Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels Book Five)

by Bybee, Catherine

  Amber nodded. “It’s strange. I can reach out for him with a thought, and he’s simply there.”

  “Doesn’t that freak you out?” Selma asked.

  “It was worse having the thoughts and emotions of everyone else.”

  “That’s relative, I suppose. Aren’t you a little worried about being bonded to someone you hardly know?”

  Amber took a moment to sip her wine and reflect on the question she’d asked herself the most since she woke. “My mother always advised me not to worry about things I cannot change.”

  Helen laughed. “You didn’t answer the question.”

  “He’s a good man, noble. My father would approve.” Ian would approve, and he would have insisted on the marriage after their intimacies.

  Selma glanced at Helen. “Still didn’t answer the question.”

  “I’ve seen nothing in his character to suggest he’ll be cruel to me. He’s fiercely protective.”

  When Amber set her glass down, Selma filled it.

  “Have you slept with him?” Selma asked.

  “Of course. We’ve had to hold hands for several nights.”

  Both women sent Amber looks of confusion.

  “What?”

  “Selma’s not asking if you slept beside him. She’s asking if you’re no longer a virgin.”

  Heat shot to Amber’s face. “Oh, aye.”

  Helen’s eyes grew wide. “So yes, you’re no longer a virgin, or yes you are still a virgin.”

  Amber drew several strands of her long hair in her hands and twirled the ends. “Nay, I’m…w-we didn’t. Not completely.” Oh, what am I trying to say? From the expressions on Helen and Selma’s faces, they wanted to know more. The wine was already swimming in her head.

  “So you two didn’t go all the way?” Selma asked.

  “Just a little hanky-panky?” Helen added.

  “Hanky-panky?”

  Helen started to laugh. “Sorry. I forget sometimes you’re not up on the slang. Let’s see… you and Kincaid fooled around, kissing, touching…stuff like that?”

  The fog cleared in Amber’s head. “Aye. A little.” The memory left a smile on her face. She reached for Gavin and felt him sleeping.

  “That’s a devilish smile on your face, Mrs. Kincaid.” Helen handed the glass of wine back to Amber.

  “Mrs. Kincaid?”

  “Sure. You exchanged Druid wedding vows. That makes you Mrs. Kincaid. I guess you don’t have to take his name, if you don’t want to.”

  Amber stared into her glass, drank from it. “Of course I’ll take his name. ’Tis not right if I don’t.” Her father wouldn’t approve of her not taking Kincaid as her own.

  “Don’t feel you have to do anything you don’t want to, Amber. I know you’re married, but you hardly know the man. I don’t care what you say, that has to be freaking you out. He isn’t from this time, or your time. What if he wants to return to the future?”

  Amber gulped more wine. “I haven’t thought of that.”

  Helen waved Selma’s question away. “They can’t go forward in time.”

  “Why not?”

  Helen blinked several times. “Because Amber belongs here, with us.”

  Amber realized her glass was nearly empty and set it aside. “I think food is in order if I’m to drink more wine, and I think I might like to drink more wine.”

  Selma pushed herself off the sofa and left the room laughing.

  Helen scooted closer. “I don’t want you to move away.”

  Amber took her friend’s hand. “I don’t wish to either. My mother told me my cure was in this time, but I don’t know if I’m meant to stay.”

  “We don’t know if you’re supposed to leave, either.”

  “I think it’s best to do nothing now. Gavin’s not awake anyway and even then, we have many things to consider before any decisions are made.”

  Helen smiled. “You sound so much like your mother sometimes.”

  “I miss her.”

  Helen shrugged. “I miss them all, too. Maybe when the baby is born we can visit. It isn’t like there are rules for traveling in time.”

  Amber grasped the pendent on her neck and thought of home. When she did, Helen slid an identical necklace from her shirt and smiled.

  “Has Kincaid told you how he travels in time?”

  “We’ve not discussed it.”

