Page 16 of The Cruel Highlander's Healer
“Nay,” Eliza answered, and her words were lit with a righteous indignation that she felt all the way in her soul. “I daenae care who ye are, people arenae yers to take. Ye cannae go snatchin’ people from their homes and expect them to help ye, nay matter how many sick bairns ye dangle in front of their noses.”
His eyes flashed. “So ye willnae help them then?”
Eliza didn’t answer. Instead, she held her chin high, defiance radiating from every ounce of her.
Even though she wanted to hurt him, she could not bring herself to lie. Could not bring herself to say that she wouldn’t help them. Instead, she let him draw his own conclusions.
His face flushed with rage.
“Get out,” the Laird growled, pointing toward the door.
But Eliza didn’t move.
“If ye want me to leave,” she hissed, keeping her narrowed eyes focused on the man’s face, “then take me back to me cottage.”
He snarled at her. “I cannae. Ye’ve seen the bairns. Ye’ve seen how sick they are, and ye ken that they’ll die without ye.”
“I told ye what was wrong with them,” Eliza pressed, wondering how far she could push the man before her. “Surely Kate could take over from here, if I told her what to do.”
The Laird began shaking his head, eyes still smoldering with the fury that bubbled just below the surface.
“Two weeks,” he said, taking one large step away from Eliza so he wasn’t towering over her anymore. “Ye said ye’d give me two weeks. Help them. Help Kate. If they’re healed before then, I’ll take ye home, ye have me word.”
An idea popped into Eliza’s mind, finding its way to the tip of her tongue before she could second-guess it.
“Ye want me to stay?” she asked, her eyebrow ticking up in interest. When he nodded, she pressed on. “Pay me, then.”
The words fell in the air between them, thick and heavy. Laird MacKinnon stared at her, considering what she’d just said.
Eliza’s heart began to race as he took the time to think.
If he agrees, I could change mine and Marissa’s lives entirely. I could change me patients' lives entirely. I could save so many.
A bright flicker of hope whipped through her at the thought. Immediately, images of all the things she could do with a bit of coin danced before her eyes.
They could finally fix up some of the broken or worn parts of the cottage. They could fill their medicine stores. And most importantly – they could help more people.
She stood still as a spooked deer, not wanting to let the excitement vibrating through her to show on his face. Now that the idea had planted itself in her mind, Eliza couldn’t imagine what it would be like if he said no.
“How much do ye want?” the Laird asked.
Immediately, a sum came to mind. It was a staggering amount, more than she or Marissa would ever need. For the briefest second, she thought that she should lower the request, but then another thought whispered to her.
The Beast will haggle with ye. May as well start high, so he thinks he’s gettin’ a bargain.
She named the first amount.
“It’s yers.”
Laird MacKinnon answered without hesitation, and Eliza felt the shock of those words all the way in her bones.
“Really?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking, suddenly suspicious.
“The bairns are the future of Clan MacKinnon,” the Laird explained, and a trickle of guilt washed over her. “Heal them, heal every last one of them, and it’s all yers. I will give ye the money, and I’ll take ye home. And ye’ll find yerself forever marked as a friend to me clan.”
Eliza scrutinized his face, looking for any sign that he was lying. But as she studied his face, his frustration and anger of moments before now entirely faded, she noticed something that she hadn’t before.
The skin around his eyes was tight. His lips, although partially obscured by his beard, were pursed. And the corner of his jaw ticked as he clenched and then unclenched his teeth. A vein protruded from the side of his neck, and she watched it, studying how it betrayed his racing heart.
