Part 9 (2/2)
”I'm partial to whatever you prepare.” He didn't want to burden her while he was here.
Darach leaned against the counter and watched as she moved about the room. She moved with an economy and purpose he admired. But last night's playfulness had vanished. It wasn't as much a stiffness of manner he discerned as a distance.
She brought a cup of fragrant black brew and placed it on the counter beside him. ”Your coffee, MacTavish . Be careful you don't burn yourself. It's hot.”
She started to move away and he wrapped one arm about her waist, pulling her back against him. ”What's the matter this morning, Katie-love? Do you already regret bringing me back with you?”
She glanced up at him, her eyes guileless. ”No, not at all. I think last night I was punch drunk-giddy I'd made it back and managed to bring you with me. Last night I managed to avoid thinking about today or tomorrow or the spring.” She looked away from him, her tone somber. ”But this morning I read about the Battle of Culloden. It was very sobering.” She rested her head against his breast, m.u.f.fling her words but not the underlying quiet anguish. ”It was terrible and twice as much so to imagine you there.”
His heart jolted in his chest at her admission of caring. He tilted her face up and pressed a kiss to the edge of her hair. ”Not to worry. If I'm to have a fortnight here, then Idunnae want your heart heavy on my behalf. The battle isn't fought yet and the deed is not done.” He interjected a teasing note. ”Now are you trying to starve me to death before the Sa.s.senach can have a go at me? Where is my morning meal, wench?” He slapped her on the a.r.s.e, just for good measure.
She laughed, as he'd intended, but the look in her eye said she knew exactly what he was about. Katie-love was one clever la.s.s. ”Keep that up you Scots barbarian and you'll find yourself wearing breakfast instead of eating it.”
While she went about the business of preparing the food and throughout the meal, she explained yet two more marvels of modern technology-something called the computer and the Internet.
'Twas amazing the number of things that made modern life so much easier than in his time. AtGlenagan , he was waited on as befitted his t.i.tle and that was the job of the people that worked in his house. But this wasn'tGlenagan and it wasn't Katie's job so the laird ofGlenagan helped clean up the kitchen-which was easy with what she called a dishwasher.
Kate took him by the hand and led him to the seating area. ”Come on. I'll show you the laptop,” Katie said. ”Go ahead and take the chair.”
He sank into the chair she'd had earlier. Katie perched on the arm and he tried to focus on her instructions but having her hip against his arm, her shoulder next to his, proved distracting. She opened what he'd thought to be a book when he'd first walked into the room and placed it in his lap-even more distracting. Ah, so this was a laptop. Made perfect sense to him since she'd placed it on his lap.
She paused in her instructions. ”I just thought about it...do you know how to read? If you don't it's not a problem.”
Darach chuckled. On one hand she knew things about him none other knew-she knew of his nightmare and his shame. She knew how he looked when he slept. Yet there was much she didn't know as well.
”Aye. Even the Scots barbarian has a bit of schooling. I read Gaelic, English and Latin. I even know how to do a bit of sums.Da insisted. He believed if I could read, write and do sums, 'twould be much harder for my enemies to take advantage of me andGlenagan . 'Twas good advice.”
Kate nodded. ”My mother always said knowledge couldn't be taken away from me.”
She showed him how to search the Internet and then how to access files resulting from that search.
Within minutes he was comfortable with it.
”You're a quick study,” she said.
He winked at her. ”Aye. But do not tell anyone. I do not want to ruin my reputation as a brawny barbarian.”
Katie laughed and stood. 'Twas but one of the things he liked about her-she laughed at him, with him.
”I think there are several hours of reading for you there. Would you mind if I went out for a while? I have some errands and...well, I thought you might want some privacy.”
”I'll be fine. Don't worry about me.”
”Drinks are in the fridge. Help yourself to whatever you want.” She wrote on a note pad on the table next to the chair and handed him the sheet of paper. She also handed him an object he'd never seen before. ”Here's the phone if you need me. Push this b.u.t.ton, hold it up to your ear like this and when you hear the buzzing sound punch in these numbers. That's my cell phone number and I'll have it on.” She put the phone back in its holder. ”If you promise not to leave my condo, I won't tie you to my bed-which is, I've found, your standard procedure for keeping someone in a room.”
”Nay, there's no need to tie me to your bed.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively, ”I will wager that can keep until you get back.”
She paused as if she was about to say something but instead merely bent down and kissed him hard. ”I'll be back.”
”I'll be here.”
He waited until the door clicked shut behind her before he got down to the business of reading about the battle in which he died and his clan had ultimately perished.
KATE PAUSEDin the stairwell leading to the parking garage. She fished the number out of her purse and punched it into her cell. Hamish answered on the third ring.
”Hamish? Kate Wexford.”
”And what can I do for you this fine morning, Dr. Wexford? Did you and Darach have some questions for me? I'm not sure I'll have answers, but I'll try.”
”Uh, this is a little more personal in nature.”
He chuckled on the other end. ”Okay. I'll be interested in what's more personal than time travel.”
”Shopping.” She felt a bit ridiculous. ”I...um...I didn't know how busy you were, but I wandered if you...um, might be available for some power shopping. I think you have a good eye-the suit you picked out for Darach was perfect for him.”
”Thankyou. I'd like to think I've a bit of an eye for fas.h.i.+on. And I'm wide open until one this afternoon. Who are we shopping for?”
”I was hoping to pick up a few things for both Darach and myself.”
”Darach is goingshopping? ”
Kate laughed. ”No, Darach is Internet surfing. But he's going to be here for two weeks. He'll go stir-crazy in my condo and I think he's going to need more than his kilt and one suit. I want to show him everything. I was thinking some casual wear for him, but he doesn't strike me as the type of man who'd enjoy a shopping trip so I thought I'd surprise him.”
”I'm your man. Where do you want to meet and when?”
”I thought Atlantic Station. Want me to swing by and pick you up?”
”No. I'll cab it there. It's easier that way. I can be there in half an hour.”
They agreed on a meeting point and Kate continued down the stairs to the parking garage. She'd come to an important decision. Darach was here for two weeks, then he'd go back to Scotland and the eighteenth century forever, possibly to an imminent death.
She turned left out of the building and navigated the familiar streets. The way she saw it, she had two choices. She could sit around, morose for the next two weeks. Or she could make the next two weeks a memorable adventure for both of them-two weeks they'd never forget, even with hundreds of years separating them.
She parked and killed a few minutes window shopping. She snuggled deeper into her jacket. The wind held a definite chill today.
”Hi, Kate,” Hamish said from behind her.
She turned and returned his greeting. For all that Hamish seemed to have an eye for fas.h.i.+on, he certainly didn't turn it on himself. Much as at the museum, he wore a long sleeved s.h.i.+rt and a pocketed vest with nondescript trousers and brown lace-up shoes. He looked like a frumpy sixty-something year old man.
”Thanks for meeting me on such short notice. I thought Darach could use some time alone to digest the information and I thought some comfortable casual clothes would be a nice surprise.”
”A very nice surprise.” His blue eyes danced with excitement. Go figure, a man with a pa.s.sion for shopping.
Hamish proved to be a power shopper. An hour later, Kate once again swiped her debit card.
”You've spent a bit of money today,” Hamish said.
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