They slipped into the hall and listened at each door. All the rooms were occupied. They went back to their room to wait. Anna sat on a chair near the window. Tavis took a chair across from her.

Anna checked her watch. “They’ll have to go out to dinner sometime. Are you listening?”

“What?” He couldn’t stop looking at the bed, imaging him and Anna there, sheets twisted, bodies slick with sweat. Blimey, it was hot in here. He shifted in his seat and wiped his forehead.

“I know what’s bothering you. I can help if you’d like.”

Surge! He shifted again, wishing he had on his kilt and not Faelan’s jeans. He cleared his throat. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’m a good listener. It can’t be easy coming back to the place where an ancient demon kidnapped you—” Anna frowned at him. “That’s not what’s bothering you, is it?”

“No.”

“You were thinking about sex, weren’t you?”

He looked at the bed again and considered lying. “Aye.”

She started laughing. He’d never heard her laugh, and he was stunned. The lust he’d felt changed to something so strong, it felt like a hand crushing his heart.

“I shouldn’t laugh. I should be offended, but Bree said the effects of the time vault are very strong. Hunger in every way.”

Tavis was still trying to find his voice. “You have a beautiful laugh.”

“Weren’t we just talking about sex?”

“Aye. We can talk about it some more if you’d like.”

“Or you could take a cold shower while we wait.”

“Or we could eat.”

“I bet you’re hungry.”

“I could eat my boots if I had some salt.”

“Then let’s go to dinner. Do you like Mexican?”

“I’ve never eaten one.” He grinned, and when she smiled in return, it took his breath.

“Pizza. Let’s have pizza.”

They walked a few blocks, and he tried to observe the other people without staring. He wasn’t always successful, and he decided that there were some strange people in this time. But pizza was a blessed thing. Or maybe it was just his raging appetite.

“Do you want another slice?”

He nodded and took one. “Good,” he mumbled.

She rolled her beautiful eyes. “I never would have guessed.”

“You have a good appetite for a woman.”

“You think I’m eating too much?”

“Not at all. I like watching you eat.”

“Are we back to the sex again?”

A woman at a table near them looked over at them. He grinned. “I think we’d better change the subject.”

“How about clothes?”

“Clothes?”

“You’ll need some. I don’t imagine you’ll want to wear your brother’s all the time.”

“That’s a good idea. I don’t have any way to pay until I find my sporran. I had a few coins with me.”

“They wouldn’t work now anyway. Don’t worry. I have money. You’ll get some too. I don’t know how it was done back then, but the clan pays warriors. It’s not like we can have regular day jobs. We do have buffers. They’re not warriors, but they help us, provide services, help keep our secrets.”

“We had people like that, but not many, and we didn’t call them buffers. Strange name.”

“It’s just a nickname because they’re buffers between us and the rest of the world. Officially they’re called coordinators now.”

Tavis leaned back and rubbed his stomach.

“Ate too much?”

“Aye.”

“You’ll be happy we have these fancy toilets later.”

He grinned. It was very strange but appealing to have a woman speak so bluntly. And it was pure heaven to have her not ignore him. “I reckon I might at that.”

They went to several stores after they ate, and she showed him racks and racks of clothing. Some were so bizarre he couldn’t imagine anyone wearing them if he hadn’t spotted a few on the way here. He let Anna tell him what he needed, since it was all too much for him to comprehend. He’d traveled the world and seen different cultures, but some of the clothing he’d seen in this time defied description.

“I think people are a bit barmy now,” he said after they’d returned to their room with their bags. “Why would that girl we passed on the street want her entire arm tattooed?”

“Lots of people have tattoos. We do.”

“But ours mean something,” Tavis said. “They’re not human marks. You said yours are on your back?”

“Most female warriors get them there.”

“Can I see them?”

