Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Lachlan burst into the Keep.
Innes was in his arms, her body curled against his in exhaustion and pain.
“Get the healer!” he roared out as he made straight for her chambers. A few servants stood around, clearly too shocked to react, till he swerved his gaze at them once more.
“What are you waiting for? Now!”
They rushed off to attend to his orders, and Innes fisted her hand in his tunic, a silent thank-you for making sure she did not have to deal with anyone else.
The pain had been throbbing steadily in her foot since the moment he had lifted her onto the horse, and it only seemed to be getting worse.
She knew that she had been lucky not to be harmed more seriously when it came to the commotion that had caused all this in the first place.
As he carried her towards her chambers, she wondered if she was starting to seem like more trouble than she was worth to him.
Keith stepped out of the study as Lachlan made his way past, his brow furrowed.
“Is she alright?”
“She will be,” Lachlan snapped back, his voice sharper than his friend’s words called for.
Keith raised his hands, indicating that he had no intention of pushing for more. Innes caught a glimpse of him over Lachlan’s shoulder, and she could see the genuine confusion in his eyes. Guilt stabbed into her, knowing she had caused so much trouble.
Lachlan laid her down carefully on the bed, and, a few moments later, the healer appeared in the doorway.
The same woman who had come to check on her the other night.
She brushed Lachlan aside and made for her leg, running a hand along the length of her calf and straightening out the ankle slightly.
“No more than a twist,” she remarked as she lifted her satchel from her side and tipped the contents out onto the bed. “I’ll attend to it in no time.”
She set about putting a small splint on her leg as Lachlan stood by and watched, his arms crossed over his chest and his mouth set in a hard line.
Innes could see how concerned he was, as much as he tried to disguise it.
He wanted to be angry at her, she could tell that much.
But he could not find it in himself, seeing her in this kind of state.
The healer straightened up when she had finished her work, planting her hand on her hip and surveying it for a moment to make sure she was truly happy with it.
“I’ll return with a poultice in the morning to help with the swelling,” she remarked. “Till then, make sure the Lady gets plenty of rest.”
“I will,” Lachlan assured her, and, with that, the healer stepped out of the room, leaving the two of them alone together once more.
He flicked his tongue over his lips, moving towards her, stooping down at her side.
“Whoever fired that arrow meant to kill you. It’s only a matter of time I find the bastard,” he muttered.
Her eyes widened. Was that what she had heard whistling past her? An arrow? It must have been a mere few inches from her head. The thought twisted in her stomach, sickening in its closeness.
“Someone from the rival clans?” Keith asked.
“It’s possible. The MacDuffs are certainly bitter I refused to buy arms from them for the price they demanded.”
“Or the Munros. They are still whining about the land they lost when ye burned it,” Keith joked.
“They attacked my borders first,” Lachlan countered. “And the attempt happened near the Anderson border.”
“Ye certainly have lots of enemies,” Innes interfered, feeling she was losing her mind.
“I willnae let anything happen to you, lass,” Lachlan almost vowed to her, reaching up to swipe some hair away from her face. “Ye hear me? Nothing.”
He planted a kiss against her forehead, and she believed him.
She believed that he would do everything in his power to make sure that she did not have to face off against the hell that the world beyond seemed to hold for her.
She had no idea if she deserved such kindness from him, given the way that she had rounded on him about Isobel when they had been alone together, but she knew she would not question it.
He leaned back on his heels, not taking his eyes from her.
“Ye heard the healer. Ye need to rest.”
Her eyes were already starting to grow heavy, and, in truth, she was glad for the chance to let her mind drift off.
There was so much she needed to make sense of, not least the fact that she had been attacked the moment that she had ridden away from Lachlan.
But, for now, all she could think of was letting the warm embrace of sleep claim her—and hoping to God that her ankle would hurt a little less intently by the time she woke up.
When her eyes flickered open once more, the pain was still there. But it was distinctly less uncomfortable than it had been before, a low throb rather than a sharp stab. And it was soothed noticeably by the fact that Lachlan was beside her, gripping her hand tight.
She turned to face him and could not help but smile when she laid eyes upon him.
“Ye’ve been here the whole time?”
“Ah, ye’re awake,” he remarked, with a slight smile. “A shame, I was hoping to have a quiet day today.”
She grinned as she propped herself up, and he circled her knuckles with his thumb.
“I’ve sent for a meal for you,” he told her. “Should be here soon.”
“Thank ye.”
Silence hung in the air between them. Something had changed, and not just on account of what had happened the night before.
No, this was something else, something different.
He had cared for her, really cared for her, and, whether he was willing to admit it or not, there was more here than just a matter of revenge on Isobel and Arthur.
“I shouldnae have spoken to ye the way I did,” he admitted, all at once more the man than the fearsome, mad Laird Fraser.
She shook her head. “No, I should be the one apologizing,” she remarked. “I shouldnae have mentioned Isobel like that. It wasnae fair of me.”
His grip tightened slightly on her hand, like he could sense her slipping through his grip in an instant.
“No, she’s… part of my past now, Innes. I dinnae care for her in those terms. At least not anymore.”
They both fell silent before he went on.
“Not quite,” he added. “I think… I think I can see now what I liked about her was how much she made me feel wanted. Not fer my person, you ken, but for what I could provide to her.”
He shook his head slightly, his dark hair falling into his face.
“I suppose I’ve always preferred it like that,” he admitted. “Knowing what I can do for people, knowing what they can do fer me. No emotion involved, just a matter of coin or lands or whatever else it might be they wanted from me.”
She did not reply, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip as she took in what he was telling her.
It was certainly hard to contend with, in some ways.
To believe that he would have done all of this because he liked how Isobel made him feel.
But she had no reason to believe that he was not telling the truth, and she did not much feel like trying to argue with him on the matter.
“And what do you think I want from you, Lachlan?” she asked softly.
His eyes seemed to flicker in the light, a small smile curling at the corners of his lips. “I dinnae ken if I can say what I want the answer to be, Innes.”
“Then let me enlighten ye,” she told him, leaning forward. “I like the way you make me feel, Lachlan. That you care for me, in yer own way. That you make me feel… good.”
He chuckled. “Ye like the tricks I play with my fingers, eh?”
She glared at him playfully. “Ye ken very well it’s not just that I’m talking about.”
She reached up to cup his face in her hands, guiding his face down to her once more.
“I like… I like feeling that you truly care fer me,” she murmured. “And that when you touch me, ye’re not just doing it to hurt my brother.”
His face softened at once, He half-turned his head to better rest himself into her hand.
“When I saw that arrow in the ground beside you,” he sighed. “I couldnae… I couldnae contend with the thought of losing you. Not even fer a moment.”
He pressed a kiss into the middle of her palm.
“Whoever attacked you, I’ll find them,” he swore. “And yer brother… I’ll invite him to the Keep. As family, not as enemy.”
Her chest released a tension she had not even realized was there as those words came out of his mouth. She wound her arms around him, pulling him close.
“Thank ye.”
It was the most she could do now, just to thank him, but it felt like such a small word compared to everything she longed to express to him.
The relief that he was willing to try with her brother, the thought that her family might not be entirely lost to her even amidst the strange ways of her new life.
He drew back and planted a kiss on her lips, slow, unhurried. The warmth spread along her body. Whatever pain there had been was forgotten entirely.
“How long do we have before my dinner arrives?” she whispered against his lips.
He grinned, moving carefully onto the bed so as not to disturb her injury too much.
“Long enough,” he assured her.
And, with that, he kissed her again, and all thought of dinner—or anything else, for that matter—was lost.