She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he grew used to having her in his space. He might not be smiling, but that stick was beginning to wiggle free of his anus. “Pots and pans?”

He pointed his beer to the right of the oven.

She found what she needed and placed it on the stove.

Jake pushed away from the counter, taking his beer with him. “I’m going to shower. Try not to burn my house down.”

His snarky comment put a smile on her face.

Chapter Ten

It’s just a hand!

Amber flexed her fingers in Gavin’s without letting go. He stood over her by at least eight inches and took up more than half his side of the stairway as they descended into the main floors of the Manor. The space felt bigger somehow. Maybe the lack of voices in her head added to the space as they past the many rooms of the house en route to the kitchen, but the world was different.

The smile on Amber’s face was difficult to shake and she couldn’t remember another time where she wanted to close her eyes and simply listen to the bones of the house creek and settle.

“Everything feels new to you,” Gavin said before they rounded the final hall to the back of the house.

“’Tis hard to describe. Every step down was met with pain before.” She glanced up the stairs. “Now they are just steps. The pain… it was—”

“You don’t need to describe it. I felt it the moment I took your hand. You’re a strong woman, Amber MacCoinnich.”

Her smile fell. “I had given up.”

Gavin squeezed her hand. “I know that, too.”

The kitchen buzzed with Helen moving around the space and cooking for what looked like a small army.

“I didn’t know what you wanted so I made a little of everything. It’s nearly noon, and eggs didn’t feel right. I have soup and sandwiches…salad.” The smell of bacon made Amber’s stomach growl.

She was half way through her chicken and bacon sandwich when Mrs. Dawson made it into the kitchen.

“There you are, lass,” Simon greeted the oldest member of the house by pulling out a chair for her and kissing her cheek.

Mrs. Dawson, the big flirt, blushed and smiled while accepting a cup of tea from Helen.

“I’m surprised we didn’t see you when Amber woke up. Surely you heard her.”

Mrs. Dawson grinned at Gavin and Amber with a wink. “Amber was bound to be upset waking next to a stranger, but she’s smart, and would realize fighting was useless. No need for me to rise before nature intended.”

“Does wisdom always come with age?” Gavin asked.

Mrs. Dawson pointed a wrinkled finger in Gavin’s direction. “Are you saying I’m old, Mr. Kincaid.”

For a moment no one said anything and then Mrs. Dawson started to laugh. “You are too easy,” she told them.

Giles joined them several hours later, the lines on his face had smoothed over with the sleep he’d managed. He told them he was ready to tackle the library. All the while Gavin held her hand or rested his hand intimately on her waist when she needed all ten fingers. There really was no room for embarrassment, and Amber refused to allow the way she was raised to cloud her judgment now. It’s just a hand, she told herself. A hand that sometimes gripped her waist with warm fingers and sent unfamiliar shivers up her spine, but…only a hand.

At one point, she felt Helen’s eyes on her, her worry pushed through Gavin’s barrier. Instead of calling Helen on her thoughts, she turned to her temporary twin. “Gavin? Would you mind terribly if we took a walk?”

“Outside?”

With the sun on her face and the wind in her hair…how long had that been? “Preferably.”

“There are no wards protecting the property.”

“And no need for such during this time. Please.” For the first time since she’d arrived in this century, she didn’t need to wear the cape over her shoulders, and the thought of the elements on her skin made her smile. The worry of the neighbors emotions overshadowing her own wasn’t a concern…she only had to hear the birds in the trees and smell the fragrance of the flowers.

Gavin exchanged glances with Simon. “Fine, but we need to retrieve my weapons from your room.”

“Don’t leave the property,” Simon warned them. “Jake wasn’t kidding when he said the neighbors will report you if you walk around obviously armed.”

“Protecting her with one hand will prove difficult without weapons.”

Simon nodded his approval and Gavin and Amber retrieved his weapons before they stepped outside.

“Tell me, how does this change in the future?” Amber asked as they left the house.

He looked around, offered a half smile. “The fortress expands well beyond the boundaries you see now. Adjacent properties, in all directions, are purchased and a wall is built around everything.”

“Like MacCoinnich Keep?”

“I suppose you could compare the two, but the Keep is much larger.”

“I would think so.”

“Over time, more Druids come to reside here. More families fill the homes around the compound.”

“Why?”

“For protection. For survival.”

“Is the future so bleak?”

“Compared to life in the sixteenth century…no. I suppose you’re better equipped to handle the coming changes than many. It’s those who live solitary lives in this time without any survival skills at all who fall first.”

“Will there be another war?”

They walked to the edge of the cobblestone driveway and started around the grassed in perimeter of the property. A small hillside sat on the North end of the land, offering some barrier of the neighbors on the other side. Much of the secluded land sat in the back of the house where Mrs. Dawson had constructed a flower garden and over two acres of lawn. Several stone benches gave those in the garden a place to sit and watch the natural wildlife frolic in the sanctuary provided.

“More of a complete collapse of society. The economy survives for a little longer, but when it finally collapses and people aren’t able to feed their families, neighbors turn against neighbors. The cities have it hardest. Those who live out here, and beyond manage to survive if they can protect what’s theirs. The government of this country starts to unravel and they search for power that will help them gain control of the people.”

Without Gavin voicing his meaning, Amber knew he meant magical power. Anyone abusing their power sickened her. “Which means we never stop hiding who we are.”