Part 3 (1/2)
”You saved the lad.” She had truly reacted as a healer.
”It's what I'm trained to do. Anyone from my time period trained in basic rescue could've done the same,” she said.
Could it be possible? Was Hamish speaking the truth? Could it be so that Hamish wasn't simply daft and the woman had come from the future? It could not be so.
Kate picked her satchel up from the floor where she'd dropped it when Hamish had entered. ”I can see you're still not convinced I am who I say I am.” She dug in the satchel and pulled out a card. ”Here. It's my driver's license.” She handed him a card and pointed to a date. ”There's mybirthdate .” Darach excelled at sums. He was two hundred and sixty-four years older than Kate Wexford.
What the devil was this? It was a portrait of her, yet not a portrait. ”What kind of portrait is this?”
”It's a picture. A photograph.” She shrugged, her palms upright. ”I'm not sure when photography was invented. Obviously later than this.”
He studied the card. It didn't do her justice. Short flaxen hair curled about her face. Wide green eyes with a hint of a frown marring her brow stared at him from the portrait. No smile lifted the corners of her full mouth. It did nothing to capture her wry humor and resilience. ”Well, you're more comely than this. I hope you didn't pay much for the rendering.”
Her smile stopped just short of a laugh. ”Thanks...I think. The DMV isn't much into glamour shots.”
He had no idea what a DMV or a glamour shot was but he supposed it didn't matter. What mattered was that he was only about two hundred sixty-four years older than her. And he'd never seen anything like what she called a photograph.
He no longer doubted Hamish. He'd only ever known him to speak the truth and it appeared that it was truth rather than madness. Except the notion that he, Darach, needed this woman and that was why she was here. Her scent teased him, as did the gleam of light on her skin. He'd not deny he wanted her, but there was a world of difference between want and need. He'd wanted women and had them, but he'd never needed them.
”It explains much-your strange accent and manner of speech, your hair-but not why you are here.”
Kate glanced up from returning her card to her satchel. ”I a.s.sure you I don't want to be here, regardless of what Hamlet said.”
He'd be d.a.m.ned if she didn't glare at him as ifhe was to blame for her being here. ”It's Hamish and might I remind you that you're the one who showed up naked in my bed.”
She tilted her head at a haughty angle and stared down the length of her nose at him. ”A gallant man wouldn't have pointed that out and trust me, I want to be back home.”
He laughed and knew it held a mocking note. He took a step closer to her. ”But you were attracted to me in that painting?” He could feel it now, like some force beneath the inky waters of a loch, something deep and strong between them, something potent beneath the surface.
She blinked, looking up at him and in that moment, he recognized an answering flash of acknowledgement in her eyes. ”Yes, I'll admit I was attracted to you when I saw the painting.” She smiled with a sweetness he didn't trust. ”Of course, that was before your personality factored into it.”
Darach threw back his head and laughed. Mayhap she had a strange way with words, but her meaning was clear. Ah, but he was enjoying himself with Katie Wexford. Most of the la.s.ses fair swooned over him. Certainly none had complained about his personality. And he thought Katie was not being exactly truthful. He reached out and tested a measure of her hair between his fingers. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. With great care he tucked the curl behind her well-shaped ear, his fingers lingering against the delicate sh.e.l.l. Her swift intake of breath echoed the pounding of his heart. ”Aye, so that means you do not fancy me now?”
She wet her lower lip with the tip of her tongue and l.u.s.t knotted his gut. ”Not particularly,” she said. Her breathy tone belied her words.
Aye. She was lying. She wanted him as much as he wanted her and it wasn't arrogance on his part. It wasn't fear that left her trembling at his slightest touch. There was fire between them and if he had unraveled this correctly, she needed to admit it. He skimmed his palm over her bare shoulder and heat raced through him. ”More'sthe pity.”
She held her ground, despite the s.h.i.+ver he felt run through her, and narrowed her eyes at him. ”Why do you say that?”
He rested his hands on the smoothness of her bare shoulders, her skin warm and soft beneath his callused palms. He curled his fingers against her sweet flesh. ”Because it seems to me that it was l.u.s.t that brought you here...”
”Perhaps.”
”Then it stands to reason that if you satisfy that l.u.s.t, you should go back to where you came from.”
”Congratulations! That's probably the strangest pick-up line I've ever heard. And I don't think so.”
”I'm just trying to help you out, Katie-love.” He bracketed her shoulders with his hands, her skin soft beneath his palms.
She shrugged off his touch. ”That's terribly generous of you.”
He trailed one finger down her arm. ”I'm known for my generosity.”
”Uh-huh. I'll just bet you are.” She swatted his hand away.
Satisfied that she wanted him, he smiled at her, crossing his arms over his chest. ”I'm just trying to help you get back to where you want to be.”
KATE PACEDto the other side of the room. Not only did pacing help her think, but it got her out of DarachMacTavish's immediate vicinity, which was a bonus in the being able to think department.
