Raine tilted her head to the side and met Mouse’s eyes. “You exposed yourself?”

Mouse trembled, as he should.

“I needed to get close to hear them. Kincaid’s shield surrounded both of them. I had no choice.” Mouse’s words ran into each other. “I released the bird before he destroyed it.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know. I was too far away to witness anything. The fortress is nothing but a large home with a small perimeter in that time. Easily breached if we should go in and take it over.”

“If Amber is the Amber MacCoinnich you describe, infiltrating the fortress will call her family down on us. You don’t think her father would leave her in a century so far from his own without a visitation plan, do you?”

Mouse swallowed. “No.”

“We wait…we watch. Go back, find out the name of every occupant in the house, everyone who enters and leaves. Who are they…where do they reside in that time? Are any of them warriors or is Kincaid alone? I want art, Mouse…bring pictures, voice recordings if you can get them.”

He lowered his head and started to back out of the room.

“Oh, and Mouse…?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Don’t get caught.”

****

Kincaid felt her intent even though she worked hard to shield it from him. The stronger he enclosed them, the more united they became.

She wanted to bathe, but wasn’t willing to talk to him about it. She didn’t want to leave this world unclean.

That thought drifted in his head.

He pretended he hadn’t heard her while he scrambled for a way to keep her tied to him.

Bonding.

Was it his destiny to bond with a MacCoinnich? With Amber? Was she to one day bear his children? Children he never imagined having. He’d kissed her, once, and thought about repeating it every hour since. Bonding wasn’t something a Druid committed to based on one kiss.

He led her up the stairs, away from the drifting voices coming from the kitchen where he assumed Giles sat talking to Mrs. Dawson.

Inside her room, he closed the door with a soft click. The bed brought his focus, while Amber stared toward the bathroom. Her cheeks flushed and he reached behind him and shifted the lock on the door.

“Come,” he said as he tugged her toward the bathroom.

With his free hand, he turned on the water in the deep claw tub and poured what looked like bubbles into the bath. Kincaid saw Amber’s gaze search the room for privacy.

Only he didn’t want her hiding…and he didn’t want to hide. Bonding wasn’t in his plan, as Amber had pointed out. But the thought of abandoning her to die without his shield wasn’t something he could live with. She was a MacCoinnich for God’s sake. The family he’d sworn to protect at all cost.

Even his own life.

However long or short that was.

Perhaps if he could keep her by his side for a little longer another solution would evolve.

“I can sit beside the basin while you bathe,” Amber offered.

“You could.” He unraveled the binding holding their hands together and lifted one of her hands to his neck.

She watched, fascinated, until he undid the belt that held his weapons and let it drop to the floor.

Her eyes fluttered shut when he reached for the clasp of his pants. She caught her lower lip in her teeth when he kicked his pants free and squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.

He kept his boxers on and lowered her hand to grip his waist while he pulled his shirt over his head. He paused then to watch her holding him.

“Do you trust me, Amber?”

He knew she did, could feel it inside her before she answered his question.

“I must.”

Yes. You must. He placed her hand on his chest and lifted her other to hold his arm. Her touch was timid, unsure, and more arousing than he anticipated. He watched the play of emotions wash over her face before he reached for the buttons of the shirt she wore.

Fingernails dug into his skin. “What are you doing?”

“It’s hard to bathe in clothes.”

“But…”

“You said you trusted me.”

Her alabaster skin came into view one button at a time. The front clasp of her bra held her pert br**sts from his gaze. The need to touch her, taste her rose like hunger. Yet he didn’t want to scare her, or take anything not willingly offered.

His goal was to bathe her, both of them, and only give what she wanted.

He left her shirt open and reached for the button of her Capri pants. That got her to open her eyes. Before her gaze fluttered to his, she looked at her hand against his chest then nudged her thumb over the outline of the muscle she held. The touch made his stomach quiver and heat surge lower.

You’re beautiful. Her thoughts filled his head and made him smile.

“You heard that.”

“I did.”

Her dark eyes found his and her hand kept moving, exploring. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

“I’m trying to bathe you. But if seduction is what you want…”

She tilted her head to the side and he felt her swimming inside his head. “I don’t even know what seduction feels like, Gavin Kincaid, as you well know.”

The tips of his fingers slid over her hip, half touching the skin above her pants, half sliding to the skin under her clothing. Her eyes opened wider with the contact.

“Then let’s start with soap and water and see what happens.”

Her grin was infectious. “Lizzy told me a man will say anything to get a woman naked.”

“Did she?”

“Aye, and Tara agreed.”

He inched his fingers to the small of her back and stepped closer. “Your sisters-in-law are wise women. I don’t think, however, they could have foreseen this situation quite as clearly as the one they describe.”

“I don’t think anyone could have imagined us at this point.” Amber placed the hand resting on her hip up to her shoulder, and then wiggled free of her shirt. Her brave front was thin, but she continued to remove her clothing while he held her.

“Should I close my eyes?” he asked.

“Do you want to?”

His gaze slowly traveled the soft planes of her body, the dips, and curves. His mouth went dry. “No.” He wanted to feast on the view she offered.

She paused. “I don’t know if I’m ready for you to feast on anything.”

“You’re poking in my head again.”

She lowered her eyes.

He brought his finger under her chin and raised her gaze to his. “Look harder and see my intentions, Amber. Yes, I want to touch you, taste you. You’re a stunning woman I’m about to bathe with—something I’ve never done with a woman I haven’t been intimate with. But for you, I will keep my hands where you want them. That I promise.” With any luck, she’d want them everywhere.