Page 27 of A Highlander's Vow

Chapter Twelve

Megan awoke witha dreadful pain in her arm. She looked around the room she was in and didn’t recognize it. What happened? The last she remembered she and Gregory were on his horse and then he… Where was Gregory?

“Right here, lass.”

She turned to her right side and black dots appeared in her eyes and her arm screamed with pain.

“Easy, Megan. Doona move too much. We’re waiting for the healer to come.”

She took a few deep breaths to help calm herself. “What happened?”

“Ye were shot with an arrow in yer arm.” The look on his face was almost as painful as her arm.

Almost.

Megan closed her eyes. “The Gunn found us, then?”

“I doona think so, but I have my men out searching the area where ye were shot.”

She looked up at him where he sat alongside her on the bed. “Did we make it all the way to Castle Leod?”

Just then the door to the bedchamber opened and a woman of middle years hustled into the room, a basket over her arm. She had a cheerful way about her, a plump body and a big smile. “I am Mrs.Bridget Ross, the clan healer.” She moved over to the bed and looked at Megan with sympathy. “Are ye the poor lass who was shot?”

“Aye,” Gregory said.

Megan did not recognize the healer, but she thought Gregory had referred to the one at Castle Leod as Emma. While the woman searched through her basket, Megan looked over at Gregory. “Where are we?”

“Balnagown Castle. Ross lands.”

Her hopes that the dreadful trip was over were dashed. “Are we far from Castle Leod?”

“Not really. Normally a full day’s ride, but with yer injury we must take it slow. Most likely a day and half if we’re in luck.”

Mrs. Ross stepped up to the bed. “Sir, ye must leave now as I must undress the lass and take the arrow out.”

Megan reached out. “Nay! Gregory is my husband. I need him to stay.”

The woman glanced briefly at Megan’s hand, the one missing a wedding ring and shrugged. “If that is yer wish, lass, then that is fine with me.”

Megan let out a sigh of relief. The thought of Gregory leaving her while enduring whatever it was the healer had to do terrified her. She was in a strange place with a very painful injury.

Suddenly feeling very sorry for herself, tears filled her eyes. She turned her head the other way so Gregory wouldn’t see her fall apart.

As the woman undressed her, she thought about how her life, though not the wonderful one it could be had been, had been ripped out from under her. Anthony had tried to force her to marry The Gunn, then when she climbed out the window, she was lucky she didn’t break her neck after which followed the race to avoid their pursuers.

And now this.

Despite her best efforts to hide her distress, Gregory kicked off hisboots and climbed on the bed beside her non-injured side. Since they’d told the healer that they were married, she didn’t worry about what the woman thought.

He gently put his arm around on her shoulder, avoiding the arm the healer had started working on. “’Tis all right, sweeting, Ye can let go.”

That was all she needed to release all the pain, fear, and fatigue she’d suffered since Robert’s death. The tears would just not stop. Gregory rubbed her back and held her as she screamed when the healer pulled the arrow from her arm.

Another woman walked into the room. “Bridget. do ye need help?”

“Aye, I need ye to press the cloth over her injury while I sew her up.”

Megan rested her head on Gregory’s chest. It amazed her how comforting it was to have him hold her. She smiled, thinking how they keep telling people they were married and wondered that when Anthony caught up to them, if he would agree.