Never Love a Highlander (McCabe Trilogy 3)

“It needs stitching and you’ll lie there and allow it or so help me I’ll sew your mouth shut.”

“Just get on with it. I want to get back to Rionna. I’ll not have her think the worst when she doesn’t see me.”

“I’ve sent Alaric to tell her that you’re carrying on as usual and making threats. She’ll know you’re fine when she hears that.”

“If I didn’t hurt so badly, I’d hit you for that.”

Ewan grinned. “You can try. You’re as weak as a newborn babe at the moment. I think Rionna could take you even with a dagger in her back.”

Caelen sobered. “She amazes me, Ewan. I don’t even know how to act around her. How can I ever go beyond the fact that she risked all for me?”

“You’d do the same for her,” Ewan said bluntly. “It stands to reason she’d stand up for you as well. They broke the mold when they made her. You’re well blessed, Caelen. I hope you know it.”

“Aye, I do,” he murmured.

“There,” Ewan said as he sat back. “ ’Tis stitched and the bleeding has stopped.”

Caelen tried to rise but he fell back on his side, every bit of his strength gone. His muscles felt like mush, and he was so weak he could barely lift his arm.

He cursed and struggled to rise again. “Help me up, damn it.”

“I’ll help you to the chamber where Rionna is if you swear to stay abed.”

“I’ll not bargain with you over Rionna,” Caelen growled. “I’ll not leave her even for a moment.”

“ ’Tis a serious wound, Caelen. You’re fevered and your strength is gone. You could die if you won’t have a care.”

“Help me up,” he said again.

Ewan shook his head and pulled Caelen to a sitting position. “I swear I have no idea whose loins you sprang from. I’m convinced you were left on the steps to the keep when you were a wee bairn.”

Caelen sobered as he struggled to his feet. Cameron’s words about their father drifted back into his hazy consciousness. He would never know if there was any truth to Cameron’s rantings. But he wouldn’t relate the story to his brothers. There was no need to plant any doubt in their minds. Cameron had existed on hatred and revenge for years and it had brought him nothing. In the end, he’d brought dishonor on himself and the father he claimed to avenge.

“ ’Tis over, Ewan,” he said quietly as they hobbled down the hallway. “After eight years, ’tis over. Cameron is dead and neither of us dealt the killing blow.”

“Aye,” Ewan murmured. “Our father can rest now. He has been avenged.”

“Nay,” Caelen said swiftly. “ ’Tis not about vengeance. ’Tis about what is honorable and just. Cameron acted without honor. He died without honor. ’Tis enough.”

Ewan’s brow furrowed as he cast a sideways glance at his brother. “I owe your wife a debt I can never repay. She not only saved your life, but she killed a man who has caused much grief to my wife and who threatened my daughter.”

“ ’Twould seem there are many of us indebted to my wife,” Caelen said dryly.

Ewan knocked at the chamber door and Caelen pushed impatiently in before the summons was issued. His heart nearly stopped when he saw Rionna sprawled facedown on the bed, face turned to the side and eyes closed.

Gannon immediately put up a hand. “She passed out awhile ago, but she’s breathing. The pain became too much for her.”

“Can’t we give her a potion? Is there a healer in this clan?” Caelen demanded. “I’ll not have her suffer unnecessarily.”

“Be at ease,” Alaric said. “You don’t want to frighten Rionna if she awakens. We’ve convinced her ’tis a minor wound and nothing to worry over. She fears more for you than for herself and ’tis better that way. ’Twill give her something to fight for.”

Caelen went to her bedside, battling pain and the mugginess of fever. His head swam and it felt as though he walked through a bog, but he was determined that he’d remain by her side.

“The dagger is deep, Ewan.”

“Aye. It’s going to bleed more freely once the blade is out. I’ll have to work fast to stop it and stitch the wound.”

“She’s a fighter,” Gannon said gruffly. “This is naught for her.”

Caelen had never seen his commander so pale. He hovered over Rionna, clenching and unclenching his fists as if he had no idea what to do.

“Has there been other bleeding?” Caelen asked fearfully. “She carries a babe.”

Alaric shook his head. “None that I’ve been able to see. She’s complained of no pain in her stomach. Just in her back.”

“Get on the bed with her before you fall over,” Ewan said crossly. “Get to one side so that when you finally pass out, you won’t be in the way.”

A knock sounded at the door and Gannon and Alaric both drew their swords. Gannon hurried to answer, opening it just a crack. Then he opened it wider to admit a gray-haired woman who looked to be as old as Methuselah.

She looked extremely agitated and she wrung her hands in front of her.

“Begging your pardon, Laird McCabe, but I was told you had need of a healer.”

Ewan gazed sharply at the old woman. “Have you skill?”

The woman drew herself up and pinned Ewan with a beady stare. “I was versed in the healing arts long afore you were born, laddie.”

“I need a drought for pain and a poultice to rub on the wound after it’s been stitched.”