Page 20 of The Highlander’s Gypsy Temptation

“I have seen this before. Some people become quite ill when near smoke or other smells in the air, or when over excited. I will make him a tea that should help to ease his breathing. I will also make him a poultice for his chest that will help.”

“It is kind o’ ye tae help these people.”

She shook her head. “Where there is knowledge, there is a duty. That is what my mother always said.” A sadness came over her that touched Bran’s heart. He stepped forward and laid a hand on her shoulder.

“I am sorry for yer loss.”

“Alistair Morgan took much from us. We never would have been there to begin with if it had not been for August Raymond.”

“Both men have much to answer for,” Bran agreed.

“Both men deserve to die.” Her eyes were hard when she spoke, as if she were picturing driving the blade into each man’s heart with her own hands.

“Aye, I would agree with that. We dinnae ken what befell Morgan, but we can certainly kill August Raymond given the right number o’ men at our backs.”

“That will be the day when I will dance once more. That is what we were doing when the men came and slaughtered my entire family. We were dancing in celebration at escaping the clutches of August Raymond.”

Bran’s heart went out to her. He wished he could take the pain from her eyes. “I am sorry, lass. I wish I could have been there tae help ye.”

“You were, later. If it had not been for you, I would have been taken by August Raymond from Morgan’s prison, and my sister Leonor would have died. Katarina would not have found us and taken us to live with her and her Dunn. We would never have been a family again. You saved me from an unthinkable fate. You saved me from losing what was left my family. I thank you for that.”

“I am only sorry that I forced ye in tae the situation we now find ourselves in.”

Idalia shook her head. “You felt you had no other choice. I can understand that. It does not make what you did right, but it does help me to forgive you.”

Bran held her eyes for a moment, lost in their dark depths. “Will ye never cease tae surprise me?”

“I doubt it.” She gave him a brief smile before their host returned with the required medicinal herbs.

Idalia set to work mixing and grinding, steeping and packing together all of the various ingredients she needed for her concoctions. Bran stood by in awe and watched her work, along with the boy’s parents. When she was done, she placed the poultice on the boy’s chest, smearing some on his throat, then she had him drink the tea she had made. In a short time, the boy’s breathing began to come a bit easier.

“We thank ye,” the boy’s parents exclaimed as the coughing lessoned and some of the boy’s color began to return to his cheeks.

“Make this for him no less than three times a day. Leave this poultice on his chest at night. Once he has fully recovered, I recommend keeping these herbs in your house at all times for when he has another coughing spell, or when his breathing becomes labored. When it does, do as you saw me do, mix the ingredients just so, and give them to him as I have instructed.”

The boy’s parents nodded vigorously in agreement. “We will,” his mother promised. “Please, come. We have prepared a place for ye both tae rest. Ye are married, aye? We only have the one room. If ye are nae married or brother and sister, then yer man will have tae sleep outside.”

Without skipping a beat Idalia lied. “We are married.”

“I thought so,” Deirdre smiled. “I can always tell. It is the love in the eyes, ye ken.”

Bran and Idalia shared a look. Idalia’s cheeks turned pink, but she hid it by turning away and following the woman to a loft space above the main house. Herbs were strung up in the rafters and foods were stored in bags and barrels across the floor and against the wall. A pallet had been prepared for them on the floor.

“We thank ye for yer hospitality,” Bran murmured, nodding in gratitude.

“Ye will be safe here. Dinnae fash. My husband will protect ye. Rest well.” She left a candle for them burning on a side table, then descended the ladder to the main house below.

Bran looked around their temporary abode and nodded in approval. “This will do nicely.”

Idalia agreed, nodding.

They both stood staring at the single bed on the floor in silence for a moment. Bran was the first to speak. “Ye are a good liar.”

“Thank you,” Idalia replied as if he had paid her a compliment on her beauty.

“In that, ye are and yer eldest sister are quite alike.”

Idalia nodded. “It is a necessary skill when one lives on the road traveling from place to place. The truth can be a very dangerous thing at times.”