  Helen sighed as Selma walked back in the room with a tray of fruit and cheese. Amber’s mouth watered at the sight.

  A slight wave of concern struck her from Selma’s direction. Amber eyed the other woman and probed. A sickening image of injured children penetrated her brain. As soon as the picture swam into her head, she pushed it away and felt Gavin’s shield surround her.

  “What is it?” Selma asked.

  “You’re worried about something.”

  Selma blinked, twice. “I-I thought your gift was gone.”

  “It is… Well, I suppose it’s there, but controlled. I felt your worry and looked for more.”

  “I don’t think that’s the smartest thing to do? I mean, weren’t all the emotions of others in your head been nothing but a problem for years?”

  “Aye, but before Grainna I could control my gift. Use it to help others. What worries you, Selma?”

  Helen swung her gaze toward the feisty redhead. “Nothing. You.”

  “I am not a child. You’re worried about children. Whose?”

  When Selma didn’t deny her, she knew her gift had led her in the right direction.

  “Keeping secrets is impossible in this house. You both know that, right?”

  Helen shrugged.

  Selma tossed a grape in her mouth. “I met Jake’s daughters.”

  “Twins,” Amber said.

  “Yeah, how did you know?”

  The horrifying image flashed in her head again…two identical girls lying still, unmoving. “I think Jake mentioned it,” she lied.

  “Well, I didn’t hear it if he did. Shocked me when I saw them. Cute kids.”

  Helen nibbled on a slice of cheese as she moved her back to the sofa. “So what has you worried?”

  “It’s probably nothing.”

  Helen pointed her cheese at their friend. “You do know that it’s probably nothing always turns out to be something with us.”

  “Don’t say that,” Selma scolded.

  “You’re worried they’re in danger.” Amber knew this as fact. A part of her wanted to celebrate the fact she knew this…that her gift seemed to be working the way it should. However, knowing it also meant Jake’s children might be in harm’s way.

  “I’m just being paranoid. I had this client. He kept asking for a love potion so the woman he loved would come around. After several attempts, this guy realized that the love of his life wanted someone else. My potions only bring clarity. They don’t force someone to love you when they don’t.”

  “He knew this?” Helen asked.

  “On the second shipment I always include a note highlighting what I promise. This guy didn’t listen. He sent me a nasty-gram when his girl hooked up with someone else.”

  “It can’t be the first time that’s happened. You’ve been selling potions for several years.”

  Selma met Amber’s gaze. “The guy lives in Arizona. I saw a report about a murder of a young engaged couple in the area that matched the description Mr. Love-Struck gave me.”

  Helen grew quiet.

  “Why are you worried about Jake’s daughters?”

  It was Selma’s turn to shrug. “I don’t know. Just am.”

  “Have you told Jake?”

  “Jake thinks I’m wacked. He won’t believe any of my paranoia.”

  Amber shook her head. “Jake doesn’t think you’re wacked.” Amber had heard Selma use the word wacked enough to understand its meaning. “He tries to keep you thinking he doesn’t believe in you so you don’t realize how much he does. If I had to guess, I say Jake might have feelings for you.”

  Selma reached
for her wine while her nose turned red and the freckles on her face stood out against her pale skin.

  Helen sat forward on the couch. “Oh. My. God. What happened with you and Jake?”

  “Nothing!”

  The denial was too quick.

  The fluttering feeling Amber experienced when Gavin touched her, kissed her, warmed her skin. “He kissed you.”

  Now there was no denial.

  Helen squealed.

  “It was a ploy,” Selma said. “To convince his ex that we were boyfriend and girlfriend.”

  Helen shook her head. “What? Why?”

  Amber sat back and listened. While Selma explained the details of the pretend relationship and how Jake had kissed her, Helen filled each silence with questions. Before they drank another glass of wine, Selma was telling both of them anything romantic with Jake was a really bad idea. “I wouldn’t have felt anything with his kiss if I wasn’t so horny. It’s been a while for me.”

