Rowan's Lady (17 page)

“Well?” Lily asked him as she tossed the remains
of her apple into the fire, disrupting Rowan’s thoughts.

“Well, what?” His mind had wandered and he could
not remember her question.

“Can I have me some sisters or no’?” She pursed
her little lips together and gave him a stern look.

He sighed again, ran his hand over his face and
searched again for the appropriate words. Having found none, he fell back on
the age old answer parents give children when they don’t have a better one.
“We’ll see.”

Lily seemed satisfied with that answer but Rowan
knew she’d ask it again and again until either he forbade her to ask it again
or gave in. That was how she got her very own pony: sheer relentlessness.

 “I need to speak with Lady Arline,” Rowan said as
he pushed himself up from the log he’d been sitting on. “Ye stay here, with
Thomas. And do no leave or go runnin’ off.”

“I want to see her too!” Lily exclaimed.

“Nay,” Rowan told her. “No’ yet. Ye may see her
verra soon. Do as I told ye, child.”

Her bottom lip jutted out and she crossed her arms
over her chest. It was her way of warning her father that an argument was about
to ensue --
if
he were to allow it.

“A bird will come along and leave droppins’ on
that lip if ye are no’ careful,” he told her.

Lily giggled at his retort.

“Now, go to Thomas,” Rowan told her, giving his
head a nod in Thomas’ direction.

Lily slid off the log and ran to Thomas for which
Rowan was exceedingly grateful. He was in no mood to argue with his daughter.
He imagined it would be days if not weeks before things returned to normal for
any of them.

After he made certain Lily was in Thomas’ good
care, Rowan went to the tent that had been erected for Lady Arline and Lily to
use. Without thinking to ask for permission to enter, he lifted the flap and
stepped inside. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the darkness of
the tent. He was not prepared for the sight before him.

“God’s bones!” he exclaimed, startling Lady
Arline.

She was sitting in the corner of the tent with a
bowl of water on the ground in front of her. She had pulled the top of her
chemise down to her waist and was washing her neck with a wet cloth.

It was not her nakedness that caused his outburst.
It was the large bruise that ran from under her arm down to her tiny waist that
made him curse. It was dark purple and wrapped its way around her lower back
and stomach. Rowan swallowed back the anger that sprang from his stomach.

Arline’s eyes grew as wide as trenchers when she
heard his voice. She covered her breasts with her arms. “Do ye no’ give a woman
a warnin’ that ye be comin’ into her tent?” she shouted at him. Her skin warmed
and went crimson. “Have ye no manners? Turn around, man!”

Rowan shook his head in disbelief. “Ye be injured,
lass.”

“I ken that, Rowan! Now turn around!”

“Ye need someone to look at yer ribs,” he told her
as he took a few steps forward.

Her eyes grew wider, astonished that he refused to
leave. She was half naked for heaven’s sake! Could he not see that?

“Me ribs are fine. Now I ask ye again to leave!”

He wasn’t about to. He took another step and knelt
down beside her. “Nay, I’ll no’ leave until I’ve checked to see if yer ribs are
broken.” He reached out to touch her.

Arline smacked his hand away angrily. “Ye’ll do no
such thing, Rowan Graham!”

Rowan paused and looked into her very frightened
eyes. “Let me see,” he said sternly.

“Nay! Go away!”

“Nay.”

“Yer a no’ a man, yer a beast!” she seethed,
wrapping her hands and arms tighter around her torso.

Rowan chuckled and shook his head. “That may be,
lass. Ye needn’t worry that I’ll seduce ye. I simply want to make certain ye
have no broken ribs.”

Her eyes turned to slits and her chest heaved in
and out. “Och! As if I’d
let
ye seduce me anymore than I’d let yet grope
about me person lookin’ fer broken ribs that are no’ there!”

Rowan bent his head forward to whisper in her ear.
“Are ye worried ye might enjoy my seducin’ ways?”

Her mouth fell open but her words were lodged
somewhere in her throat. Extracting them was impossible at the moment for he
chose that moment to begin gently examining her ribs with his hot fingers. Too
stunned to move or to speak, she sat as still as a stone while her skin turned
to gooseflesh.

