The door to the cottage was standing wide open, and a woman a little older than Tavin stood, wringing her hands together. Tears were falling down her cheeks. “Please,” she begged, grabbing Lorna’s cloak as soon as she was close enough. “Please save my son. He is all that I have left!”
“Ella,” Tavin said forcefully. “Move aside. Let the healer work.”
Ella continued to stare at her. “Please. A MacClare took his father. Let a MacClare save him.”
Lorna stiffened. “I am a Hamilton,” she reminded her. “Now do as Tavin says and step aside so I can work.”
She did, and Lorna walked in to try and save the nephew of a man who hated her.
She was exhausted when she was done. Tavin noted the redness in her eyes and the way she rolled her shoulders when she stood, working the tension out of them. For over twenty-four hours, she stayed by Broderick’s side, tending to a wound on the back of his leg that had festered because the blasted lad hadn’t said a word. No doubt he thought he had to be strong for his mother, all the while keeping silent about a wound that was killing him.
“His fever has broken,” Lorna said in a clipped tone as she held out a jar. “’Tis honey. I will need ye to apply it to the wound, as ye saw me do, three times a day until the wound has healed. When ye arenae applying the honey, wash the wound with soap and water. If the fever returns, come to me immediately.”
His sister-in-law sagged against the wall. Her tears had silently been falling for hours as she watched Lorna work. “He will live?” she whispered. “Truly?”
“There are no guarantees, but he has a fighting spirit, and if the wound heals properly, aye, he will live.” Lorna turned to gather her things and nearly stumbled. Without thinking, Tavin reached out and grabbed her arm to steady her. When she looked up at him with those big blue eyes, he held her gaze steadily.
How those eyes haunted him. When she was treating him after an arrow had pierced his leg, it had been her voice, sometimes singing sweetly and sometimes demanding that he live, that kept him clinging to life. When he’d come to, he’d been astounded to know that she had been his angel.
Now he didn’t trust himself to be near her. Even now, knowing that she was exhausted, the touch stirred something best left undiscovered inside of him. A need to know if that mouth tasted as sweetly as he imagined.
“I will get yer bag,” he said softly, “and see ye back to yer cottage.”
Warily, she pulled away. “’Tis not necessary. I can make my own way.”
“I said I would walk ye. Wait outside for me,” he demanded. Must she be so stubborn?
When she made a grab for her bag again, he effectively steered her away to the door. With an angry glare, she dragged herself out. Tavin was fairly certain she wouldn’t leave without her bag, but he spoke quickly to his sister-in-law regardless.
“Get some rest,” he told her gently. “I will return in the morning to see how he is faring.”
“She saved his life,” Ella said in wonder. “All the times I have cursed her name and spat at her, and she saved my boy’s life.”
“That is who she is. A healer.” Tavin paused. “She saved my life as well, and I have said much worse than ye.”
Ella started crying again, so he dropped a quick kiss on her head and hugged her before he joined Lorna outside. She tried to walk in front of him, keeping her back straight, but she was far too tired and slow. It was all he could do not to pick her up and carry her the rest of the way.
“I lost my brother in the fight with the MacClares,” he said softly. “Broderick was still growing in Ella’s belly. The boy never had a chance to meet his father.”
“We all lost family members in the feuds,” Lorna said tiredly.
“Aye, but the MacClare—”
“Was a bloody feud. I well know it, or did ye not imagine that I have spent all these years having to listen to the living hurl names of the dead at me like a weapon? I did not fight for the MacClares. Lewis did not fight for the MacClares, or did ye forget that I lost a husband to that feud as well?”
He was surprised by the fury in her voice despite her exhaustion. “I was only trying to explain.”
“Ye doonae have to, Tavin. I well know that I committed a previous sin by marrying a MacClare.” She laughed bitterly. “I am hated by my own people.”
“And yet ye stayed.” It wasn’t an accusation. It might have been, at one time, but now it was just curiosity. He wanted to know more about the woman with the healer’s touch and the eyes that beguiled.
“Aye. How could I not? This is my home, and with my mother dead, I would have left it with no healer. I doonae hate my people, Tavin. They simply hate me.”
They reached her cottage, and she opened the door and turned to him. “Ye know the truly sad thing? I didnae wed my husband for love. I married him because I needed protecting, and because of it, I lost everything.”
Then, she turned, and fainted.
There was a low hum of voices around her when Lorna opened her eyes, and for a moment, she was confused. She was in her bed, in her house, but she lived alone. Who was here?
“Ye are certain there is nothing else wrong with her?”
She recognized that voice. Hamish. Lord, what is he doing here?
“Aye. After what happened with Broderick, I checked her over. I saw no wounds.”
Lorna’s eyes widened. That was Tavin. With some trepidation, she lifted the blanket.
