Chapter 20
When they arrived at the overlook the following morning, a second chick had appeared in the nest. Two days later, they watched as the third chick hatched. The eagle parents were as proud as they were protective, and Kate delighted in documenting their growing family.
Thus were she and Nathaniel able to observe those first few precious days for the young eaglets. They were nowhere near flying, but it was fascinating to watch their development, and the way their parents cared for them.
Everything went smoothly until one week after the first chick was born. It started with a minor inconvenience. As they settled on their observation ledge, Kate managed to knock over her canteen, spilling her entire day’s supply of water.
Nathaniel glanced up at the sound of the canteen clattering against the rocks. “Let’s run down to the loch and refill that.”
Kate’s cheeks flamed. “That won’t be necessary.”
He frowned. “I’m sure it’s necessary for you to have water.”
Kate waved a hand. She was embarrassed enough about her clumsiness.
The only thing that could make the situation worse was for Nathaniel to lose an hour’s observation on account of her carelessness.
“I’ll be fine.” She forced a chuckle. “As damp as it is here, sometimes I feel like I could drink the air!”
Nathaniel raised an eyebrow and glanced pointedly at the sky, which was currently a brilliant, cloudless blue. “Not today, it would seem.”
“Yes, well, you’ve enough experience with the Hebridean weather to know that it will change in five minutes.”
Nathaniel gave her a speaking look. “Fine. But I insist that you have some of my water.”
Kate was already flipping to a fresh sheet of her pad, eager to document the chicks as they moved about the nest. “Fine.”
But, of course, Kate did not drink from Nathaniel’s canteen, even as the sun beat down and a dry, dusty wind kicked up. She wasn’t about to inconvenience him due to her own carelessness. And it seemed that, in his zeal to observe the eaglets, Nathaniel forgot all about it.
By late afternoon, Kate’s mouth was parched and her temples pounded with a headache. But she didn’t utter a word of complaint. They would be off the mountain soon enough, and she could refill her canteen at the loch.
Finally, the time came to depart. And that was when the real disaster occurred.
Nathaniel was packing his rucksack, preparing to head down to their camp.
He had placed his notebook, in which he had recorded two and a half weeks’ worth of detailed observations about the eagles, on the rock beside him.
That was when a gust of wind kicked up, sending the notebook tumbling over the edge of the cliff.
“Gah!” Nathaniel lunged for it, but he wasn’t quick enough. Kate watched, her heart in her throat, as the observations that were to be the making of Nathaniel’s career plunged out of sight.
“Hellfire and—” He bit back a curse as he peered over the edge of the cliff.
Kate sprang to her feet and came to stand beside him. “Nat! All your notes…”
“I know,” he said, his voice grim.
Kate shook herself. “Come on. It’s not as if they fell into the loch. Your notes are somewhere down there, and we’re going to find them!”
They hurried down the mountain, picking their way across a field strewn with rocks to the base of the cliffs.
By now, Kate’s head was really throbbing, and she was starting to feel a bit dizzy.
But she wasn’t about to bother Nathaniel about it.
Not when he was faced with the prospect of all his painstaking research being lost!
They searched amongst the rocks for a half hour. By this time, the sun was starting to slant low. Soon, the light would be gone. And, as luck would have it, dark clouds were gathering overhead. After a dry, windy day, it looked like they were in for a rainy night.
Nathaniel said nothing, but Kate could read the despair on his face. “Come,” he said, his voice weary. “We’d best head back. We don’t want to be out here once the sun—”
“Wait!” Kate scrambled over a large rock, almost losing her footing, as her head was starting to swim. She raised a shaking finger. “There it is!”
Surely enough, there was the familiar brown leather notebook wedged in the narrow opening behind a boulder.
Nathaniel hurried to her side. “You’re right!” He squeezed her arm. “You’re brilliant. I could kiss you right now.”
Kate laughed awkwardly. Her head was growing fuzzy enough that the words Go right ahead were on the tip of her tongue. But she managed to control herself.
Nathaniel was peeling off his jacket. “I’ll see if I can reach it.”
It quickly became clear that he could not. The fissure was narrow, and the notebook was a good foot beyond his fingertips. Kate tried, too, but her arm was shorter than his.
She could almost slip inside the narrow gap. Almost. She didn’t quite fit, but it was a very near thing.
They tried everything. Their rope proved ineffectual as a lasso.
Kate’s sketchpad was slim enough to slip into the crack, but too floppy to move the book.
As thunder rumbled in the distance, Kate couldn’t help but lament their luck at being stuck on one of the few treeless islands in all of Britain.
Were Nathaniel’s notes going to be ruined for want of a stick?
“It’s no use,” Nathaniel said at last. “We might as well go back to the shieling.”
“What? No!” She seized his wrist. “We can’t give up!”
His voice was resigned. “There’s a storm rolling in. There’s no point in getting soaked to the bone. I’ll just have to reproduce my notes as best I can, and—”
“Absolutely not!” Kate cried. “There’s something else we can try.”
In truth, there was one thing they had not tried in order to retrieve the notebook. One approach she had shrunk from.
But Nathaniel was on the cusp of losing all his research! It was the key to securing the Natural History professorship. She knew how much gaining that position would mean to him. He had confessed how he felt like the family disappointment, how much he hated to make his parents worry about him.
Kate could never allow his dreams to be dashed.
Not even if it meant her own ruination.
Swallowing, she unbuttoned her coat, the garment into which she had carefully sewn padding to conceal her feminine form.
She had worn it, and a couple of others, like suits of armor for all these months and had been so careful never to let Nathaniel see her without it even out here in the wilderness.