  “Someone in the room is kidding herself. I don’t buy that, do you, Amber?”

  Amber shook her head with a laugh. “Nay.”

  Selma stood and waved them off. “You guys are crazy. Jake thinks I’m a crazy witch, nothing more.”

  “You’re not a witch,” Amber told her.

  “I know that. Whatever. I’m sure he won’t kiss me again. Ever.”

  Amber? Gavin called her name.

  She stood and started for the door.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Helen asked. “It was just getting good.”

  “Continue without me. Gavin’s waking.”

  Amber turned to leave the room and heard Selma say, “Wow, that’s some serious bond.”

  Amber slid into her bedroom to find Giles asleep in the chair. When the click of the door sounded in the room, his feet slid off the bed and onto the floor, waking him.

  “Kincaid?”

  “’Tis Amber.”

  Giles glanced at the bed. “He’s not awake yet.”

  “Almost,” she assured him. “Would it be too much to ask for some tea when he wakes?”

  “Tea? Yeah, sure. Though I know he likes coffee.”

  “That may be, but tea, something weak, would be best after so many days of not eating.”

  Giles shook his head. “Of course. I’ll make it.”

  He moved to the door.

  “Helen and Selma are downstairs. They can help you find what you need in the kitchen.”

  He looked at Gavin again. “You sure he’s waking up?”

  Amber sat on the end of the bed, rested her hand on Gavin through the covers. “Aye, I’m certain.”

  Giles left the room without any more questions.

  I’m here. She told Gavin through their bond.

  His eyes fluttered open slowly. His gaze found hers, and his dry lips moved into a grin. “You’re alive.”

  “I told you I was.”

  He moved his lips together a few times, frowned. “Water?”

  Amber jumped off the bed and rounded it to help with his request.

  He inched up to lay against the headboard as she brought a glass to his lips. After a few sips, she sat the glass back down. “How do you feel?”

  “Like I took the wrong end of a blaster.”

  “That’s a bad thing?”

  “Yeah. How long—”

  “Three days. One day longer than I.”

  Gavin reached out and touched her cheek. “I thought I was too late. I thought you were gone.”

  “You didn’t have to bond with me.”

  “I couldn’t let you die.”

  Aye, you’re too honorable for that.

  “It’s more than that,” he said aloud.

  A knock on the door saved her from further conversation and offered a distraction. “Come in.”

  Giles walked in with a tray and set it on the dresser across the room. “Decided to join the living, Kincaid?”

  Gavin stretched with a wince. “Not sure how alive I am.”

  “More than you were a few minutes ago. Gave us all a good scare.”

  “I hope you and Simon can hold everything down for a little longer. I think standing is going to be a challenge.”

  Giles lit the room with his smile. “We will. Damn good to see you awake, mate.”

  Amber busied herself with Gavin’s tea once Giles left them alone again. “Sugar and cream will help replenish your system,” she told him. When she turned she paused. His stare moved through her.

  “You didn’t have to bond to me,” he said in a soft whisper.

  “I couldn’t let you die, either.”

  Chapter Twenty

  With the excitement of Kincaid waking and making his way downstairs the next morning, Selma was able to slip out of Mrs. Dawson’s home without any fuss. She knew the moment Amber and Helen remembered their conversation about her concerns about lover-boy with love potion number nine gone wrong, they’d be on her about staying at the manor.

  She pulled into her parking spot, looked around the lot, didn’t see anything out of place, and walked to her apartment.

  Her apartment looked exactly as it did when she left the day before. The light on her answering machine told her she had a message, but instead of listening to it, she tossed her purse on the kitchen counter and worked her way to the shower.

  With her favorite satellite radio station filling her room with music, Selma managed a pair of panties and a bra, and then remembered she left the hamper with her clean clothes in the living room where she’d folded them the day before. She was towel drying her hair as she walked around the corner.

  The man standing in the middle of her living room brought a scream to her throat. “Son-of-a-bitch.”

