Chapter 4 #2
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jamie told her as he handed her out the door and closed it behind her.
Shaking his head at her brazen offer, he stripped and stepped into the still-steaming tub.
The heat melted away the last discomfort in his leg and he sank down as far as he could into the hot water.
He dunked his head, then reached for the pot of soap and cleaned himself everywhere he could reach, ruefully realizing he would have enjoyed Maddie scrubbing his back.
But he was certain there would have been no stopping her if he’d allowed even that small intimacy, and he neither wanted nor had the energy to spare for dallying with her.
Finally, he sat back and let the heat penetrate, knowing he would suffer again when he next treated Niall’s leg, so he might as well enjoy this now.
The chamber door flew open and Aftyn rushed in, her gaze flying around the room. “Jamie, Fearchar needs ye. Oh!”
She stopped where her headlong rush carried her, at the foot of the tub, and froze, staring at the surface of the water. No, below it. Jamie grinned and stood, reaching for a drying sheet, amused to see Aftyn gulp and turn her back.
“Ye say ye are a healer. Have ye never seen a naked man before?”
“Of course I have.”
Jamie grinned at her back, enjoying her virginal reaction to finding him in his bath.
She’d crossed her arms, which pulled her kirtle more firmly against her back and revealed the curve of her waist. Jamie was tempted to reach for it, to smooth a hand over it and down to the lush curve of her arse, but he held himself in check.
Not only would Aftyn not permit such a liberty, but his body had tightened at the thought of touching her so familiarly.
Without needing to look, he knew a certain heaviness would be entirely visible if she glanced around.
“Ye dinna act as though ye have.” Jamie dried his hair, letting the sheet drape over his shoulder to cover the part of him revealing his wayward thoughts. “Face me, lass, and tell me what Fearchar said.”
Aftyn glanced over her shoulder, raked her gaze down the sheet covering at least some of the front of his body, gave a small sound suspiciously like an ‘eep,’ and looked away. “He said Niall is awake.”
Jamie swore and stepped out of the tub, drying himself with quick, vigorous strokes, his momentary arousal forgotten. “Why didn’t ye say that first, ye daft lass?”
“I… I wouldha,” she said, still talking to the door, “but I didna expect to find ye… as ye are. Were. Ye surprised me.”
He dug out a fresh set of clothes from his travel pack and donned his léine.
“Ye can turn around now. I’m decent enough.”
She sniffed and stayed put. “I’ll leave ye to finish dressing. I wish to see Niall, too.”
Wrapping the kilt around his middle, he belted it, not bothering to pleat it properly. He frowned, recalling her “care” of his clansman, but he needed another minute. And Fearchar was there. “Go, then.”
She wasted no time leaving him alone, not even bothering to close the door.
Jamie pulled on his boots and grabbed his bag as Bhaltair entered with another tray of food and drink. Jamie’s stomach rumbled so he grabbed a bite of cheese and swallowed most of a cup of cider. “Niall’s awake,” he told Bhaltair when he came up for air. “Aftyn just delivered the news.”
Bhaltair’s gaze strayed to the tub, steam still rising from its surface. “Aye?”
“Aye, she burst in in the middle of my bath.”
That earned him a quick laugh as Bhaltair took in the state of his clothing.
“She’s gone, so something she saw didna set well with her.” He set the tray on the bed and crossed his arms. “Or were ye in such a rush to see to Niall?”
Jamie broke off another bite of cheese. “Both. Let’s go.”
Bhaltair followed him out, pulling the door shut behind them.
Niall was indeed awake when he arrived. His color looked good, and a quick palm to his forehead told Jamie his fever was much reduced.
He dared not use his talent with Aftyn hovering over her, nay, his patient, but despite having to stop from exhaustion before he’d completely eradicated the poison from Niall’s blood, Jamie would wager Niall’s body did the rest.
A few days to finish healing the injury to his leg and to let the man eat and regain his strength, and he’d be fit for the return trip to the Aerie. As far as Jamie was concerned, that day would not come soon enough.
Much to Jamie’s surprise, now that Niall was awake, Aftyn lost her aggrieved air. “I’m glad to see ye feeling better,” she told him as she took his hand. “And so sorry I wasna able to do more for ye.”
He squeezed her hand and said, “I ken ye tried.”
His voice was weaker than Jamie liked, but he had responded to Aftyn’s apology. If only he knew she’d nearly cost him his leg—or possibly his life. Jamie expected he’d be much less forgiving of her failings.
The emotions flitting across Aftyn’s face fascinated Jamie.
Relief had been paramount as she apologized to Niall.
Her breathing had slowed and her posture relaxed as she focused on him and smiled the first truly open, unselfconscious smile he’d see on her face.
It captivated him. But after that, as she settled back and let Niall rest, he saw guilt and sadness in her downcast gaze.
Was she recalling how she’d failed Niall?
Bhaltair was right. Jamie owed her an apology for his outburst when they met.
