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“Here?” she asked doubtfully as she looked around again as what appeared to no more than roots and branches.
He gestured towards the thick walls of tangled vegetation surrounding them, the gesture oddly elegant despite the sheer size of his hand.
“I harvest several herbs and flowers from the swamp that can be useful and there are trees that provide sap for binding and bark for bandages.”
Her mouth dropped open in surprise, and she caught a glimpse of what might have been a smile. The expression softened the austere planes of his face, reminding her once again how beautiful his eyes were. Despite their alien, luminous quality, they conveyed an emotion that was far too recognizable.
“Who are you?” she asked softly.
He hesitated for a moment, his body going very still.
“You may call me Marsh,” he finally answered.
Marsh. It suited him. When she shifted her position to try and get a better look at him, the pain in her ankle made her gasp.
“It needs to be set and splinted,” he continued after a moment, his voice gruffer now.
“And you know how to do that?”
He just kept on surprising her, but then she wouldn’t have expected the swamp monster to know anything about first aid.
“Yes.” Another flicker of humor. “Although most of my experience is with wounded animals. Will you allow me to attend to your wounds, miss…?”
“Aurora,” she said automatically. “But everyone calls me Rorie.”
“Aurora like the dawn?” he asked, surprising her once again.
‘Well, yes. But my mother named me after the princess in Sleeping Beauty.”
Even after a year, the familiar ache of her mother’s loss made her throat tighten and she looked away, focusing on her swollen ankle.
“May I help you?” he asked, apparently following her glance.
Doctoring animals was not the same as doctoring people, but what choice did she have? If she couldn’t walk, she didn’t stand any chance of getting away from Harold. The thought of her stepfather made her shudder, not just because of his furious red face or heavy fist, but the blood…
The memory made her shudder again, but she did her best to push it aside and give Marsh a tentative nod.
“If you could get me walking again, that would be a big help.”
He hesitated as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just rose silently to his feet. A faint shiver of apprehension skated across her skin as he loomed over her, tall and threatening against the clouds scudding across the moon. But then his eyes met hers for a second, that odd sense of connection snapping into place, and she relaxed again.
She watched as he moved further back into the twisted framework of branches. The uncertain light made it difficult to tell exactly what he was doing but as he started gathering his supplies, she realized that the branches formed shelves and cubby holes. When he returned, he had an ancient looking glass bottle, two carved wooden bowls - one large and one small - and a roll of what looked like paper.
“May I?” he asked as he knelt next to her and that rich, herbal scent intensified.
She decided it must be coming from him as she gave a hesitant nod, but she still jumped when he put a huge, warm hand on her calf. Even after that unexpected surge of panic, she couldn’t help but notice that the sensation was not unpleasant.
“Your leg,” he prompted, and she hastily stretched it out.
Despite her injury, her leg still felt firm and strong, a result of all those long hours on her feet working for Harold. As his hand moved lightly down the outside of her leg, that featherlight touch sent a rush of sensation through her and her breath caught. Those luminous eyes immediately focused on her face.
“Am I hurting you?”
She shook her head, reluctant to admit that she’d actually liked the sensation.
“No, it’s fine.”
He made an approving noise and continued down her leg to her swollen ankle, his hands surprisingly gentle for such a large man. No, not a man, she reminded herself. Although he was male, he was very different from anyone she’d ever seen. Not that she had much - any - experience being this close to a half-naked man. Harold had kept her very close to home. The thought made her shudder and he looked up again from his examination.
