Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels Book Five) (13 page)

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 felt 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 lean 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.”

“That’s right, you said it was
embarrassing. What happened?”