Page 16 of The Cruel Highlander’s Healer (Highlanders’ Feisty Brides #1)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

S he was hot, stiflingly so.

That was the first thing that Eliza noticed as she began to wake. The next thing was her horrible, pounding head.

She groaned, one eyelid peeling itself open as she glared toward the windows that was allowing bright light to stream in.

Was the angle of it wrong?

Her senses slowly came back to her, making the pounding of her head all the worse. She shifted, moving her hand so that she could push herself to sitting.

But where she expected to feel a soft, stuffed mattress, she felt hard rippling muscle.

A yelp of surprised escaped her, and Eliza scrambled back from where she was lying, tucked into the crook of Conall’s arm with her hand on his chest.

His eyes flew open at the sound, sleepy and a bit dazed as they landed on her.

Eliza skittered across the mattress, pushing herself back as quickly as she could until her back hit the headboard.

“What are ye doin’?” he groaned; his voice thick with sleep. “And why are ye makin’ all that ruckus?”

“I was…” her words died off.

How did she tell him that she’d been laying in his arms? How did she tell him that they’d been entwined rather intimately as they slept?

Did we only sleep?

The thought brought Eliza up short. Her mind scrambled, searching back to the night before. But it was all blank.

The last thing she remembered was a small girl named Rose twirling with her as they danced. Everything else about the night went black after that. She didn’t even remember getting up to their rooms.

“We were layin’ together,” Eliza whispered, and even that made her head pound.

I shouldnae have drank so much.

“What do ye mean?” His brow furrowed in confusion, and he stared at her.

It was then that Eliza noticed he had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked exhausted. He looked more tired than she felt.

Why does he look so tired? Were we up that late? What were we doin’?

She closed her eyes, relief flooding her as the light assaulting her senses was banished for just a moment. She tried to scan her body, checking with her limbs and all of her parts to see if she felt anything different.

Because surely if she had lain with him, she’d be able to tell. Wouldn’t she? She still felt the same. She didn’t feel like she had lost her maidenhood to him. But she couldn’t be for certain.

“Did you…” Eliza stammered, uncertain of how to ask.

All she could think about was the kiss they’d shared a few nights ago. She remembered how she had responded to him. And how if he had wanted to go farther, if he had wanted to claim her, she truly might have let him.

She had loved the feeling of his hands on hers. Had reveled in the way that their lips had moved together and the way his hand had fisted in her hair.

Had something like that happened last night? She certainly wouldn’t have been in any state to stop it if it had.

“We did nothin’ but sleep,” Conall said, his words causing Eliza’s eyes to fly open once more.

Her head gave another throb, but she forced her gaze to focus on his face. He looked a little more awake, but not by much. His eyes, however, were dancing with amusement.

Why would he find that humorous?

“Ye promise?” she asked.

Her throat was dry, making her voice thick, and she tried to swallow past it.

Conall nodded.

“Aye,” he answered, his mouth tugging up in a smirk. “Nae for yer lack of tryin’ though.”

Dread spread through her at his words.

“What do ye mean?”

He chuckled darkly, the sound sending a thrill dancing through her. She watched as he pushed himself up onto his elbows, regarding her with a vicious, tantalizing smile.

“Ye tried to kiss me again,” he explained, giving her a shrug as if it was truly nothing.

Although the humor he found in it clearly indicated something entirely different.

He studied her face, seeming to sense the terror, and his gaze softened uncharacteristically.

“It was nothin’,” he assured her. “Ye were pished, and ye asked why I kissed ye the other night. Then, ye tried to do it again.”

His words tugged at something in her mind, some kernel of truth.

A momentary weakness.

That is what he said when she’d asked him. And then she’d tried to…

“Oh God.”

Eliza covered her face with a hand, embarrassment filling her.

How had she allowed herself to get that drunk? Why had she tried that?

Conall chuckled, and she felt his fingers wrapping around her wrist a moment later. He gave a soft tug, moving her hand away from her face.

“It was nothin’,” he said again. “Ye have nothin’ to be embarrassed about.”

She studied him, her gaze meeting his. The scar running across his face was pale, contrasting with the circles beneath his eyes. But he wasn’t teasing her, not anymore.

Eliza decided to believe him.

“Alright,” she nodded, ripping her gaze away from his as she turned to glare out the window.

