Page 37 of Joanna's Highlander (Highland Protector 2)

Grant agreed with a slow, purposeful nod. “I’ll personally see to it that the man is there, Mistress Banks.”

“Great.” Lucia gave Joanna one last stern look, then strode out the door, bellowing for Tyler to “come on” before she’d even hit the staircase leading to the kitchen.

“That woman is a great deal likeMáthair,I fear.”

Joanna swung her legs off the side of the bed and hopped to her feet. “Yeah, you should probably keep that in mind. You’re going to have to do some serious damage control to get back on Lucia’s good side.” Calm, quiet Lucia might seem like the reasonable one, but she held a grudge forever.

“I’ll bear that in mind.” Grant rose and rounded the bed. “I thought I’d take ye to see the colt today if yer up to it. I always keep m’promises.”

Joanna didn’t answer. Thewe need to talksong was stuck on a repeating loop through her mind. Had been ever since she’d opened her eyes that morning. Dark fingers of niggling doubts had started picking away at her newfound euphoria. What exactly did all the Heartstone stuff entail? And what about loving a man from tenth-century Scotland? A man tangled up in druidic myth and legend? A man expected to serve some trio of goddesses with an ancient hammer like Scotland’s version of Thor?

Padding across the room to the armchair in the corner, Joanna sorted through the neatly folded pile of clothes that Lucia had been kind enough to bring over while she was still deep in Heartstone nightmare-land. She gathered up a change of clothes and draped them across one arm, picking away imaginary threads from her favorite dark T-shirt. She had to ask him. She had to know. Knowing was always a hell of a lot better than imagining the worst. “Could they snatch you up and send you back there at any time? Or send you somewhere else even?”There. I said it out loud.She prayed he’d say “no,” but deep down she already knew the answer. They’d jerked his ass across the centuries once and left the woman he loved behind. If they decided their precious rock was at risk, they’d damn sure do it again.

Grant crossed the room, took the clothes out of her arms, and placed them back on the chair. He lowered himself to the padded bench at the foot of the bed and gently pulled her into his lap. “ ‘They’ who? What are ye really asking me, lass? I see fear in those lovely green eyes. Talk t’me.”

You made me love you before I knew,she wanted to scream out at him at the top of her lungs. Instead, she whispered the words, struggling to hold on tight and not plunge into the abyss of hysteria. “I don’t want to end up like Leannan.”

“What?”

Be clear. Settle this now.“I know we’re not married or even engaged.” She closed her eyes and massaged her temples.Damn, I suck at this.She’d spent her life hiding her true feelings about anything. How the hell was she supposed to know how to make Grant understand what she meant now? She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and started all over again. “Look, I know we’re really just at the beginning of all things serious when it comes to this relationship, but…”

“But…” Grant patiently prompted, settling her more comfortably on his lap.

“But I already know I love you and I don’t want them to ever take you away again.” She reached out and cupped his jaw in her palm, adoring the rough stubble rasping against her skin. “I don’t want those goddesses of yours to ruin what it’s taken me a lifetime to find.”

“I canna tell ye what the future may hold for us, dear one.” Grant covered her hand with his, then turned and pressed a kiss into her palm. “There have been times over the past sixteen years…” He paused, brows knotted together as he stared down at her hand. “I willna lie t’ye. There have been times since they brought us to this century that the goddesses have required one or another of us t’travel back to the past—temporarily. Sometimes we must go wherever or whenever it takes to ensure the survival of the druid clans and the safety of our cause.” He finally looked up and gave what Joanna was sure he meant as a reassuring smile but as far as she was concerned, it fell a little short. “All I can tell ye for certain, to reassure ye about the goddesses and put yer heart at ease, is that Dwyn has said they’ve already given their blessings to the two of us.”

