Page 48 of The Laird's Masked Desire
“Make it quick,” he said without looking up.
The footsteps stopped.
“Me laird?”
The voice was not one of his men. He lifted his gaze. Margaret stood just inside the doorway. She had changed since the night before. Now, she appeared daylight-softened and properly dressed, but there was nothing tentative about the way she met his eyes. For a brief, disorienting instant, he thought of her in the practice hall, of the dagger in her hand and of thunder.
He straightened. “Ye should nae be here.”
“I ken,” she replied calmly.
That caught his attention. “Ken what?”
“About the healer,” she said. “And the shortage.”
His jaw tightened. “Who told ye?”
“Nay one,” she answered. “I was with him.”
That surprised him into stillness.
“With the healer?”
She nodded. “Annabel took me tae him this morning. He was burning with fever. I helped cool him and prepared what little we had left of the stores. It is nae much, but it may keep him lucid.”
Domhnall exhaled slowly. “Ye did well.” The words came before he had quite decided to say them.
She inclined her head, accepting the thanks without ceremony. “It is nae enough.”
“Nay,” he agreed. “It is nae.”
She hesitated only a moment. “Which is why I will gather the herbs meself.”
The room went very still.
“Nay,” Domhnall said at once.
Margaret did not flinch. “Ye have men tae watch borders and patrol passes. Ye dinnae have time tae spare them for this.”
“I have time tae spare guards,” he countered. “I dinnae haveyetae spare.”
Her eyes sharpened. “This again.”
“Thisalways,” he replied.
“The task is time-sensitive,” she pressed. “Some of what ye need must be gathered fresh, before the bloom fades. Waiting risks lives.”
“I am aware,” he said coldly. “That daesnae change the danger beyond the walls.”
“And keeping me behind them daesnae change the need,” she shot back. “Ye said yerself that ye cannae afford an outbreak.”
He moved around the table, stopping a careful distance from her. “Ye are nae trained fer field work in contested territory.”
“I am trained tae recognize plants in difficult terrain,” she revealed. “Tae ken which grow near water, which favor shade, which look harmless and are nae. I have done this before.”
“Nae here.”
“Nay,” she admitted. “But plants dinnae swear allegiance tae clans.”
