CHAPTER 109

The afternoon was spent preserving the venison, but Rachael quickly discovered one unpleasant aspect of her condition. She hadn’t been plagued with any sickness thus far. Indeed, other than fatigue at the beginning, she’d enjoyed an unremarkable pregnancy so far. But as soon as she got close to the carcass of the stag, the smell of blood and raw meat made her stomach heave violently.

She humiliated herself by retching into the snow, and try as she might she couldn’t rid herself of the odor that now seemed permanently implanted in her nostrils.

Gannon gently led her away from where the women were working and took her through the snow to the far side of the courtyard where she could look upon the loch in the distance and breathe crisp, clean-smelling air.

“ ’Tis humiliating,” Rachael muttered.

Gannon smiled. “Nay, ’tis not an uncommon event for a woman in your condition. I think Lady Woods retched from the time she discovered her pregnancy to the time she delivered. Cormac and I were fo