The Highlander's Forbidden Bride(34)

Carissa prayed to the heavens that she would be able to get them back to the cottage safely. The snow grew heavier with each step they took. If not for the markers she had left along the way, it would have been impossible to find their way back.

Her heart soared with relief when she spied the cottage up ahead. A few more feet, and she would have collapsed under his sagging weight.

She staggered getting him to the bed and stripped off his cloak before he fell into bed. She hurried to close the door and hung his cloak up to dry. She kept her cloak on, grabbed the smaller cauldron, and hurried outside to collect fresh snow. She set it in the hearth to heat, then discarded her outer garments.

Carissa rushed over to Ronan and fear gripped her. He was unresponsive. She tried to revive him, but to no avail. The only thing she could do was to clean his wound, keep him warm, and hope that he was in a healing sleep.

Bethane had once explained to her that the body was more aware of what we required than we were, and so, when necessary, it took charge. If sleep was necessary to healing, then the person would sleep and wake when the body deemed itself ready.

She hoped and prayed Ronan was in such a state.

Closer examination of the wound revealed that it wasn’t as bad as she’d first suspected, though it did require a few stitches. She was relieved that he wouldn’t be awake for the painful stitching, given the good-sized lump beneath the abrasion.

As his shivers hadn’t entirely ceased, she hurriedly removed his boots. His feet were cold as ice. She tucked all the blankets securely around him. Then she placed the flat pan in the hearth to heat so that she could use it to help warm his feet.

She rushed around, gathering everything she needed and, though she was busy, she couldn’t keep her mind off the fact that he had believed it was Hope who had come to his rescue. She was no fool. She knew his delirium had been caused by his wound. But to hear him call out to Hope and once again to hear him say he loved her brought joy to her heart and soul.

However, she needed to remain cautious. She didn’t know when he woke if he would recall the episode. And if he did? The truth would suffice, he had merely been delirious.

For now, though, she would remain Hope and tend him as she had once before, with gentle hands and all her love.

Before she started, she wrapped the warmed pan in her wool shawl and tucked it beneath his feet. His shivers stopped almost instantly. She then spent the next twenty minutes tending his wound. The stitches went fast since she was so prolific at setting them. The suturing complete, she managed to clean all the blood off him and away from his eye.

When he woke, he would have no trouble seeing her.

After she was done, she set a broth to brew in the hearth so that if he woke hungry, she’d have something to feed him. When she was finally finished, she moved the rocking chair next to the bed and took his hand in hers.

She smiled, the warmth of his hand spreading through her own, and fell asleep, content.





Chapter 15




“Hope?”

“I’m here.”

Ronan squeezed the hand in his, relieved to feel it there. “I’m cold, and my head hurts so badly that I can’t bear to open my eyes.”

“Keep your eyes shut. It’s late, and you need to continue to rest. I’ll put more wood in the hearth and—”

“—Then you’ll crawl in bed with me and keep me warm.”

“If that is what you want.”

“More than anything I want that,” he assured her with a gentle squeeze of her hand.

He wanted so badly to look at her, but every time he tried to open his eyes, the pain would force them closed. At least he had Hope. She was there with him, and soon she’d be in his arms, but this time he wanted more.

“Hope,” he said, and held out his hand. When she took it, he locked his fingers firmly with hers. “I want your loving body heating mine. Undress and help me to do the same.”

He was glad she didn’t hesitate and with great effort, her tender assistance, and more pain than he cared to experience, he undressed. It didn’t take her long to shed her clothes and join him beneath the blankets.

She cuddled against his side, her hard nipples poking his chest as her hand splayed across it. Her leg dug between his two, to nestle comfortably close to his groin, and she gave a quick kiss to his chest before resting her head there.

His arm wrapped around her protectively. She was warm and ever so soft, and he wasn’t surprised that his body reacted to her nakedness. But he didn’t have the stamina to pursue his desire. He would have to be satisfied with simply holding her.

They lay embraced, Ronan stroking Hope’s arm and drifting closer and closer to her breast until finally his fingers skimmed across it to toy with her hardened nipple.