He should tell her he appreciated her efforts on Niall’s behalf, no matter how untutored or misguided they’d been.
To hear Neve tell it, she’d devoted all her time and effort trying to save Niall.
Though he’d blamed her at first for Niall’s condition, he found he could no longer.
He hated recalling the sadness in her gaze and the defeat in her posture that night.
It made him want to comfort her, to take her in his arms—though after she burst in on his bath, his intentions were poised to turn in another direction entirely.
But then she changed again as her thoughts apparently took a new direction.
She stiffened and the strangest indication of all, the speeding pulse he could see at her throat, made him watch her even more closely.
That and her tightened features spoke of one emotion—one he’d seen many times on the battlefield. Fear.
Fear for Niall? Or for herself? Who would harm her for trying to save an injured stranger?
Highland hospitality extended even here, closer to the coast. They would not have turned Niall away unless Rabbie and Fearchar showed hostility to the clan.
Niall’s injury was the result of accident, not battle.
So they’d been taken in and cared for with the best the clan could offer.
That best would have been poor comfort to Niall in another day or two, but Jamie’s arrival had saved him.
Jamie found himself studying Aftyn and realizing his anger had dissipated as Niall’s recovery progressed. But his question remained. Why was a half-trained lass the only healer this clan could summon?
Perhaps the laird would have the answer. Jamie decided then that he would see him before treating Niall again. Aftyn raised questions he wanted answers to, even though they were not strictly Lathan business. Niall’s predicament made them his.
He signaled to Fearchar that he would return soon and went in search of the laird’s solar.
A big, burly man with a deep voice and gray-shot hair, Laird Keith stood as he entered and welcomed him. “’Tis an unhappy event that brings us together,” he said, gesturing Jamie to a seat, “but I’m told yer clansman has improved greatly under yer care.”
“He has, and thank ye for yer care of him and yer hospitality for the rest of us. We hope to be gone within the sennight, but much will depend on how fast Niall regains his strength and readiness to travel.”
“Of course.” The Keith paused and narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps while ye are here, ye will use yer expertise to aid a few of ours for whom Aftyn’s skills have proven insufficient.”
Jamie’s hackles pricked up at how the laird’s narrow-eyed expression contrasted with the subtly-delivered suggestion.
He didn’t know the man, but he recognized an order, even as obliquely delivered as that had been.
An echo of his angry vow not to use his talent amplified his sense of disquiet.
How much did the laird expect from him? His talent made him a far better healer than Aftyn ever could be, but he did not know everything.
Much he’d failed to learn by turning his back on his ability.
At home, he could always call on Aileanna’s greater skill.
Here, it had become clear he had the greater skill. The thought sent him into a cold sweat.
Instead of making a promise he didn’t want to be held to, he temporized, saying only, “I’d be honored to do what little I can for Keith while we remain.” He could use his herbal medicines without fear of exposing his greater talent. “But I must ask. Why do ye lack a fully trained healer?”
The Keith’s fist clenched and released immediately, telling Jamie he trod into dangerous territory.
“Aftyn’s mother, the former healer, died suddenly…” He paused and allowed the silence to grow.
“I’m aware. She isna well trained,” Jamie said. “Are there no others who can care for the clan and finish training the lasses who remain?”
“Such as ye?” The Keith said it with a tight smile that did not reach his eyes.
A chill skittered down Jamie’s back. He was a fool not to have expected this. “I’ve already promised to do what I can while we remain, but a sennight at most is not long enough to fully train a healer.”
“I’m aware,” the Keith replied, echoing Jamie’s curt response. “Alas, there are no other healers or midwives within the clan.”
“And neighboring clans?”
“None have ever been available to us.”
Jamie didn’t like the sound of that. Were relations with their neighbors that bad?
Niall’s need had been great enough to seek help closer at hand.
Thank God Rabbie knew Niall’s best chance to survive lay at the Aerie and had ridden for home.
“Perhaps another clan’s healer could help if ye sent Aftyn to them for a time? ”
“Leaving us utterly without? Her assistant, Neve, is even less skilled. Nay.”
Jamie stood. “I’m sorry ye find yerself in this position. As we travel back to the Aerie, I will make enquiries with the clans we pass. Perhaps another healer can be found, if only temporarily.”
The Keith nodded, his gaze assessing. “Perhaps. For now, I leave the lasses in your care.”
Out of the solar and away from the Keith laird’s penetrating stare, Jamie paused in the great hall to consider what he’d just learned about the man and Aftyn.
He clearly saw Jamie as the solution to his problem.
Jamie worried that he didn’t know the man well enough to know whether the Lathans should leave now, at great risk to Niall and himself, or if they would be safe to remain until Niall was strong enough to travel.
Jamie would keep a close watch and alert his men.
How long had they been without Aftyn’s mother? He wasn’t opposed to giving Aftyn and Neve as much help as he could, but he could not submit to the Keith laird’s thinly veiled coercion to stay long enough to see them fully trained, either.