“I daena think so.”
I smacked a mosquito that was chowing on my arm. “Yeah, you’re right, the bugs have found us.”
We climbed to our feet and slowly walked to the house.
“Tis odd, nae one is here. Where are yer guards?”
“I don’t know exactly — it’s the next day and I’m not here, maybe they went home?”
He looked around. “I daena think that is how guards are supposed tae guard. I am glad we are armed.”
Finally he said, “But tis fine, the house is locked up, and yer security guards would just slow us down.”
“Besides, with all these unexplainable events, I would have to pay them extra for weirdness.” He looked over at the stable yard. “We will grab the horses and go.”
“Does it look like the stable guy fed them?”
He said, “Aye, they look good, it looks like it.”
“Good.”
I used the railing to pull myself up to the porch, every joint aching, then pressed the buttons on my security pad to let us in the front door.
While I lockedup behind us, Torin went up and down the halls looking in all the doors, peeking into the basement, and then upstairs looking in all the rooms.
I called up, “Clear?”
He nodded, “Nae one but us.”
I began climbing the stairs to meet him. “Do we have time for a shower?”
“Aye, I need one.”
I stopped. “And you know whatelseI really miss?”
“Och, ye are randy for yer husband?”
“We are newlyweds and it’s beenhours,Torin, if we counted it might bedays. We’ve already had like forty-five time jumps, eight centuries, a battle, and I’ve worried over you while you were in the hospital — now we are going to do it all over again? Maybe you ought to visit my gardens first.”
He looked down on himself. “I am covered in war.”
I met him at the top of the stairs. “You do look it, your shirt is clean but you, not so much. Maybe, first, someone needs to give you a good scrub.”
He chuckled. “Ye are offerin’ tae bathe me, wife? I like this verra much, but we need tae get our horses, we planned tae be fast.”
I batted my eyelashes. “I don’tknow, husband, I kind of think as a Laird of Time you get to take a moment to make love to me. And your plan is to do everything the opposite. I think this time we should make lovebeforeyou go off to fight. That is different. You kinda have to.”
He chuckled and looked like he was considering it. Then he rushed me, his voice was like a growl. “I suppose if the princess wants tae take care of m’cock afore the battle for her throne, I must agree with her. Tis practically a command.”
I squealed, laughing, “Good!” He carried me into the bathroom.
While he dropped his clothes to the ground, I turned on the water, then turned to see him standing completely naked. “Ohmy.”
“Aye, ‘oh my’ is right, I hae been wantin’ ye for years, ye better get ready.”
I joked, “Och aye,” as I pulled the oversized khaki t-shirt off over my head and dropped it to the ground.
He said, “Och, I like the sound of it, say it with m’name.”
