Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels Book Five) by Catherine Bybee

of the corner of
her eye as he grew used to having her in his space. He might not be smiling,
but that stick was beginning to wiggle free of his anus. “Pots and pans?”
    He pointed his beer to the right of
the oven.
    She found what she needed and placed
it on the stove.
    Jake pushed away from the counter,
taking his beer with him. “I’m going to shower. Try not to burn my house down.”
    His snarky comment put a smile on her
face.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Ten
     
    It’s just a hand!
    Amber flexed her fingers in Gavin’s
without letting go. He stood over her by at least eight inches and took up more
than half his side of the stairway as they descended into the main floors of
the Manor. The space felt bigger somehow. Maybe the lack of voices in her head
added to the space as they past the many rooms of the house en route to the
kitchen, but the world was different.
    The smile on Amber’s face was
difficult to shake and she couldn’t remember another time where she wanted to
close her eyes and simply listen to the bones of the house creek and settle.
    “Everything feels new to you,” Gavin
said before they rounded the final hall to the back of the house.
    “’Tis hard to describe. Every step
down was met with pain before.” She glanced up the stairs. “Now they are just
steps. The pain… it was—”
    “You don’t need to describe it. I
felt it the moment I took your hand. You’re a strong woman, Amber MacCoinnich.”
    Her smile fell. “I had given up.”
    Gavin squeezed her hand. “I know
that, too.”
    The kitchen buzzed with Helen moving
around the space and cooking for what looked like a small army.
    “I didn’t know what you wanted so I
made a little of everything. It’s nearly noon, and eggs didn’t feel right. I
have soup and sandwiches…salad.” The smell of bacon made Amber’s stomach growl.
    She was half way through her chicken
and bacon sandwich when Mrs. Dawson made it into the kitchen.
    “There you are, lass,” Simon greeted
the oldest member of the house by pulling out a chair for her and kissing her
cheek.
    Mrs. Dawson, the big flirt, blushed
and smiled while accepting a cup of tea from Helen.
    “I’m surprised we didn’t see you when
Amber woke up. Surely you heard her.”
    Mrs. Dawson grinned at Gavin and
Amber with a wink. “Amber was bound to be upset waking next to a stranger, but
she’s smart, and would realize fighting was useless. No need for me to rise
before nature intended.”
    “Does wisdom always come with age?”
Gavin asked.
    Mrs. Dawson pointed a wrinkled finger
in Gavin’s direction. “Are you saying I’m old, Mr. Kincaid.”
    For a moment no one said anything and
then Mrs. Dawson started to laugh. “You are too easy,” she told them.
    Giles joined them several hours later,
the lines on his face had smoothed over with the sleep he’d managed. He told
them he was ready to tackle the library. All the while Gavin held her hand or
rested his hand intimately on her waist when she needed all ten fingers. There
really was no room for embarrassment, and Amber refused to allow the way she
was raised to cloud her judgment now. It’s just a hand, she told herself. A
hand that sometimes gripped her waist with warm fingers and sent unfamiliar
shivers up her spine, but…only a hand.
    At one point, she felt Helen’s eyes
on her, her worry pushed through Gavin’s barrier. Instead of calling Helen on
her thoughts, she turned to her temporary twin. “Gavin? Would you mind terribly
if we took a walk?”
    “Outside?”
    With the sun on her face and the wind
in her hair…how long had that been? “Preferably.”
    “There are no wards protecting the
property.”
    “And no need for such during this
time. Please.” For the first time since she’d arrived in this century, she
didn’t need to wear the cape over her shoulders, and the thought of the
elements on her skin made her smile. The worry of the neighbors emotions
overshadowing her own wasn’t a concern…she