But she had to do something! And she had almost been able to wedge herself into the gap. Removing her padded jacket might make the difference. And after all, it was growing dark. Perhaps Nathaniel wouldn’t notice that anything was amiss.
Kate swayed a bit as she draped the coat over a rock. She was starting to feel quite woozy, but no matter. She would have Nathaniel’s notebook in hand in a trice, and they would be down off the mountain in minutes.
Turning sideways, she started to wriggle her way behind the rock.
Nathaniel watched as Kit wormed his way behind the boulder.
It was tough going. Kit could fit into the tight space, but only just, and he had to painstakingly squeeze his way into the crack.
The young artist bent to the side, straining toward Nat’s wayward notebook.
It was a mark of how depraved Nathaniel had become that he couldn’t tear his gaze away from Kit’s backside.
He supposed he had never seen Kit without his coat on, not even out here, where they were about as far from civilization as it was possible to be.
Who knew that his bottom was so… luscious?
Nat shook himself. Kit was doing him a tremendous favor, and this was how he thanked him? By leering at his arse? What was wrong with him?
“I have it!” Kit cried from within the crevice.
“Bless you!” Nathaniel exclaimed, hurrying over.
Kit managed to straighten in the narrow space. He smiled as he handed over the leather book. Nat quickly stuffed it in his pack in an attempt to keep it dry.
Kit was slow to emerge from behind the boulder. He reached down and began tugging his right leg. “Ugh. My foot seems to have become wedged in… something.” He grunted. “I can’t see very well back here.”
Nat wasn’t surprised. Between the hour and the storm, the light had all but faded. He offered his hand. “Can I help?”
They struggled to free Kit from the tight space, but his foot remained stuck. Nat could not help but notice that he had a muddled look in his eyes. “Is it very painful, then?”
Kit blinked at him, confused. “Is… is what very painful?”
“Your foot.” Nat made a circular gesture to his own face. “I can tell that the pain is affecting you.”
“Oh! That’s… that’s nothing,” Kit muttered, looking more disoriented than ever.
Nat didn’t believe him, but he decided not to press the issue. The best thing was to get Kit out with all possible speed. “Take my hands. I’m going to pull as hard as I can.”
Kit locked his hands around Nat’s, and Nat clasped his in return. “All right.”
“Ready, steady… go!” Nat leaned back, putting all his weight into it. He could see the strain on Kit’s face, but for a moment, nothing happened.
Then, suddenly, Kit’s foot slid from between the rocks, sending them tumbling onto the rocky ground in a heap.
Nat groaned. He had landed on his hip, but it wasn’t anything serious. He doubted he would even have a bruise.
He turned to check on Kit. His eyes were closed, his long brown lashes fanned across delicate cheekbones.
Nat nudged him. “Kit? Are you all right?”
The young man did not stir.
Nathaniel sat up and shook his shoulder. “Kit? What happened? Say something.”
Kit’s only response was a groan.
Nathaniel glanced around. He hadn’t seen what had happened, as he’d gone sprawling arse over teakettle himself. Had Kit hit his head? The ground was nothing but rocks, so it was easy to imagine how he could have done that.
But Nathaniel couldn’t help but notice that Kit was lying beside a large rock that protruded a good foot from those around it. Based on the position in which Kit had come to rest, it seemed likely that he had struck it during the fall.
The rock was even with Kit’s upper half, so Nathaniel quickly felt the length of each of his arms. There were no obvious breaks, and Kit didn’t moan in pain. Perhaps he had landed on his side and cracked a rib?
By this point, the light was all but gone, and a steady drizzle had started to fall. “Kit,” Nathaniel said urgently, shaking him. “Can you hear me? We need to get back to the shelter.”
Kit moaned but didn’t open his eyes.
Curse it all. Nat hastily stuffed his notebook into his rucksack.
He started to shoulder the bag, then paused.
If Kit did not regain consciousness—and every indication was that he probably would not—then Nat would have to carry him off the mountain.
They had already descended the steepest part of the trail, and it wasn’t far to the shieling.
Still, it would be an arduous task, and he didn’t need to be carrying any extra weight when he did it.
At the same time, the reason Kit was in this sad state was his determination to save Nat’s scientific notes.
Abandoning them in the rain seemed a poor way to thank him.
There was also the potential loss of Kit’s sketches, although Nat happened to know that Kit had filled at least six sketchpads.
The loss of his current drawings would be unfortunate, but it was a small portion of his work.
As he turned to face Kit, his eyes fell upon a horizontal crack in the nearby cliff that formed a shelf of sorts. He hurried over and reached inside, feeling the dark space. It was bone dry and at least two feet deep. Perfect.
He grabbed his rucksack and Kit’s and brought them to the gap in the rock.
It wasn’t tall enough to accommodate the rucksacks, but he removed his notebook and Kit’s sketchpad and shoved them all the way to the back of the crack.
He closed their rucksacks and placed them against the cliff face, hoping it would offer a little cover from the rain.
Having done that, he stood over Kit, considering. If the young man had a rib injury, he might worsen it by throwing him over his shoulder. But he wasn’t sure he could carry Kit all that way in his arms.
Deciding he had to chance it, he gingerly pulled Kit into a sitting position. Still, the young man did not awaken. Trying not to press overly hard, he settled Kit over one shoulder, then managed to rise to his feet.
Kit was surprisingly light. Nat felt a momentary pang of guilt, recalling all the heavy supplies he had allowed him to carry up to the shieling. He wouldn’t have allowed the young man to carry so much if he had realized he was so slight.
Well, there was nothing to be done about it now. He needed to hurry back to the shieling before he lost the light entirely.
Making sure he had a good grip on Kit’s leg, he set off down the mountain.