Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 92771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Go on, tell Quint,” Dru said, emerging from the shadows and plopping down beside Nug on the bench. She didn’t wait for Nug to answer. She grinned. “I did for Nug what you did for me, Quint. I saved his sorry arse, and Ryland was so grateful he told me I could stay here whenever I wanted as long as I didn’t do any thieving, and I gave my word I wouldn’t.”
“Dru saved your life?” Quint asked, looking from the tall, lean-muscled man to the petite, grimy woman. “How did she do that?”
Dru elbowed Nug in the arm. “Go on, tell him, unless you want me to.”
“Nay,” Nug snapped. “You always elaborate and make it more a tale than the truth.”
Dru tilted her head to look at him, her eyes wide with glee. “Did I or did I not save your life?”
Nug looked at Quint. “I got into an altercation with a traveler who stopped here for the night. I didn’t see his dagger. Dru spotted it and threw herself at the guy just before he was about to stab me in the back.”
“Suffered a slash on my arm, I did. I even have the scar to prove it,” Dru said ready to pull up her sleeve.
“Quint doesn’t need to see it,” Nug said.
“A mystery solved,” Quint said, holding back a chuckle. “I wondered why your chieftain let her stay here, though I will say that when Dru gives her word, she keeps it.”
“Ryland reminds me of that often enough,” Nug said.
“Admit it, Nug, you like me. You’re just upset a woman, a petite one at that, saved your manly arse.”
Nug turned, jabbing Dru in the chest. “One of these days I am going to give you what you deserve.”
“A kiss for saving your life?” Dru roared with laughter.
“I’d rather kiss a pig,” Nug snarled.
“With some of the women I’ve seen you kiss, I’d say you already have,” Dru said and continued laughing.
Quint couldn’t hold back his laughter. He had forgotten how entertaining Dru could be with her quick retorts.
Nug stood. “This is no time for laughter. If Chieftain Ryland dies, you will have no place to stay, and when Lord Torrance’s mercenaries arrive it definitely won’t be safe for you to stay here. Though your foul stink will probably keep the men away.”
Dru chuckled, “I don’t know about that. Some of the men stink worse than I do.”
Quint half listened to the banter between the two, his thoughts on his wife. He would give it a while longer than he intended to go see how she was doing, though it was more that he missed her, and that revelation surprised him.
“Please. Please, Shade, you must say nothing or the clan will lose all hope. And please, please, I beg you… help my husband.”
“Of course, I will help Caleb, but first you must tell me what goes on here. Why are you and, I assume your healer, Ena, knows since she tended to him, and possibly Nug, that it is not Chieftain Ryland in this bed. Where is he and why lie about it?”
“I don’t know Chieftain Ryland’s whereabouts. All assumed that the wounded man that was carried into the keep and placed in the chieftain’s bedchamber is Chieftain Ryland. Nug brought me here along with our healer since I assist her at times to discover it was my husband in the bed. I was sworn to secrecy and told to ask no questions. Nug is the only one who will be able to tell you anything, though he may be reluctant to do so. I would guess it is either because our chieftain is dead, and the news would devastate the clan and leave them without a shred of hope, or our chieftain is alive and will make sure Lord Torrance never lays claim to Clan MacLeish. That is why it is imperative that you reveal nothing of what you’ve seen here. Please, Shade, give me your word you will say nothing.”
“Worry not, Ula, you have my word, I will say nothing.”
“Even to your husband?” Ula asked.
Shade feared there were too many secrets to keep, and she worried what would happen when they all came to light, but she did as her friend asked. “I will say nothing to him, but I will not lie to him if confronted.”
“I understand since there are no lies between Caleb and me.”
Shade gave her friend’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “All will be well.”
“I believe that now that you are here, and I was able to confide in you.”
“Time to heal your husband,” Shade said and got busy thoroughly examining him.
To start she took her time running her hands over him while concentrating on the troublesome areas that worried her, deciding how best to treat them. There was a bit of heat in his flesh, another worrisome sign since one of the wounds was nearly putrid.