Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels Book Five)

by Bybee, Catherine

  She knocked, ready to use her gift to shimmy the lock on the door and let herself in.

  The doorknob wiggled, bringing relief.

  She opened her mouth to tell him he took long enough, and immediately shut it when an adorable blue-eyed girl opened the door.

  Selma blinked, backed up, and looked at the address on the door.

  No, it’s the right place.

  “Hi,” the girl said with a dimpled smile.

  “Hi.”

  “Kelsey, don’t open the door,” Jake’s voice yelled from the back of the house.

  “Too late, Daddy.”

  So this was Jake’s daughter…

  Before Selma could wiggle her mind around that, another girl made her way to Kelsey’s side.

  Identical twins?

  How was it Selma didn’t know that? Jake’s daughters were twins?

  “Sophie!”

  “Too late.” Selma said for the girls.

  Jake appeared behind his daughters with a spatula in his hand and frustration on his brow.

  “Who are you?” the one wearing green, Sophie if Selma could tell by the names called out, surmised.

  “I’m Selma.”

  “Daddy’s girlfriend?”

  Selma met Jake’s gaze.

  She started to shake her head when Jake broke out in a rare smile. “That’s right, Kelsey. This is Selma…my g-girlfriend.”

  He nearly choked on the title while he waved Selma inside.

  ****

  Giles ran a hand through his hair before letting it fall to the stubble on his chin. He hadn’t slept and couldn’t imagine doing so now.

  “There’s nothing more. Nothing!”

  Kincaid glared at him from across the table. Giles knew nasty words sat on the tip of the man’s tongue, but with a woman at his side, he said nothing.

  “Keep looking.”

  “Where?” He motioned toward the walls of the library. “I’ve searched. Books have flown off the shelves and there isn’t anything more. Only one word is repeated.”

  Amber said nothing and stared at their hands.

  “Bonding,” Giles said in a shout. “That is the answer. It’s everywhere.”

  “There has to be another answer.”

  “Does there? I think not.”

  Kincaid gripped the edge of the table.

  “I know it’s not the answer you want. But it is what it is. Amber must bond with someone…someone with your ability to protect her. Even then she would need to learn to use her mate’s gift to survive.”

  Kincaid stood. The chair behind him skidded across the floor.

  Amber tensed.

  “Please, Gavin…Giles can only report what he has found. The fault does not lie with him. He is only the messenger.”

  Thankful for her kind words, Giles bowed his head. “I’m sorry there isn’t another path.”

  He noticed the force behind her smile. “You have been a blessing, Giles. Please…go and find your dinner…a bed. I see the exhaustion in your eyes.”

  Instead of leaving the room, Giles knelt beside her, ignoring the man towering over him. “Forgive me for not finding the answer you seek.”

  She reached toward him, didn’t touch, and graced him with a smile. “You have not disappointed me,” she told him.

  Beside him, Kincaid growled.

  Without being dismissed, Giles found his feet and left the room.

  Outside the library, he leaned against the wall and shamelessly eavesdropped.

  “Calm yourself, Gavin.”

  “He’s not looking hard enough.”

  Giles winced with his friend’s words.

  “Do you truly believe that?”

  There was a sigh, and again the sound of a chair skirting across the floor.

  Giles squeezed his eyes shut.

  “There has to be another answer.”

  “If there’s not?” Amber’s voice was so low Giles could hardly hear it.

  After a long pause, he heard his long-time friend’s response.

  “Then we bond.”

  Amber, who seldom smiled let alone expressed any form of humor, laughed.

  His friend wouldn’t take her humor in good form.

  “Bonding is not something you wish in your life, Gavin. I’ve been inside your head…I know this.”

  “We have no choice,” he argued.

  Giles started to leave his perch, annoyed at his own lack of respect for the private conversation.

  “There is always a choice. ’Tis what separates us from animals…from slaves.”

  The conversation stilled and stopped Gavin in his tracks.

  “There is no need to make a decision tonight,” he heard Amber say.

  “You’re right,” Kincaid said much too quickly. “Tomorrow is soon enough.”

  The sound of chairs scraping across the floor motivated his feet.

  In the sitting room off the kitchen, he found Mrs. Dawson staring out the window and rocking in a chair.

  “There’s a plate of food in the microwave,” she told him.

  “You shouldn’t have.”

  “I didn’t. Amber suggested it.”

  He worked his way in the kitchen and managed to power up the old-fashioned food warmer. The amount of power it took to run one of these things was asinine.

  “Where are Helen and Simon?” he asked as he filled a glass with tap water.

  “They retired.”

  Giles noted the darkness out the window.

  What time is it anyway?

  The time on the clock on the stove flashed eleven thirty-three.

  “Do you know how to use the coffee maker?” she asked.

  The request caught him off guard. He glanced at the machine. “I think so.”

  Mrs. Dawson turned her head toward his. “It’s going to be a long night, Mr. Giles. I suggest you brew a pot.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Grainna’s name was used, and Kincaid called the woman Amber.”

  “Amber? Are you sure?” Raine asked.

  Mouse rubbed his hands together, obviously happy to deliver good news for a change.

  “What century was this again?”

