“Edan, are ye all right?” she asked, skidding to her knees at his side, her heart pounding with fear to see him lying there face down, unmoving. “Edan?”
Holding her breath, she gently put her hands on his shoulders and rolled him over. Brushing his tousled hair from his forehead, she peered at his face, alarmed to see his eyes closed.
For a heart-stopping moment, she feared he might be dead or, at best, unconscious. But then his eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at her dazedly. Relief coursed through her.
“Ach, thank God! I thought ye were…” she trailed off, reflexively stroking his forehead.
However, she knew that just because he was conscious, did not mean he was out of danger. He could well have a concussion or broken bones.
He groaned. “Aye, I think I’m all right,” he murmured, then groaned again as he tried to rub his backside. “Mercifully, this turf is soft and absorbed much of me fall. But I wasnae expectin’ that to happen.” His brow creased into a frown. “In fact. I’ve never seen that happen to anyone before.”
Olivia understood his suspicion, and she shared it too. However, at that moment, she was more worried about any potential injuries.
“Me neither,” she said. “But never mind that for the moment. Did ye bang yer head when ye fell? Ye could have a concussion.”
He gave her a wry smile and rubbed his backside again. “Nay, me arse took the brunt of it, I think,” he replied.
“Ach, ye could have a broken tailbone then,” she fretted. “Let’s see how ye feel when ye try to sit up.” Putting her arms beneath his, she used all her might to help him into a sitting position, crouching at his side. “Is anythin’ broken? Tell me if anythin’ hurts ye.”
She began examining him, lifting his arms and running her hands over his head, shoulders, back, and limbs to see if they were hurt. He sat quietly, watching her with his usual unfathomable expression as she worked.
Despite her fears for him, Olivia’s hands tingled as she touched his powerful, muscular body more intimately than she had ever dared. She felt no embarrassment at all.
“There’s nay need to make such a fuss. I’ve had worse,” he said gruffly.
However, she noticed that he made no move to halt her inspection, which she found encouraging.
“’Tis necessary to make sure all the same,” she insisted, turning his large, calloused hands over in hers, checking for broken wrists or fingers and relieved to find everything intact.
He did not argue, and when she was satisfied he had no serious injuries, she sat back on her heels and smiled at him.
“Well, I’m nay expert, but I cannae find any broken bones, thank goodness—although ye’re bound to have some nasty bruises.But I think ye’ve been very lucky. Ye could have been seriously injured or even killed.”
Her breath caught in her throat when he unexpectedly reached out and grabbed her hand, folding it in his. She looked into his eyes, suddenly burningly conscious of how close their faces were.
“I told ye before,” he said in a low, sensual voice that made her pulse quicken. “I’m nae so easy to kill. Now, will ye help me up?”
“Aye, but be careful. Ye’ll probably be dizzy once ye stand up. Lean on me.”
Small as she was, she got beneath his arm and used her shoulder to help him get to his feet. When he swayed a little, she slid her arms around his waist and propped him up as best as she could.
“How could the girth strap have broken like that?” she asked, looking up at him.
“I dinnae ken. Let’s go and have a look.”
They slowly crossed to where the saddle lay. To her disappointment, Edan extricated himself from her grasp and hunkered down to examine the ends of the broken strap. Olivia crouched next to him.
“It looks like a clean cut,” he said, showing them to her.
Olivia gasped to see he was right.
“Someone did it on purpose!” she exclaimed, horrified.
“Aye. Looks like someone wants to kill me,” he said, letting the broken strap fall and picking up the saddle before standing up.
Olivia rose too, angered by the obvious attempt on his life. She stayed close to his side as he walked towards the horses, for she was still worried about any possible aftereffects of the fall.
“I cannae believe any of the stable hands could be responsible,” she said, her initial suspicions coming strongly to mind.
