Highland Protector (MacCoinnich Time Travels #5)(53)
Author: Catherine Bybee

“Hey?” Gavin ran a finger along her face. “What’s going on inside this beautiful head?”

Instead of answering him, she opened her mind to him and let everything flow between their link. His palm paused alongside her face as a play of emotions…hers, passed over him.

“Wow.”

“I feel more like a child than a woman sometimes. I know I have the body and the age of a woman older, but inside…”

Gavin stepped closer and folded her in his arms. “Shh. You’re not a child, Amber. Quite the opposite. Seems you’ve had to take on the persona of someone much older at a very young age. Somewhere you were lost in all of that.”

She buried her head in his shoulder and sucked in the masculine scent of his skin. “Is it wrong to want the council of my parents…my sister?”

Before Gavin could shield his thoughts, she heard him admit he had no desire for that in his life. Yet his words encouraged her. “Women have always asked their mother’s and sister’s advice. You’re not unique there.”

“Mine are harder to reach.”

He pulled back and sought her eyes. “They are a thought and a chant away, Amber. Closer than most people need to reach across town.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

Of course, I’m right.

His thought made her smile.

Humble, too? she asked in her head.

He looked away and she couldn’t read him. “Your life…your family…the entirety of them is something we both need to be prepared for. Before we visit them.”

Maybe she wasn’t the only one feeling a wee bit insecure in their union.

“Should we go inside?” he asked as he stepped away and held her hand.

She nodded, but didn’t move.

“What is it?”

“Why are you sleeping away from me?”

He shook his head and laughed. “It’s not easy.”

“Then why? Before our bond, we shared everything. Now it seems as if we are strangers in the same mind.”

Gavin moved into her personal space again. “Believe me. I want nothing more than to return to your bed. But the pull to be with you, in every way, is stronger than I’ve ever felt.”

“Then why stay away?”

He ran a thumb along her lower lip, licked his own. “Are you inviting me into your bed, Amber?” She pictured the two of them in an intimate embrace and realized the thought came from him.

Oh! How naive of her. Where she was looking for acceptance and security, he was looking for complete intimacy.

Gavin laid his lips to hers for a brief kiss and pulled away. “I’ll come to your bed when you don’t flinch at my thoughts.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t. Don’t be sorry for what you don’t know. When you’re ready, we’ll both know and neither of us will flinch or question.”

She tilted her head. “You’re a patient man, Gavin Kincaid.”

He draped his arm around her shoulders and walked her toward the manor. “Do you see that stream in my head?” he asked.

“Aye.”

“It’s there so you don’t realize just how impatient I am to have you.”

She stumbled, but he kept her upright. “Why tell me that?”

“So you never doubt how much I desire you.”

Oh!

For such a cool night, she certainly felt as if she had a fever.

****

“Kincaid, can I have a word with you?” Giles asked the question from the Library door the next morning.

The previous night with Amber had left him strangely comfortable and confident in his decision to bond with her. It might take some time to get used to the fact he had a life mate, but for the first time since he woke from their bonding, he was ready for the next step.

The dark circles under his friend’s eyes shadowed Kincaid’s good mood. “You really should try and sleep, Giles.”

He hid a yawn behind the book in his hand and nodded toward the empty room. “I can sleep later.”

“I’m not sure why you’re avoiding sleep now. Amber and I are bonded, and she’s out of danger.”

Giles closed the door behind them, something he seldom did, and didn’t make eye contact as he strode in front of Kincaid.

“She is out of danger, right?”

“What? Yes. I mean, I think so.” Giles rubbed his eyes under his glasses. “I think so.”

Not the answer Kincaid was looking for. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Explain.”

“I’m not sure I can.”

“Try.”

Giles lifted his arms to the walls of books surrounding them. “In all these books, the ones handwritten or those that have writing added to them, is the most significant source of knowledge of our past. In the past few days, I felt it was my duty to record what has occurred between you and Amber.”

So far, Kincaid wasn’t alarmed by his friend’s actions. “Librarians have always added their input to these tomes.”

As if to emphasize his point, Giles moved to the ladder, pushed it along the wall, and stepped to a higher shelf. He removed a dusty book, stepped down, and laid it on the table in the center of the room. He opened up to a spot that must have been familiar to him and noted writing in the margins. “Some notes are connected to occurrences of the day. Others are there to help future keepers of the books cross reference the information to provide clarity.”

“You’re not telling me anything new.”

Giles nodded repeatedly. “I know. Bear with me.”

Kincaid leaned against a shelf and watched Giles pace.

“I considered writing in a book I’ve seen many times in our future so we would know what you were sent here to accomplish. Then thought better of it. Although it might have been a painful bonding for the both of you, you both did so of your own free will. Better to not alter what has happened thus far.”

Kincaid nodded in agreement. Time travel and the affect it has on one’s future suggested they tread carefully always.

“I removed this book,” Giles waved the book in the air when he called Kincaid in the room. “I’ve never opened it, but I know it sits on these shelves in our time. I wrote your and Amber’s names in the back of the book, with the date and time of your bonding.”

“Seems reasonable.” Those things were written in many books. “You chose this book because you know you’ve never opened it.”

“Yes. Imagine if I’d told you I had once read you moved forward in time and bonded with Amber MacCoinnich.”