A Healer for the Highlander

by TERRI BRISBIN

  ‘I need your help, Colm,’ Anna said. ‘That has not changed.’ His son’s eyes filled with joy. ‘And if Iain is working elsewhere, I expect to need even more help from you.’

  ‘Truly?’ Colm asked.

  ‘Truly. Who else would help me clean out the lady’s stillroom in the keep but you?’

  The meal was finished in silence, but even Davidh could feel the ripples of expectation in the boys now. He caught Anna’s gaze over their heads a time or two and she smiled at him. Mayhap their bargain would work out for all?

  * * *

  The evening had passed quickly and the two excited boys went to their pallets without argument. With the meal cleaned up and chores completed, Davidh had left for a short time to make certain the guards were posted as he’d ordered. When he returned, he found Anna seated on the steps that led up to his front door.

  ‘Is aught well?’ he asked. She did not seem upset. With a thick shawl around her shoulders and a steaming cup in her hands, she looked quite comfortable.

  ‘They’ve only now dropped off to sleep. I just wanted to sit in the quiet before retiring.’

  Although he would have sat at her side, the apparent dismissal kept him standing. ‘Then I will leave you to your thoughts.’

  ‘Nay,’ she said.

  It was not the word, but her hand on his leg that stopped him from moving. For a moment, he thought, or maybe hoped, she would slide it up on to the bare skin above his boot.

  ‘You do not have to leave,’ she whispered as she shifted aside to allow him room to join her there. Davidh stepped back down, turned and sat there at her side.

  They sat in the growing darkness in silence for a short time. From time to time, she lifted the cup to her lips and sipped whatever she’d made. Aromas of some unknown herbs wafted across the short distance to him, but he could not identify them.

  ‘’Tis mostly betony with a bit of honey added.’ She laughed then and the sound of it teased him to smile. ‘You were sniffing so I thought you were curious. I can get you some?’

  ‘Nay, but my thanks for the offer.’

  ‘Iain is very excited about the arrangements you’ve made for him. Anxious to get started,’ she clarified.

  ‘And you? Are you anxious for it?’ he asked.

  She did not respond at first. Sipping her tea gave her a moment or two of reprieve and then she nodded. ‘Aye. I am.’

  He thought she might explain, but he’d learned that when it came to her son, she held her confidences—and his—close. Then she let out a long, soft sigh and nodded again.

  ‘I have wanted to return here since the first step I took away. And I’ve wanted to bring Iain back from the second he was born. Sometimes, Davidh, I cannot believe we are here.’

  She tipped the cup back and finished the brew before standing. Davidh rose and realised she stood on the step and not the ground, bringing her face level with his. Anna leaned forward and braced herself on his shoulders then.

  ‘I will keep Colm busy with helping me. That way he will not be restless and tempted to disobey your orders,’ she promised.

  His body reacted to her nearness and to her touch. Suddenly, he worried not for his restless son, but for his own restless desires. Davidh moved and met her halfway across the space that divided them. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to know the taste of her betony tea with honey. He wanted...

  And when she opened her mouth and drew in a shallow breath, he leaned the rest of the way to capture her lips. The touch of her tongue on his revealed the flavour of her tea—honey-sweet with a bitter tang. Sweet and sour. She made the most enticing sound as he thrust in to taste more of her. When she’d wrapped her arms around his shoulders, he knew not, but she held on tight now and he felt the softness of her body against the hardness of his.

  How he noticed the noise of people approaching over the roar of want and need in his blood, he knew not. Davidh wrapped his arms around her waist, lifted her from her feet and carried her up the steps and into the house through the slightly open door. Still kissing the breath from her, he circled around and pressed her against the wooden door and lifted his head to look at her.

  Her eyes glazed with passion, her mouth pulled in shallow, heated breaths and her hands slid into his hair and pulled him back to her. Now, she kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth, and Davidh let her. He pressed the length of him, and the unruly flesh between his legs, against her as she held him tightly to her body. Easing to stand between her legs, he felt pleasure as she lifted her legs and encircled his hips, all the while never taking her mouth from his.

