AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Spotting what she thought might be one of her leather slippers peeking out from under the bed, Murine eased down to her knees to grab it, relieved to find it was indeed one of her leather slippers. They must have put them on her to travel from Buchanan and then taken them off when they arrived, Murine thought. She supposed they'd then got knocked under the bed in the interim.
She set the first slipper on the bed, then bent ever so slowly forward until she was on her hands and knees so that she could look under the bed. She'd just spotted the second slipper when she heard a door open. A cold draft skittered across the floor and then there was a click as of a door closing and the draft died. Mindful of her back, Murine slowly eased up to sit on her knees and peered around, but there was no one there.
She'd just decided she'd imagined the door opening when she heard a slight rustle from above stairs. She hadn't even paused to grab the second slipper before straightening and yet had taken so long at the task that whoever had entered had gone above before she'd got upright.
Murine grimaced and briefly considered shouting out to them, but they'd realize soon enough she wasn't above stairs and return below. Besides, she still needed to retrieve her second slipper. She was in the process of doing so, ever so slowly leaning down again to reach under the bed, when a second draft blew across her.
"What the devil are ye doing out o' bed?"
Murine started at that bark from Dougall and unthinkingly jerked upright, both actions making her cry out in pain as her back responded unhappily.
"Dammit, Murine," Dougall's voice was a soft growl as he hurried around the bed to scoop her carefully up. As he set her on the linens and furs she'd just left, he added, "Ye'll rip yer stitches. Ye were sorely injured. Ye must be more careful."
"I was being careful," she said irritably as he turned her so that her back was to him. "It's just that ye startled--Nay!" she cried in shock, hurting herself anew by spinning around to grab at the back of her nightshirt as he jerked it up.
"Settle yerself," he muttered, catching her hand and forcing her forward to lie on her stomach, which certainly eased the pain but did nothing for her embarrassment as he pulled her nightshirt up to her shoulders so that he could examine her wound. Very aware that her bare behind was now on display, along with nearly everything above and below it, Murine buried her face in the linens and groaned with dismay. It had been one thing for Rory to see her bare back while tending her wound. It was another thing entirely for Dougall to--
Her mental whine ended abruptly as a thought occurred to her and she turned her head, trying to glare at him over her shoulder as she barked, "Who took off me gown and put me in this nightshirt?"
"Rory called in a couple maids to change ye when he finished binding ye," Dougall answered absently, and then muttered, "Ye're no' bleeding through the bandage, but I'll need to remove yer wrappings to be sure . . ."
When his voice trailed off, Murine glanced over her shoulder to see what was wrong and noted that his gaze had found and apparently been halted by the sight of her naked bottom. He was gaping at it with fixed fascination. When he suddenly licked his lips as if gazing upon a tasty pastie and then started to bend down as if intending to take a bite, Murine snatched up as much of the linens and furs beside her as she could and dragged them across her bottom and legs to hide them.
Dougall immediately blinked and straightened. "Sorry," he muttered, dropping the hem of her shift. Turning away, he growled, "I'll fetch fresh bindings."
Murine opened her mouth to say she didn't want him to change her bandages, but then let her mouth close on a sigh. Her bottom was covered now and she truly did not want to go through this again. It was better to let him do it now and get it over with, she decided and simply turned her no doubt red face into the furs and waited for it to be over.
She listened silently as Dougall moved around the large room, but when he seemed to take an extremely long time, she turned her head and opened her eyes to see what he was doing. She found him at the fireplace. As she watched, he finished stacking logs over a collection of moss and bark and then used a fire steel to light the kindling. When he then straightened and moved to a bag on one of the tables to fetch the bindings and salves he intended to use on her, Murine closed her eyes and waited for the heat from the fire to begin to warm her.
"How long ago did ye wake?" Dougall asked as he approached the bed with everything he would need to tend her.
"Just moments ago," Murine said quietly, and asked, "We're at yer family's hunting lodge?"
