She barely had time to finish the thought when the door was yanked open, revealing Leo clad in only a sleep shirt. He looked haggard and unkempt. Beatrice ventured a guess that he had not gotten much rest since she had tumbled into sweat-soaked oblivion.
In an odd motion, Leo reached forward as if to hug her, then stepped back and cupped her face in both his hands.
“Ye’re all right, Beatrice?” he asked, though it sounded closer to a statement she wouldn’t dare defy. “Ye’re alive.”
“She’s a strong lass, this one,” Violet agreed, clapping Beatrice on the back a little too firmly and then tapping it as if to apologize.
“I cannae express how worried we were.” Leo dropped his hands to his sides. “Violet and Eloise sat with ye when we finally convinced Effie to go to sleep.”
“Effie’s still in me chambers, by the way.”
He glanced in the general direction of Beatrice's room. “Aye, she must be happy that ye’re awake.”
“She doesnae ken yet,” Beatrice said. “She was sleepin’ soundly when I left her.”
Leo’s face tightened, and Violet shook her head as if reading his mind. “The guards are still there, Leo. We didnae leave her alone.”
“Are ye worried whoever poisoned me might go after her?” Beatrice asked. “Do we ken who did this anyway?”
Leo jerked his head. “Violet, go stay with Effie until she wakes up.”
Violet nodded.
Leo’s gaze landed back on Bea. “I’m goin' to take ye to the healer right away.”
“I need to bathe, Leo.” Beatrice said plucking at her sweat-soaked garments.
Violet had retreated, leaving the two of them alone in the corridor.
Leo touched Beatrice's face again, his gaze softening.
“We must be careful going forward,” he said, quickly pulling some clothes on and then throwing a cloak over her shoulders. “We daenae ken why ye were targeted, but we mustnae let it happen again now that ye’re on the mend.”
He peeked over his shoulder to check that she was not fully naked before he turned the rest of the way around.
The worst of it is over.The poison is out of her, and she survived it.
Leo was impressed by how she had fought and refused to give in to the beckoning void. Arsenic was no weak poison; it ravaged the body. He had seen too many men succumb to it in a grisly fashion that still turned his stomach.
“Sit with her, me Laird,” the healer instructed. “I’ll go put together a mix of herbs to build her strength back up.”
Leo pulled a stool next to the cot as Beatrice held a handkerchief the healer had given her over the cuts in her arm. Her eyes were a bit brighter now.
Even just being up and out of her bed is doing wonders for her.
“Ye ken, I remember a bit of what happened around me when I was unconscious,” she admitted. Her face was slack, and her eyes were glistening as if she were about to cry. “I could hear people speakin’ and movin’ around me.”
“Did ye hear Eloise readin’ to ye? She did it all night.” Leo chuckled to himself, as if at a private joke. “I told her nae to, but I guess it was a good thing she didnae listen to me.”
“Why did ye tell her nae to read to me?”
Leo sighed heavily. “I didnae think ye could hear anythin'. I thought it was a waste of breath.”
Beatrice blinked at him. “Were ye worried about me, Leo? Nae worried in the way ye’d be worried about anyone who was hurt in yer castle, but were yeworriedabout me? Worried about what might happen?”
Leo kept his eyes on her face. The lines and contours of her naked body under the thin sheet called to him, but he knew better than to look at it under the circumstances.
I daenae ken what I was feelin’, lass. I daenae ken if I was angry, worried, or scared. Too much was out of me control for me to even contemplate how I felt.
