Page 39 of Highland Treasure (Highland Brides 9)

“It sounds it,” Elysande murmured, sounding almost sleepy now, and then she stirred herself to ask, “The church allowed this healer Ibn to dissect the dead?”

He wasn’t surprised by the question. That kind of thing was prohibited by the church. Even reading about his work would probably be frowned on by the church, but Rory had learned a lot from it. “They follow a different religion in Egypt. I presume ’twas allowed there or he would no’ have been able to write about his work.”

“I suppose, aye,” she agreed. “Do you think—” Whatever she’d been about to ask ended on a gasp and she went still beneath his touch.

Rory had moved on to working on her side, and his hand had brushed along the edge of her breast, startling her. She wasn’t the only one who reacted to it either. His body quite liked the unintended caress and wanted him to do it again. Actually, it would prefer he slide his hand under and cup the soft globe his fingers had just brushed against. Repeating the word healer in his mind, Rory resisted that urge and moved his hands lower to massage her waist briefly and then pulled his hands back and straightened.

“All done,” he said abruptly, and stood. He had intended to offer to apply the cream to her bottom and the backs of her legs again, but that no longer seemed like a good idea. If just brushing the edge of her breast was enough to have his mind run off on a tangent of other things he would like to do to her, he did not wish to know what actually cupping the round curves of her bottom might spur him to do.

“I’ll return to the others and let ye dress and apply liniment to yer legs and . . .” Nay, he wasn’t even going to mention her bottom, Rory decided, and simply turned and strode back through the trees to the safety of the other men.

Rory briefly considered that it might be best if he didn’t sleep beside her tonight when they stopped for the evening. Waking up with her in his arms was apparently giving him ideas. But he knew Elysande cuddled up to him in her sleep and was embarrassed when she woke up to find herself on his chest as she had each morning. That being the case, she’d probably do the same with whatever man took his place next to her, and the idea of her cuddling up to another . . . Well, Rory just wasn’t having that.

He was still irritated at the very thought of that happening when he stepped out of the woods and joined the others in the small clearing.

“Everything all right?” Tom asked, approaching him the moment he appeared from the trees.

“Aye. I applied the liniment to her back. She is just taking care o’ the other areas and then will join us,” he said grimly.

Tom raised his eyebrows at his grumpy tone, but merely nodded. “Good. Then riding should be much easier for her for the rest of the day.”

“Aye,” Rory agreed, relaxing a little at the thought. He’d finally been able to do something to help her, even if it was only applying the liniment she’d made. Of course, that meant he probably wouldn’t get to enjoy having her ride at his back with her arms around his waist later today. The thought made him grumpy again.

It was pain in her back as something pressed against her that woke Elysande from a dead sleep. Instinctively shifting forward to escape the pain, she pressed up against Rory’s back and glanced over her shoulder. She was just able to make out Tom’s outline in the faint light cast by the embers of the fire they’d enjoyed before retiring. He’d rolled toward her in his sleep, bumping her back. It made her wonder if that wasn’t the reason she’d ended up on top of Rory each morning, an effort to escape Tom bumping and paining her back.

Sighing, she lay there for a minute, debating what to do. Her back had still been fine when they’d stopped for the night. She’d considered applying some more liniment anyway before going to sleep, but then Rory had suggested it, and she’d known he would insist on doing her back for her, so she’d said it was fine and lay down to sleep. She hadn’t wanted his help . . . not when he was so grumpy, and she was still confused about the feelings his helping her the first time had caused her.

Even now, Elysande could almost feel the warm tingling that had raced through her when his hand had moved along her side and brushed against her breast. She’d never experienced anything like it before and had been shocked, but she’d also liked it and the excitement it had aroused in her.

Elysande had held still after that, hoping he would do it again, but he’d quickly spread the liniment over the rest of her side, and then headed back to camp as if nothing had happened. That made her suppose the touch had just been a part of his spreading the liniment and he hadn’t experienced any of the tingles and excitement she had. He’d also been short-tempered by the time she returned to camp, and had stayed that way the rest of the day. So, when they’d stopped and he’d suggested more liniment should be applied, she’d shook her head and said, no, she was fine.

She was paying for it now though, and the question became, did she really want to crawl from her warm spot on the fur and traipse through the cold to apply more liniment? Especially when she couldn’t reach the better part of her back?

Aye, Elysande decided when Tom shifted and nudged her again. Fortunately, it was the undamaged side of her back he brushed against this time, but it might not be next time. Holding her breath, she eased up onto her elbow, trying to figure out how to escape the center of the nest without waking everyone.

“Is it yer back?”

Elysande glanced around to see that Rory was awake and peering over his shoulder at her. When she nodded, he was suddenly moving, and she couldn’t help noticing that he didn’t seem to have any trouble getting to his feet without disturbing anyone. But then it looked like Inan had left a good deal more space between himself and Rory than Tom and Rory had left her, Elysande thought before she had to bite back a startled yelp as she was suddenly caught by the upper arms and lifted to her feet.

Well, not exactly to her feet, she acknowledged as Rory stepped over Inan while holding her a good foot off the ground. He didn’t set her down until they were outside the circle of bodies, and then he settled her on a log next to Donnghail, who was stirring the dying fire back to life.

“Wait here. I’ll get yer liniment,” Rory said in a low voice, and then headed off in the direction of the horses.

“Yer back’s paining ye,” Donnghail said quietly as he propped the stick he’d been using against the log and relaxed.

“Aye,” she confessed with a little embarrassment. “I suppose I should have let Rory put some more on before going to sleep as he suggested.”

“Grumpy as he was?” Donnghail asked with amusement and shook his head. “I would ha’e said nay too.”

Elysande beamed at him, feeling justified in her earlier refusal, but she merely asked, “Do you know why he was so grumpy?”

“I was going to ask ye that verra question,” Donnghail admitted. “He was fine when he chased off after ye into the woods, but came back like a man with a hot poker up his arse.”

Elysande blinked with bewilderment at the description, and then guessed, “He was moving fast?”

“What?” he asked with confusion, and then frowned. “Nay, he was cranky.”

“Oh. I see,” she murmured, and then explained apologetically, “I just thought if he had a poker up his—well, he would be moving quickly. But most like toward the nearest river or loch to cool the poker so he could pull it out.”

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