Page 50 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

“What happened tae ye, Gilchrist?” she asked softly. She longed to move toward him, both wanting to be near him and to see more of him again, but she feared he would not want her to. “Who attacked ye?”

“It was dark. I couldnae see them,” Gilchrist murmured, tipping his head back on the bath rim and closing his eyes. “I have Lottie – that is her new name by the way – tae thank fer saving me life. I heard her hissing in me sleep. She woke me.”

Kyven reached back to the cat and stroked her again as she nestled down in the bed covers, yawning and preparing for sleep. “I like the name, “ she said quietly.

“So, perhaps now Aaden will stop talking about black cats being bad luck,” he muttered. He tried to reach for soap on a stand beside the bath, but he grimaced. He tried to turn in the bathwater to reach the soap again, but clearly was in pain.

Without thinking of what she was doing, Kyven hurried across the room toward him. She snatched up the soap and passed it to him, taking out a stool and moving it beside the bath.

He stared at her, the soap in his hand.

“What?” she asked as he just blinked at her.

“Ye still have nae ran away, Kyven,” he observed.

She was glad he was using her name again.

“Dae me a favor,” she whispered.

“What is that?”

“Dinnae call me ‘me lady’ again,” she begged. His lips flickered into the smallest of smiles, and he nodded.

“As ye wish.” His voice had deepened to such a tone that she was in danger of shuddering in pleasure on the stool. She gripped the seat beneath her tightly, trying to stop her hands from trembling. How was it he could excite her just with a few words?

He passed the soap slowly over one of the injured arms, being careful as he winced in pain.

“How injured are ye?” She leaned forward in fear, her eyes tracing the stitches.

“It isnae the first time I have been shot. I imagine it willnae be the last in yer service.”

“Ye cannae say that!”

“Why nae?” he asked, trying to shrug, then clearly regretting it as he fell still in the bath in pain. “It’s what I dae tae be in yer service.”

“There should be nay sacrifice.”

“I’d make any sacrifice,” he said again, that same deep tone returning. He held her gaze with the words, and she bit her lip, longing to tell him how much his loyalty meant to her.

Is it wrong tae wish ye were loyal in another way?

The air fell quiet between them as he tried to wash his legs beneath the waterline. She stared at him still, her tongue dry as she realized that this feeling was what she missed with Laird Shay. This excitement, this longing, this intimacy and trust was everything that should have been there with a prospective husband, and yet wasn’t.

Gilchrist shifted the soap to his more recently injured arm, trying to raise it to his other arm. He couldn’t quite make the movement though and hissed under his breath at the pain, falling still.

“Here.” She stood from the stool and reached for his fingers, taking the soap from his grasp. His fingers were wet and warm, sliding against her own as he looked up at her.

“What are ye going tae dae, Kyven?” he asked slowly, staring at her.

“Help ye,” she whispered, walking around the bath to his other side. Her stomach quivered as she reached toward him, the excitement palpable throughout her body.

“Well, this isnae quite running from me.”

“I wouldnae run from ye,” she said, avoiding his gaze entirely.

The words sat heavy in the air as she reached for his good shoulder with soapy hands, washing him. The moment she touched him, he sighed, the air softly escaping his lips. She passed her hand carefully down the arm that had been injured by Laird Shay, which rested on the bath rim, feeling the muscles that twitched beneath her touch. He rested his head back, his eyes half lidded.

Does he feel this sensation too?