A dark shadow crossed his face as he looked back down and sadly shook his head. “They withheld their blessing from Leannan and m’self even though she carried my child. I’ll ne’er understand their reasoning and I damn sure can ne’er explain it.” He lifted his gaze, and one corner of his mouth barely lifted in a smile. “But they’ve seen fit t’bless you and me, so ’tis my utmost hope that they’ll leave us the hell alone and that I willna be called t’travel across the centuries for quite some time—if ever again.”

“I hope so.” Joanna tensed against another unbidden thought.Might as well get it all out in the open.“By the way, I wasn’t fishing for a serious commitment right now. I’m not one ofthosewomen. Nice and slow is fine by me. Okay?”

Grant scooped her up into his arms, then turned and lowered her onto the bed. Hovering over her, a suggestive smile playing across his lips, he undid the buttons of her oversized sleep shirt. As he neatly peeled her shirt away from her breasts, he bent and kissed the valley between them with a long, heated kiss. Moving over to one side, he mouthed her nipple, gently catching it in his teeth, then treating it to a warm, wet caress of his tongue.

“Aye, lass,” he said as he fondled her other breast. “Nice and slow is fine by me as well.”

Joanna yanked away Grant’s kilt, reached down between them, and wrapped her fingers around his swollen cock. “What about the colt?” she whispered, as she rhythmically pulled and released his velvety hardness.

“Later,” Grant replied. “When we’re finished with nice and slow.”

Chapter 18

“I’ll give young Master Tyler this much—even though he’s the smallest of the lot, I do believe he’s the best.” Grant shifted on the hard aluminum bleachers, clapping and whistling as Tyler rounded the odd-shaped circle again after hitting the ball so far away that none of the other players could reach it. “Well done, lad! Well done!”

Odd game, this baseball was. Entertainin’, but appeared t’be a great deal less rough than shinty. Grant unconsciously rubbed his right leg well below the knee. He still sported a scar from when he and his brothers were young lads and Alec had hacked him with his caman and split open his shin. He returned to his position of elbows on the knees, feet spread apart, ready for the next bit of action.I believe I could grow t’like this game.He smiled to himself. Funny how such everyday things of this century ne’er interested him until they were somehow connected with Joanna.

He leaned over and nudged Joanna’s shoulder with his. “What did ye call it when he hit the ball with the stick, then made it around the circle afore the other lads could catch him?”

“Home run,” Joanna supplied without taking her eyes off Tyler. She clapped her hands over her head and waved two thumbs up at the cluster of uniformed boys hopping around the victorious Tyler, who was currently running in circles and roaring out some sort of seven-year-old battle cry. “Tyler loves any kind of sport where he can run wide open and be as loud as he wants. Lucia refuses to let him play football—’fraid he’ll get hurt, and I totally get that. He’s not as strong in basketball. He’s so small compared to the other boys. But he’s fast and super-coordinated, so if we can work on his shooting, I bet he’ll excel at that too.”

“Shooting?” Grant sat up straighter on the bleachers and stared at Joanna. “What sort of target or game do they hunt in basketball?”

Joanna gave him a look that clearly told him he’d made another feckin’ twenty-first-century blunder.Sons a bitches. So much t’remember in this damn time.Sixteen years and he still didna have the gist of all of it. He shook his head. “Never mind, lass. I can tell by the look on yer face that my ancient arse is showin’ again.”

Joanna giggled, wrapped an arm across his shoulders, and squeezed. “I love your ancient arse and don’t you forget it.”

Her words warmed his heart and made him keenly aware of the weight of the binding brooch he’d tucked away in his pocket. Today was the day. As soon as the best time presented itself, he was going to do it—ask Joanna t’be his wife. She’d accepted his legacy well enough. Believed it t’be true, although she didna try to hide her aversion to the Heartstone or the goddesses and what they might choose t’do at any given time. He didna blame her for feeling so. He hated the fact that they still had so much control over his life just as much as Joanna did.

“Look over there,” Joanna whispered with an excited pat on his back. “You were right. She does like Taggart.”

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