Love Her Softly

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Deep aching pain greeted Emma when she returned to consciousness. Each breath was agonizing and her body felt raw, her face swollen.

Slowly, Emma opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She recognized where she was immediately. Liam's cabin.

But how? The last thing she remembered was her father's angry fist colliding with her face and Liam's angry yell. Why was she here? Had Liam killed her father? Was Liam alright?

Turning her head to the right, Emma nearly cried out in surprise when she saw a chair pulled close to the bed and Liam sprawled out upon it, his chin on his chest, sleeping soundly.

He was still wearing the trousers and shirt he'd worn to the dance. They were dirty and tattered in places. Her eyes dropped to his hands and she winced when she saw his bloody and battered knuckles.

Emma shifted under the fur she was covered in and froze. Where were her clothes? For the second time she was waking up unclothed in Liam's cabin with no idea how she had gotten to be there.

"Liam?" she whispered, finding that it hurt to even move her lips to speak. She could only imagine what she looked like thanks to her father's fists.

Instantly, Liam's brown eyes opened and he closed the distance between them, his fingertips tracing the line of her jaw tenderly. "It's good to see your eyes, Emma."

Emma flushed and nibbled at her lip. "H...how did I get here? Where are my clothes?"

It was Liam's turn to redden as he pulled away, rubbed his hands on his thighs and pushed himself to his feet. "I uh.. I went up on the mountain and got you," he replied. "And the doctor took your clothes off so he could tend to your ribs and bruises. Aunt Anita and the girls came out this morning to bring you some things."

Quickly, Liam turned away and strode to the kitchen. Emma took a moment to look beneath the blanket and realized she was wrapped tight around the middle with white cloth. Her ribs were hurting terribly. She wondered if her father had broken them.

Laying the blanket back down, Emma watched Liam fill a bowl with stew that smelled delicious. He came back to the bed and returned to the chair. "Can you sit up at all?" he asked.

Emma nodded. Liam sat the bowl on the small nightstand and helped her up so she was leaning against the headboard. She took steadying, painful breaths. "It hurts to move—and breathe."

She saw Liam's eyes flash and his jaw jumped. His nostrils flared as he took the bowl in his hands. "Yeah. The doc said you've got some cracked ribs and a few bruised ones."

Emma chewed her lip and smiled shyly as Liam brought the spoon to her mouth. She quickly swallowed the bite and her stomach roared to life.

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"It's afternoon and I brought you here last night. The doc assured me you'd wake up after a good rest. I was getting worried though." Liam nudged the refilled spoon closer to her mouth. "Eat. You need food."

Emma rolled her eyes at his bossiness but did as he said because she was hungry. "Liam? How did ya get me here?"

"On horseback," he muttered, shifting uncomfortably as his eyes left hers.

Uneasiness filled her. "Is he.... Did ya kill him?" She hoped not. Not because she cared about the life of the man who had murdered her mother, but because Liam would have a bounty on his head from those mountain men if he had.