Ach! She was stark naked beneath.
“Ye did what?” Grace shrieked.
At that, Lorna smiled. Leave it to Grace to come to her rescue. As Grace dressed Tavin up and down, he tried to defend himself. It wasn’t long before the door flew open and Grace marched in. “Lorna! Ye are awake! We have been so worried. Hamish was about to ride to Theo and borrow his healer.”
“No need for that. I simply needed to rest.” Lorna gazed around her to the open door where Hamish and Tavin were looking in. “Grace, can ye close the door? I need to dress.”
Tavin scowled. “Ye will do no such thing!”
“Honestly, Tavin!” Grace intervened. “Ye stripped her naked and now ye are refusing to let her dress! What kind of man are ye?”
The man had the decency to avert his eyes. “’Tis not my intentions. She needs to rest, that is all. She is as stubborn as ye are.”
“And he is as hardheaded,” Lorna muttered under her breath.
Grace turned to her and winked before she stood. “All right, Lorna, ye rest. Hamish and I will see to it that none disturb ye.”
Wait, she was leaving? Lorna started to push the blankets away before she remembered she wasn’t decent. “I have rested, and I feel fine. There are people who need me.”
“Aye, but they will have to make do with the MacDougal healer. She will be here before the day’s end, and ye will rest for a few days. First there was Oliver and the warthog and then there was Leslie and Marigold’s birthing and Tavin told us that ye were awake for more than a day with Broderick. Ye need yer rest,” Grace said pointedly.
“Doonae make me send a guard to watch ye,” Hamish threatened.
Tavin smiled slowly. “Oh, I doonae think that will be necessary. I find I need some rest myself.”
“Then ’tis settled,” Grace declared as she secretly winked at Lorna. “Ye will rest, and Tavin will keep an eye on ye.”
“Wait, Grace,” Lorna said frantically as she pulled the blankets up to her chin. “Ye cannae be serious!”
“We will check on ye in a few days,” Grace said in an irritating singsong voice.
The next thing she knew, she was alone, naked, with Tavin. He looked in no hurry to leave her room. “Well?” she demanded. “Did ye do all of this just to see me naked?”
“Oh, lass,” he chuckled. “Believe me, I have smoother ways of seeing a lass naked. I’ll put some soup on.”
The door gently closed behind him, and Lorna slowly sank into the blankets and groaned.
After a silent dinner, Ta
vin lit a fire in the fireplace and offered Lorna a blanket as she sat in her chair. After she’d passed out, he’d gone a little mad looking for a wound, even going as far as stripping her naked, and while he hadn’t seen a wound, he had seen the scars on her back.
Scars from a whip.
Although she still looked tired, she’d been looking at him suspiciously all night. “For the last time,” he sighed. “I am sorry that I had to get ye naked, but I feared ye had a wound on ye like Broderick. How many times do I need to apologize?”
“No more, I suppose,” she sighed. “I hadnae expected even one apology from ye.”
“I didnae touch ye,” he muttered in irritation. “I wouldnae do that.”
When she didn’t say anything, he thought for a moment that she didn’t believe him, and when he looked up, there was actual fear in her eyes. “The scars.”
Her eyes widened, and she pulled her legs up under her further.
Does she always havetae be like that? So folded in on herself that it is impossible to open up?
He knew that others had spoken of her in anger. He had done the same, but if someone had touched her, then he would kill them.
She interrupted his thought. “I know what ye are thinking. But that man is long dead, and it was so long ago.”
“Before ye married?” A thought occurred to him. “Yer husband?”
“Nay,” she said quickly before her shoulders dropped in defeat. “But it was the reason that I married. My mother had just passed, and we were in the thick of the MacClare feud. I was in the middle of a fierce battle, trying to tend to our wounded when I was attacked, but it wasnae by a MacClare. One of our own attacked me.”
Fury rose in him. “Tell me his name.”
“There is no point, Tavin. He did not survive the feud. Lewis found me. He helped me clean up, but one of Moira’s brothers found us. They thought that Lewis had done it. They were prepared to execute him, so I claimed him as mine to save him.”
“Ye didnae love him?” It wasn’t important to the story, but as Tavin held his breath, he realized that he feared the answer.
“Nay, and he didnae love me. We werenae married long, but he was a good man, and we made do. He fought on Hamilton’s side, but they didnae have his back. I doonae know how he died, but I feared it was because no one would help him in his time in need, so in the end, he died because he tried to help me.”
Tears pricked her eyes, and shame washed over Tavin. Although he didn’t know Lewis MacClare personally, he’d always assumed like the rest of the clan that he’d been a spy and Lorna had been the doe-eyed innocent who had invited him into the clan.
“I am sorry, Lorna. For what happened to ye and for all my harsh words. I had no idea.”
