“I do not swoon!” For a moment she looked indignant then sighed. “Well, I suppose I did at that. It was so cold.”
“Ye were near half-frozen.” He really wanted to know if she remembered anything else. She’d had that brief period of consciousness when she’d awakened to find him pressed against her. He should explain that now that she was lucid again. But if she didn’t remember, maybe he shouldn’t bring it up. “Is that all ye remember?”
She looked away from him and stared into the fire burning in the hearth. For a long moment, she didn’t speak. He was beginning to wonder if the flames had mesmerized her when she finally turned to him.
“You undressed me and crawled into bed with me, didn’t you? It was not a dream, was it?”
Rory took a deep breath. He might as well get this over with. “I did, but—”
“There is no need to explain.” She smiled suddenly. “I was afraid I had been delusional.”
He wasn’t sure if he’d heard correctly. Juliana wasn’t angry? Had she just said…? His bewildered brain was just fathoming its way around her words when the door opened and Sima poked her head in.
“Oh, good! Ye are finally awake,” she said.
“I am. Please come in,” Juliana answered.
Rory bit back a groan. Damn it. Now he’d never find out what she’d meant.
…
By the next morning, Juliana was feeling well enough to join Greer and Aileen in the solar. The blizzard had finally blown through and sunshine shone through the windows, making the room bright and cheerful. Andwarm. Juliana looked at the flames burning merrily in the hearth. She didn’t think she’d ever take a warm fire for granted again.
“’Tis good to see all three of ye up and about,” Sima said as she brought in scones fresh from the oven, along with strawberry jam and clotted cream. She set the tray down on the low table between the settees and took a chair. “Mayhap now I can get some rest myself.”
Juliana looked at the sisters. “Did you both sleep through three full days like I did?”
“For the first day,” Aileen answered, “but then Greer started having nightmares and kept waking me up.”
“What were they about?”
Greer shrugged. “Being frozen. We couldn’t get the door open.”
“Well, that seems reasonable, considering our circumstances.” Juliana wasn’t about to reveal the contents of her own horrible nightmare. “I guess I was lucky not to relive that.”
“Aye. And lucky ye dinna keep getting woken up,” Aileen said.
Greer glowered at her. “Ye caused enough noise on your own, blawing like ye did.”
“And ye were both acting like crabbits by yesterday.” Sima put an end to the conversation that sounded like it would escalate into an argument. She looked at Juliana. “I am just glad Rory was willing to look after ye.”
Juliana felt herself blush as all eyes turned on her. So she hadn’t been delusional when she kept waking up and seeing him there. Something warm fluttered through her belly at the thought that he had stayed with her, which she tried to ignore. He was kind and thoughtful, but it didn’t mean he cared about her personally. He had told her shortly after their escape from the Camerons that he’d sworn to bring her home. Presumably, that meant alive and healthy. She’d spent enough time with Rory to know he was a man who kept his word, and that was important to her. But, in his mind, she was a responsibility. Something that had to be delivered to Strae Castle. And, she reminded herself, since her stomach had turned all mushy and warm thinking about him, there was the matter of Morag. Now that the snow had finally stopped falling, she would be returning, and he would honor whatever bond was between them. He was probably looking forward to that now that Juliana was mending.
“He probably did not want me to be more of an imposition on you than we already have been.”
“Ye are nae an imposition, lass,” Sima said.
Greer giggled. “And I doona thinkRorythinks of ye as one, either.”
Juliana frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”
Aileen arched a brow. “He is verra protective of ye.”
“He promised his brother and my sister he’d bring me home after I got abducted,” Juliana replied. “He probably acts like a guard so I do not get into another situation that he has to rescue me from again.”
The sisters exchanged glances, and both of them grinned.
“If that is what ye want to call him,” Aileen said.