  “Twenty-first.”

  How did I miss that? “Describe the woman.”

  “Petite, almost sickly. Her skin was pale, as if she didn’t spend time in the sun. Dark brown eyes and long dark brown hair.”

  “How long?”

  “It was pulled back. But longer than the way most women wore it in the twenty-first century.”

  “She was Druid?”

  “Yes. Powerful. She knew I was in the crow the moment it landed by her side. Kincaid didn’t believe her at first.”

  Raine tilted her head to the side and met Mouse’s eyes. “You exposed yourself?”

  Mouse trembled, as he should.

  “I needed to get close to hear them. Kincaid’s shield surrounded both of them. I had no choice.” Mouse’s words ran into each other. “I released the bird before he destroyed it.”

  “Then what?”

  “I don’t know. I was too far away to witness anything. The fortress is nothing but a large home with a small perimeter in that time. Easily breached if we should go in and take it over.”

  “If Amber is the Amber MacCoinnich you describe, infiltrating the fortress will call her family down on us. You don’t think her father would leave her in a century so far from his own without a visitation plan, do you?”

  Mouse swallowed. “No.”

  “We wait…we watch. Go back, find out the name of every occupant in the house, everyone who enters and leaves. Who are they…where do they reside in that time? Are any of them warriors or is Kincaid alone? I want art, Mouse…bring pictures, voice recordings if you can get them.”

  He lowered his head and started to back out of the room.

  “Oh, and Mouse…?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Don’t get caught.”

  ****

  Kincaid fe
lt her intent even though she worked hard to shield it from him. The stronger he enclosed them, the more united they became.

  She wanted to bathe, but wasn’t willing to talk to him about it. She didn’t want to leave this world unclean.

  That thought drifted in his head.

  He pretended he hadn’t heard her while he scrambled for a way to keep her tied to him.

  Bonding.

  Was it his destiny to bond with a MacCoinnich? With Amber? Was she to one day bear his children? Children he never imagined having. He’d kissed her, once, and thought about repeating it every hour since. Bonding wasn’t something a Druid committed to based on one kiss.

  He led her up the stairs, away from the drifting voices coming from the kitchen where he assumed Giles sat talking to Mrs. Dawson.

  Inside her room, he closed the door with a soft click. The bed brought his focus, while Amber stared toward the bathroom. Her cheeks flushed and he reached behind him and shifted the lock on the door.

  “Come,” he said as he tugged her toward the bathroom.

  With his free hand, he turned on the water in the deep claw tub and poured what looked like bubbles into the bath. Kincaid saw Amber’s gaze search the room for privacy.

  Only he didn’t want her hiding…and he didn’t want to hide. Bonding wasn’t in his plan, as Amber had pointed out. But the thought of abandoning her to die without his shield wasn’t something he could live with. She was a MacCoinnich for God’s sake. The family he’d sworn to protect at all cost.

  Even his own life.

  However long or short that was.

  Perhaps if he could keep her by his side for a little longer another solution would evolve.

  “I can sit beside the basin while you bathe,” Amber offered.

  “You could.” He unraveled the binding holding their hands together and lifted one of her hands to his neck.

  She watched, fascinated, until he undid the belt that held his weapons and let it drop to the floor.

  Her eyes fluttered shut when he reached for the clasp of his pants. She caught her lower lip in her teeth when he kicked his pants free and squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.

  He kept his boxers on and lowered her hand to grip his waist while he pulled his shirt over his head. He paused then to watch her holding him.

  “Do you trust me, Amber?”

  He knew she did, could feel it inside her before she answered his question.

  “I must.”

  Yes. You must. He placed her hand on his chest and lifted her other to hold his arm. Her touch was timid, unsure, and more arousing than he anticipated. He watched the play of emotions wash over her face before he reached for the buttons of the shirt she wore.

  Fingernails dug into his skin. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s hard to bathe in clothes.”

  “But…”

  “You said you trusted me.”

  Her alabaster skin came into view one button at a time. The front clasp of her bra held her pert breasts from his gaze. The need to touch her, taste her rose like hunger. Yet he didn’t want to scare her, or take anything not willingly offered.

  His goal was to bathe her, both of them, and only give what she wanted.

  He left her shirt open and reached for the button of her Capri pants. That got her to open her eyes. Before her gaze fluttered to his, she looked at her hand against his chest then nudged her thumb over the outline of the muscle she held. The touch made his stomach quiver and heat surge lower.

  You’re beautiful. Her thoughts filled his head and made him smile.

  “You heard that.”

  “I did.”

  Her dark eyes found his and her hand kept moving, exploring. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

  “I’m trying to bathe you. But if seduction is what you want…”

  She tilted her head to the side and he felt her swimming inside his head. “I don’t even know what seduction feels like, Gavin Kincaid, as you well know.”

  The tips of his fingers slid over her hip, half touching the skin above her pants, half sliding to the skin under her clothing. Her eyes opened wider with the contact.

  “Then let’s start with soap and water and see what happens.”

  Her grin was infectious. “Lizzy told me a man will say anything to get a woman naked.”

  “Did she?”

  “Aye, and Tara agreed.”

