Page 82 of Highland Hero
In spite of the pain shooting through his leg, he managed a smile. Juliana wasn’t one to mince words. “I think I’m beginning to like that English word.”
“We will have to make do. Would ye mind getting the whisky flask from my saddle?”
She frowned at him. “You want to get drunk? Now?”
“Aye, I would love to.” He thought he saw her hair get brighter and decided not to tease her further. “But I need it for another purpose.”
She gave him a skeptical look. “What would that be?”
“I’ll need to pour it on my wound.”
Her gaze went to his leg. “Will it soak through the wool?”
“Nae.” He watched her face. “My breeches will have to come off.”
“Ah…of course.” Her face turned an interesting shade of pink as she rose. “I will get one of the saddle blankets so you can cover yourself.”
“It probably willna help.”
“Of course it will. You cannot…cannot just lie about…with no breeches—”
“’Tis just the two of us, lass.” He raised a hand before she could protest. “And I think ye can see I am in nae shape to take advantage of ye.”
She drew her brows together and pursed her lips as she appeared to contemplate that. “I suppose you are right. Still, I would rather you have a cover.”
“’Twill just get in your way.”
That drew a startled look. “Get in the way? You just said you would not—”
“Take advantage of ye,” he finished. “But in a way I need to.”
She looked wary. “You said—”
“I need ye to do something else.”
“What?” Her voice still sounded unsure.
He drew a deep breath. “Ye will need to remove the arrow for me.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Juliana stared down at him, still seated on the stable floor, not quite sure what she’d heard. “You want me to remove the arrow?”
“Aye.” He winced. “The sooner, the better, to avoid infection.”
“But I do not know anything about treating wounds.”
A muscle in his jaw clenched. “There is nobody else here.”
Juliana opened her mouth, then closed it with a snap. He was right. He needed tending. This was not the time to act like a cabbage head. She turned away.
“Where are you going?”
She paused. The question had come out almost as a plaintive wail, something she wassureRory hadn’t intended. He must be in more pain than he’d acknowledged. “I’m going to see if there is any kind of accommodation so you do not have to lie on the floor. I will be right back.”
He looked a little mollified at her assurance, and, for some reason, she suddenly thought of him as a boy who didn’t want to admit that a scraped knee hurt. Except Rory was a man with an arrow in his thigh.
It didn’t take her long to check out the stables. The snow in the buckets she’d brought in had just started to melt. “We are in luck. There is a small room that seems like the stable master’s. It’s got a cot and some living essentials.”
