Highland Savage by Hannah Howell Page B

place at Agnes’s side, as a mon of power in Dunlochan, was secure, and that only Robbie remained as a thorn in his side. Now that he kens I am alive, that we both are alive, I suspicion he recognizes the threat to him. If naught else we could get him hanged. E’en Robbie cannae do that.”
    Lucas sat on the edge of her bed, ignoring the cross look she gave him. Her color was good but the occasional wince she made told him that she still suffered some pain from her wounds. Despite his opinion that the wound she had suffered was not a mortal one, it had been a long, hard fight to keep her alive. Katerina had obviously not been taking very good care of herself and that had left her with little strength to fight blood loss, pain, and a raging fever. Having had most of the care of her, he felt as exhausted as she looked. He was also feeling highly emotional and knew it would be best if he got away from her as soon as possible.
    “Has there been any trouble then?” she asked when Lucas did not argue her opinion on how great a threat Ranald was.
    “Nay. A few beatings as Ranald searches for someone who kens that ye are alive and where ye might be hiding.” Lucas saw how much that news upset her and quickly added, “He seems to have given that up quickly. At the moment your people are safe.”
    “How long have I been abed?” she asked, suddenly startled by the weakness in herleg when she tried to move it away from where it pressed against his body.
    “Almost a week. Ye took a fever and it was slow to release ye from its grip.”
    Katerina cursed softly. “That is why I feel so weak then.”
    “Aye. Ye will need at least a week ere ye regain your strength. The only good thing about it all is that the fever kept ye abed long enough for your wounds to begin to heal weel.”
    “An arrow?” she asked, not sure her memory about how she was wounded was correct. She lightly touched the bandage wrapped around her upper chest. “I didnae realize it had gone all the way through.”
    “It didnae. The best way to remove an arrow from a body is to push it all the way through, cut off the arrowhead, and then take it out. Otherwise that arrowhead can do a great deal of damage as ye pull it back through the body.”
    Thinking on that for a moment, Katerina slowly nodded. “That makes sense. It feels as if it is healing weel.”
    “Thank ye.”
    “So it was ye who tended to my wounds?”
    “I did. There are a lot of healers in my family. I am nay a true healer, but I did learn a lot about tending wounds from the women in my clan. I assume none here felt skilled enough to push me aside so that they could do the work. They left me to it. Annie helped, tending to ye when ye needed a woman’s aid.”
    Katerina inwardly sighed with relief at that news. Knowing the sort of intimacies required in tending to a badly injured or ill person, she had begun to get alarmed as he had spoken of tending to her wounds. It was hard enough to accept Annie’s care in such matters. If Lucas had tended to her more personal needs, she would never have been able to look him in the eye again. She actually felt herself blush when she suddenly realized she was going to have to ask for Annie’s help right now.
    “Is Annie close at hand?” she asked quietly.
    Seeing how flushed she was, Lucas grinned and stood up. “Aye. I sent word that ye were waking up and she should be here verra soon.” He leaned over her, ignoring the way she pressed deeper into the pillow in a vain attempt to keep some distance between them. “Ye will rest, Kat, and give us no trouble about it, or I will be tying ye to this bed.”
    “Ye wouldnae dare.”
    “Aye, I would.” Placing his hands on either side of her head, he fixed his gaze upon her mouth. “I think I will dare one other thing, too.”
    Katerina was just about to protest when his mouth covered hers. Despite the weakness in her body, she blindly wrapped her arms around his neck as he kissed her. It was a slow,