Free The Highlander's Runaway Bride by Terri Brisbin Page A

were steady and quick, removing the gown and her other garments. Nessa spread the soothing ointment on the welts on her back and covered them with clean linen bandages.
    Nessa offered her the healer’s brew; however, Eva waved it off. She would not seek solace in an herb’s grasp again, no matter the pain involved. The last time... Eva shuddered at those memories. Nessa took the potion away and brought her some ale instead, which she sipped as the young woman loosened her hair and brushed it in long, soothing strokes. Her eyes drifted shut, and soon the crackling noises made by the fire were the only sounds in the chamber.
    When he’d opened the door, she knew not, but one moment he wasn’t present and the next he was, staring at her as Nessa drew the brush down the length of her hair. He might have hissed, or Eva might have misheard the sound. It mattered not, for now he had the right to enter her chamber whenever he wished and whether or not she wished him to be there. She saw the steaming bucket he carried and chided herself for misjudging him again.
    â€˜What is wrong?’ he asked, placing the bucket near her on the floor.
    â€˜Nothing, sir,’ Eva answered, as the girl stopped tending to her hair and gathered up a few other supplies. ‘Just some confused thoughts.’
    Nessa spread a drying cloth and other linens there and then poured a thick liquid into the water. A lovely scent filled the chamber and Eva inhaled it. Then, Nessa curtsied to her and, with a nod to her husband, left. Rob knelt on the floor next to her and reached out for her injured foot.
    â€˜You walked too much this day. It is swelling again,’ he said as he lifted it and placed it on his own leg.
    He found the end of the strip binding her foot and tugged it free. She could only watch as he tended her ankle and foot. Once the bindings were removed, he moved the bucket closer and guided her to place her foot into it. She could not help the sighing sound she made as the warmth of the water with its appealing scent eased the pain in her foot. After only a few minutes of soaking, she could move her foot without much pain.
    â€˜What did Nessa put in it?’ she asked. ‘It smells lovely.’
    â€˜Promise not to be angry if I tell you?’ He smiled just then, and she glimpsed a completely different side of this man for a moment. A very appealing, handsome one at that.
    â€˜Aye,’ she said, nodding. ‘What would there be to anger me over such as this?’
    â€˜It is a concoction of some kind of oil and other ingredients that my sister makes. It is especially helpful in treating injuries...to our...horses.’
    â€˜Horses? You are treating me with horse liniment?’ She tried to sound aggrieved, but the unexpected laugh that burst out ruined that attempt. ‘It does smell good,’ she said. ‘And it feels even better.’ She wiggled her toes in the water to show him the range of comfortable motion in her foot now. ‘I will have to forgive you for the insult, since it works.’
    He leaned back on his heels and crossed his arms over his chest, studying her face with a serious expression in his eyes.
    â€˜You are a pragmatic woman, my lady. Accepting such a thing because it works is not the reaction most women would have. My own sister would be chiding me for using it on my wife’s foot.’
    This man did not go in for the flowery praise of courtiers. She could hear the compliment in the tone of his words and she smiled, saying nothing in reply. This was the first time he’d called her wife, and it made her unsettled inside. He did not seem to wait on a reply, so she sat in silence as he tended to her.
    He lifted her foot and dried it. With sure movements, he wrapped the fresh strips of cloth around her foot and ankle. The over and under of it soothed her somehow, as did the obvious carefulness of his touch. Then, the task finished, he knelt there, so close to