Myra’s pulse quickened when a blond man took a knife to Simon’s neck.

A quiet sob escaped Liz. “Oh, no.”

“Enough.” Myra swiftly opened her eyes.

“Enough. ‘Tis done.”

“I’m so sorry, Lizzy.” Tara had tears in her eyes.

“It’s okay, he’s safe now.”

“I didn’t want to bring back all that pain.”

They floated, unmoving for a moment.

“It worked.”

Myra squared her shoulders. “It did.”

“Should we try it again?”

“Not now,” Lizzy appeared weary to the bone.

“Not today.”

Myra attempted to lighten the mood. “Any idea how we get down?” she asked.

A knock on the door resulted in Amber removing her hands from the others, and with it whatever levitated them disappeared.

With a thud, and more than one bruised butt, each of them fell to the floor.

“Mom? Are you in there?” Simon yelled and knocked again.

“Just a second.”

Lizzy scrambled to blow out the candles. “Quick, put them away,” she ordered.

“Hey?” Simon let himself in the room. “Did you need me or something?”

Liz glanced behind her, at Myra and the others in the room. “Why do you ask?”

“I heard you calling me. It sounded important.”

“I didn’t call you, Simon.”

“Yeah you did.” He pointed to his head. “In here.”

Tossing in his sleep, Todd woke with an excruciating erection and a fast-beating heart. “Damn, not again.”

Frustrated, and unable to get back to sleep, he tossed his blankets off and pulled on his pants.

The fire in the hearth had dwindled to nothing more than coals and the room chilled at the edges.

He found it amazing how quickly he adapted to life in these times.

He reflected on how Myra acted with every new experience in his world, how awestruck she had been with a simple hamburger. He remembered how big her eyes got when he drove her in his Mustang and her laughter when the waves from the ocean crashed over her toes.

“Damn.” He tugged on a shirt and left the room in search of a drink.

Like a teenager sneaking booze from the liquor cabinet, Todd felt a pang of guilt over splashing some of Ian’s stash into a glass. Lucky for him, the feeling didn’t last long. It was his damn daughter who caused his anguish.

And Ian’s damn rules.

The flicker of light caught him by surprise when he left Ian’s study. Everyone was asleep, or so he thought.

Myra sat and toiled with a small plate of food in her lap. Her long and shapeless nightdress pillowed over her legs, which she curled up under her. Only the pink of her toes peeked out. Her beautiful toes.

The door creaked when he closed it. Myra jumped at the sound.

“I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Her face slid into a grin when she realized it was him. “I thought I was the only one awake.”

Todd lifted his glass. “Couldn’t sleep. You?”

“Nay. I’m a bit restless these days.”

Todd fidgeted for a while and kept glancing toward the stairs, expecting someone from the family to interrupt them, as they always did.

“Do I make you nervous?” Myra asked in a low voice.

“Is it that obvious?”

“It is.” Nodding toward the stairs, she said, “I’m sorry for my family’s pressure on you.”

“No pressure. Unless they catch us together.

Then I would think that pressure would be an understatement.”

“They can’t fault us for talking,” she told him.

He took the hint and sat across from her a safe distance away.

“How is your training?”

“Tiring. I have an understanding of why men in this time are solid muscle.”

“You are fit, even for your time.”

He sipped his drink. “Lifting weights isn’t the same as working with your weapons. And riding the horses is a chore all in its own.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.” Myra sat her plate of food on the table.

“Grainna forced that hand, Myra. Not you.”

“True, but if we had never met, you wouldn’t be involved.”

He sat his drink on the table, raised his voice.

“Is that what you think I want? To never have met you?” When she didn’t answer right away he added.

“Do you wish you had never met me?”

“Nay!” she pleaded. “Every sleepless night I think of you. Of us. Never have I regretted anything.”

“Sleepless nights?”

“Aye, every one.”

Todd could see the lost sleep in her expression.

The dark circles under her eyes and the dreamy way she gazed at him elevated his heart rate to a thundering speed. As he stared longer and watched her lip curl between her teeth, he lost it.

Without words, he stood and crossed over to where she sat.

Chapter Sixteen

Picking up her hand, Todd helped her to her feet. His fingers lifted back the length of her hair while one lazy finger swept over her cheek. Her gut clenched with his simple loving touch.

“I can’t sleep. Everyday I work harder trying to find the point where fatigue will dull me to dreams, but nothing works. You are there when I close my eyes. These lips...” He smoothed his fingers over them as he spoke. “They torment me.” He gently urged her head back, exposing her long neck. “Your skin calls to me.” He dropped his mouth to her beating pulse, tearing a gasp from her.

Fingers clasped around him, pulling him closer.

Her nightgown trailed off her shoulder where Todd sent a blaze of heat in the wake of his tongue.

Her head rolled back and her eyes closed. Heat shot to her stomach and lower. Any concern about where they were or being caught escaped her mind.

Slowly, her hands drifted down his back and skimmed over his tight bottom. His reaction was instant. His lips found hers with crushing need, bringing with it hunger for more.

Familiar hands stroked her sides, his tongue danced with hers in a rough exploration of every crevasse, every valley.

Hands grasped her hips, urging her against the stiff pressure of his erection. He caught her cries of pleasure with his mouth. Tension gathered with every suggestive movement of his hips against hers.

Tasting him, feeling him, having him was a need beyond any hunger she had ever felt.

He stopped her hands when they tugged at his shirt, and held them close to his heart.