Page 35 of The Cruel Highlander's Healer
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
“My back is achin’ somethin’ awful,” Eliza grunted, a painful groan tearing itself from her lips as she stood at full height.
Her lower back spasmed as she turned, and Eliza winced. The Laird was sitting at a makeshift worktable a few feet away, bent over the mortar and pestle that he’d been working with.
For the last few hours, Eliza had been instructing anyone willing on how to make the tonic that would help those that had fallen ill. Then, they’d all put together worktables so they could start making it.
She’d taught them how to administer it, how to store it, and how long it would be good for while they nursed their loved ones back to help.
She peered toward the large tent they’d constructed earlier that day, which held the cots. One of the men who’d only recently fallen ill was already sitting up. Even at a distance, she could see some of the color had returned to his face.
“I think they’ll be alright,” she whispered to Conall, keeping her voice low so the other townspeople in the tent wouldn’t overhear her.
“Do ye?” he asked, his dark gaze flickering to her.
His expression was unreadable, but Eliza thought that she could sense some of the relief that was roiling from him.
“Aye,” she gave a quick nod of her head. “They werenae as sick as the bairns. And thankfully, the tonic works quick.”
He grunted his approval before turning his attention back to his work. Eliza did the same, plucking the vial from in front of her and pouring the pulverized herbs into it.
Shaking it vigorously, she cast her gaze around the tent. A small stockpile of vials sat on the other table, and she raked her eyes over them, counting.
There was more than enough.
“That will be yer last,” she told the Laird, and when his eyes flicked to her in question, she pointed at the vials waiting on the other table.
He nodded and then groaned. Reaching his hands over his head, he began stretching his back, and Eliza could not help but admire the way his muscles moved and flexed as he did.
Her eyes landed on his hands, and suddenly, her mouth went dry. Images of those hands roving over her body and fisting in her hair filled her mind, and she gulped.
The Laird cleared his throat, the sound grabbing her attention. With great reluctance, Eliza moved her eyes from his hands to the Laird’s face.
The mouth was ticked up in a smirk, and the way his eyes danced with feral amusement let her know that he’d caught her admiring him – and that he knew exactly where her thoughts had gone.
“See anythin’ ye fancy?” he asked, voice laced with implication.
Heat rushed into Eliza’s cheeks, but she did not answer him. Instead, she turned her back on the Laird, walking toward the two women who were working on the other corner of the tent.
They had their heads bent together, whispering animatedly as they worked. As Eliza got closer, a snippet of their conversation flitted up to greet her.
“...handsome, he is.” Sheena, the older of the two, was saying.
She had gnarled hands and wizened skin, but Eliza had noted quickly that she also had an easy laugh and quick wit. Her shock of white hair seemed to glow in the dimness of the work tent.
The other woman, a young woman named Louisa, nodded vigorously. Curiosity flickered through Eliza, wondering who they might be talking about. Her question, however, was answered the moment that Louisa opened her mouth to respond.
“Protective, too,” the young woman whispered. “Exactly what ye want in a laird. Do ye see how he jumped in to help us so quickly?”
Her voice was high pitched and dreamy, and a flicker of something dark and nasty shot throughout Eliza’s belly.
She ignored it, burying it somewhere deep inside her where she would remain nice and quiet. Instead, she focused her attention solely on the two women in front of her and cleared her throat.
Immediately, the conversation between the two women died out and their heads swiveled to her.
Eliza forced a smile onto her face, reminding herself that she was grateful for the help of the two women.
Ye cannae go feelin’ jealous over that man.
