hewantedto touch me. The heat in my face redoubled.
“Just be quick.” Before I could overthink anything else, I lifted my shirt just enough so he could kneel and examine the cut traced up my side. His hands hovered for a moment then touched lightly as he gently probed my wound. I sucked in a breath and stared up at the sky, trying to ignore how it felt to have a man running his hand along my waist. As the cool airbrushed my skin next to his warm hands, I felt the absurd desire to drop my shirt and run away, never to return.
This was insane. I’d fought men larger than Lochlan in the past and I’d never had such feelings or even flinched when touching them, or when they put their hands on me. And yet this time, my pulse was racing like I was about to be executed.
“Does it hurt?” he asked softly, pressing beside the stitches.
“Not too bad,” I informed the clouds above. If I looked at him right now, I might actually erupt into flames and be incinerated on the spot.
Lochlan was still kneeling so his head was level with my navel. He moved his hand so it gravitated toward my back, and my resolve broke.
“That’s enough,” I told him, sharper than I intended, as I dropped my shirt and stepped away.
“You seem to be healing quickly,” Lochlan reported as he stood and brushed off his pants. “Usually it would take longer.”
“I heal fast,” I boasted. “You should feel honored. I’ve never been to a doctor before, other than that fake hospital visit, and you know I didn’t let the doctor look at me.”
“What did you do when you were sick? Everyone gets ill from time to time.” He shot me a shrewd look. “And I have a sneaking suspicion that you get injured more than most young women.”
“Hey, you said you wouldn’t mention that on the way to market,” I reminded him. “And I always took care of myself. If it ever got really bad, I would sneak into libraries and look up treatments in medical books.”
“So youcanread. Peter was insistent that you didn’t know how when I asked him about you.”
I stiffened. Great. I’d blown yet another of my covers with Lochlan. And he was asking Peter about me? Because he was interested in me or because he viewed me as a threat?
“No, I…I…”
“You’re about to try and lie again. Don’t worry. I won’t say anything as long as you don’t tell anyone else what I told you. Deal?” He held out his hand.
I took it, hoping against hope that my palm wasn’t too sweaty. “Deal.”
CHAPTER 15
The market looked just the same as usual. Shortly after we set up, Auntie Mable came by and Lochlan immediately helped her sit to rest her feet. She fell asleep shortly after, and Lochlan didn’t move a muscle for more than an hour as he stood to shield Mable from the sun’s rays.
“You’re going to burn your neck,” I told him quietly. If only he was easier to ignore. Or hate. But then he had to do things like take care of an old woman, and I kept noticing him in the most distracting and obnoxious way.
He grinned. “Hand over one of those scarves. I’ll use the opportunity to display some merchandise.”
When I handed it to him, he wrapped it around his neck and continued to stand so he could cast a shadow over Mable’s sleeping form. Her hands were clasped neatly over her middle and she breathed in and out, slowly and deeply.
“Excuse me, I’m here for some alpaca wool,” a man said from the other side of the table.
After an approving nod from Lochlan, I dug through the basket and handed over one of the skeins that had a concealed paper wrapped around one of the interior strands of yarn.
“Thanks, son,” he said, handing me a folded envelope in return. It was a thick paper with a large, ruby-red wax seal pressed over the envelope’s flap. The man left with the wool tucked under his arm.
I held the envelope out to Lochlan, who carefully took it and tucked it into his vest pocket without moving so much that his shadow left Mable’s face.
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me about that,” I told him.
“Not right now,” he answered. “Though if you continue to answer some of my questions, I might be coerced into disclosing more information.”
“I don’t think you’d be a very good spy,” I told him with a smile. “You seem very easily coerced.”
“Don’t tell Roderick,” he said, then paused and added, “Though it wouldn’t really matter much if you did tell him. He’s always been disappointed with me.”
“Why’s that?” When he looked at me, I raised my eyebrows. “You owe me some answers, and I collect on all my debts.”
