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Evanna felt as if a dart of pain had struck her heart since Bettie, her mother, had died when Evanna was born. Her father was living years in the past, and he was doing so more and more often. Evanna had known others like him, and she knew the frustration that the families went through.
“Mammy is gone, Da,” she said gently. “She won’t be comin’ for a while. But ye will see her soon, dinnae worry.”
He looked at her uncomprehendingly for a moment. “Heaven?” Then he laughed. “No! Ye are kiddin’ me! Bettie! Where are ye, love?” He looked around frantically.
“Ye will see her soon, but until then, I will take care o’ ye,” Evanna said soothingly as she pushed him back onto the bed and covered him with the discarded blankets. “Sleep now, Da,” she whispered, then kissed him on the forehead. He closed his eyes, and Evanna began to sing one of his favorite songs to him. It did seem as though she was singing to a child, she thought, as if he was growing backward into infancy again, but the sound of her voice did the trick. Shortly, she could tell by this breathing that he was asleep, and when he started to snore softly, she snuffed out the candle and whispered, “Goodnight, Da. No more nightmares.”
Then she softly closed the door. Now she only had one more thing to do before she went to bed, and she was not looking forward to it!
She went wearily to the room where Fraser was, she hoped, sleeping, and stood outside the door, suddenly afraid. Then she shook herself. He was in pain, incapacitated, and completely unable to do her any harm. At this moment she was probably stronger than he was. What was she so afraid of?
Evanna was holding a single candle in her hand as she unlocked the door and stepped through it. It gave off only a feeble light, but as she looked into the room she gave a gasp of shock as she saw that the bed was empty.
She held up the candle and looked around the room, too afraid to enter any further. Where the hell was he?
“Where are ye?” she asked, then squealed as something heavy and hard slammed her against the door, while at the same time a hand was clamped over her mouth.
“No, where am I?” Fraser asked savagely. “An’ why am I here?”
It took Evanna a moment to realize that the object pressing her against the door was Fraser’s body. His beard was rubbing against her face and she could smell him, a mixture of sweat and some indefinable animal scent that was obviously his own essence. She had never been so close to a man in this way. She tended to her father, but that was entirely different. Was this the way a man and woman held each other before they were intimate? She was terrified, but at the same time, the now-familiar feelings of arousal were beginning to stir inside her.
Then she thought again. Intimate? He was crushing her against a door, for God’s sake! What was she thinking, allowing him to do this to her? He was weak and wounded, and even if she could feel the hard muscles of his stomach under his shirt, even if his powerful arms and hands were pinning her to the door, she could still defend herself.
If her mouth had not been covered by his hand, she could have screamed the place down, but that was impossible, so she bit down on the flesh she could reach with her teeth.
He cried out in pain and released her at once, then she pushed him as hard as she could and knocked him over. In his weakened state, it was not difficult to do, and while he was lying on the floor, she grabbed the poker from the fireplace and stood over him, sticking it into his chest. It had not been used and was cold, and she used little pressure, but it was enough to make him screw up his face in anguish.
Evanna decided not to scream, thinking of the chaos it would cause. Instead, she moved the tip of the poker to the edge of his wound and rubbed it against the bandage. He groaned and rolled sideways.
“Were ye trying tae escape?” Evanna asked. “Fine. Go. How far do ye think ye will get wi’ no horse an’ nowhere tae stay? Have ye seen the weather outside?”
Fraser groaned. His head was thumping with pain, and the injury on his side was throbbing. In this state, a little woman had overpowered him with one feeble push, and he felt utterly ashamed.
Evanna moved the tip of the poker back to his chest and gave him a gentle prod. “Stand up,” she ordered.
7
For a moment, he could not move. Not only was he in an agony of pain, but he was also in an agony of embarrassment. What must this lovely woman think of him? She had been obliged to haul him inside and treat his wounds, wash him, feed him like an infant, and do other things for him that he did not even wish to think about.
Moving very slowly, he began the torturous process of getting to his feet, first kneeling on one knee, then both, then somehow managing to maneuver himself onto all fours before resting for a moment.
Evanna could see that standing up unaided was too much for him, so she bent down and put a shoulder under his armpit, then tried to lift him by straightening herself up. By taking some of his weight this way while he made an effort to help himself, Evanna managed to get him to his feet. They stood still for a moment to rest and recover, then Evanna helped him to lie down on the bed again.
After the efforts of the last few moments, her shoulder and back were aching, and she was sweating profusely. She was also fuming, and as soon as she had steadied herself, she stood over him, looking down at his helpless figure not with pity but with fury.
“What did ye think ye were doin’?” she asked angrily. “Ye can hardly stand up. Walkin’ would be hard, an’ ridin’ would be impossible! It is pourin’ wi’ rain, an’ ye have nowhere tae sleep! Go if ye want tae, but don’t expect me tae help ye!”
“Ye are right,” he groaned. “It was stupid.” He put his arm over his eyes and tried to breathe calmly and slowly, but he was in too much pain.
Evanna had calmed down enough to feel a little sorry for him. “I have no milk o’ the poppy but I can get ye some willow bark tea for the pain,” she told him. “It will no’ be as good, but it will have tae do. Now stay still an’ shut up.”
* * *
Down in the kitchen, Lexie was alone. She could already see a change in Evanna, whose usual cheerful disposition had become more nervous and less placid since the stranger’s arrival.
She knew that the strain of keeping the secret from the other staff had taken its toll on her, and she fiercely resented the young man for that, but she could not turn her back on him. He needed care, and she would give him that, but as soon as he could move, she would send him back where he came from and encourage Evanna to forget him. She sighed as she remembered the havoc that another man had caused in her own life many years ago. As in many situations in a young woman’s life, the reason for her discarding of the veil had been caused by an affair of the heart.
Lexie’s reverie was interrupted by the sound of Evanna marching into the kitchen, grumbling crossly under her breath, “That man!” she growled. “He tried to overpower me—in his state!” Her voice was incredulous. “He had me pushed against the door before he realized he was in no state tae do anythin’! I pushed him over an’ he could no’ get up again. I am goin’ tae make some willow bark tea, but he needs tae be tied up for his own good!”
