To Marry A Scottish Laird by Lynsay Sands Read Free Book Online Page B

carrying me. You’ll open your stitches. Put me down, Cam.”
    “Me stitches are fine,” he growled, tightening his arms around her and ignoring the pain in his back. “They will no’ be fer long, though do ye no’ stop squirming.”
    Jo went still at once, but glared at him for his obstinacy. The sight made Cam smile. She looked so cute with her face all swollen and scrunched up like that. It made him think this must be what little evil elves must look like.
    “What are you smiling about?” she grumbled, turning her face away to see where they were.
    “Ye do no’ want to know, la-ad,” he stumbled over the word, barely catching himself from calling her lass. He’d have to be more careful about that, he supposed and shook his head as they reached the clearing.
    “Let me see your back,” Jo said when he carried her to the river’s edge and set her down to lean against a boulder there.
    “ ’Tis fine,” Cam assured her and turned to go find both their bags. He’d forgotten all about the damned things in his panic when he’d heard her scream. He should have hidden them the moment he’d taken them off the horse, he supposed and then shrugged the worry away. He’d found her, and the bags were still here which was fortunate since they needed her medicinals.
    “Tell me what I should do,” Cam ordered as he returned.
    “You should show me your back,” she said grimly. “I want to see the stitches and be sure you haven’t pulled any of them.”
    “They are fine,” he repeated, dropping his bag at her feet and turning his attention to opening hers.
    “Then show me,” she snapped, and then grabbed for her bag with annoyance. “Give me that.”
    “Ye’re bleeding,” he said grimly and rifled quickly through the bag. Sadly, he didn’t know a damned thing about healing, so in the end, merely removed a small swatch of linen and then handed her the sack and moved to the waterfall to stick the cloth under the icy running water. When he turned back, Jo was rifling through the bag herself, retrieving item after item. Cam ignored what she was doing and knelt beside her and reached for her head. “Let me see.”
    “I am fine,” she said sharply, jerking back from him and putting one hand to her hat as if to stop him from taking it off. That was when Cam recalled that there was a long mane of glorious hair hidden under the cap she wore. If he tried removing it, her secret would no longer be a secret.
    Cursing, he sat back on his heels and scowled. Let her think she kept her secret or tend her injury?
    “I am the healer. Why do you not go hunt us up some supper while I tend this?”
    The words were couched as a question, but the tone was definitely an order. He had been dismissed, Cam realized, and found it amusing, considering that just moments ago she’d been demanding to see his back to ensure it was all right. It seemed that given a choice between ensuring he hadn’t split his stitches and keeping her secret, keeping her secret won out.
    “Go on, away with you,” Jo said, waving him away as if he were a pesky fly.
    Cam hesitated, but then nodded and stood. He would let her keep her secret for now. But he would keep an eye on her, and if she showed any signs of serious damage, he would be tending her himself, secret or no secret.
    “But I want to see those stitches when you return,” she added fretfully as he strode out of the clearing as ordered.
    Cam merely grunted and continued until the woods closed around him, blocking him from view. He made a lot of noise as he moved through the brush to ensure she heard him leaving. But after he’d judged he’d gone far enough that she would think he was gone, Cam paused and made his way silently back. Head wounds were a nasty business, unpredictable at best, and he was determined to be sure she was all right before he would be willing to leave her alone for the amount of time it would take for him to scare up some dinner.
    Reaching a tree at the edge of the