Once sitting, Saidh could better see what was going on at the foot of the bed. Most of the men were still rolling around on the ground, but two were now rolling around on their own, cupping their groins. Three were, she corrected herself silently as Geordie suddenly rolled free of the pileup with a groan of pain. It seemed Greer had taken lessons from watching her, she thought with amusement as he and Aulay and Dougall continued their struggle.
And her brothers were treating him as gently as they did her, she noted with affection. She would have to thank them for that later, Saidh thought. She had no fear that her husband couldn’t take care of himself, and she didn’t think he needed her brothers to go lightly on him, but she was glad that they were. It was a sign that they liked him.
“Ready?” Rory asked.
Saidh shifted her attention to her brother. He was seated on the side of the bed, apparently ready to push the arrow the rest of the way through her body. When she nodded, he lifted a piece of linen he’d folded several times and with it in the palm of his hand, pressed the linen against the broken tip of the shaft and then began to push on the arrow. Saidh couldn’t help it, she immediately began to bellow in pain and instinctively leaned back away from his efforts.
“Saidh!” Greer roared and was suddenly on his feet, shaking off her brothers like a dog shaking off water. Charging to the bed, he knocked Rory to the floor, bellowing, “What the devil are ye doing to her?”
“ ’Tis all right, husband,” Saidh said weakly, and then paused to savor the word. Husband. He was her husband.
“ ’Tis no’ all right. He’s supposed to be mending ye, no’ injuring ye further,” Greer snarled, glaring at Rory as he got to his feet.
“He is,” Saidh said quickly, recalled to the situation. “The barbs on the arrow could cause damage they avoided when the arrow went in. ’Tis safer to to push the arrow out rather than pull it back the way it came.”
Greer relaxed a little, but didn’t look happy. Dropping onto the side of the bed, he peered at the arrow shaft with disgruntlement, and shook his head. “I ken ye’re probably right and it has to be done, but . . .” He swallowed and met her gaze, expression helpless. “I do no’ like the idea o’ anyone hurting ye. E’en fer yer own good.”
“Trust me, I’m none too pleased meself,” she said with a crooked smile, and then cleared her throat and said, “Mayhap ye could help and hold me still while he does it? ’Tis instinct to pull back when he pushes. ’Twill go faster and less painful do ye help keep me in place while he does it.”
“O’ course,” Greer murmured and then hesitated, looking unsure how best to help with that.
“We can help too,” Aulay said quietly.
Greer gave himself a shake and then seemed to regather his wits. Glancing to her eldest brother, he nodded. “Aye. Aulay, if ye could get behind her shoulder on this side and brace her so she can’t back away.”
Nodding, Aulay moved up to the head of the bed and placed his hands firmly on Saidh’s uninjured shoulder.
Greer then turned his gaze to the other men, but settled on her second oldest brother, Dougall, as he said, “Dougall, if ye’d kneel behind Alpin on the bed and help brace her other shoulder . . .” He didn’t bother finishing, Alpin had already sat up to shift out of the way and Dougall was even now climbing to kneel half behind the boy and half behind Saidh. Placing his hands carefully on her upper arm and back, Dougall nodded that he was ready.
“Good, then I’ll hold her about the waist and—” Greer had slid his arms around her as he spoke, but paused and glanced around uncertainly as he realized there was no way Rory could get at her to push the arrow through with him on the side of the bed.
“ ’Tis all right. I can straddle her,” Rory said quickly, and did just that, climbing onto the bed and moving to straddle Saidh’s lap on the bed.
“We’ll hold her legs so she does no’ kick ye off to stop ye,” Geordie announced and the rest of the brothers bent over the bed to grab her legs and feet to hold them in place.
“Good, good,” Greer muttered and slid his arms around Saidh again, careful to keep his upper chest enough to the side that he didn’t risk bumping the shaft sticking out of her chest, or blocking Rory’s ability to do what he needed to do. Once he had Saidh in a firm embrace, he pulled his head back enough to see her face. “Ready?”
Saidh glanced at all the men surrounding her. Men she loved, all there to keep her still, and gave a weak laugh. “Do ye really think ye need seven strong men to hold down little me?”
“Eight,” Alpin corrected drawing everyone’s attention to the fact that he now knelt at her side, one small hand on her back, the other just above Greer’s arm on her front . . . pretty much cupping the bottom of her injured breast.
“Lad, ye’d best move yer hand else ye might lose it,” Aulay said with amusement as Greer growled deep in his throat.
Flushing, the boy quickly shifted his hand to rest between her breasts, muttering, “Sorry.”
Aulay nodded and then turned his gaze to Saidh and said, “As fer needing so many to hold ye down, love. We ken yer strength. We’ve wrestled with ye.”
“Aye,” Geordie said dryly. “Yer powerful strong when yer blood’s up, Saidh. ’Tis best we take precautions.”
“Hmm,” Saidh muttered and shook her head.
“Put yer arms around me and try to keep them there,” Greer instructed. When she did, he added, “Scream all ye want to, love. Ye’ve a right to.”
“Trust me, I will,” Saidh assured him with little humor and then roared in shocked pain and tried to buck backward as Rory suddenly thrust forward on the arrow shaft without any warning at all.
Of course, with so many holding her in place, Saidh couldn’t back away. In fact, she would have sworn that Aulay and Dougall pushed her forward into the thrust and Greer pulled her in the same direction doing the same thing. Whatever the case, pain exploded in her chest and then her back as the arrow tore through the undamaged skin there.
“It’s through!” Saidh heard Aulay bark above her bellowing. “Pull it out from yer side, Dougall.”
“Carefully, and straight out. Do no’ bend or twist it,” she heard Rory caution as her roaring turned into a whimper and blackness rushed in to claim her.
Chapter 12