“Deep breaths,” he said. “In through your nose. Let it settle.”
She flopped back onto the pillow and promptly let out a very unladylike belch followed by a series of hiccups.
“You didn’t hear that,” she said.
Caelen arched an eyebrow and shot Ewan a look of amusement. “Hear what?”
“You’re a good man, Caelen,” she said dramatically. “You aren’t near as fierce as you look, though if you’d smile on occasion, you’d be quite handsome.”
Caelen scowled at that.
Ewan waited several minutes and then leaned over to stare down at Mairin. “How do you feel, lass?”
“Wonderful. Ewan, why are there two of you? I can assure you that one is entirely enough.”
Ewan smiled. “You’re ready.”
“Am I? What am I ready for?”
Ewan dipped one of the cloths into a basin of warm water that Cormac had prepared. After wringing it out, he carefully wiped the now drying blood from Mairin’s side. It was only a graze, and in fact, it looked as though the arrow went right between her arm and her side as there was a bloody crease on the inside of her arm as well.
The arrow cut through more of her side, and it was that flesh that needed stitching.
He motioned for Caelen to take position on Mairin’s other side. Caelen walked around the bed and carefully pulled her arm away so that her side was bared to Ewan.
“You’ll have to hold her,” Ewan said patiently. “I don’t want her moving when I put the needle to her flesh.”
Reluctantly, Caelen anchored her more firmly against his body and held her wrist so that she couldn’t flail her arm.
Mairin roused and stared dumbly up at Caelen. “Caelen, your laird will not be pleased to find you in his bed.”
Caelen rolled his eyes. “I think he’ll understand this time.”
“Well, I don’t,” she said crossly. “It isn’t decent. No one should see me in bed except the laird. Do you know what I told him?”
Ewan raised one eyebrow. “Perhaps ’tis best if you keep such matters to yourself, lass.”
She ignored him and rambled on. “I told him that he was unskilled at loving. I don’t think he was pleased with that statement.”
Despite Ewan’s glare, Caelen burst into laughter.
“Oh, it isn’t polite to laugh at your laird,” Mairin said in a solemn voice. “Besides, ’tis not true. I was quite wrong.”
Ewan moved a hand to cover her mouth so she wouldn’t blurt out anything else in her drunken state. “I think you’ve said enough.”
He ignored Caelen’s amused look and signaled that he was ready to begin.
Caelen grimaced, and something remarkably like sympathy flashed in his eyes when Mairin jumped at the first prick of the needle.
A whimper escaped from Mairin when he set the second stitch.
“Hurry,” she whispered.
“I will, lass, I will.”
In battle his hand never shook. It remained steady around the sword. It had never failed him. Not once. Yet here, doing such a simple task as setting needle to skin, he had to call on every bit of his control to keep his fingers precise.
By the time he tightened the final stitch, Mairin shook uncontrollably beneath his hand. Caelen’s fingers were white from the pressure he exerted on her shoulder, and y">Ewas sure she’d wear bruises.
“Let her go,” Ewan said in a quiet voice. “I’m finished.”
Caelen released her shoulder and Ewan waved him from the chamber. After Caelen closed the door behind him, Ewan reached down to touch Mairin’s cheek only to find it wet with tears.
“I’m sorry, lass. I’m sorry it was necessary to hurt you.”
She opened her tightly closed eyes, and tears shimmered in the blue depths. “It didn’t hurt overly much.”
She was lying but he felt a surge of pride at her bravado.
“Why don’t you get some rest now? I’ll have Maddie bring you a tisane for the pain.”
“Thank you, Ewan,” she whispered.
He leaned down and brushed a kiss across her brow. He waited until she’d closed her eyes before he backed away and retreated from the chamber.
Outside the door, his demeanor swiftly changed from caretaker to warrior.
He went in search of Maddie first and gave her instructions not to leave Mairin’s bedside. Then he found Cormac, Diormid, and Gannon in the courtyard questioning his men.
“Have you found anything yet?” he asked.
“We still have the majority of the men to question, Laird. It’ll take some time,” Gannon said. “There were many men practicing archery, but no one can account for the errant shot.”
“This is unacceptable. Someone struck Lady McCabe whether by accident or intent. I want that man.” He turned to Diormid. “Were you not supervising the archery? Can you not account for your men?”
Diormid bowed his head. “Aye, Laird, I take full responsibility. Every one under me will be questioned at length. I will find the man responsible.”
Ewan shook his head grimly. “I will not have the children of this keep unprotected. ’Tis as Mairin says. They should have a safe place to play and be children without their mothers worrying that they’ll be killed by a stray arrow. From now on, the children will play behind the keep on the hillside, far away from where the men train.”
“Where they play now is plenty distant from the courtyard,” Cormac said with a fierce frown. “What happened today should not have occurred.”