“Nay,” she said darkly as she glared at him. “Because ye never asked, but ye willnae breathe a word to anyone. What is done is done.”
Aye, but it was clear it still haunted her. “When ye were tending me, ye sang to me,” he said as he changed the subject. “Ye have a lovely voice.”
“Oh. Ye remember that? Ye hallucinated quite a bit. My voice was probably just a figment of yer imagination.” Throwing the blanket aside, she stood and made a show of yawning. “Now if ye will excuse me, I believe I am to be sleeping.”
“Why do ye do that?” he wondered as he watched her. She paused, hands still in midair. “Deflect when I try to say something nice about ye or get ye to open up?”
“I have no idea what ye are talking about,” she muttered as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I am here to rest on the laird’s orders, or do ye not remember yer part in that?”
“Lorna, I want ye to rest, but I also wanted to spend time with ye.”
“Ye did?” she whispered.
“Aye, Lorna.” He held out his hand. “Stay with me, my sweet. For the night.”
And he held his breath.
Lorna was stunned. For the first time, she actually felt like he was seeing her, and now she felt more vulnerable than when she was naked. Her heart beating a little too rapidly, she reached out to take his hand and let him gently tug her to the floor. The light from the fire danced over his handsome features, but it was the gentleness in his eyes that captivated her.
She’d never seen Tavin like this. She’d never seen any highlander like this.
“What do ye want to know?” she whispered as she settled in next to him. His arm rested on her waist and he tugged on her. After a second of consideration, she relaxed and allowed him to pull her into his lap. It was a strange sensation to be this close to someone, but for some reason, it felt right with Tavin.
“Tell me about the singing. It was ye?”
“Aye,” she relented with a smile. It was easier to talk to him when he was behind her, and she couldn’t see him scrutinizing her every move. “My mother used to say that I had a voice that could move the devil himself, but I always thought it was just her. The truth was that it was singing that drew the attention of my attacker, and it was many years before I could sing again.”
“Ye sang for me,” he reminded her as his arms curled around her body to rest on her abdomen.
It was the first time she’d sang since the incident, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. “Ye were unconscious. I didn’t think ye would hear me.”
“I did hear ye. When I thought I was dead for sure, it was yer voice that kept bringing me back.” His breath brushed against her hair, and she trembled. “Before I even realized who ye were, I ached to kiss ye.”
“Until ye realized who I was?” Immediately, she tried to pull away, but he kept her anchored to him.
“No, lass. When I saw it was ye, I wanted it even more, but I will admit that I was conflicted about it. Surely ye noticed that I have gone out of my way to see ye as much as possible?”
That gave her pause. “Aye. I thought ye just wanted to torment me more.”
“Torment?”
Taking a leap of faith, she angled her head up to him. “Aye. I thought for sure that ye knew how I felt about ye, and ye were showing me what I couldnae have.”
“And how did ye feel about me?” he asked as he touched her face.
“Like I have never felt about anyone.” The confession lifted the burden off her chest but left her terrified. “Oh, Tavin. I…” Lord, but she couldn’t get the words out.
“’Tis all right, my sweet. I feel the same.” Lowering his head, he kissed her gently, but it was enough to make her head spin. When Lewis had kissed her, there had been no spark and they quickly realized that they were better suited as friends, and there had been no more kisses.
The taste of Tavin heated her blood, and she shifted in his lap until she was facing him. Rising over him, she ran her hands through his hair and stared down. “Tavin, if I hadn’t told ye about why I married Lewis…”
“It doesnae matter to me, Lorna. Not anymore. The truth is that when I came for ye to heal Broderick, I wanted to tell ye my feelings then. I have wanted to tell ye my feelings for months now, but every time I tried to get close, ye clammed shut. I feared that we would never get here. Ah, Lorna, I love ye lass. “
Joy filled her and she leaned down to kiss him. This time, she unleashed the hunger, and he matched it, stoking her fires while he drew her down to the floor with him. As his hands skimmed up her legs, he paused. “Lorna, lass, ye should know that I intend to wed ye.”
“Do ye now?” She grinned. “It might take some time to convince me.”
He looked a little worried. “But ye do love me?”
“Aye, Tavin Hamilton. I love ye something fierce.”
“Then I imagine I will find a way to get ye to the church.” His hand moved higher, and for the rest of the night, he showed her just how much he loved her.
And, a week later, after Tavin had championed her for the clan and demanded that they respect her for her skills and for her loyalty, she found herself wed to the foolish man. She finally understood the bliss Grace and Edina showed on their faces, and she feared
that if she had a looking glass, she would see that she wore the exact same expression.
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This book is a work of fiction. Some of the characters are real historical figures, but the others exist only in the imagination of the author. All events in this book are fictional and for entertainment purposes only.
Highlands’ Forbidden Deeds Page 55
