The Hellion and the Highlander Read Free Page B

voice was soft and soothing to Kade’s ears, lulling him into a state of half slumber. He didn’t really want to sleep, but his mind and body appeared to have other ideas, and the soft murmur of their voices wasn’t enough to keep him awake.

Chapter Two
    Averill woke to the sun streaming through the window and a smile on her face. At first, she wasn’t sure why she was so happy. She’d had little enough to smile about since her father had taken it into his head to find her a husband. Most mornings of late she’d awakened feeling nothing but glum resignation about the day ahead, one she expected to be tainted by the poison of rejection as the latest possible suitor turned his nose up at the prospect of marrying her and rode off to find prettier pastures. Not that there had been that many men so far, Averill admitted to herself. There had been only three, but it felt more like thirty when their reactions were so hurtful. She never knew when the next would arrive, so woke up most days dreading that this would be the day.
    However, Averill was feeling none of her usual dread this morning. In fact, happiness and good cheer were filling her as she took in the dust motes dancing in the beam of light pouring through the open shutters of her window. She took a moment to ponder that fact, wondering what had filled her dreams to leave her waking so happy, but then recalled that Kade had awakened last night.
    Eager to see how he fared this morning, Averill sat up swiftly and thrust the linens and furs aside to leap out of bed. She scurried to one of the two chests against the wall, threw it open, and quickly began digging around for a fresh chemise. This was normally something her maid did for her and, were she to wait patiently, Bess would do it for her today as well, but she simply couldn’t wait. Averill had spent two weeks nursing her brother’s friend, Kade Stewart. Will had claimed the man had been unconscious when he’d pulled him out of the water, and had remained so, not even stirring during the ride home to Mortagne. He had been sweat-soaked and hot with fever but still as death when they’d arrived; but even after the fever had broken on the second day, he hadn’t stirred, and Averill had grown increasingly concerned. She had seen cases before where ill or injured persons fell into a deep sleep and simply never woke up. They had merely wasted away in their beds as their loved ones stood by helplessly.
    While Averill had assured Will that would not happen here, now that Kade was awake, she couldadmit, at least to herself, that she’d feared that might very well be the outcome this time. Still, she had done her best to prevent that from happening: feeding him dribbles of broth several times a day to keep him from expiring from thirst or hunger, helping to wash and turn him every other day so that he would not develop skin irritations that might fester, and talking to him constantly so that he knew he wasn’t alone.
    She had no idea if her efforts had helped or if it simply wasn’t his time yet to go, but Kade was alive and had awakened, and Averill felt she could take at least a little credit for that happy outcome. Now, she wanted to check on her patient and be sure he hadn’t slipped back into that unnatural sleep again.
    “Oh! You’re up.”
    Averill straightened as her maid, Bess, stepped into the room. The woman was older by twenty years and had pale brown hair streaked with grey and a slender figure. She carried a basin of water and a small strip of cloth, Averill noted, but ignored them, and said, “Aye. Help me dress. I would check on Kade.”
    “Kade is it?” Bess asked as she set the basin of water on the second chest and moved toward Averill.
    Averill felt herself flush at the maid’s dry tone. It reminded her that she had no right to be so familiar with the Scottish lord, but after two weeks of telling him everything and anything she couldthink of as he’d lain sleeping and healing in the bed,