Marti Talbotts Highlander Series 1 - Anna Rachel u Charlet

and loves the children, but...”
    He got up, walked around a tree and started to pace in the opposite direction, “I hardly know what a laird does. If I am too kind, people will not admire me, but if I am too harsh, they will hate me.”
    She stopped to stare at him. But when he smiled, she burst out laughing. “You are as daft as I am.”
    “We will make a good match.”

    They had ridden through the trees for a little more than an hour when Blair noticed something was wrong. Just as before, her legs were across one of his and his arm was around her waist. But the heat from her body was becoming alarming. When she slumped against him and started to shake, he halted his horse. “Are you cold?” He felt her nod. She was sitting on the extra plaid and he needed to move her, but he didn’ t want to waste any more time than necessary. Getting them both down and then up again would not help. He made her sit up straight. “Put your arms around my neck.”
    She hesitated to move her injured arm, but she did as he asked anyway. She felt weak, freezing cold and almost mournful; yet being so close to him gave her comfort. It was as though, for the first time in her life, she was right where she was supposed to be.
    Blair lifted her, pulled the plaid out, unfolded it and started to wrap it around her. But her cheek was next to his, she hadn’t released his neck and he couldn’t help himself. He put both his arms around her and held her tight. “We must go faster.” She nodded, but still didn’t let go. He closed his eyes and basked in the feel of her in his arms. He could have stayed like that forever, but he had to do something about her fever. Reluctantly, he wrapped her in the plaid, forced her to sit down and laid h er head in the fold of his arm.
    Blair leaned down and softly kissed her lips. “Do not die, Charlet.”
    She softly mumbled, “Bridget.”

    Blair was frantic. He left the trees and rode his horse hard across clearings and up and down hillsides with Bridget practically lifeless in his arms. It was more than two hours before he finally saw what he was looking for and raced across a meadow toward a loch. As soon as he got close enough, he pulled the horse to a stop, put Bridget over his shoulder, and slid down. He took her to the shore, softly laid her down and then pulled off all her clothing. She was awake, he knew, but she was totally limp and didn’t resist. Next, he stripped himself down, lifted her back into his arms and h urried into the icy cold water.
    It was a shock to his body and he shivered, but she didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes were open, but she wasn’t looking at him and he wasn’t sure she was looking at anything at all. He waited for a full minute and then put his cheek to hers. She was still hot, so he kept her in the water longer, let her hair get wet up to her scalp and then put his cheek to hers again. She seemed to be cooling down a little. He noticed that her wound was bright red and swollen above the bandage, so he lowered her body deeper into the water so her arm would cool. When he let the water come up to her lower lip, she opened her mouth a little and drank. At least she could do that.
    Blair dared not leave her in much longer, so he carried her back out. As quickly as he could, he tightly wrapped her in both her clothing and the dry, spare plaid. He wrapped his plaid around his waist, stretched out beside her, pulled her as close to him as he could and began to rub some warmth back into her cold skin. Then he rested and waited. Her cheek was against his bare chest and her skin felt almost normal for a while, but then she got hot again.
    Twice more he took her into the water and submerged most of her body. Twice more he wrapped her up, pulled her close to him and rubbed her. Her eyes were still open, she never said a word and he prayed her brain was not addled. Then he noticed her arm was bleeding. He heard once that the English thought bleeding was a good thing. He had no idea if they were right, but just in case, he remove d the binding and let it bleed.

    CHAPTER VI

    When Bridget finally awoke, Blair was fully dressed and kneeling close to a small fire. Three large, cooked fish lay on leaves near the edge of the fire and the magnificent smell was drifting her way. She saw him pick one up by the tail, quickly flip it over and then suck on his hot fingers.
    Where were they? The sky was a gorgeous shade of blue, there were thin white clouds moving quickly