There were a thousands things she wanted to say to
him and twice as many things she wanted to do to him. He was close enough to
kiss, close enough to smell his skin, all clean and manly. Close enough that
were she one of those wanton harlots Minnie had warned her about, she could
have thrown him on his back and had her way with him.

“I do believe ye are at a loss fer words, lass,”
Rowan whispered in her ear as he continued to gently press around her ribs.
“And I do no’ think yer breathin’ proper.”

Breath? Think? Speak? All impossible to do when he
was touching her. Granted, his touch was meant to inspect for broken ribs, but,
she was certain if he were touching her for the purposes of seduction, her
heart would have stopped all together.

Beast! Brute! Bastard! Beautiful, handsome,
dastardly man!
Aye, if her tongue was not so dry and her body not all
tingly and her mind not filled with all sorts of lustful thoughts, she would
have called him all those things and slapped him silly for making her feel so
unsettled and confused.

Time seemed to stand still. She felt lightheaded
and her lungs felt as though they would burst at any moment. She had to will
herself to take in a breath of air and then another and another.

“I do no’ think ye have any broken ribs, lass,”
Rowan said as he grabbed the drying cloth that lay next to her. Carefully, he
unfolded it and wrapped it around her shoulders.

For a brief moment, she felt quite disappointed
that his fingers were no longer on her skin.

He sat down a few steps away from her. “Why did ye
no’ tell me ye were so injured?”

Odd. The further away he was from her the easier
it was to speak. But let him get close enough to touch and she turned into a
mindless puddle of goo.

“Ye kent I was injured,” she said, attempting to
sound as nonchalant as possible. Her stomach was still all a flutter and she
had to focus on speaking coherently.

“Aye, but I didna ken it was
that
bad. Ye
should have said somethin’. We could have slowed our pace and allowed ye time
to rest.”

While that would have indeed been a glorious
luxury it was one they could not have afforded. “And risk Garrick’s men
catchin’ up to us? I think no’, me laird. Stopping would have served no purpose
other than riskin’ yer life, Lily’s life, and the lives of yer men. A few
bruises were no’ worth takin’ such a risk over.”

“’Tis more than just a few bruises, lass. Ye’ve
had the hell beat out of ye.”

Arline took a deep breath in and let it out
slowly. “We could go ’round and ’round about this but ’twill change nothin’, me
laird. What’s done is done. We’re now safely on yer lands and ye’ll be home
soon.”

He knew she was right. Talking about it would
change nothing. “Aye. But in the future, I’d appreciate it if ye’d no’ try to
be so damned noble and tell me if yer needin’ something.”

Future? What future? As soon as she could get her
funds from her father she would be on her way to Inverness to get her sisters. “I
plan on never bein’ in such a predicament as this, ever again, me laird.”

Each time he saw her swollen and bruised cheek, it
made his hatred for Garrick Blackthorn increase a hundred fold. She had risked
her health, her own life, for Lily. Rowan realized that the only other woman he
knew who would have done such a thing was Kate.

 Arline looked so damned proud and vulnerable at
the same time. The candlelight flickered in her green eyes and cast streaks of
gold in her auburn hair. She was a beautiful woman, albeit a bit on the thin
side. Nothing that a few good meals could not cure.

There was a recognizable longing in the green eyes
that stared back at him. As much as he wanted to take her in his arms and begin
kissing her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, he knew he could
not. They were both in far too vulnerable a state to start down that road.

He held his breath, gave her a quick nod and quit
the tent before he did just that.

Night had fallen, their bellies were full as they
sat around the fire, decidedly glad to be back on their own lands. No longer
worried about his daughter’s safety, or Lady Arline’s, Rowan was able to relax
for the first time in weeks.

“When will we be home, da?” Lily had asked that
question a hundred times over the last few days. He would not chastise her for
asking because it was better than her pleading with him for sisters.

Rowan sighed as he pressed her head against his
chest. “I’ve told ye again and again, we’ll be home before the noonin’ meal on
the morrow.”

Lily yawned, thrust her thumb into her mouth and
began twisting a ringlet of hair around her finger. “And the mean man won’t
bother us anymore?”

Rowan’s stomach lurched as if he’d just been
kicked. “Nay, Lily. Ye needn’t worry over him ever again.”

“I want to sleep with ye, da,” she said quietly.

He could not rightly blame her for not wanting to
be alone at night. In truth, he did not want his daughter out of his sight. “Ye
can sleep in my room fer a time after we are home.”

