Free The Magnificent Rogue by Iris Johansen Page B

succumbed to their wounds. Perhaps she was even now drifting away from him.
    The thought made his grasp tighten on her shoulders. He shook her harder. “Are you deaf?
Talk
to me.”
    Her lashes fluttered and then slowly opened. “What do you want me to say?” she whispered.
    Relief tore through him. His grip loosened. “That’s enough. Now, stay awake until I get you out of this tub.” He turned to the servant hovering at his side. “Toweling.”
    The woman scurried across the room and snatched a large piece of linen from the stool in front of the fire.
    “She does appear to move from disaster to disaster, doesn’t she? I can only hope it’s not a sign for the future.” From behind him Gavin added politely, “Should I be turning my back?”
    “You should be going down and getting her something to eat.”
    “Right away.”
    He heard Gavin’s steps fade away as he took the towel from the maid and ordered, “Turn down the bed.”
    He began to dry Kate’s long hair. Her eyes were beginning to close again, he noticed with exasperation. “Don’t do that,” he said sharply.
    She didn’t open her eyes. “Tired …”
    “You can sleep later. You have to eat now.”
    She shook her head.
    “Christ!” He stood up and jerked her to her feet.
    Her lids flew open, but her eyes were still misty with sleep.
    After quickly wrapping the toweling around her, he lifted her into his arms, then carried her across the room and set her down on the bed. She gazed dumbly at him. He doubted she even knew he was there.
    Carolyn was beside him, nervously nibbling at her lower lip. “Is she well?”
    “Well enough.”
    “It’s not like her to be—Shall I go for the physician?”
    “No, leave us,” he ordered curtly.
    “I think—” The girl broke off, hesitated, and then left the room.
    He began to dry Kate briskly, starting at her shoulders and going down her torso. She wasn’t as thin as he had thought, he noticed absently, and her small breasts were exquisitely shaped.
    Her eyes had closed again.
    “How long has it been since you slept?”
    “Three … days. I was afraid … Had to keep moving.”
    “And how long since you ate?”
    “Berries …”
    Exhaustion and starvation and the terror of being stalked as prey, and yet she had borne that punishment with a stoicism that any of his clansmen would envy.
    “Food,” Gavin announced from the doorway. He carried the tray he was bearing to the table in front of the fireplace and set it down before turning to appraise Kate. “She still looks asleep.”
    “She’s awake. She’s in a sort of stupor.” He wrapped a blanket around Kate and lifted her in his arms. “And she’ll be better once her belly’s full.”
    “If you can manage to get anything down her.” Gavin shook his head as he stared at Kate. “Why don’t you let her sleep now and eat later?”
    “Because she needs strength, and food will give it to her.” He carried her to the chair by the fire. God, she felt light in his arms. He sat down and arranged her on his lap with her head on his shoulder. “Once she goes to sleep, I doubt if she’ll wake for hours.”
    “So much for the plan to leave at dawn.” Gavin reached down and touched Kate’s cheek. “Who was to guess what wonderful skin was lurking under all that mud? Like satin …”
    Without thinking, Robert quickly shifted Kate in his arms so that Gavin’s hand fell away from her.
    Gavin’s eyes widened in surprise. “I wasn’t going to hurt her.”
    Robert’s response had startled himself as much as it had Gavin. He had acted instinctively, mindlessly, when he had seen Gavin’s hand on her. “She was slipping.”
    “Was she? It looked like you were holding her tightenough to me.” He yawned. “Well, unless you need me, I think I’ll go and take my own rest.”
    “I don’t need you.” He put a bit of meat to Kate’s lips. “Open.”
    Though her eyes remained closed, her lips obediently parted, and he put the pork on