Maybe she'd told a little white lie-okay, a whopping white lie-when she said she wasn't as attracted to him as she had been. It was more a matter of she shouldn't be as attracted to him as she had been. But here she'd met this man, under circ.u.mstances beyond weird, and he was proposing they have s.e.x? She didn't think so.
She took a deep breath and her practical side kicked in. Wasn't she bringing twenty-first century mores to a situation where they didn't exactly belong? What were they going to do? Go out to dinner a couple of times? Go to a movie and perhaps a night out at the museum to get to know one another better?
What was the courting ritual in eighteenth-century Scotland? d.a.m.n if she knew. And she didn't want to be courted, she just wanted to go home.
For one panic-inducing moment the thought crept in that she might not be able to get back home. What then? What if she was stuck here? No! She refused to think that way. And maybe DarachMacTavish was on to something. She knew for certain she didn't want to hang out here any longer than necessary.
She liked the twenty-first century. No, that wasn't true. She loved the twenty-first century. And she'd worked too d.a.m.n hard to get that a.s.sistant appointment. She wasn't about to lose her job because she'd been squandering time in the past. And she supposed if she was going to have s.e.x, there were worse specimens out there than the one before her. It probably wouldn't be too bad-if she could just get him to keep his mouth shut.
And much as she didn't want to think in the direction of being stuck here, if she was stuck here for more than a couple of hours, being the chief's lover was probably the safest position to take. But could she just turn off all her years of upbringing and hop in bed with a man who was essentially a stranger? She knew some women fantasized about stuff like this. She wasn't one of them. She just didn't know if she had it in her.
”Maybe you're right. Maybe s.e.x together is the key.”
The b.a.s.t.a.r.d actually laughed. ”I've seen men more enthusiastic who were about to be hung.”
”I'm in a different freaking century and I have no clue whether I'm actually going to make it back to where I want to be. You're a stranger and I'm supposed to be jumping up and down at the prospect of having s.e.x with you?” Bottom line, she was scared. Nearlyspitless . ”I'm sure s.e.x with strangers is nothing new to you, but it's not part of my regimen.”
All the arrogance and amus.e.m.e.nt vanished, replaced by a kindness she hadn't noted before. ”I think things are very different where you come from, I'm sure of it. But no, few strangers show up in these parts and those that do, I don't bed as a rule.” He reached out and drew her to him, but it was a gesture of comfort, an offer of protection, which felt almost as foreign to Kate as s.e.x with a stranger. ”This must be a terrible situation to find yourself in, Katie-love. We won't take any more action tonight. Rest and on the morn we'll work on this.”
”What happens in the meantime, if tomorrow it doesn't work? You said earlier the women would stone me and the men would...” she stumbled, not wanting to even give voice to the possibilities he'd mentioned.
”You have my word that I'll let no harm come to you. I give you my oath as the laird ofGlenagan . No man or woman will dare to cross me on this. You will be protected or I'll die trying.”
”Why would you do that for me?”
”Because I have never known Hamish to tell less than the truth and he says I'm the reason you're here which makes you my responsibility and makes it my duty to protect and get you back where you belong without harm befalling you.”
She studied his face. It was a strong, bold face that bespoke harshness, yet his eyes reflected honesty and integrity. Kate was very good at compartmentalizing, it was a necessary aspect of her job, but she wasn't good at masking what she thought and felt. Could she trust him? What other option did she have but to trust him? He seemed to read her doubt.
”You'll come to no harm while you are here. And tonight you'll find nothing but sleep in my bed. I can offer you naught but my word and you can do naught but trust me.”
HE WAS A FOOLand then some. Mayhap she hadn't been overly eager but he'd not have been forcing her had he bedded her earlier. He could have had a bit of sport and then she could've returned home and he wouldn't be laying here now, tortured by her scent, her soft curves pressed against him, wrapped in his plaid.
He considered taking care of the situation. He could ease his lips against hers, thetenderest of kisses that would slowly rouse her from slumber. Kisses that would suckle the fullness of her lower lip, that would cull the honey of her mouth. Kisses that would steal beneath her hesitation and release the heat he'd sensed. Then he could slide his hand beneath the plaid and ease her legs apart. He could pluck and strum and play her like a lyre until she was fair ready for him. Then he'd ease his rod into her and they'd be about the business that would set both their worlds to rights. But he'd given his word that they'd wait until the morn.
Kate sighed in her sleep and threw one arm up over her head, threatening to spill one breast over the edge of theMacTavish tartan. Darach sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. There'd be no relieving the ache in his loins tonight. No, hisbluidy mouth had taken care of that. He supposed he was glad Katie Wexford was getting a good night's sleep. One of them might as well.
DARACH STOMPED INTOthe courtyard in a fine temper the following morning. He should've tumbled the la.s.s last night and been done with it. Then mayhap he'd have gotten some sleep instead of stewing about in his own l.u.s.ttil morn. He made straight for Hamish.
Hamish didn't bother to hide his grin. ”I see a night with your la.s.s did nothing to sweeten your temper.”