"And I just need to make a bit of an adjustment here." She turned off the upper shower and adjusted the lower so that what had been a gentle shower now shot out in a steady, pulsing stream. Facing the mirrored wall afforded him a bonnie view.
Darach expected Katie to mount him and he'd watch in the mirror as she rode him. Instead, she braced her hands on either side of his hips and leaned forward. She stood with her feet braced apart and leaned forward from the hips, offering him a most arousing view of her backside compliments of the mirror. She teased his nipple with the tip of her tongue. Darach dropped his head back against the tiled wall as the sensation of her flirting tongue against his hard nub shot straight to his groin.
She worked her way down, scattering kisses along his belly. God's tooth, was she going to do what he thought she was?
She swirled her tongue along his knob and teased at the slit with the tip of her tongue. "Aye, yes...."
Katie paused and looked up at him with a wicked smile that further tightened his bollocks. "After the trauma of being confined in underwear for all of an hour, I think your big boy needs some special care and attention." She pressed a kiss to his tip.
Yes! He was very willing to play his part in her fantasy so far. Darach nodded. "Aye. He suffered. He's in desperate need."
"So, I see." She licked from the base to the tip and then rimmed her lips back down to his root. She worked her tongue and mouth around his sac before moving back up to his tip.
Her mouth, warm and slick and tight around his rod, embraced him. When she lowered her mouth over him, she hiked her bottom into the air, offering him a reflected view of her pink paradise and opening herself to the stream of water. She slid her mouth up and down, sucking and lapping. And the water massaged her.
Heat exploded in him and rendered his breath ragged. It was the most arousing thing he'd ever experienced, her hot mouth wrapped around him while the mirror reflected the water pulsing against her lovely glistening folds.
While he could still think with enough coherence to speak, he said, "Aye, Katie-love, I've a definite interest in hearing about all your fantasies."
HALF AN HOUR LATER, her hair still damp from the shower, Kate almost pinched herself. Instead, she glanced across her kitchen. Yes. The laird ofGlenagan sat on a bar stool while she whipped up a quick meal after great shower sex.
"I think it's almost ready," she said. The slab of thick cheddar oozed past the edge of the bread and sizzled on the griddle. Perfect.
"It smells good," Darach said She transferred two grilled-cheese sandwiches onto a plate and poured a cup of tomato soup. She placed both on the counter before him. "It's not gourmet by any means, but it's hot."
She served herself and slid onto the leather bar stool next to him. "Go ahead and eat."
Darach bit into the sandwich. "Hmm. It tastes even better than it smells."
She smiled. "It's pretty good but I think shoe leather might taste good to you about now."
Now that she was back in her world and not worried about being stuck in MerryOlde Scotland, she was much less uptight.
Kate wouldn't have been surprised if an awkwardness had settled between them. Instead they enjoyed a companionable silence while they ate. Even though they would've looked like quite the odd couple to anyone looking in-he with his long dark hair and his kilt, she with her short hair and silkpajamas -there was something about traveling two-hundred and sixty-one years with someone in the blink of an eye that forged a bond.
She knew she could fire up her laptop, log on and within minutes details about the Battle of Culloden would appear on the screen. Internet research hovered two clicks away. But not tonight. It had been an incredible day, or couple of days depending on which time continuum she wanted to adhere to, and tomorrow was soon enough. Any information they'd find tonight would still be there tomorrow and she very selfishly wanted this evening without thespecter of the future hanging over it.
Darach pointed past her to the reading nook she'd set up in lieu of a dining room table. "Is that woman in the portrait your mother? You look like her."
She turned to the photograph and a familiar sadness welled inside her. "Yes. That's my mom." His comment surprised her. "Do you really think I look like her?" With her dark hair and laughing green eyes, she seemed to smile right at Kate. "I always thought she was beautiful."
"You are both beautiful. You have the same nose. You both smile with your eyes in the same manner, and you hold your head at that same angle."
His words brought a sense of comfort and she smiled despite the melancholy that ate at her soul. "You would have liked her. Everyone liked her." Kate stood. "She was a remarkable woman. She died a few years ago."
Compassion softened the harsh lines of his face. "What happened?"
Kate rounded the counter and gathered the dishes. "She had breast cancer. They caught it early and we thought she'd beat it, but it came back." She rinsed the plates and bowls and stacked them in the dishwasher.
"What is this breast cancer?"
Oh, yeah, he wouldn't be up to speed on modern health issues. Cancer, named and identified, wasn't part of his world. "Everyone's body is made up of cells. The cells unite to form skin, tissue, organs, blood. When all the cells are healthy and doing their thing, the body is in good shape. But sometimes, and we don't exactly know why, the cells begin to mutate. The mutated cells begin to destroy the good cells.
Sometimes we can stop the bad cells and sometimes we can't. We've already learned so much and every day we come a little closer to a cure. A cancer diagnosis used to be a death sentence and sometimes it still is, but increasingly it's become more of a matter of managing a chronic-"would he know what chronic meant? "-ongoing illness. You would know it as a wasting disease. The body wastes away and the person suffers great pain before they die." She wiped down the counter, not wanting to remember what her mother had been like at the end.
