Only one thing needed to be important right now: getting back to her own time. And since the only way it seemed she had any chance of making that happen required Colin’s presence, her main goal at the moment was to make sure she didn’t let her new husband out of her sight.
A shiver ran up her spine as she thought of him in that fashion—her new husband.
Whatever it was that made Colin MacAlister so attractive to her, it certainly was powerful. Powerful as in he really might be The One. It would explain everything.
“No,” she rejected. “Nothing more than stupid pheromones.” She pushed open the door to the bedchamber, her eye drawn immediately to the bed that seemed to loom large in the room.
Theirbed now.
Not that it hadn’t been their bed before that ridiculous excuse for a marriage she’d just gone through. It was, after all, the same bed in which she’d awakened this very morning, wrapped in Colin’s incredible arms.
Stop it!She wanted to shout the words out loud and stomp her feet to drive the image away. That had to be strictly off-limits mental territory. She wouldn’t even think about getting into a bed with him again because, obviously, in bed with him, thinking was all but beyond her abilities. Just being close to that man wrapped her in a sensory cloud of hormonal overload.
She put a hand to her heated cheek, reminding herself that she’d come up here to pack.
“I need to pack. But pack what?” she asked the empty room.
How did she even begin to prepare for this journey she’d insisted on making? Setting out with Colin tomorrow was like some backwoods road trip gone horribly wrong. And yet, she felt certain to the bottom of her soul she had no choice but to go with him if she ever wanted to get home again.
The quiet knock on her door came as a welcome relief, and she hurried to answer it before whoever was there disappeared and left her alone again with her own miserable thoughts.
“Hey.” Ellie smiled at her as she pushed past herinto the room. “I brought you some things I think you should take with you tomorrow.”
Thank goodness someone had some ideas about what she’d need.
“I don’t suppose you have a pair of jeans in that bundle?” Days spent on horseback wearing a dress was not at all what she’d choose if she actually had a choice.
“Don’t I wish,” Ellie chuckled. “I do miss my jeans some days, but you’ll get used to it after a while and the dress won’t seem so cumbersome.”
Maybe. If she were going to be here that long. Which she wasn’t. Absolutely. Was. Not.
“I do have the next-best thing, though.” Ellie held up what looked like a pair of narrow-legged pants, made from the same material as the shift she wore. “I made these for myself for riding. They’re not standard issue for the time period, but they make being on horseback a relatively more pleasant experience.”
Abby took the soft garment gratefully, wondering what her new friend would pull out of her cloth bag next.
“Now these, they’re not so comfortable but, trust me, you could end up finding them to be much more important to you than those bloomers.”
Ellie walked over to the bed and pushed the pile of clothing out of her way to roll out a bundle of cloth. Inside were two belts and two daggers.
“Weapons?” Abby stepped back, surprised to see Ellie holding two very different-looking knives.
“Exactly.” Ellie nodded, her expression completely devoid of any trace of the humor she’d expressed only a moment before. “Based on everything the family says,Colin is very likely the best warrior this clan has ever produced, so you’ve got that going for you. But believe me, Abby, wandering around the countryside in this day and age isn’t like a stroll in your old neighborhood. In our time we complain about the occasional man who thinks he has the right to do whatever he wants to any woman. That man is more the norm than the exception in this world. You can’t put your safety entirely in Colin’s hands. You need to be prepared to take care of yourself, too.”
Abby accepted both the daggers along with their protective wrapping, taking a closer look at the smaller of the two. With its fancy scrollwork and tiny jewels, it reminded her of something decorative she might expect to see adorning a Halloween costume. “This is beautiful.”
“It’s practical,” Ellie corrected. “You wear thatbeautifulone around your waist, on the outside of your clothing. If you find yourself in trouble, any bad guy is simply going to take it away from you because chances are good you won’t be able to stop him. But this—” She pointed to the longer, thinner dagger lying next to its daintier companion. “This one you strap around your thigh, under your dress. No one but you knows it’s there until you need it. Colin’s sister taught me this trick. She gave me this set to match one she owns. I’ll feel a lot better knowing you have them with you.”
Abby might have been tempted to discount the whole idea if it hadn’t been for her experience back at the dig site. If it hadn’t been for that little gold knife of Jonathan’s, she and Colin might not have escaped without one of them getting shot.
“Thank you. For this and for everything else you’ve done for me today. I really do appreciate you and everyone else down there supporting my demand to go with Colin. I sort of expected everyone to side with him and insist I stay behind.”
“Well, now that you mention it.” Ellie sat down on the stool by the hearth, reaching up to clasp Abby’s hand. “There is a reason we were in favor of your going along with him. I have something I need to ask of you. I can’t overstate how important this is and how really difficult it’s likely to be.”
Wonderful. Like she didn’t already have enough next-to-impossible tasks on her plate just trying to get back to her own time. Still, she could hardly refuse when she hadn’t even heard what Ellie wanted from her.
Abby sat on the rug next to Ellie, waiting to hear what her new friend had to say.
“We need your help, Abby. With Colin.”