were ye arrested before him?”
Toran stared hard at her, and she wondered if he would answer the question at all. His eyes gave nothing away. He unnerved her.
“I was already there, aye.”
His cautious answer sent a warning prickle along her spine. But before she could question him further, the door burst open, and Jenny’s childhood friend and confidante, Annie MacPherson, rushed into the croft, Dirk right behind her. Her long dark hair flew around her face in wisps that had pulled free of her braid.
She scanned the room, her amber eyes wide, settling on Archie’s still body lying on the table behind Jenny.
“Oh,” she gasped. “What happened? Were ye set upon?” She looked Jenny up and down, even as Jenny pushed her dear friend away.
“Nay, nay, not us. We happened upon them on the road.” She nodded her head toward Toran and Archie.
“Who did this to him?” Annie asked as she examined his wounds. “Dragoons?”
“Aye. The English are responsible,” Jenny said, but her own gaze had settled on Toran.
He refused to look up, eyes on Archie. Was he afraid of giving something away? What wasn’t he telling her?
Annie ordered everyone away from her patient and directed the men to bring her boiled water and clean linens. She’d brought a satchel full of medical supplies and the box of herbal medicines she’d created. In truth, she never went anywhere without them.
Jenny was used to seeing Annie work, but Toran wasn’t. He started to hover, and it was only Jenny’s hand on his arm tugging him back that had him finally giving Annie some space.
“She’ll take good care of him.” Jenny watched as her friend cut away the fabric of Archie’s torn léine and frock coat. Annie motioned for Dirk to help her, which had Toran twitching at her side. “We’ve taken care of many such as him, and in worse shape. Beaten bloody and left for dead by the English. Ye need have no fear.”
She stared at Toran’s profile, the strength of his jaw and the line of his rather noble nose. Aye, there was a slight bump on it from having been broken. It was rare to see a warrior who didn’t have that. Faint scars on his cheeks and forehead spoke of years of training as a soldier, even participation in battles. Jenny had grown accustomed to searching out such marks. They helped her determine the level of training a recruit would need before being paired with an experienced rebel.
Toran ran a battle-scarred hand through his shoulder-length hair and then swiped it down his face, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“How many?” he asked.
“Pardon?” She eyed his profile, mesmerized by his striking features and fighting herself to ignore the strong urge to run her fingers through his dark locks.
“How many have ye treated?”
Jenny cleared her throat. “Hard to say. These are bloody times.”
Toran opened his mouth as though he were going to say something and then pressed his lips back into that firm, grim line, putting a stop to whatever he was going to share. He might want to go quiet, but she wasn’t going to allow it. “How many were in prison with ye?”
“Too many.” He offered no more.
“Even one is too many, aye?” she asked.
He grunted and ran his hand through his hair again. A nervous habit? He flicked his blue eyes at her briefly, and she found herself momentarily stunned. “So ye’ve recruited us. Now what?”
Jenny had never been one to go into a tizzy over a man, even when she was younger. She was pragmatic, knew her role in this world and hadn’t let anything get in the way of it. So why the bloody hell was this man unsettling the strategic foundation she’d built?
“We need to get Archie well first, and I suspect ye’ll want to remain with him.”
“I’m no’ a nursemaid, lass.”
“Mistress,” she corrected him. “And no one suggested ye were. But even if I had, if that’s where ye’re needed, that’s where ye’ll be.”
He turned to face her, those startling blue eyes locking onto her own. There was a danger that lurked in their depths that sent a shiver racing through her.
“Are ye related?” she asked.
“He is my cousin.”
“Ah. How many more of your clan were there? How did ye get arrested?”
He shook his head. “’Tis my turn to ask a question.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I invited ye to join our army. I am providing healing for your cousin, your blood. I saved ye from the redcoats. I’ll be the one to