"Aye. I have seen something very similar in old Hattie in the village. Was your mother in great pain?"
"Enough. Even at the end, though, she was more concerned about me than about herself. She worried about leaving me. It's terrible to be a doctor and not be able to do anything to save the person you love the most."
"Aye." He didn't have to say more. She knew he was intimately acquainted with the pain of standing by helpless and watching a loved one die. "This cancer. Does it spread from person to person?"
"No, it's not contagious. Certain types of cancer have hereditary factors. My grandmother died of breast cancer, then my mother. I'm checked each year because I have a higher risk because of both of them."
A dark frown knit his brows together. "So, you could have this terrible cancer? And your children?"
She knew he was thinking of that broken condom and the very real possibility she could be pregnant. "I could. And yes, it would be a factor if I ever had a daughter, but it's not something to dwell on." She shrugged. "I could also be hit by a car the next time I'm crossing the street. I have regular check-ups. I take care of myself. Other than that, there's nothing more to do than go on with my life."
"Do you have brothers and sisters? What about your father?"
"I'm an only child. I was just a baby when my father died. He was a doctor, too. He was part of a relief team flying into Turkey after an earthquake. His plane crashed into a mountain." She'd always wished for even a vague memory of the serious man she only knew from photographs. "All my life it was just me and my mother."
He reached out and plied his thumb against the back of her hand, his touch carrying a comfort, a reassurance. "And now it is just you?"
Wasn't that what she'd thought earlier in the evening, before she'd fallen back through time? "I suppose. But I have my job." And she always pulled the rotations at Christmas and Thanksgiving. "It's not just a job, it's who I am. Sort of like you. You're the laird, but it's not just a title and it's not just a job you show up for at eight in the morning and leave behind when you get through at five. It defines who you are, what you are, how you live, and the choices you make."
It didn't matter that they came from different backgrounds, different countries, different professions, different centuries. Kate knew there'd never been a man who understood her more than this one. Despite their differences, they came from the same place.
"Truer words were ne'er spoken. And why is there no husband, no bairns in your life?"
"My job is busy, demanding, and the hours are crazy." And those were all excuses,soundbites . There had been the oblique pain of never knowing a father and the acute pain of losing a mother who was everything. Why not find the courage to give it voice? "And because I've already lost enough. I don't want to lose again."
"Aye." Darach stood and drew her into the temporary comfort of his arms. He cradled her head to his chest and she rested her cheek against his warm skin, soaking up his solace. Beneath her cheek, his heart beat sure and steady.
She accepted the comfort he offered. She'd be alone again soon enough.
DARACH AWOKE,ALONE , in Katie's bed. Last night she'd thrown his plaid atop her bed to remind him of home. He hadn't had the heart to tell her that wasn't proper and he'd left it be. NowGlenagan's scent mingled with the scent of Katie and her home into a most soothing blend.
He stretched, enjoying her soft sheets against his bare skin. It had been a pleasure previously unknown to drift off to sleep with his lass in his arms. He'd never spent the night in a woman's bed or had one spend the night in his. It had started out as a cautionary measure and turned into a habit-one he'd not had a hard time developing as he'd never particularly felt a desire to spend the night with a woman. But he held no enemies in this place and time and it had been a sweet pleasure to feel the beat of Katie's heart against the arm that he'd curled around her, the warmth of her breath against his neck, the press of her soft curves against him and her scent wrapped around him.
Something nagged at the back of his mind. Something was different other than the obvious circumstances of being in a different place and time. What was missing? He tried to put his finger on what it was, but it eluded him. With a shrug he rolled out of bed and visited her bathroom. This was a hell of an improvement over a chamber pot and a cold basin. He belted his kilt in place and went in search of Katie, following his nose to an aroma that fired his appetite.
He walked down the hall, the wood floor cool beneath his feet, but not nearly as cold asGlenagan's stones. He found her ensconced in a wide green chair in the great room that also housed her kitchen. She had what appeared to be a large book turned sideways opened on her lap.
She looked up as he padded into the kitchen. "Hi. Did you rest okay? You were sound asleep when I got up."
Ah. It clicked into place-the thing that was missing. The nightmare that visited him every evening had not come calling last night. For the first time in six and twenty years, his family's death hadn't haunted his sleep. "I slept like a bairn. 'Tis a fact you've a bed more to comfort than mine."
"I'm glad it was comfortable for you." She placed the thing that wasn't a book after all on the footstool and stood.
"I've made some coffee. Eggs sound okay for breakfast?"
"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, muffling 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 Sassenach can have a go at me? Where is my morning meal, wench?" He slapped her on the arse, 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 lass. "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 title 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 button, 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 fashion. 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 fashion, he certainly didn't turn it on himself. Much as at the museum, he wore a long sleeved shirt 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 passion 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.