Here Comes the Rainne Again (Invertary 6)

Her eyes filled with tears, but she smiled up at him. “Damn straight you will.”

28

* Rainne and Alastair *

Rainne was curled up in front of the fire in the office when Ryan arrived back at the castle with Doctor Murray. He took one look at Alastair, lying on the couch with a straw in his side, and declared he needed to be taken back to his clinic. It wouldn’t be possible to get Alastair to hospital, but thanks to Josh, Invertary’s clinic was probably the best-stocked rural practice in Europe. As soon as Josh found out Caroline was pregnant for the first time he’d bought an x-ray machine, an ultrasound, a crash cart and anything else the doctor could think to ask him for.

Before the orange haired doctor went off to assess the rest of the castle’s wounded, he examined Rainne.

“You’re fine,” he said. “A bit bashed up, that’s all. You need to stay warm and rest. No need for you to come to the clinic.”

“No!” Alastair protested from his position on the couch. “She needs to be checked out properly. She was unconscious. She hit her head.”

“She is also sitting right here, feeling fine,” Rainne pointed out.

“There could be internal bleeding.” Alastair glared.

“Who’s the doctor here and who’s the fisherman?” Doctor Murray demanded. “When I want help with my fly casting, I come to you. I don’t tell you how to do it. You’re the one with the awards on your wall. It’s the same with medicine. I’m the one with the degree and the experience. There’s no internal bleeding. Rainne is fine.”

“And you know this how?” Alastair asked. “With your x-ray vision?”

Doctor Murray stood, grabbed his bag and headed for the door. “I need to see other people. Deal with him,” he said to Rainne. Then he was gone.

“I’m fine,” Rainne said to the grumpy man on the sofa. “No symptoms of anything. I don’t need to go to the clinic.”

“Aye. You do. You can’t take a chance with your health, Rainbow.”

“I’m not the one with a broken wrist and a plastic straw sticking out of me.”

“You had blood in your hair.” He sounded so outraged it was hard not to laugh.

“Nothing a good shower won’t fix.”

His mouth tightened. “You’re coming to the clinic. And that’s final.”

Rainne got up and walked over to Alastair. She stroked his hair, feeling the soft brown strands slide through her fingers. “You can’t decide that, Alastair. There are people here hurt a whole lot worse than I am. I’m going to stay and help Caroline clean up while we wait for the police to get here. Lake said the main road has been cleared, so it shouldn’t be long now.”

“No. It’s too dangerous. You can’t stay here with all these guys in the castle.”

“They’re being guarded. I’ll be fine.” Her hand dropped back to her side. “I should go see what I can do.”

Alastair’s good hand shot out and his fingers curled around her wrist. Dark, unreadable eyes looked up at her. “I want you in the clinic with me. We have things to talk about. Things to sort out.”

It took all of the energy she had left to smile at him. “We can do that once you get better.”

His grip tightened. “I mean it, Rainne. We need to talk. If you go running away again, I’ll chase you down.”

Her heart skipped a beat, but her brain knew better. “You’re only saying these things because you’ve been badly injured. Before you were hurt, when you were in your right mind instead of delirious, you made it clear you didn’t want me. That you would rather I left.”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

Stubborn, foolish man.

“No, you haven’t.” She pried his fingers from her wrist and stepped away from him. “You feel responsible for me after everything we’ve been through. It’s to be expected. You spent the past few hours worrying about keeping us both alive. But you don’t want me, Alastair. Not really, and not in the way I need you to want me.” She took another step towards the door. “When you’re well and thinking straight, you’ll agree with me. It’s best if I don’t go with you to the clinic.”

She turned her back on him and walked towards the door.

“Don’t you leave me again,” he said.