  Davidh rocked his hardness against her, wanting to be so much closer. She canted her own hips and he slid his hands beneath her to give her support. It would take little to tug the skirt of her gown and shift out of their way and do what they both wanted to do. He would fill her flesh with his and give her pleasure until she screamed.

  Once more, an awareness of their precarious position—against the door—and the possibility of discovery or of being witnessed stopped him. When he lifted his mouth from hers, she pushed her head back and it met the door’s unforgiving surface with a thump. One followed by her moan of pain.

  ‘That sounded as though it hurt,’ he whispered, still holding her as she slid her legs down along his until her feet reached the floor.

  ‘I deserve it,’ she muttered as they stepped apart and her skirts fell around her legs. Rubbing the back of her head, she looked up at him. Her lips were swollen from his kisses and it made him smile.

  ‘Nay,’ he said as he moved out of her way. He rubbed his hand over his face and wondered what she was thinking. ‘’Twas just a kiss.’

  ‘I fear it is a sign of a bigger problem between us,’ she said softly. ‘And I neither want nor claim that you inflicted yourself on me. I started it.’

  He watched as she moved around the chamber, putting out the lanterns and banking the fire, all the while muttering under her breath. After a few minutes of a conversation with no one but herself, Anna stood before the chamber she shared with her son. Without another word, she disappeared silently inside.

  Davidh let out the breath he’d been holding. Shoving his hand through his hair, he shook his head, completely lost after their encounter. She’d kissed him...again. Oh, he’d kissed her back and would have continued this bit of love play as far and as long as she would have allowed.

  Thankfully, she had the good sense to stop. He had no doubt he would have taken her against the door. A woman who had been bodily attacked by outlaws this very day and he was thrusting against her here just hours later.

  She did not act as most women would if they’d faced what she had. Then the truth struck him. Davidh walked to the cupboard and found the small jug of uisge-beatha and lifted it to his lips, forgoing a cup that would serve to slow him down. He drew deeply and swallowed the potent liquid. As the burn spread into his gut, spreading warmth from there, Davidh understood her actions.

  After such a threat as the one she’d faced, she was testing herself. Men under his command did the same thing in their training after being beaten or injured. They pushed themselves into the same activity that had hurt them, but only with someone whom they trusted to see them safely through it. One of his men had been stabbed when a quarterstaff had broken and pierced him in the leg. Once healed, it had been Davidh himself that Geordie had challenged, knowing that Davidh would see no harm came to him.

  That kiss, more than the one earlier, was a test. Anna pushed against the terrors of assault she’d faced this day, knowing he would not take advantage of her weakness or fears. That he would stop when she needed him to.

  His flesh surged then, aching and swollen, reminding him that he had not realised the purpose or cause of this encounter with Anna until it had stopped. He’d simply wanted her kiss, her caress, her body against his. God help him if she continued to test herself an
d him in this manner!

  The strong spirit began to ease him then, so he took one more swallow and put the cork back in the jug. At least he was now armed with the understanding he needed to keep her approaches, and kisses, in perspective.

  He told himself that all through the night and even into the next day as his body and mind seemed as agitated with anticipation as his son was. But his restlessness had little to do with the work he faced and more with the woman who slept just a yard away from him in the other bedchamber.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The light that pierced the darkness through a window high on the wall made the floating dust appear as burning snowflakes. They filled the chamber now, scattered by Anna’s feverish swipes across the tops of the dozens and dozens of glass and glazed jars and bottles there on the long table.

  The dust danced in that bright stream and then drifted back down towards the place where she’d cleaned. For a moment, she lost herself in the way the tiny specks shimmered there. As she stared at them, these sparkly bits reminded Anna of the way the lantern’s light had reflected in Davidh’s eyes as he leaned in and kissed her. Somehow, the flickering light of the burning lamp found shades there in what she’d thought were simply brown eyes.