The sun had fully risen, but not by much. It was still early morning. However, the sound of life still filled the air beyond the inn.

There was no way she would be able to lie back down and go to sleep.

“I suppose it’s time to get up,” Conall grunted, moving the arm that just moments before had been tucked around Eliza.

She stared at it longingly, watching as he retreated fully to his side of the bed. Would it have been so bad if she would have sunk back down into it and tried to fall asleep again in his arms?

He sat on the edge of the bed, bending so that he could pull his boots back over to him. Eliza took the moment when he was distracted to shake herself, banishing all thoughts of Conall and falling into his arms from her mind.

She moved as well, pushing herself to the edge of the bed. Her own shoes lay scattered on the floorboards, the laces barely undone from where she’d kicked them off the night before.

Her head gave another throb as she bent to grab her boots, and she couldn’t stop the groan that fell from her lips.

“I’ll go find ye some water,” Conall said as he stood.

She opened her mouth to remind him to ensure it wasn’t from the lake, but he raised his hand and scowled at her.

“I’ll make sure it’s safe. I’m nae a dobber,” he grumbled as he made his way toward the door.

Eliza let out a quiet chuckle despite herself. The Conall she’d come to know over the last couple days was firmly back in place. Gone was the man who’d joked with her just moments before and then reassured her so gently.

She was happy to have his gruffness back. Gruff she could deal with.

Her fingers were stiff and her mind slightly bleary, so it took longer than usual for her to lace up her boots. She was just finishing up when Conall returned, a large mug of water gripped tightly in his hand.

He offered it to her, and she took it gratefully.

She paused to sniff it. Not that she would be able to tell from the smell that it contained arsenic. But she couldn’t stop the habit all the same.

Relief flooded her the moment she tipped the water to her lips, already the cool, clear liquid chasing away some of the headache and the wooziness she’d felt upon waking.

“All of it,” Conall commanded, nodding at the glass the moment she took it away from her lips.

“Are ye a healer now?” she asked with a smirk.

He only scowled at her, clearly waiting for her to listen to him. If it wasn’t for the fact that she knew she needed it, she would have told him to stop being an arse and refused to finish it.

But as it was, her body was craving the liquid. She brought the mug to her lips, finishing the rest of it in a few short gulps.

“There’s fresh bread and sausage waitin’ for us downstairs,” he said, not waiting for her as he turned and strode from the room.

Eliza’s mouth began to water at the mention of the food and she wasted no time climbing to her feet and following after him.

As they made their way down to the ground floor of the inn, she marveled at the thin, steep stairs.

How did I make it up these last night without falling back down on me arse?

A memory, or at least what Eliza thought was a memory, flashed through her mind. Conall ordering her to go first as she went up the stairs, hovering close behind her so that she wouldn’t fall.

Had that been his intentions? Had that truly even happened?

They made it to the ground floor, the smell of bread and food wafting up to her and driving all thought from her mind. Glancing toward the counter, Eliza immediately spotted the barmaid from the night before busy as she dried off a glass.

The girl met her eye, and Eliza gave her a small, quick wave as she followed Conall to the table. The young girl blushed, dipping her head in respectful acknowledgement before darting back into the kitchen.

She appeared a moment later holding a wooden tray, the bread and sausage that Conall had said was waiting for them sitting on top of it.

Eliza tracked the girls every move as she came closer, her stomach lurching with hunger as the dish was set before them. The moment the girl walked away, Eliza reached for the bread and for a link of sausage.

It wasn’t until she’d taken several bites, her hunger slowly becoming satiated, that she realized that Conall hadn’t yet eaten any of the breakfast.

Eliza swallowed.

“Are ye nae hungry?” she asked, taking a bite of the sausage.

He scowled at her, clearly displeased that she noticed.

“Ye can eat first.”

She opened her mouth to argue, about to tell him that there was more than enough for the both of them, but he silenced her with a glare.

Stuffing another bite of sausage into her mouth, she grumbled. But it was only half-hearted, especially as the flavor danced across her tongue.

She ate until she was full and then looked at Conall expectantly. Just as he’d said, the moment she was finished, he reached forward and grabbed a hunk of bread.

Chewing slowly, he leveled his eyes on her. Something glinted in the depths of his gaze, and she wished she could read his mind.

