Chapter 19
“Not bad for a man doing woman’s work,” Jean teased as she studied the stitches that wrapped around her side. It had been two days since the incident and an entire day since she’d been up and walking around.
As everyone interacted with her, Liam couldn’t help but think of what Mara said. Jean was a hero, but everyone was talking about her like she’d been the one who needed saving. Both were true.
“Sewing up a wound is woman’s work?” Liam asked mildly. He kept his voice light, but he was watching her closely as she wrapped her own bandage. He’d offered to give her privacy while she did it, but she’d told him that he’d already seen it. What was the point of hiding now?
Modesty had never been Jean’s strong suit.
Still, Liam didn’t turn down the opportunity to be near her. Her breathing was no longer labored, and she was showing no signs of infection. Part of him wanted to send a message back to the keep that Jean should stay under his watchful eye at least another week or two.
There was no need, though. As others pointed out, it wasn’t an especially long journey back to the keep, and Jean knew more about healing than anyone. She’d know if there was a problem and would advise Alistair on how to handle it.
There was another reason Liam wasn’t keen on Jean traveling so soon. “I need to ask ye something.”
At the sound of his voice, she looked up. “Aye?”
“This person that was tracking ye. Are ye certain that it wasnae Alistair?”
“Aye.”
He was relieved when she didn’t question why he asked, but he was confused by the confidence in her voice. “How can ye be so certain?”
“Ye and Alistair and the other men all smelled of smoke from the bonfire. It was so pungent when we started the hunt that I thought it would give us away. There was no such scent when I was hit from behind.”
Liam couldn’t help but admire her. “I dinnae know anyone else who would have picked up on that, even a well-trained warrior. Mara was right. There is no one quite like ye.”
He was graced with a ghost of a smile. At least she didn’t still hate him. “I am luckier than most Highland women. I try to remind myself of that every day. There are exceptional women everywhere, they are just exceptional in ways that ye cannae see nor understand.”
“Did ye leave Alistair because ye didnae trust him enough to hunt with him?”
Jean finished bandaging her wound and readjusted her shirt. She’d continued to wear pants so she could get to the wound easier. “Is there a reason that ye dinnae trust him? Has he not been on a mission until recently?”
That much was true. Liam couldn’t say why he didn’t trust Alistair, but maybe it was just because he didn’t trust him with Jean. “I am angry that ye were hurt.”
“He is not used to working with someone. That became obvious soon, and then it became clear that the tracks he was following were human and not from an animal. From his point of view, that was more important, and I can understand why. Especially since I was hit in the head by a person and not a wolf. I knew that he thought I was turning back to the village. I let him think that. I just wanted to go back to the area we were supposed to search.”
“Even if he knew you were going back to the village, he should have escorted ye,” Liam said angrily. He’d already had a conversation with Alistair, and to his credit, the man agreed and felt terrible. “Ye will be leaving at dawn. If ye dinnae trust him, I will send someone with ye.”
Jean immediately made a face. “My parents are already going to be furious that I am wounded. They’ll be even angrier if they think it took two warriors to escort me back. Alistair and I will manage.”
“If, for any reason, ye suspect that he is not doing as he should, ye go at it alone. If ye are closer to me, ye return to me. If ye are closer to the keep, ye ride like demons are chasing ye to my father. Do ye understand?”
With a small smile, she walked over and placed her hands on his chest. “Ye have plenty to worry about here, Liam. Dinnae worry about me. I am leaving the danger, remember?”
Liam didn’t tell her that he always worried about her.
More than just worried.
She was the first thing he thought of when he woke up in the morning and the last before he laid down his head. Several women there had made remarks about his unwed status, and it was on the tip of his tongue to say that he was betrothed.
Jean really was the perfect choice for his wife. Now was just not the time to point that out.
Still, he wanted to give her something to think about. Wanting to touch her again, he stroked a finger along her jawline. “I do have plenty to worry about here, but when it is over, we will have plenty to talk about.”
“Like all the fun ye will have without me,” she teased as she pulled away and then grunted in pain.
“Perhaps ‘tis not all fun. Ye be careful, Liam.
I will be furious if something happens to ye, do ye understand?
The wolf is dead, and I hope ‘tis a lesson in ye trusting yer instincts.
I hope ye will trust mine. Someone is behind this, and ‘tis not Ballach Gibson, or only Ballach Gibson.
‘Tis someone close. The wolf is not the most dangerous creature prowling those woods.”
