Somewhere My Lass Read Online Free

plain hospital blanket. She turned her head at his footfall.
    Eyes blazing, she pointed at the cheery young nurse. “That Englisher took my garments and the holy crucifix from around m’ very throat. Heretic.”
    Good lord . That word hailed from the age of the Holy Wars. 
    He glanced from the accusation aflame in Mora’s face to the Highland costume protruding from a plastic bag in one corner. Her relic was probably tucked in there. 
    “Calm down.” He covered the short distance to her side. “Your things are set aside for safekeeping.”
    Her eyes flashed. “They were safe in m’ own care afore she snatched them!”
    “We’ll give them back later, honey,” said the plump brunette with Betty stamped on her nametag. The bold pink print on her uniform made a spot of color in the drab room, as did Mora’s brilliant hair and eyes. 
    “Neil! Stop her,” she pleaded, as if the nurse were stealing her newborn. “She made me wear this detestable short gown.” 
    Mora held up a creamy arm with the blood pressure cuff attached. “And this. ‘Tis squeezing me like a serpent’s coils.” An IV line extended from her other arm. “And she’s stuck me with a needle. The wicked shrew.”
    He grasped Mora’s chill fingers. “Not for long,” he assured her, hoping that were true.   
    “Doctor Marston will be in shortly,” Betty told him, apparently seeing little point in addressing Mora. “He’s a neurologist,” she added with a significant glance. 
    Mora was not to be ignored. “Did ye say alchemist?”
    “No, honey. I’ll be back soon to check on her, Mr. MacKenzie. Call me if she needs anything.”
    “My garments and the silver cross ye thieving vixen!” Mora flung her words at the retreating figure. “This is no hospitale , Neil. ‘Tis a chamber of torment.”
    Her pronunciation for hospital had an old French twist to it. Wondering at her language instruction and her vehemence, he bent nearer and spoke soothingly. “They’re only trying to help you.”
    “The divil they are,” she spat out in true Scot’s temper. “Will ye take my part or no?”
    “Of course I will.”
    “Then steal me away from this vile place.”
    He smoothed the fiery tendril at her cheek. Despite her volatile state and his bafflement, he delighted in the silken sensation. “First, let the doctor examine your head.”
    Again the confusion in her face. “Who?”
    “The physician.”
    Concentration creased the corners of her eyes. “Physic?”
    “Near enough, I suppose,” though no one used that term anymore.
    She shook her head. “Foul leech.”
    Who referred to doctors as leeches? He firmed his tone. “You are injured and need care.”
    “Nae. ‘Tis naught but a bruise. No need for all this haver .” 
    The word played in his mind like the reedy thread of a distant flute. Haver meant nonsense, though how he knew that he couldn’t say.
    Mora thrashed from side to side, cringing as the IV line pulled at the needle in her vein. “Owwww.”
    “Stop that.” Neil bent lower and gently gripped her shoulders. “You’ll only do yourself more harm.”
    She glared up at him through the gleam of unshed tears. “More than they? Will the leech bleed me dry—poison me?”
    “No.” 
    “I shall niver leave here alive if ye do not bear me away!”
    She had strident issues with the medical community, or maybe her tutor instilled the fear within her. “Where on earth are you from?”
    “I already told ye and ye dinna listen.” She clamped her lips shut.
    A pretty mouth, pink and puckered, Neil noticed. Whatever this amnesia was, it had engulfed her mind. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just—” he broke off uncertain what to offer by way of an explanation.
    She twisted in his grasp, opening her lips long enough to demand, “Ye think me tetched ?”
    He recognized the Scot’s term for crazy and couldn’t deny the thought had crossed his mind, but hastened to say, “Of course not.”
    She grew