  Gold and silver hidden deep within the browns and the flickering light had caught the sparkles. A long, soft sigh escaped her once more. Leaning back against the table, she shook her head and tried to concentrate on the task, the very large task, at hand. She’d lost too much time this day falling into memories of that kiss.

  That kiss.

  She touched her lips then, for his mouth on hers and the possessive way he claimed hers made hers swell.

  It would have been a simple kiss had she not lost control of the growing desire that seemed stronger with each encounter. She had pressed against him and even wrapped herself around his tall, muscular body in a very scandalous manner. Never having been the one to initiate such things, it surprised Anna that she would have done such a thing, especially on the same day as the attack. It was almost as though the vulnerability after the attack that day had unleashed a need in her. All the while, she knew that Davidh would never harm her or take advantage or take more than she willingly offered. A strange balance of fear and comfort had urged her on to do what she’d done.

  The problem was that she wanted to offer him anything she had to give. She wanted him in a way that was different from any man she’d met since Malcolm. There had been discreet and short-lived involvements in the last few years, but they’d meant nothing and were over and done quickly. What Anna truly feared was that this was more than a need to be satisfied with a few bouts of bed play.

  It was also something she would need to face if she and her son would be staying here in Achnacarry among the Camerons. Particularly if she was remaining in his house. She’d never considered that being in such close quarters—something that was necessary to bring her son into closer dealings with his clan—would have been so dangerous to her own self-control.

  Maybe there was something here among the good brother’s concoctions and tonics that could cool her desire for the commander? Anna chose a dark brown bottle of some thick syrup and pulled the cork free releasing a terrible smell into the chamber. She quickly pushed the stopper back in and replaced the bottle in the line with the others. No matter how effective that potion might be, she would never be able to swallow it.

  So, she would have to find another way to deal with this attraction to Davidh and not let it interfere with her overall ambitions. Then, a wicked thought occurred to her—mayhap it was not a bad thing after all?

  He was an honourable man, one of the most honourable she’d ever encountered, and she was as certain of that as she was that he would never expect her to sleep with him in exchange for his help. From his original offer, it was clear he was trying to avoid that very thing.

  Would it be such a bad thing if she did take him to her bed? The heat rose in her cheeks then as the memories of their kisses and their embraces filled her thoughts. Aye, she wanted him. Aye, he wanted her. And yet, because of his honour, he would have nothing to do with her when he discovered she’d deceived him. Would it be so terrible if she allowed herself the physical comfort he would give for the short time before he found out the true identity of her son?

  Anna sighed then, unwilling to examine that too closely. Her mother had warned her there would be complications and problems if she returned here at all, but most especially if she came back with her son. The past, her mam said, did not lie still or easy when power was at stake.

  Her son was at the heart of the struggle for power here.

  With the right protector, he could rise to his rightful place—tanist of the Clan Cameron. With the right man guiding Iain, he could be the chieftain that his father should have been. Davidh Cameron, she was certain, was that man.

  There would be time to decide all of these things and now she needed to sort through more of this chamber’s secrets. Her reactions to the commander were what they were and nothing she worried over in this moment would change them.

  Anna turned her efforts and thoughts back to cleaning and lost herself in her task. Colm had been sent on his way to eat and, please God, rest at Suisan’s and he would seek her out after that.

  When the dust swirling in the chamber brought on incessant sneezing, she pushed a small table over into a position under the window. Climbing up, she yet had to stand on her toes to reach it. It was only when she heard the door to the chamber open that she realised that Colm was returning much too soon.

  * * *

  ‘Papa!’ Davidh turned at Colm’s call and watched as he walked to the fence that separated them.

  The colour in the lad’s cheeks was a welcome change from the pallor of the last months. Davidh found himself listening to Colm’s words and breathing as he approached to determine if he was doing too much.

