Page 50 of Highland Treasure (Highland Brides 9)

“The right one, but ’tis fine, I—” She broke off on a squawk when Rory took her foot in hand and pushed the bottom of her breeks up to get a look at her ankle. She fell silent though when she saw how swollen it was, and that it was beginning to bruise. When he pressed a thumb into the swelling, she drew in a hissing breath and clenched her hands.

Rory took his thumb away and noted the imprint left behind, and then glanced to Tom. “There should be strips of linen in my medicinals bag. Fetch them for me, please.”

The man nodded and rushed away at once.

“You are going to bind it,” Elysande guessed with a sigh.

“Aye. ’Twill help keep the swelling down,” he murmured, twisting his head one way and then the other to see as much of the injury as he could. Once he was finished, he set her foot back on the bench and said, “Ye’ll have to rest it and keep it elevated as much as possible.”

“I can hardly rest it and keep it elevated on a horse, my lord,” Elysande pointed out with irritation. “Resting it will have to wait until we reach Sinclair.”

“Then ’tis a good thing we are staying another day so ye can at least rest it until then,” Rory muttered, and then glanced to the doorway as he heard Tom pounding down the stairs. A moment later the Englishman was rushing into the room with the requested linen.

Rory bound Elysande’s foot firmly, but not too tight. He didn’t want to restrict the blood flow too much. By the time he’d finished, Angus had delivered drinks for everyone else at the table, and the food was now showing up. Elysande tried to twist around on the bench to sit properly to make room for the rest of the men to join them, but Rory held on to her foot, and reminded her, “Ye should keep it elevated.”

“How can I keep it elevat—” Her voice died as he collected her other foot as well, shifted from straddling the bench to sit on it properly and then lifted both her legs and slid toward her on the bench, before setting them down in his lap. He knew it was awkward for her to sit like that, but Elysande didn’t complain or try to remove her feet again; she merely twisted her upper body to face the table and began to eat when one of the maids set food in front of her. But she didn’t join in the conversation he and the men had about the weather and how long they thought it would take to reach Sinclair while they ate.

“I need to go above stairs and make more liniment.”

Rory glanced to Elysande at that announcement and then started to get out from under her feet, intending to pick her up, but she scowled and said, “I would rather go alone. I am guessing you have business to take care of here anyway, else we’d be leaving today.”

Rory met her gaze, his own eyes slightly widened with surprise, but in the end he nodded as he stood. “Aye. I do. But I’ll carry ye up first, and then Simon and Alick can guard the door,” he added, his gaze sliding to his brother and the English soldier.

“I can stand guard with Simon,” Tom said, getting up as well.

“Nay. Simon and Alick will do fine,” Elysande said at once, scowling at the man. She was obviously still annoyed about the sleeping arrangements from the night before, Rory supposed, and gave him a sympathetic look as he bent to pick her up.

Elysande didn’t protest, but crossed her arms and stared straight ahead as he carried her upstairs. Rory tried to think of something to break the silence, or get her past her irritation with him, but nothing was coming to mind, so he simply carried her upstairs to the chamber, set her on the bed and headed out of the room to find Alick and Simon waiting in the hall.

“Do ye want us in the room or outside the door?” Alick asked as Rory pulled the door closed.

“Out here is fine. Ye can play dice or cards to pass the time as ye like,” he suggested. “I’m taking Tom, Conn and Inan with me, but I’ll tell Fearghas and Donnghail to replace ye in an hour or so if I’m no’ back by then.”

“Where are ye heading?” Alick asked.

“I want to go see about spare horses,” Rory admitted. “’Twould speed up the journey if we had horses to switch to halfway through the day, and the sooner we get Elysande to Sinclair, the better. We need to get her mother’s message to the king.”

Alick nodded and said, “Good luck,” as Rory headed for the stairs.

Chapter 13

Elysande waited a moment after Rory left, and then stood on her good foot and hopped to the bags against the wall. She dug through them until she came across the weeds for making the liniment, as well as the mortar and pestle she’d bought at the apothecary shop there. Once she had everything, she turned to glance around the room, and then called out to the men. She wasn’t at all surprised when the door immediately opened and Alick stuck his head in.

“I need you two to help me,” she admitted, and thought to herself, See, I’m not too stubborn to accept help.

“O’ course.” Alick pushed the door open and led Simon in. “What do ye need, m’lady?”

“Would you please move the bedside table and that chair over by the fire?” she asked, and as the men quickly moved to grab a piece of furniture each, she began hopping toward the fire with the items she’d gathered.

Cursing, Alick set down the table he’d just picked up and rushed over to grab her arm. “Ye should no’ be on yer feet at all, but hopping around like that— If ye fell and hit yer head . . .” He shook his own head, and then scooped her up and set her down in the chair the moment Simon finished moving it.

Elysande bit her tongue on any protest. The man was trying to help, after all, so she remained silent and waited as Simon brought over the table.

“Thank you,” she murmured the moment they were done, and then set her things on the tabletop as the men started to leave, only to blink at the items as she took them in and then squawk in alarm, “My bag!”

Alick and Simon stopped at once and turned back.

Elysande stared at them wide-eyed. “The wolfsbane and comfrey we went out to purchase. I must have dropped the bag when I fell. You rushed me away so quickly I did not realize.”

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