"Aye," he murmured as he set the items he'd collected on the bedside table.
"Is Henry--?"
"Safe and sound at Buchanan," he assured her and then settled on the side of the bed, announcing, "I need to cut yer old bindings away. I'm going to ease yer nightgown up to yer shoulders to get it out of the way first, though."
Murine merely nodded and then held her breath as he eased the thin cloth up her back. She was safely covered by the furs and linens from the waist down; still, it felt odd letting him see her naked back like this, she thought and grimaced when he held the material up by the back of her neck with one hand as he examined the wound. After a hesitation, she tugged the cloth over her head so it was only covering her arms and the tops of the shoulders, but the rest of the material was now gathered under her chin. It freed him from having to hold it.
"I'm going to start cutting," Dougall announced. "Don't move, else I might cut ye by accident."
Murine murmured her agreement and held still as she felt the cold metal of his blade against her skin. A heartbeat later it was done and she felt the cloth slip down to gather on the bed at her sides. After a moment of silence while he examined her back, she asked, "Are the stitches--?"
"They appear to be fine," he answered before she could finish the question. "I'm going to put some salve on. Rory gave me two, one to help ye heal and one to numb ye."
Murine nodded silently again and waited for the shock of cold salve against her skin, but it took a moment and when he did begin to smooth it on her back it was warm and his touch so gentle it barely hurt more than a twinge. She could only think that he'd heated it between his hands first, and was surprised at his thoughtfulness.
"Now the numbing one," he announced and another moment passed before his warm slippery fingers slid over her back again. He wasn't doing anything Rory hadn't done the day she was injured, yet Murine found herself responding to Dougall's light caress in a way she hadn't experienced with Rory.
"Better?" he asked after a moment.
"Aye," Murine whispered.
A moment of silence passed and then Dougall cleared his throat and said, "Ye'll need to sit up so I can bind yer wound again."
Murine stilled. Despite clearing his throat, his voice had been husky and oddly seductive when he spoke, and now the oddest tingles were running through her at the thought of sitting up. She almost slipped her nightshift back over her head, but knew that would mean holding it up and out of the way while he wrapped the bandages around her front and back, and she was quite sure that holding her arms up would pull on the skin of her back and hurt just then.
"Lass, I've done this several times already while ye slept. There's nothing to be embarrassed about," he said solemnly.
Murine sighed and let him help her sit up, appreciative when he wrapped the linens and furs around her waist from behind, preserving at least some of her dignity. She wouldn't have been able to do it herself; she was too busy making sure the material of her gown remained pressed against her breasts.
Once she was upright, Dougall simply set to work binding her wound, wrapping the cloth around her lower waist again and again, moving higher with each wrap around.
"Does it need to be so high?" Murine asked, her voice a little breathless as he passed the cloth around her front just under her breasts. She had eased the cloth of her nightgown up a bit to get it out of the way. The cloth covered only the top half of her breasts now and she bit her lip as one of Dougall's hands accidentally bumped the bottom of one round globe.
"I'm no' sure," Dougall admitted, his voice a husky whisper by her ear as he reached his hands around her again to pass the wrapping from one hand to the other. "'Tis how Rory did it. Mayhap the more skin ye hold tight, the less the chance ye'll rip a stitch."
"Mayhap," she agreed weakly, her body reacting to his breath on her ear and the feel of the soft skin on top of his hand rubbing on the sensitive under curve of her breast again on this go-round. How much more wrapping was there? Murine wondered wildly as his hands slid behind her and then started around the front again.
"Dougall?" she said weakly and then bit her lip and closed her eyes as his hands stopped just under her breasts, his skin touching hers.
"Aye?" His own voice was a deep growl now, one she remembered from the waterfall, and that memory set fire to the tinder that his innocent actions had laid inside her. Murine shook her head weakly, then turned to press a kiss to the side of his face as she inhaled his scent.
