Ella closed her eyes, thinking back over what happened since she’d joined Muireall and the others on their quest. “Terrified. At first. I thought Calum would insist I stay behind. But I wanted to be with him, in his world, so he’d see a different side to me than he did in here.” She gestured at the space around them. “I worried that I would have to use my bow and arrows against raiders, and I wouldn’t be good enough to protect myself, much less anyone else. Thankfully, that never happened.”
“Nonetheless, ye are a brave lass to risk it,” Mhairi told her as she finished putting the herbal to rights after taking care of Kyle’s wounds and Liam’s ankle. “Few would be able to do what ye did.”
“I felt like I belonged. And I think I forced Calum to realize he doesna ken me as well as he thought.” Muireall had been right. Going with him, seeing him do what he did best, while also showing him things she could do that he didn’t expect, had felt good. If it opened a door in the wall between them, she would call it a good start. “But if I failed in that, it still felt good to care for the lads, even the little I could do out in the woods. I kenned ye would look after Kyle, and once I got back here, I would, too. Once we got them all back safely.”
Ella smiled, then chuckled. “Ye shouldha seen Calum grumbling about having the lads’ deer tied to his horse, dripping blood the whole way back here. He didna stop until the rain began.”
“So, the lads were successful hunters!”
“Aye, they brought coneys and a deer back to Cook. I expect ’twas an adventure they’ll no’ soon forget.”
Mhairi smiled sagely, her eyes bright and approving. “For ye, too, lass, aye?”
“I ken what ye are thinking,” Ella told her. “I finally feel as though I fit in at Brodie. And with ye.”
“Ye do, Ella. Ye have a place with me, caring for Brodie, if ye want it.”
Ella gave her a tired smile. “I’m grateful ye want me here.” But she still couldn’t give Mhairi the assurance she wanted. Not until she knew if things would now be different—better—with Calum.
She went to bed, dreaming of Calum’s change in attitude toward her. She’d seen the admiring looks he’d given her once he was sure she was safe. In her dream, he took her in his armsagain and kissed her as he’d done in the hallway. But this time, they didn’t argue. This time, they stumbled through his open door and into his chamber, then fell onto his bed, wrapped in each other’s arms, kissing, touching, and exploring with more heat and passion than she believed possible in her life. Her arousal built quickly as his lips moved down her throat and his hands pulled at her skirts, seeking her burning flesh underneath.
Before her dream Calum could go further, pounding on her door woke her up. Her blood still raging in her veins, she wanted to cry. Instead, she got up, wrapped a shawl over her chemise and around her shoulders, and answered the door.
Kenneth stood there, looking grim as he stared over her head. “Euan’s hurt,” he told her. “They’ll need ye.”
Minutes later, dressed and downstairs, she heard raised voices coming from the bailey, and she ran all the way into the herbal to ready it.
Kenneth came in and lifted the sleeping Kyle from his cot. “I told Muireall. She’ll be down soon. I’ll see this lad safe somewhere else,” he told her.
“Good thinking,” Ella agreed. “Thank ye.”
Mhairi arrived before Kenneth left with Kyle. She confirmed Ella’s conclusion that the lad hadn’t developed a fever, and let Kenneth carry him away.
Several men carrying Euan between them came in next. Euan’s right arm, wrapped in a piece of Brodie plaid barely recognizable for the blood that soaked it, dripped blood off his fingers, leaving a trail of red on the stone flooring. The healer raised her voice. “Lay him down on the table, there. Good,” she added when they got him settled the way she wanted. “Now, back up and stay out of my way, or leave. Ella and I will tend to him. Someone fetch Muireall.”
“I’m here. Kenneth woke me.” Euan’s bride’s voice cut through the rumble of concerned voices as Euan’s men trailedout of the herbal, but only going as far as the hallway outside the chamber. “What happened?” She moved to Euan’s side and took his good hand.
“I’m fine,” Euan rasped softly, trying to sit up.
The healer, who had just uncovered the wound on his upper arm, pushed him back down. “Ye are no’ fine. And ye will do as I say or?—”
“Suffer the consequences. I ken it,” Euan rasped.
She quirked her lips, giving him a brief smile, then gestured to Ella. “Ye ken what I need.”
Ella nodded and fetched the pot of the herbal poultice to pack the wound, another of the tincture the healer used to prevent it from festering, cloth to wrap it, and wine to dull Euan’s pain. If he didn’t pass out, he would need it.
Ella poured a cup of wine and handed it to Muireall, then she and Mhairi helped him lift his head enough to swallow some of it.
Euan nodded his thanks as Muireall set the cup aside.
While the healer worked, Iain arrived, pushing through the men now clustered in the chamber’s doorway. “What happened?” His demand silenced the low rumble of the men watching the healer work.
Euan tried to sit up again to answer his laird, but Mhairi pushed him down. “Now is no’ the time, laird,” she objected.
“Then someone else can fill me in. Euan wasna the only man there.” He turned to the men determined to watch over Euan. “Well?”
One of his men stepped forward and described their encounter with a second band of raiders. “We had the ones Euan thought Calum found in our custody,” the man said, “which left only a few of us to fight off the new band. Six more of them. They came out of the forest before we kenned they were there.”