  ‘How goes it?’ Davidh asked. ‘Is Mistress Mackenzie keeping you busy?’

  ‘Aye,’ he said as he climbed up on the fence. ‘I have emptied boxes and bottles all morn. Now, I am going to Mistress Suisan’s to eat.’ Colm frowned then. ‘And to rest.’ He shrugged then. ‘If, if, I need to. Mistress Mackenzie said that I should think on it when I get there.’

  ‘And what do you think you will do?’ he asked. Davidh noticed the tightness around his son’s mouth and knew it for what it was—his son had done too much. ‘Do you think you need to rest?’

  Another shrug was his answer. Davidh reached out and tousled his son’s hair.

  ‘Do not be stubborn, Colm. Mistress Mackenzie is too soft in giving you directions and letting the choice be yours. You ken what I would say?’

  Colm jumped down to the ground and nodded, reluctant acceptance in his gaze. ‘I should rest.’

  ‘Aye. For if you rest now, you will be able to do more later. When your friends finish their chores and are ready to play.’

  Once more, the similarity to Mara’s expression—the stubborn tilt there in Colm’s chin, the roundness of his eyes—struck him. Colm’s illness had forced on him a maturity and a respect that Davidh wished he did not have, so when faced with decisions in his control, his son usually considered them well before acting.

  Usually. Davidh tried not to think of the dangerous decision that had ended with Colm trapped on the side of the Caig Falls. At Colm’s nod, Davidh felt relief.

  ‘If I rest, if, it means that Mistress Mackenzie is left alone to work in the stillroom.’

  ‘Does she need help then?’ Davidh glanced around for a moment to see which man he could send to her. But only for a moment. The urge to find her and speak to her grew within the space of a breath to almost an uncontrollable need.

  ‘Some of the boxes are heavy and she cannot move them without help,’ his son said, puffing out his chest with pride that he’d been able to do that.

  ‘I will send some
one to check on her until you are able to return. Fear not, there will be plenty to do upon your return.’

  Davidh understood well that part of the improvement in his son had to do with how needed he believed he was. Anna comprehended that, too, and her request for Colm’s help was more for his benefit than hers. Giving his son the reassurance that this brief respite did not diminish that was a small thing to do. As Colm smiled and nodded, Davidh knew he’d succeeded in that.

  ‘Go now. I can hear your stomach rumbling even from here!’

  Colm walked off, chattering to himself as he did, and Davidh watched him. Anna had ordered that he not run and so the lad did not, but his pace was brisk. Davidh did not move until Colm passed through the gates.

  ‘Going somewhere?’ Damn it, he’d forgotten that Parlan was there.

  ‘Aye.’ Their assignments were complete and there was time before Davidh needed to meet with the chieftain and his son. ‘Colm said...’ Parlan waved off his words before he could say them.

  ‘’Tis the healer?’ Davidh nodded. ‘I want to meet this woman who distracts you so.’

  ‘I am not... She does not... Robert...’

  Nothing Davidh could say would either explain or placate his suspicious friend at this moment. The knowing expression in Parlan’s gaze and the irritating smile on his face made that clear. And made Davidh want to punch him in that face.

  ‘Come to supper and you will meet her.’

  Then he strode away, ignoring his friend’s laughter, as he made his way into the keep and down to the stillroom.

  He’d not been alone with her since that explosive kiss two nights ago. Surrounded by their sons and then villagers, friends and others, they’d not spoken of it yet. But every small contact or exchange between them made his skin tight. It made his breathing race and his cock rise. No matter how incidental or innocent, his body reacted and the heat in his veins built.

  Did she feel it as he did? Davidh turned into the corridor that led to the chamber and held his breath. Aye, she did. She felt it. He could see it in her manner and in the way her body seemed to call to his. She wanted him. And though their arrangement was a simple one not involving bed play, the way he wanted her would cause all sorts of complications.