  Jake’s eyes ran down her nearly naked torso with an appreciative smile.

  Selma pulled the towel to cover herself. “What the hell are you doing here?” Her heart lodged in her throat. “How did you get in here?”

  “I have my ways,” he told her with a grin.

  “Touché.”

  His eyes were still taking her in. He dressed in jeans and a tight fitting short-sleeved shirt. The stubble on his chin was shaved bare, and damn it, she could smell his clean skin from where she stood.

  “W-why are you here?”

  When he stepped closer and dropped his smile, she moved away. She didn’t have far to go before she felt the wall at her back.

  “I didn’t kiss you because Lindsey watched us.”

  He towered over her now, his expression unreadable.

  “Temporary lack of good judgment then?”

  He moved within an inch of her and slid his hand into her wet hair.

  Selma sucked in a sharp breath.

  “Maybe.”

  He was going to kiss her again. She saw his dedication to the task in his eyes. Before she could remind him they didn’t like each other, the towel in her hand was yanked free and his lips covered hers.

  Every reason to push him away churned through her mind, but she couldn’t do it. Jake had one hell of an intoxicating kiss and she forgot to breathe, forgot to think. That had never happened before.

  I must be crazy horny.

  From the bulge pressing into her stomach, she wasn’t the only one.

  She considered saying no for half a breath, and then she reached up to his shoulders and hopped into his arms, her legs circled his waist. He chuckled under his kiss and pushed against the wall. She was wet, instantly, and her mouth opened to feel the length of his tongue aside hers.

  Breathless, she motioned toward her bedroom with a nod.

  Without words, he carried her inside and fell onto the bed with her.

  Jake’s fingers made quick work of her bra, his mouth captured her breast in a near painful, but oh so enjoyable bite.

  Selma rolled him over, tugged his shirt off and tossed it on the floor. He was not a doughnut-eating cop, or if he was, he worked out enough to keep himself in shape.

  She found herself under him again, and her panties m
et his pants on the floor. With her heart racing in her chest, she couldn’t think beyond how amazing Jake felt pushed against her bare skin.

  They rolled on the bed so many times she wondered if they were fighting for dominance.

  There was no talk, no chatter between lovers. It was raw, urgent, and when he finally pushed into her, fully naked and completely focused on bringing them both pleasure. Selma felt a little part of her hard edge toward the man soften.

  She came three times before he called out her name as his release gripped him.

  Too stunned to speak, she sucked in one breath after the other.

  Jake collapsed on top of her, his lips pressed against her neck as he struggled to suck air in his lungs.

  She lifted her chin and felt him hold her closer. Talking to Jake about her feelings, emotions she couldn’t even name now, wasn’t in her. So she used the only weapon she had with him. Humor.

  “That’s one seriously impressive concealed weapon you have there, officer.”

  He laughed a gut laugh that reminded her he was still buried deep inside her.

  She started to pull away, but he wouldn’t release her. Instead, he used his weapon on her repeatedly until she cried mercy.

  When they fell in an exhausted heap, the sheets tangled, her skin raw, and her insides humming, he said. “God, I needed that.”

  “You and me both.”

  He lay sprawled in her bed and turned to look at her. He packed some serious guns under his hard-ass exterior. She wanted to tell him how much she liked the view but didn’t want him getting any squishy ideas about them. No, this was physical…incredible, but just a release. They hardly talked to each other, for God’s sake.

  His gaze softened, and she tore her eyes away. “You’re not going to get over analytical about this, are you?”

  “Guys don’t analyze sex. That would be the girl’s job.”

  Good! She patted his hand and shoved off the bed. “I need caffeine to analyze anything. Think you can manage a pot?”

  His eyes lingered on her bare ass as she left him in her bed and made her way to the shower.

  “I can make coffee.”

  She winked at him over her shoulder and ducked into the bathroom.

  Alone, Selma looked at herself in the mirror, hardly recognizing her reflection. She lifted her chin and peered closer at her neck.