Free MacDougall 01 - Laiden's Daughter by Suzan Tisdale

raised her hand and pointed to her open mouth.   “Be ya hungry?” She heard Rowan ask from behind her.   She cringed and shook her head and realized instantly she should not have done that. The throbbing had turned into an all out assault, as if someone were hitting her with a large tree limb.
    “Thirsty, then?” Duncan asked. She nodded her head yes and knew that should she move it again, her head would definitely explode.
    Within moments someone had handed Duncan a tankard of water.   Aishlinn pushed up to rest on her forearms as Duncan carefully held the tankard to her lips.   The water was as cold as the winter snow and it made her teeth hurt, but it felt magnificent as it hit her tongue and traveled happily down her throat. With her thirst finally quenched she collapsed back into the bed. “Are we at your castle?” she managed to ask.
    Duncan smiled at her.   “Nay, lass, we’re at the home of friends.   I swear ya were near death when we arrived!” he told her.   “Rebecca and Mary have been taking good care of ye.”  
    Without a clue as to who Rebecca and Mary might be, she lifted her torso and rested on her arms again to look about the room.  A draft was floating in from somewhere and when she lowered her head to stretch her neck, she noticed she was completely naked from the waist up! Only the bottom half of her body was covered with a blanket. If it were possible to die from embarrassment she very well could have when she felt cold air dancing gingerly across her naked bosom.  Aishlinn gasped, covered her bare chest with her arms and plopped face down into the pillow. 
    Duncan and his men were doing their best not to laugh.  Aishlinn spoke into her pillow, demanding to know where her clothes were, but the men could not understand her muffled words.  She kept her face buried and thought death from suffocation might not be a particularly bad way to die. It most assuredly would be better to die that way, than from the embarrassment that flooded throughout her weary body.
    Several agonizingly long moments passed when she heard a woman’s voice and the woman did not sound particularly happy.  The woman was yelling something in Gaelic to which Duncan responded in kind, but he was not nearly as loud or angry sounding as the woman.  His voice resembled that of a child who had just been chastised by his mum. Moments later Aishlinn could hear the sounds of boots as they scurried across the floor, quickly followed by the sound of a slamming door.
    “The eejits be gone now, lass.” The woman’s voice was softer now and very near Aishlinn’s ear.  “I booted their arses out the door, and they’ll not be comin’ back ‘til we’ve got ye properly covered.”
    Aishlinn took a chance and rolled her head to the side to see who was speaking to her.   The air cooled her burning cheeks and it felt good to take fresh air into her lungs.   A very beautiful woman with dark blonde hair and blue eyes was crouched next to the bed and she was smiling at Aishlinn.   “I be Rebecca, lass. I had to put salves and bandages on yer back. The cuts were starting to get infected, but I believe I’ve managed to stop the worst of it for ye.” She brushed hair from Aishlinn’s eyes. “How do ya feel lass?”
    “Besides mortified?” she whispered.
    “Och! Dunna worry over it, lass.   The hellions didn’t see as much as they could have!”
    Somehow that did nothing to make Aishlinn feel better.   The simple fact that they had seen her naked back and portions of her naked bosom was enough to make her skin burn red again. She didn’t know which hurt more at the moment, her back or her pride.
    “Let me take a look at those cuts of yers, lass.”
    Aishlinn remained as still as she could whilst Rebecca tenderly lifted the bandages and examined the cuts.   “They be healin’ quite nicely!   I’ll need to be puttin’ on fresh bandages. I imagine ye’ll be wantin’ to move those achin’ bones a bit fer