Page 48 of Hold Fast

He covered himself with his hand. Or tried. Una closed her eyes, and Ewan could not remember ever being so mortified.

“It seems that ’tis true what they say about there being a first time for everything,” she said, pulling the linen away from his wound and stepping away from the bed. He saw her measuring out a long length of cat gut. Her needle glinted in the light.

“What do you mean?”

She bit her lip and turned toward him, her eyes very carefully fixed on his. “In all my years of healing, I have nae ever witnessed a man become… like that… from having a wound cleaned.”

Ewan kept his eyes focused on the ceiling, one fist clenched at his side, the other still cupping his…Goddamnit.He tried to think of something to kill it—anything—to no avail.

“I dinnae think you could do anything to me without my body responding to you,” he confessed quietly.

She froze, and he growled, frustrated that he’d said such an inappropriate, honest thing.

“Ignore it,” he growled. “It will go away on its own.”

“I’ll make it go away,” she replied.

Ewan’s eyes flew wide, and he croaked, “What?”

Her cheeks became even more red and she tripped over her words as she said, “I mean, that is, what I meant was, I will make it go away with what I’m about to do to you, which you willnae find arousing in the least.”

“Stitches are nae so bad,” he said, his voice strained.

She seemed to deliberately keep her eyes trained on his face, ignoring the tented sheet.

“I suppose we will get to test your theory.”

She arched an eyebrow, and it struck him that while she was obviously embarrassed, her posture was relaxed, her eyes focused on him, not darting about looking for an escape the way she usually did.

“I’m sorry, Una. I— you deserve double your usual fee for having to put up with me.”

“Ten times over,” she said and he rolled his eyes.

“Between all you’ve done for Connor and now this, you’ll impoverish me within a month.”

She was quiet for a moment as she prepared the catgut and her needle.

“You dinnae have to pay me in coin.”

“Oh? And how else am I meant to pay you?”

“A cottage. I want a cottage.”

“A cottage?” he boomed, struggling to sit up but groaning and falling back.

“Dinnae do that!” she scolded, pushing hard on his chest. “And aye, I want a cottage of my own.”

His head was spinning, from pain, from exhaustion, from blood loss, yes, but also from the thought of her leaving the keep, of her being… away.

“Why? Why cannae you stay here?”

“I cannae live in the keep any longer,” Una protested. “There will be talk. I’m surprised there hasnae been any already.”

“Hang the talk. It doesnae matter.”

“It matters verra much to me,” she said, her mouth returning to that hard, angry line.

She was silent then. Truly silent, and he had the sense that she would not speak again for the rest of this encounter if he did not fix things.God’s bones.Could he do nothing right?