Sooner than Eliza would have thought, the Laird was finished with his breakfast. He made quick work of paying the barmaid and tipping her for the food and drink they’d consumed while they were there.

Eliza didn’t miss the look of relief that crossed the young girls face as they made to leave the building. She couldn’t blame the girl for finding Conall intimidating. With his hulking form and the ragged scar that ran down his face, Eliza knew that, objectively, he made quite the imposing figure.

So why did she still want to reach out and touch him?

When they stepped outside, the sun bared down on them. In the time it had taken them to finish their breakfast, it had risen even higher.

Eliza raised a hand, blocking out some of its rays as her eyes scanned the town. Conall led her back through the streets, making the familiar journey toward the town square.

She noticed the tents first. They were still standing tall, shading their occupants from the sun.

The second thing she noticed was the noise.

Chatter rose from inside the tent, much more chatter than she’d heard the day before. She picked up the pace, eager to get in there and see her patients.

The moment she spotted the opening, her mouth popped open in surprise.

Of all the patients she’d tended two yesterday, only two were still lying. The rest were sitting up in their cots, talking gingerly to one another or speaking to Sheena, Louisa, and Isabel, who doted on them.

“They’re goin’ to be alright,” Eliza whispered.

She thought she had spoken low enough that no one would hear her. But apparently, the Laird had.

“They will be,” he murmured. “Thanks to ye.”

Eliza shot him a grateful look. He didn’t return it, but she thought there might have been a softening around his eyes. Or, at least, she decided to believe that there was.

“It looks like they have this under control,” Conall said, nodding toward the two women and the young girl that were tending to the patients.

Eliza nodded, but before she could speak, the Laird continued.

“Then come with me. I want to show ye something.”

She hesitated. There was a part of her that wanted to decline. Louisa, Isabel, and Sheena were doing well, she had to admit that. The three had a knack for it. But she still had the urge to check on her patients herself.

There was another part of her, though, that was curious about what he wanted to show her.

The two sides of her warred with each other, one trying to drown out the other. Eventually, she turned to the Laird.

“Alright,” she said with a brief nod. “What do ye want to show me?”

She was rewarded with a smirk as Conall turned, walking away from the town square. He didn’t explain where they were headed though.

Eliza had to trot to keep up with him, matching him step for step as he took her through the winding streets.

“Where are we goin’?” she finally asked when the curiosity got the better of her.

“Ye’ll see in just a moment,” he grunted. “Now be patient.”

Eliza rolled her eyes, but she didn’t press him further. It took only two more turns before they were on the edge of town.

She had expected to see the tree line, the forest looming just on the edge of town. And while the edge of the woods that bordered the town was not far off, it was something else entirely that marked the edge of the village.

“Oh!” Eliza exclaimed, walking forward despite herself as she fought to take it all in.

It was a garden. The pathways were laid out meticulously. Each one was perfectly straight and crossing at crisp angles with the next.

Stones lined the pathways, and Eliza stepped onto them. At first glance, she had thought that the beds were filled with flowers. But on further inspection, it was so much more than that.

Herbs had been planted in between the blooms. And each bed had been meticulously chosen and cared for. Flowers had been paired with herbs that they would be used with to make varying remedies.

Rose was mixed with chamomile. Thistle blooms with mint.

On and on the gardens went, spanning the whole length of the town and up to the tree line. She walked forward, her hands darting out so her fingers could trail along the taller blooms.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

She made it to the center of the garden, and she turned, whirling toward Conall to thank him for bringing her there. But the moment her eyes landed on him; the smile slowly faded from her lips.

A screech rang out, filling the air and sending birds squawking with surprise as they took flight. Conall started, turning toward the sound.

A petite woman was stomping through the garden. Her black hair was curly, with streaks of grey running through it. Her grey eyes were as wild as a tempest, and they were leveled directly at Conall as she advanced.

He glanced back to Eliza, clearly wondering what to do and how to protect her from the woman who was rapidly advancing on them.

But there were no words that Eliza could offer him. She knew in the very depths of her soul that there was nothing she or anyone could do that could stop what was about to happen.

Because the woman that was heading for them was a force of nature all on her own.

The woman stopped a few feet from him, a bony finger rising to point directly at Conall’s chest.

“You.” Marissa snarled, a moment before she lunged forward, making a path directly to Conall.