“But I want to sleep with ye tonight.”

Rowan tilted his head to get a better look at her
face. “Tonight? Nay, not this night. Ye’ll be sleepin’ in the tent with Lady
Arline.”

Tears filled Lily’s tired eyes. “But I’m afraid,
da.”

His stomach tightened again. “I’ll be right
outside the tent, lass. I promise, I’ll no leave ye.”

Arline had been fighting sleep, sitting next to
Rowan and Lily. She yawned and tried to stretch, but it was too painful. “I can
sleep outside the tent, Rowan. Lily needs her da. ’Twill be all right.”

“I want Lady Arline too!” Lily cried.

There was no way on God’s earth he was going to
allow Arline to sleep on the cold ground. “Nay,” he said to Arline. “Ye’ll
sleep in the tent, with Lily. I’ll be right outside it.”

Large tears streamed down Lily’s face. These were
not the tears of a child not getting her way. These were real tears of distress
and fear. Rowan wrapped his arms more tightly around her and began to whisper
words of comfort in her ear. “Lily, I promise I’ll no’ leave ye.”

“But what if the mean man comes again? What if he
takes me and Lady Arline again?” she began to sob uncontrollably.

Rowan looked to Lady Arline for help, but she had
tears in her own eyes. “Lass,” he said to Arline. “Why are
ye
cryin’?”

Arline wiped her cheeks with the backs of her
hands and choked back her tears. Her words came spilling out almost as rapidly
as her tears. “Because Lily is cryin’! She’s scared and tired and cold and
she’s missed her father and she should never have been put in this situation to
begin with! Garrick Blackthorn is an evil bastard and I hope he someday burns
in hell!”

One crying female was enough to set his teeth on
edge. Two crying women was more than any one man could handle.
God’s teeth!
They’re going to be the death of me.

“Wheesht, now lassies,” Rowan said as he cradled
Lily in one arm and Arline in the other. “I swear, ye needn’t worry over
anythin’. Me and me men will be guardin’ ye with our lives, I swear it.”

His promises and soothing words fell on deaf ears.
In a matter of moments, both Lily and Arline were inconsolable. Lily reached
out and grabbed Arline around her neck and scooted to her lap.

“I wanna go home!” Lily cried. “I wanna sleep in
yer bed!”

Arline had no home to cry for, no home that she
longed for or missed. She had nowhere on this earth to go to and that
realization hit her hard. There was no way to hold back the flood of tears.

Thomas, Frederick, Daniel and several of the other
men jumped to their feet, looking at Rowan as if he were some grand bastard.

“Rowan,” Thomas said, sounding quite alarmed and
looking even more distressed. “Lily simply wants her da!”

“Aye,” Frederick added. “Sleep with the babe,
Rowan. She’s frightened.”

“But she wants both me
and
Lady Arline!”
Rowan tried to explain.

“And ye canna sleep in the same tent with Lily?” Thomas
asked as if Rowan had lost complete control of his mind.

“Well, nay! ’Twould be inappropriate!”

“Och! No one here thinks ye’d be tryin’ to seduce
the lady whilst yer child is sleepin’ next to ye!” Thomas said. He continued to
look at Rowan as if he had lost his mind.

“But--”

Arline spoke up. “Are ye worried
I’ll
seduce
ye
?” she said through sobs.

Rowan had reached the end of his patience. He
shook his head in frustration, took his crying child from Arline and stood.
“Fine! But if yer reputation is ruined ye’ll have no one to blame but yerself!”

Shifting Lily into one arm, he held out the other
for Arline. She sobbed, wiped away more tears and took his hand. Lily continued
to cry as Rowan led them to the tent. “Wheest, Lily,” Rowan whispered. “I’ll be
sleepin’ in the tent with ye and so will Lady Arline.”

Wiping her face and nose on Rowan’s tunic, Lily
sniffled and sobbed out a thank you. Thomas had beat them to the tent and now
stood at the entrance, holding the flap open as if he were some Roman squire.
Thomas tossed a wink toward Rowan before standing at full attention, with his
shoulders thrown back and eyes forward. Thomas saluted the trio as they walked
inside.

Rowan found little humor in Thomas’ dramatics. In
truth, he had very little good humor left in him at the moment.