Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels #5)(20)
Author: Catherine Bybee

The thought left him smiling, but he knew her reaction wouldn’t be favorable.

“How long are we stuck like this?” Amber lifted her hand.

“I can attempt to break away, keep the shield around us both.”

“Can you do that?”

“Shielding us from the physical, yes. From the mental anguish inside of you? That I don’t know. It’s taken half the night to remove the chatter in there.” He glanced at the top of her head. “I never let you go.”

“You don’t think it’s going to work…letting go and keeping my gift restricted?”

“More curse than gift.”

Her gaze fell to the floor. “My curse to bear, not yours.”

Where had the spunk gone from her voice?

“So you want to give up? Have me let go so you can die in agony?” His words were meant to be harsh and they met his mark.

“I don’t want to give up. I haven’t even had a chance to live.”

“Stop it! Both of you. Don’t talk about dying!” Helen yelled at both of them. “No one is going to die. Not today. This,” she waved a finger between the both of them. “This is temporary. Giles will find a way to save you, Amber. A way for you to move on with your life without holding someone’s hand and without your gift strangling you.” Helen had her hands on her hips now as she glared at him. “And you. You’ll behave, hold her hand, and remember she’s not some floozy you can talk to like you may have other women in the past.”

“I’m not a child,” Amber told Helen.

“No. But we both know you’re as innocent as they come. Ian would never let a man near you let alone sleep in the same bed.” She pointed a finger at Kincaid now. “You need to think about that…and not in a sleazy guy way either. Amber is someone’s daughter, someone’s sister and those someones will have no problem hunting you down, shield or not, and take you out if you so much as harm a hair on her head.”

Simon laid a hand on his hysterical wife’s shoulder. “I don’t think you need to threaten the man, lass. He understands.”

Helen shrugged his hand away and placed it on her abdomen.

“Helen?” Amber’s soothing voice, deep with her Scottish accent, washed over him. “I appreciate your passionate plea. I’m sorry I’ve caused you stress. Rest assured I’m not ready to give up. Gavin and I will figure out a way to cohabit the same space until something more permanent can be figured out.”

“No more talk of dying!”

Amber smiled and tilted her head to the side. “No more talk of dying.”

The room grew silent for a few minutes and then Amber spoke again. “Giles…have you slept?”

Kincaid noticed the fatigue behind his friend’s eyes.

“I can sleep later.”

“You can sleep now,” Amber told him. “We need you sharp. It wouldn’t bode well to have you skim over something important in one of your books because you’re exhausted. Helen…when was the last time you and the baby ate?”

Kincaid glanced at the other woman’s hand resting over her stomach and grinned. Now he understood the emotional outburst. Pregnant woman were the most hormonal and pregnant Druids were even more so.

“We could eat,” Helen said.

“Simon, why don’t you take your wife down to the kitchen and feed her. I know I’m hungry and am looking forward to leaving this room.”

Simon glanced between Kincaid and Amber.

“We’ll be down shortly,” Kincaid assured him.

Once they were alone, he turned toward her. “You did that really well.”

“Did what?”

“Deescalated the situation, put everyone to a task, and took the focus off of you.”

“My mother had five children, and a husband with a temper that matched his ability to strike anyone with lightning. When the grandchildren started coming, the Keep was a volatile brewing pot of emotions and hormones. My mother faced each argument with a calm strength that made all of us try to please her.”

“She never lost control?”

“Of course. But never when it really counted. Not that I saw in any account.”

“It’s a rare quality to have people bend to your will without brute strength or manipulation.”

“I don’t have much in the way of physical strength, I’m afraid.”

It dawned on him then, that her life of seclusion probably limited her ability to do much of anything. “How old are you?” The age in the depths of her eyes exceeded her years, but her innocence said she wasn’t old enough to buy a bottle of wine in this century.

“Nearly thirty.”

Not as young as he thought. “How long have you been isolated?”

“I’ve avoided others for nearly ten years. The last few have kept me apart from my family more times than not.”

“No wonder Helen’s worried about you.”

“I’ve been a burden to them for too long, Gavin. Simon and Helen deserve a good life, not one plagued with me pulling them down. Helen doesn’t often leave the house so she can be here for me. Simon is crazed trying to find a cure. The only person in the house that doesn’t worry about me continually is Mrs. Dawson.”

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never been able to read her completely and didn’t think on it for long with so many other emotions in my head.” She closed her eyes, drew in a big breath. “Now my head is blissfully silent. I feel you there, but nothing is weighing on me.”

Her confession pleased him.

“But it’s temporary. Sooner or later we will have to let go.” She opened her eyes. “When we do, the others can’t know about it. Their worry will make the attempt worse.”

How could she think of others, their emotions, when her own were so fragile one lift of his little finger and her world would crash in. The cauldron of pain, voices, and distress inside her the moment he’d touched her the first time made him physically ill. The thought of that touching her again…no. “I don’t think you’re ready for me to let go.” He knew if he released her now, the walls around her would crumble, and the pain would slam into her.

“I don’t believe I am either. Which places us in a very precarious situation.”

“Is that so?”

She lifted her chin, a move he noted on her more than once when it seemed she was trying to show courage she didn’t have. “Aye. You see I have need of the bathroom and I refuse to walk around in a nightgown any longer. While you may have intimate knowledge of a woman’s body, I’m painfully naive about a man’s.” The color in Amber’s cheeks blossomed as she spoke.