They were only an hour toward the Armstrong keep when Alistair began to ask Jean if she needed a break.
When she declined, he asked again no more than thirty minutes later.
And thirty minutes after that. After another thirty minutes, she held up her hand.
“Enough. I am not some inexperienced lass to be coddled. I will make it until we break at noon and again when we make camp.”
Alistair sighed. “I apologize. For this and for what happened. Liam has all but taken a strip of my skin for letting the wolf attack ye, and he would be right to take that. I should never have left ye alone. ‘Tis not easy for me to work with someone.”
“Yer apology isnae necessary, Alistair. It was my decision to go off alone.”
“Then let me apologize for this. Liam is worried about yer wound, and he made me promise to treat ye as a child.”
“What!” Jean exclaimed. “I will take a strip of his skin! A child!”
Alistair laughed, and it was not an unpleasant sound.
“‘Twas not that he called ye a child, but he wanted me to think of ye as a child. I am unaccustomed to being around people, but I would never abandon a child like I abandoned ye. I would never abandon a lady either, but ye have proved yerself more than a lady.”
“Once again, being a lady is not synonymous with being weak. I am skilled and still nearly died.” She hadn’t wanted to think of it too much.
Liam had refused to tell her what had happened when he arrived, but the claw marks on her side told enough of the story for her to realize that she’d been very lucky Liam had gotten to her in time.
“Ye are a solitary creature, Alistair. It takes some adjustment to work with anyone, child, woman, or skilled warrior. Why would Laird Armstrong choose ye to retrieve me? Surely he must know how ye feel about being in the company of others.”
“He does,” Alistair agreed. After a quiet moment, he spoke again. “I volunteered.”
Jean’s head whipped around, certain she hadn’t heard him correctly. “Ye volunteered?”
“Aye. The laird often forced me to rest for a period of several weeks before sending me out again.
He fears if I am gone too long, I will forget my connection to my clan and the land and be wooed by another.
He is wrong, but it is not uncommon for people in my position to be wooed by coin.
I understand the necessity of reconnecting with my home, but I find it difficult.
I am alone so often, but I am only lonely when I am home.
“The whole keep is up in arms about yer disappearance. When Laird Creighton said he needed someone to retrieve ye, I volunteered. I wasnae ready to face my loneliness just yet. He hesitated, but when I said I was the best, Laird Sinclair agreed.”
She could not, or rather would not, comment on her father’s own spies.
Alistair was not the enemy, but it came to that kind of shadow work, names and missions would not be shared by even allies.
Jean was surprised that Creighton would send Alistair out knowing that she would learn of who he was and what he did.
But she could sympathize with him. “I have never known a man of yer position to wed or have a family.”
“Likely ye have never known one of my position to grow old either,” he said wistfully. “We dinnae like to admit that we need to step down, and eventually, we meet our fate on the roads, alone, as we have always been. There was a time when that didnae bother me.”
“Does it now?”
“More than I would like to admit. Perhaps I am getting old.”
“Ye are not that old. Ye should do what others before ye could not. Pass the mantle on and focus on yer roots. Start a new part of yer life.”
“Fall in love, as my laird and yer father did?” He offered with a ghost of a smile. “Nay. Love isnae in my future, but a marriage of convenience would be nice. It would be difficult to find someone who understood my needs.”
“I understand them,” Jean said. “I think ye would find ‘tis not so rare. Ye simply have to share yerself.”
“Ye would understand, wouldn’t ye?” Alistair offered quietly.
Jean shifted a little on her mare, aware that he was looking at her with a particular gleam in his eye.
“Circling back to the beginning of our conversation, I am not a child, and I will let ye know if I need to take a break. Ye dinnae have to keep asking me. In fact, I would suggest that we stop early today and enjoy a short hunt this evening for our supper.”
“I am to take ye straight home. We could manage on the food provided for us,” he pointed out.
“Then I will hunt while ye make camp.” She gave him a mischievous smile. “I always find I am a little restless after a long ride.”
“That is not something ye ought to say to a man,” Alistair growled.
Jean had no idea what he meant, but she enjoyed poking at him just a little. Like Liam, he seemed to be carrying a burden on his shoulders that was not his to take up. He was not responsible for what happened to her.
“Then perhaps we should stop talking and ride.” With another grin, she kicked her mare into a gallop and enjoyed his mock outrage as she easily maneuvered past him and down the dusty road.