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.
“Mrs. Canton, are you in there?”
Anna put a finger to her lips. They hardly breathed until Mrs. Edwards’s footsteps walked away. “We’ve got to hurry.”
“She’s coming back.” The footsteps moved closer to the door, and they heard a key inserted in the lock.
“It’s them,” Anna whispered. “Hide.”
Where? Tavis was about the biggest thing in the room.
Anna pointed to the bed. It was a high bed, with a lot of space underneath. She scrambled toward the bed and slid underneath. Tavis joined her, hoping his feet weren’t sticking out the bottom. He heard the door swing open and footsteps.
“Thank you for dinner,” the woman said.
“It was my pleasure, but I’ve got indigestion.”
He wasn’t the only one. Tavis’s stomach was knotting. He slowly turned his head and looked at Anna. She slipped her hand into his. His stomach rumbled softly.
“You need some Pepto, hon?”
“What?”
“I heard your stomach rumbling. I have Pepto in my purse if you need it.”
“Wasn’t mine. Lord, but I’m tired.”
“All that walking and eating,” she said. “Let’s turn in early. I brought that new book you wanted.”
Tavis and Anna lay quietly as the couple readied for bed. Bloody hell. This was a mess. His back was starting to ache. His wounds had mostly healed, but one or two were still sore. And his right heel was going numb. “I say we just slide out from under the bed and excuse ourselves,” he whispered to Anna when the woman started opening and closing drawers.