  He inched his fingers to the small of her back and stepped closer. “Your sisters-in-law are wise women. I don’t think, however, they could have foreseen this situation quite as clearly as the one they describe.”

  “I don’t think anyone could have imagined us at this point.” Amber placed the hand resting on her hip up to her shoulder, and then wiggled free of her shirt. Her brave front was thin, but she continued to remove her clothing while he held her.

  “Should I close my eyes?” he asked.

  “Do you want to?”

  His gaze slowly traveled the soft planes of her body, the dips, and curves. His mouth went dry. “No.” He wanted to feast on the view she offered.

  She paused. “I don’t know if I’m ready for you to feast on anything.”

  “You’re poking in my head again.”

  She lowered her eyes.

  He brought his finger under her chin and raised her gaze to his. “Look harder and see my intentions, Amber. Yes, I want to touch you, taste you. You’re a stunning woman I’m about to bathe with—something I’ve never done with a woman I haven’t been intimate with. But for you, I will keep my hands where you want them. That I promise.” With any luck, she’d want them everywhere.

  “Isn’t that hard for a man?”

  “Impossible.”

  “Painful?”

  “Sometimes.” With you…most certainly.

  She kicked her pants free and reached for the clasp of her bra. Her fingers trembled and the clasp fell away. The pink rosy tips of her breasts stole his breath.

  Sweet Jesus what was he doing?

  He went rock hard in an instant. The loose material of his boxers left little to the imagination. Maybe he should have chosen cold water.

  He helped the straps from her shoulders and tried to focus on the tiny freckles on her left shoulder.

  The overwhelming feeling of embarrassment radiated from the woman standing in front of him. “You have nothing to hide, Amber. You’re beautiful.”

  “I’m too thin,” she told him.

  A woman was never happy with her own body. “Nothing that some food and exercise outdoors won’t help.”

  The sound of the tub filling up brought his attention behind them. He stopped the flow of water and quickly shed his boxers.

  “Oh, my,” she whispered at his side.

  Her hand started to slide away and he clasped it tight. “Don’t get shy on me now, Amber. We’re nearly there.”

  “Aye, but you’re…”

  “Aroused? Yes. Like I said, you’re beautiful, and a man’s body will respond to that beauty. My brain can’t stop it, but I don’t have to act on it.” He lifted her then, placed her feet inside the tub. “You can remove your underwear under the suds. That way I can’t see.”

  “But when we get out…”

  “I’ll close my eyes if you like.”

  She shook her head. “I’m such a child.” She surprised him by bending down and removing her panties. “I’m tired of being a child.”

  Amber turned away from him, held his hand, and slid into the warm depths of the tub with a sigh.

  With his back teeth grinding together and a tight grip on his emotions, he slid in behind her and sandwiched her between his legs.

  Their skin touched everywhere in the small tub. The warm water was a pleasure to sink into, but the warm woman…now she was perfection. Only he couldn’t exactly touch her…not yet.

  He released her hand and settled his back against the tub. The bubbles in the water couldn’t hide the soft texture of her hip against his leg, or the length of her lea
n neck as she brushed her hair in front of her.

  Amber leaned forward, removed a bar of soap from a dish and a washcloth before scrubbing the two together. She was trying so hard to be brave, but he could feel the frightened girl under the sensual woman.

  “Talk to me, Gavin. Your silence is killing me.”

  He leaned forward then, removed the washcloth from her hand, and slowly washed the space between her delicate shoulder blades. “The first time I made love to a woman I was scared to death,” he told her.

  She gasped, and graced him with a look over her shoulder. “Do I truly want to hear this?”

  “You’re naked in a bathtub with a near stranger. Arguably the most embarrassing position you’ve ever been in, in your life…I think it’s only fair to share mine with you.”

  She blinked and a small amount of moisture filled her eyes before she turned around.

  “She was much older than I was,” he continued.

  “How much older?”

  Kincaid smiled and continued running the washcloth over her skin. “My best friend’s step-mother.”

  Amber gasped, twisted again, a glimpse of her full breast made his mouth water. “Tell me you’re joking.”

  “Why? It’s the truth.”

  “Your best friend?”

  He nodded. “At the time, anyway.” He twisted her around and continued washing her. “Mrs. Robbins wasn’t a mother in any way.”

  “She should be horse-whipped for seducing a young man.”

  “I wasn’t that young. Besides, I knew what I was doing. So did she.”

  Kincaid watched the lucky bar of soap as it traveled up her arm and disappeared down the delicate skin between her breasts. His erection pushed between them and it took every effort not to shift his hips closer.

  “What possessed Mrs. Robbins to seduce you?”

  “I was young…innocent, but unlike Mr. Robbins, I was moldable. I think she liked the challenge of teaching me what I’d only heard about from my friends.” He dipped the washcloth below the waterline to scrub her lower spine. His thumb brushed over a small knot on her back and Amber moaned. He abandoned the cloth and worked the area of her discomfort with his fingertips.

  “Did she teach you that?”

  He pressed harder and was rewarded with a sigh. “That was someone entirely different. No, Mrs. Robbins taught me I had a lot to learn about women.”