Page 46 of Hold Fast

Then Fenella clapped her hands together loudly. “Well, I believe you birdies have an enraged laird to tend, and I have to make this pie so that I can have a long chat with young Rory about the new word he learned and when nae to say it.”

“That’s a wee bit hypocritical, dinnae you think?” Fiona asked with an arched brow as Fenella returned to the table with a booming laugh. “Youteachin’ him nae to swear?”

“I didnae say I would tell himneverto say it. Just nae to say it aroundyou.”

Fiona huffed a long-suffering sigh, and Una thought that it was no wonder Ewan had spent so much time in the kitchen as a boy. She could picture him, blond shaggy hair and lanky body, sneaking into the kitchen to sneak scraps from the table behind Fenella’s back.

“Come, Una. Gather what you require,” Fiona said, and Una obeyed.

When they reached Connor’s room, Una and Fiona made preparations for Ewan’s arrival. Fiona spread clean linens on the bed, and Una sent a maid down for the boiling water Fenella had promised before they’d left, then arranged her medicines on a table near the bed.

A commotion in the bailey sent Fiona flying to the window, pulling aside the heavy coverings and peering down. “He’s here. It looks as if David and Rabbie are helping him. Saints, but that is a lot of blood, Una.”

Una joined her at the window and watched Ewan hobble toward the keep, an arm slung over both men. While she was gratified that he was both conscious and strong enough to walk, she hissed between her teeth at the sight of his bloody clothes and body.

“Foolish man,” she said “Struggling up all those stairs willnae make him bleed less. Cannae they carry him?”

“Aye, they could. Especially if Angus or Kenneth or one of the others helped. But do you think the laird would let them?” Fiona asked with a maternal look, both fond and frustrated.

Una blew her breath through pursed lips, her cheeks puffing. “Perhaps David should have knocked him out. That would solve both problems, the carrying and the shouting.”

Fiona snorted a laugh.

Moments later, curses echoed from the stairs and then the hallway just before the chamber door burst open and the men entered the room, seeming to take up every inch of space. All three were panting, and Ewan’s head hung low as he grunted, pained.

“Where is the wound?” Una asked.

Rabbie bit his lips. David said, “Right at his hip, m’lady. He fell off the roof and landed on a sickle. Thank God his belt caught it so the blade sliced his side rather than piercing him through.”

“That was fortunate,” Una said. “Can you remove his plaid and leine so that I can see the wound?”

“M’lady,” David asked, shocked. “Strip him to his skin?”

“How else am I to examine and stitch a wound at his hip?”

“Aye, but—”

“And that leine isfilthy. Cover him as you see fit, but I must have unfettered access to the wound.”

David nodded, and Ewan cursed loudly as they maneuvered him toward the bed. With more shouted curses, they got him onto the bed and reclined, but nobody moved further. Una rolled her eyes and turned her back on them.

“I’ll give you some privacy then, m’laird,” she said, and Ewan growled. That was gratifying enough to send a small smile tugging at her lips.

Una heard the rustle of clothing being removed, the scraping of a belt through a buckle, more shuffling. And then David said, “He is ready, m’lady.”

Rabbie stood next to the bed, pale as a ghost and clearly shaking. Fiona looped an arm around Rabbie’s waist, guiding him away from the bed. “Send for me if you have need, Una. Rabbie and I will go to the kitchens to see if Fenella has an extra pie and then check on Connor.”

Una was prepared to tell David to sit when Ewan grabbed his wrist with a shaky hand. “David, go be sure it’s finished. I dinnae want Bertie and her wee ’uns without a roof tonight.”

David nodded and squeezed Ewan’s hand. A maid entered with an ewer of boiled water, and David held the door open for her to leave after placing the ewer on the table. The door closed with a dull thud, and she was alone with Ewan, naked except for the sheet tucked around him.

CHAPTER18

Ewan lay in the bed, panting and in pain. The sickle had sliced him across his side, a cut that was several inches long and a good half-inch deep at least. David had covered his left leg and groin with a sheet that was pulled up to his armpits and tucked there, leaving his right hip, side, and leg exposed for Una’s examination.

His hair was dirty, drenched with sweat and bits of thatch stuck in the waves. Hell, all of him was dirty, and he wished he’d instructed them to visit the well before coming upstairs and poured a bucket of water over him. He was sure he smelled like a sty in August.

Una approached the bed slowly. “How is your pain?” she asked.