Lord of the Black Isle by Elaine Coffman Page B

taken against my will, and I was not informed of the letter before they burst into the room and hauled me out to the courtyard and plopped me on a horse, scaring me to death.” She frowned and he remembered her eyes were as green as bracken and still as beautiful as his memory of them.
    â€œWeel, I apologize for the rudeness o’ my cousins and I will address it with them.”
    â€œWell, if your sister is as ill as you say, we are wasting precious time. I am filthy with the grime of travel. I will need a bath before I can see to her. Can you arrange it?”
    â€œAye, I will see to it,” he said, as he lowered her to her feet, then turned and left the room. He closed the door and started down the hallway as a slow smile settled momentarily upon his lips, then vanished, for Lord David Murray, Earl of Kinloss, was said to never smile.
    He went downstairs and spoke to the steward regarding a bath for her and also fresh clothing, since she did not have time to pack anything. Then he went to the room of his sister, Caitrina, or Mother Dominique, as the nuns called her once she became prioress. He paused beside her still form. Although she was a small-boned woman, she looked terribly small and frail, for she had lost much weight. He looked down upon her, lying so still, and wondered if she was even breathing. He remembered the pillow fights they had in this very room, so many years ago when they were naught more than saplings and his three brothers were still alive. And now, she was fighting for her life, but he would not let her die. He brought the green-eyed lass to rid her of this illness so she would not be another sibling that he had to lay in the ground.
    He did not know if she could hear him, but he said, “I have brought the healer from St. Leonard’s, and she will examine ye on the morrow. Ye will be better soon, Caitrina. You will see.”
    He kissed her pale hand, which was quite warm, and paused. Her fever was higher and her breathing more labored. He decided to bring the healer to her tonight, but when he knocked on the door to Elisabeth’s room, she did not answer. He knocked again, then opened the door and stepped into the room. He saw the tub of used water and her asleep upon the top of the bed, wearing the dress Ailis had given him. A nightgown was folded at the end of the bed.
    He remembered the coarseness of the garment she had worn, which was quite similar to what the nuns wore; only hers was of a pale blue color. He tried to imagine what she would look like in a gown like the women wore at court, with the low décolletage, for she was blessed with enough to grace such a gown.
    He hated to wake her, but Caitrina needed seeing to. He was about to put a hand on her shoulder when she opened her eyes. She rolled to her side and sat up, then looked around the room and down at the dress she wore, as if she was trying to get everything straight in her mind.
    â€œThank you for the bath and the clothes. I could not examine any sick person when I was not clean. The sick… they are more susceptible to illness than those who are healthy. If I touched your sister as I was, without bathing, I could give her the germs of another illness.”
    He stared blankly at her, wondering what gibberish she was speaking. What was this “susceptible” and “germ” she spoke of?
    She realized he probably did not understand what she was saying, for she had encountered this problem before, while a prisoner of the MacLeans on the Isle of Mull and again at Soutra and St. Leonard’s. She released a long breath, and although he had opened his mouth to respond, he closed it when she spoke. “‘Susceptible’ means, in the way I was speaking, that someone might be affected by something or capable of having something on or in their body that is harmful to others. A germ is something one cannot see, for it is smaller than a grain of sand, but it is there and it can cause