Page 67 of Here in Your Arms
She swung herself off the saddle too soon, misjudging the drop. Her feet hit the earth wrong, her ankle twisted, and she went down. The impact jolted through her, but she didn’t feel it. She pushed to her feet, sprinting toward him.
No. No, no, no.
Her knees hit the ground beside him, her hands flying to his face. His skin was cool beneath her fingertips, his breath too shallow.
A sharp, panicked whimper escaped her throat. “Oh, no. Please, no,” she whispered, her voice breaking. Her fingers tightened, shaking him gently, desperately. “Tiernan,” she pleaded. “Please.”
For one agonizing moment, nothing happened.
Then his brow furrowed slightly, his eyelids fluttered, and his hand lifted, his rough palm closing over hers at the same time his ice-blue eyes opened.
“I’m still here, lass,” he rasped, his mouth twitching weakly while his gaze moved slowly over whoever had come to stand behind her. “Ye brought the bluidy cavalry.”
Rose let out a breathless laugh, relief crashing through her.
“Yes,” she murmured, her fingers still curled against his. “Yes, I did.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Ye’re in luck, lass,” Brody said. “He’ll nae die today.”
A hand appeared in her periphery, and Tiernan’s fingers slid away from hers as he clasped Brody’s, who helped him to his feet.
Being as she was nearly on top of him, Rose scrambled to get out of the way.
Tiernan grunted but shoved himself upright with a grimace, swaying only slightly. Holding the hand of Tiernan’s uninjured arm, Brody braced him as he gained his feet.
“Lass said the trouble started back at the narrow pass,” Brody remarked, the two lairds standing close, talking low. “A rockslide?”
“Aye,” Tiernan responded. “The recent rains abetted those bandits we were hunting.”
“What did ye ken of them?” Brody asked, his gaze sweeping over the arrowhead poking through below Tiernan’s shoulder, his expression scarcely changing so that Rose imagined it wasn’t anything he hadn’t seen before, better or worse.
Tiernan shrugged, grimacing a bit as he shifted his feet. “Nae much. The dust blinded us. Three down, they are, but from how many I canna say. I expect more bodies’ll be found near the pass.”
Brody nodded grimly, neither man saying aloud that they might well find MacRae bodies, too.
“Ye and Rose get on to Dunmara,” Brody suggested. “Take half dozen with ye. Me and the others will ride that way, see what we can find.”
Tiernan nodded, cautioning Brody, “They ken the area well, though I dinna ken how.”
“Made themselves comfortable while we were gone over the winter?” Brody guessed.
“Could be.”
“Go on, then. Rory will take ye.”
“Aye.”
Those who had dismounted began to mount again. A horse was walked forward to Tiernan.
“You shouldn’t ride,” Rose objected. “I asked that a cart be brought—”
“I’ll nae take to the cart, lass,’ Tiernan informed her, “nae so long as I can ride.”
Rose slapped her hands on her hips. “An hour ago, you could barely walk,” she reminded him.
Taking the reins from one of Brody’s men, Tiernan threw a pale glance her way. “Rest seems to have done me guid.”
