Page 60 of The Cruel Highlander's Healer
A few more moments ticked by before she risked a glance to the side. It was empty. Her mother and Dougal had fallen to a few steps behind them as they had been before.
Straightening again, Eliza put as much space as she could between herself and the Laird within the confines of the saddle.
“Will ye truly be sittin’ like that the whole time?” Conall’s voice growled from behind her.
“I’m plenty comfortable,” she argued back.
As if in response to her words, Eliza’s lower back flared with a cramp. She had been sitting perfectly straight for hours, not allowing even the gentle sway of the horse beneath them to move her any closer to the Laird at her back. And she was exhausted.
But still, she held herself rigid. Not even allowing herself to flinch.
Eliza would not give in. She would not touch him. She would not allow herself.
A small dot appeared on the horizon, and Eliza had to stop the sigh of relief when she realized it was the castle.
Step by blessed step, it came into view, the stone and ramparts becoming clearer the closer they got.
Once they were close enough, the gate to the courtyard was raised, allowing them passage to the front of the building. The moment they were inside and had slowed, Eliza moved.
She shifted to the side, breaking Conall’s grip on the reins. He tugged his arm back from shock, and Eliza did not stop. She threw her legs over the side of the horse and jumped to the ground.
“I need to see me patients,” she said, briefly glancing over her shoulder at those that were still mounted. Her eyes landed on her mother. “I’ll send Kate out to greet ye.”
Marissa opened her mouth to protest, but Eliza did not wait for her. She turned on her heel, the sound of her footsteps crunching on the gravel as she raced toward the castle.
The door was pulled open as she approached, a startled looking Kate standing on the other side.
“The bairns?” Eliza asked in lieu of greeting. “Are they healin’?”
Kate’s mouth popped open in surprise, but she snapped out of it quickly. The woman nodded, her gaze flicking over her shoulder.
Eliza did not turn to see what she was looking at; she didn’t want to see if the Laird had climbed from the horse. Was he scowling at her? Was he dismounting to chase after her? She couldn’t allow herself to care.
Because Eliza knew that if she gave herself even a moment, she would be overcome with embarrassment all over again. And she had work to do.
“Aye,” Kate said, eyes sliding back to Eliza’s face as she plastered a smile across it. “They’ve been much more active. Most of them have come out of the fever and have started to be able to eat more than broth. Three of them were even able to play for a little bit yesterday.”
Hope fluttered in Eliza’s chest. She nodded.
“The new woman that is with them, it’s me maither,” she explained. “She’s a healer. Will ye fill her in on what’s goin’ on as I check on the patients?”
Kate nodded, and she opened her mouth to agree, but Eliza did not want to spare any more time. Time would give her mother and Conall time to dismount. It would give them time to ask to come with her. And Eliza, more than anything, needed a little bit of time alone.
She brushed past Kate, the sound of her boots clicking off the stone floors as she walked down the familiar hall. The Laird’s voice sounded from the courtyard, but with each step Eliza put more and more distance between them.
The doors to the dining hall that had housed the children loomed, and the tension that had been residing in Eliza’s body slowly began to loosen.
She knew how to handle what lay beyond those doors; she knew her place. And when she pushed them open, the children in their cots coming into view, all thoughts of Conall were driven from her mind.
Her heart fluttered at the sight, eyes raking over the massive room as she took it all in.
Just as Kate had told her, the children were far better than when she’d left. Many of them sat up in their cots, sipping from bowls of what appeared to be hearty stew.
The smell of it filled the air. Gone was the stench of their bile and excrement.
A child laughed, and the beauty of it was so magical that the worry well and truly left her body. Eliza rushed forward, going to the first child that she saw.
It was a little girl. She did not know her name. But she had black hair, and round cherubic cheeks. When Eliza had seen the girl a couple days prior, she had been unconscious. She had never seen the girl’s eyes.
