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“Yes, it is comin’ back tae me,” he answered. His voice was hoarse with lack of use. “I was attacked an’ tied up, an’ ye found me. I think they left me for dead. I don’t know how ye got me ontae my horse, but I am very glad ye did. Thank ye. What were ye doin’ in the forest?”
“I was pickin’ mushrooms an’ berries,” she replied. “I did no’ see who attacked ye, though.”
“I know who it is, don’t worry,” he said grimly. “I will get even wi’ him if it is the last thing I ever do!” He was suddenly on fire with rage, feeling totally helpless while Rowan was doing God knew what to his reputation.
“Ye will have tae get better first,” she told him. “An’ ye cannot get better unless ye eat. I will fetch ye some breakfast.” She poured him some water from a pitcher, and he drank it down in one draft, then asked for another. When he had finished she stood up to leave, but first she leaned over to straighten his blankets and smiled at him.
“How long have I been here?” he asked.
“Three days,” she answered, as she tucked the bedclothes underneath him.
As Evanna bent over him and he smelled her lavender water and her own musky scent, he felt his body stiffen in response to her nearness. At first, he was shocked, then he was relieved to know that all his vital parts were still working!
“I will bring ye somethin’ tae eat,” she told him, “an’ then a bath. We have been doin’ our best tae keep ye clean but even so, ye don’t smell too good.”
“Thank ye!” he laughed, then he looked more serious. “An’ thank ye for lookin’ after me.”
“Anybody would have done it,” she replied, blushing, then she turned away and left.
* * *
Evanna was stunned. As soon as she had gone into the room and Fraser’s bright blue gaze had met hers, she had felt a surge of attraction that was so strong that it made her knees weak. It was only with great difficulty that she had saved the bowl of water, and when she went over to tend to him, she almost became lost in his eyes.
She gave herself a mental shake and went back to the kitchen to tell Lexie the good news. “He is awake,” she said to Lexie as she entered the kitchen.
“Wonderful!” Lexie smiled widely and gave Evanna a hug. “The quicker he heals, the quicker we can be rid of him!”
“I think he would agree with ye!” She laughed, but in spite of the inconvenience of having to sleep on the floor and the extra work involved in looking after the stranger, Evanna was strangely disappointed at the thought of his leaving. She hoped that one day she would see him again after he left, but she was anxious for him because his would-be killer was still out there somewhere. What if he found out Fraser was not dead, tried again, and there was no one to help him this time?
She dished up his porridge into a shallow bowl and then added some honey to it.
“Somebody is gettin’ the special treatment!” Donna remarked, winking at Flora. “Are Sassenachs better than us, or have ye slipped in some poison?”
“We can charge more money for it,” Evanna replied, winking as she left the room. The fact that there was an Englishman hiding in his room took some pressure from her and Lexie’s shoulders since the two girls thought the extra food being sneaked in was for him.
The two young women looked after her and began to giggle as soon as the door had shut.
When she returned to the chamber, Evanna found that her patient was sitting up and looking around him and seemed to be decidedly better than he had been when she left him. He was looking at the window, and as she moved toward him, his stunning blue eyes caught the sunlight.
Evanna swallowed, and her body had the same wicked reaction as before. Her heartbeat speeded up, her nipples began to tingle, and there was a strange, pleasant throbbing between her legs.
At the same time, she had become so hot that she felt as though her whole body was blushing. Her gaze dropped from his in case he saw the telltale signs of attraction in her eyes; she was sure that she must be betraying herself somehow.
“I will help ye tae feed yerself just once,” she announced. “And after this, ye must do it yerself.”
Evanna pulled up a chair beside his bed and began to feed him, watching his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. She had never really thought about the difference between men’s and women’s bodies before, but now it became perfectly obvious to her why they were so different. At this moment, had he asked her, she would have leaped into the bed beside him and snuggled up against him to run her hands over his firmly muscled body.
Then she swallowed and concentrated on her task, keeping her eyes on the spoon as she tipped porridge between his lips and tried not to imagine them kissing her as he closed them over each spoonful. They were soft and moist as he licked them, and her imagination was running wild.
For his part, Fraser was also trying to keep his traitorous body under control. Every time the woman bent down, her soft breast brushed his arm and his shaft stood to attention. It would have been an easy matter for him to pull her into his arms and kiss her senseless.
However, he had a feeling that if he did, he would quickly be turfed out to take his chances in the rain with no shelter, clothes, or food. He would have been entirely wrong, but he was not to know that.
As she inserted each spoonful, Evanna was hindered by his beard, which of course had grown longer in the few days he had spent in her care.
“Ye will have tae shave,” she told him, frowning. “Or cut this a bit.”
Fraser put his hands to his cheeks and ran his hands through his beard, feeling that it was greasy, dirty, and a little too long. “I will,” he agreed, sighing. “At least that is one problem you will never have tae worry about.” He chuckled.
