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good as new in no time. There’s some fresh bread here as well. Would you care for a wedge?”
    “Oh yes, please. It smells heavenly.”
    As he buttered one of the thick slices and handed it to her, their fingers inadvertently brushed together across the sweet cream butter.
    When she raised her hand and licked each finger free of butter, Morgan silently groaned. Sweet Jesu, it was such a sensual movement, though unconscious on her part. As she sank her straight white teeth into the soft bread, he rose to leave.
    “I must go,” he muttered, scraping back the chair.
    Kate swallowed and set aside the bread. “Are you sure, Morgan? I hoped you’d stay with me until Winnie returns.”
    “I would,” he said, ashamed of the lie that followed, “but I fear the lambs won’t wait much longer.”
    “Oh, of course. Thank you for everything.” Her sightless eyes tracked the sound of his footsteps retreating across the floor.
    “Is there anything else I can get you?” he asked her from the doorway. “D’you wish me to stoke up the fire again?”
    “Fire?” A visible shudder went through her at the word. Her face drained to chalk white in seconds. Morgan rapidly crossed back to her bedside again.
    “What is it?” he demanded. “Did you remember something?”
    Her lips formed each shivering word. “Fire. Flames. Smoke.” She moaned and clutched at the bed sheets in a spasm of terror. Morgan removed the tray and set it aside. In another moment he grasped her shaking hands in his own.
    “I’m here,” he said. “Hold tight.”
    “Oh, Morgan!” she suddenly sobbed, shuddering and clutching his hands in return.
    When she was calm again, he said, “There must have been a fire at sea. ’Twould explain much.” He hesitated, then confessed, “I also found a peculiar amulet around your neck. I would fain describe it for you, then let you feel it, to see if it stirs some memories. Tomorrow, perhaps, when you’re feeling stronger. Meanwhile, I’ll ride down to the shore again and try to find some more clues. Right now, you mustn’t think of anything but getting well. You require much quiet and rest to recover.”
    “I can’t help it,” she whispered, her blind gaze seeking his. “If I was on a ship which burned and sank, there must have been others who were with me. Friends. Relatives. Oh, Sweet Jesu, what if my whole family was aboard that doomed vessel?”
    “Ssh, little one, won’t do any good to fret about it now.” Morgan reached out and stroked her head until she calmed down again. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and leaned against him. His arm curled around her shoulder; he marveled at her instinctive trust of him. Even as he exulted in their closeness, he knew it could never materialize into anything more. He felt a pain greater than anything he had suffered before, a searing agony deep as his wounded soul.
    “Morgan,” she begged him, turning her damp face into his linen shirt, “Oh, Morgan, don’t leave me yet. Please.”
    There was no question of it. He held her tightly, safely, in his protective embrace, till at last she slept.

    “T HERE, THAT SHOULD DO it,” Winnie proclaimed with satisfaction, securing the last of the compresses in place and stepping back from her patient. “There now, Katie love, I want you to keep the ointment in your eyes. Blink as little as possible. We’ll change the dressings twice a day.”
    “’Tis soothing,” Kate admitted, raising a hand to touch the soft linen wrap over her eyes. “What’s in it?”
    “Eyebright, golden seal, and witch hazel. An old Welsh remedy for sore eyes. A week or so and you should be right as rain again.” Winnie wiped her hands on her apron and observed her patient with a motherly air. “In the while, I want no undue moving about. You’re bruised enough as ’tis.”
    “Aye, Mum,” Kate agreed, with a grin for the scolding undertone in Winnie’s voice. “I hope your order doesn’t rule out any calls of nature. After all