My Highland Lord (Highland Lords) Read Online Free PDF Page B

lifted the chamber pot for all to see.
     
    Use of the chamber pot, along with hot tea and cakes, revived Phoebe. She s et her cup of tea on the tray and glanced at the armoire where Mrs. Grayson said her cloak hung. Any hope of discovering if her reticule was there with the cloak was dashed by the presence of her highwayman. Phoebe studied the scoundrel. He rested, once again, eyes closed, head reclining on the high back of the chair.
    “I didn't think to ask your name,” she murmured.
    “Kiernan MacGregor, at your service." The sound of his voice startled her. He opened his eyes and sat up. “How's your head?”
    “Better.”
    “That was a foolish move, Heddy.”
    Phoebe opened her mouth , but the intensity in his gaze stopped the retort. She took a deep breath. “I did it because I wish to avoid the scandal of being away for days with a strange man.”
    Surprise melted into a cool look. “A man you know will do, though?”
    Her response was forestalled by a knock at the door.
    “Come in,” Kiernan instructed.
    The door opened and Mather stepped inside. “Dr. Connor here to see the lady, sir.” Mather stepped aside and a small, gray haired man entered the room.
    Kiernan came to his feet. He strode forward, hand extended. Dr. Connor grasped one side of the gold-rimmed glasses he wore and set them farther back on the bridge of his nose. He switched the black bag he carried from his right hand to the left and grasped Kiernan’s hand in a warm greeting.
    “Good to see you, Connor,” Kiernan said.
    “How are you, lad?” the doctor asked. “Mather, here, tells me you're not taking care of yourself as ye ought.”
    Kiernan laughed. A deep rich laugh, Phoebe grudgingly noticed, that filled the room and settled deep inside the heart of the listener.
    “Mather , long ago, appointed himself my mother,” he said, giving him a stern look.
    Mather bowed and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
    Dr. Connor frowned. “You look as if you could use a rest.”
    “Soon, Connor, soon. But first,” Kiernan motioned to Phoebe, “you have a more pressing patient.”
    The doctor approached. He sat down on the bed beside her and, setting the black bag on the floor, eyed Phoebe. “A nasty fall, my dear.” He placed a hand on her forehead, tipping her head back slightly. “Let me have a look.” He leaned in closer and studied the gash on her forehead, then said with a glance at Kiernan, “Have you a candle?”
    Kiernan looked around the room, then strode to the small secretary in the alcove. He picked up the candle sitting there , and hurried to the fire and lit it.
    “Put it on the nightstand,” the doctor said as Kiernan approached.
    Kiernan placed the candle beside Phoebe's tea cup on the tray and Dr. Connor placed a thumb on her right eyelid and gently pulled the lid up as he tilted her head toward the candle light. He studied the eye for a moment, did the same with the left eye, then released her.
    “How is your sight?” he asked.
    “Fine now,” she replied. “When I first awoke, it was blurry.”
    He nodded, then reached into his black bag and pulled out a stethoscope. Phoebe grasped the end of the stethoscope and examined it much as he had her head.
    She looked at him. “A binaural stethoscope. Where did you find one?”
    His face lit with surprise. “You're familiar with this instrument?”
    “Indeed I am.” She fingered one of the tubes. “The article in the London Gazette was most informative.”
    “You read that article? That came into print in eighteen twenty-nine.”
    Phoebe thought for a moment. “August twelfth, I believe.” She looked from the incredul ous doctor to Kiernan, who regarded her with a tilt of his head. “A woman can read as well as a man,” she said.
    “Aye,” Dr. Connor agreed, pulling her attention back to him. “That she can. That-she-can.”
    “How did you come by it?” she asked. “I didn’t think they were in use.”
    “You’re correct. But I have