Anna looked at him and then sighed. She turned and pulled up the bottom of her shirt. In the dungeon, he hadn’t seen her back. When he’d checked her for injures, he’d done it with her clothes on, not that they had covered much. He’d seen her thighs and glimpsed the juncture he’d been forced to breech, but he’d never seen her back. Her skin was beautiful, her spine was beautiful, and if her skin drew him, her battle marks took his breath. They were low on her back, just above her trousers—jeans—circles and twining lines rising from a point above her hips, opening below her waist. He couldn’t help but touch the marks. She jumped, but didn’t yell at him, so he didn’t stop. His fingers tingled, as did his own battle marks, as if they were talking to hers. He traced the line to her waist and down again to the point. His finger continued along the line of skin just above her jeans and then around the side and to the front. She shivered, and he moved the other arm around so that he was encircling her waist. “I can’t help it,” he whispered, and pulled her gently against him.

She didn’t answer, but she also didn’t move. Her hands had been holding up her shirt. She dropped them, and he felt her hands reaching back for his hips. She pushed back against him, and he kissed her shoulder. His hands slid lower, over her stomach and to her thighs. A soft sound rolled from her throat, and he turned her in his arms. As if they’d done it many times before, her hands circled his waist, and his cradled her to him. He lowered his head, stopping just a breath from her mouth. “I’m going to kiss you. Is that all right?”

She nodded. “You smell like pizza, but I don’t mind.”

He let his lips brush hers, then opened his mouth to taste her better. His hand wound in her hair, holding her close.

“I like pizza,” she said, pulling his bottom lip between hers.

“Me too.”

They were moving toward the bed when they heard the door to the next room shut. Anna pulled away. Her eyes were shimmering with passion, her lips moist. “They’ve left.”

Damn. “They’ll probably be gone for a while,” he said, kissing her neck.

She moaned and pushed him away. “We have to go.”

One minute. All he needed was one minute inside her. Probably not even that. Just a little more stroking with her hips and he’d be finished. She would need more. Especially after what had happened before. Lots of tenderness and time. They stared at each other. “Should I apologize?”

“No.”

“Then I won’t.”

They rearranged their clothing and slipped from the room. The door was locked. “I’ll pick it,” Anna said. “Ronan taught me a lot of things.”

“I suspected as much.”

She looked over her shoulder. “You don’t mean what I think you mean.”

“I might. Did he?”

“Did he what?”

“You know.”

Her blush was telling. “Once. We were both…troubled.”

Tavis was shocked at the anger he felt. If Ronan had been there, he would have hit him. He knew it was unreasonable, and it made him feel bad. He liked Ronan. He was family, probably a descendent. Even if he was a womanizer. What right did he have to say anything? It was Anna’s life. Tavis hadn’t been here. He’d been sleeping in a time vault.

“Are you finished daydreaming?” Anna asked, frowning.

“Sorry,” Tavis said.

“I’ve almost got it. There.” Anna turned the knob, and the door opened. “Be quiet. Mrs. Edwards is nosy. If she hears anything, she’ll be up here in a second.”

They tiptoed in, closed the door, and Anna turned on the light. The bed was unmade, covers trailing the floor. Luggage was open on the floor. But this was the room.

Tavis walked around the room. “This is it,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I remember Angus bringing me here.”

Anna’s mouth tightened.

“I wish he had lived,” Tavis said. “He saved me. Ian left a letter for Faelan telling him about my time vault, but he hadn’t found it. He didn’t know about the letter until I told him. If Angus hadn’t found me, I could have been locked in there forever.”

“And we had no idea you were there. We thought Angus had summoned a time vault for a demon.” Anna touched Tavis’s arm. “I’m glad Angus found you.”

And Tavis thought that was one of the nicest things she’d ever said. “As am I.”

“OK, do you remember putting the Book of Battles here?”

Tavis walked around the room and opened a door. “I remember this,” he said, looking at the tub.

“You think you hid it in here?”

“I don’t bloody know.” He checked under the basin and in the closet. “What are you doing?” Anna had lifted the cover off the back of the fancy toilet.

“Sometimes people hide things in here.”

“The Book of Battles?”

“It would be just like Angus to hide it there.” She smiled sadly. “He loved mysteries and secret clues.”

“You loved him?”

“I did, but not like that. He was my best friend. I always figured he was the closest thing I would have to a soul mate.” Her gaze met Tavis’s and moved away. “It’s not in here,” she said, replacing the cover on the toilet. “Let’s go back into the bedroom.”

They searched under the bed, the shelves, the walls. Anna was bent over looking on the closet floor when there was a tap on the door. They both stopped moving.