Page 11 of Shaw

“But there’s nothing wrong with me, except that I’m going through a bad divorce,” Julianne said. “I’m not like possessed by something that turns me into a super speedy oil slick. I’m also not a ginormous brain like you, or have any kind of excellent skills like Lark. So this has to be about Shaw’s problem and maybe bringing him back to you guys. At least you didn’t kick him out of the clan.” She saw Valerie cringe. “Oh, no, seriously?”

The other woman made a helpless gesture. “Just before you came my husband thought it might be time for his brother to leave Caladh and find somewhere to live away from people.”

“Seems like this would be when Shaw needs his family most, and instead you voted him off the island?” She shook her head. “That’s cold, V.”

“We didn’t know what the chieftain would become when he lost the fight with the dark magic inside him. Nyall witnessed that, and when he described it to us…” The laird’s wife paused, and then cleared her throat. “Please understand that we’re simply trying to keep everyone on the island safe.”

“Sure,” Julianne murmured after she left. “Everyone except Shaw.”

She had her own issues with the chieftain, mainly because he followed her everywhere. Each day when she went to go downstairs for the morning meal she found him sitting outside her door, always awake. From there he escorted her and sat with her as she had breakfast with the laird, Valerie, Lark and Fletcher. After that he tagged along after her as one of the other two women from the future showed her around the castle and the grounds. If she stopped to observe some fine twelfth-century artisans and makers at their work, Shaw would hover. He then sat with her through the evening meal, and even escorted her on the walk she liked to take around the bailey before going up to her room.

Her boobs loved this, of course. They seemed to be permanently in lust with Shaw.

“Lady V mentioned that you’re second in command here,” Julianne said to him at breakfast on the third morning after arriving on the island. “Don’t you have some, you know, like second in command stuff to do?”

“Captain Nyall and Seneschal Fletcher, they’ve attended to my duties. The laird wishes me look after you.” He eyed her empty plate and placed two jam-covered oat cakes on it. “Eat more, my lady. You’re too thin.”

“You worry about me too much. I’m good.” She glanced around the hall and saw Caroline Parish walk out of the kitchens. “Excuse me, I need to meet someone from my side of time.”

For once Shaw didn’t tag after her as she walked up to the woman Valerie told her had been a salvage diver in the future.

“Hi, I’m Julianne.” She didn’t hold out her hand to avoid jolting Caroline. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure, if you’ll walk me to the cliff stairs,” the diver said.

Once outside the stronghold Julianne sensed a bunch of stares on her back, and imagined one of them came from Shaw. She knew he wanted only to protect her, but his constant presence was starting to make her boobs so throbby sometimes she couldn’t sleep at night. She also wondered how she could talk to the diver without freaking her out.

Might as well apologize upfront. “Sorry about this.”

“Shaw giving you grief?” Caroline asked.

She glanced at her and saw amusement in her turquoise eyes, and decided not to mention her pervy boobs.

“He’s just being nice and sticking close so I don’t like fall off a tower or something.” Lark had mentioned that the diver could be touchy, so she was careful as she said, “I know that captain of the guard dude is your husband, but I noticed you don’t seem to live here like Lark and V. Why is that, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’m a complete bitch,” the other woman said, and chuckled. “Not so much anymore, really. I just prefer my own space. Although I’m married to Nyall MacMar, I’m also in a relationship with Jamaran, the Selseus garrison commander. The maids and some of the clan’s more uptight men like to whisper about us and our wicked threesome.”

“Oh.” Julianne suddenly liked the diver, who seemed more down to earth than the other women from the future. “Never would have guessed. Your hubs, he seems like a scary dude, but he’s truly okay with your other guy?”

Caroline nodded. “Jamaran is like a brother to Nyall as well as my best friend. It’s pretty wicked, at least from the medieval point of view, but it works great for us. Also, we don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

“Hey, if you’re cool and it’s not hurting anyone else, right?” Valerie hadn’t mentioned the Selseus, so Julianne would have to ask her about them. Which brought her to her next question. “Okay, so why does everyone treat Shaw like he’s Satan and they want him gone?”

“You mean, besides the fact they think he’s Satan and they want him gone?” Caroline stopped as she reached the top of the cliff stairs. “It’s not that I’d call the guy the devil, exactly, but what the chieftain has been doing lately scares the crap out of the clan. That includes my husband, who does not easily spook.”

She frowned. “You mean, like when Shaw’s eyes go totally black, and him turning into the superspeed oil slick thing?”

“Yeah, and he may be losing control of that.” The diver’s expression softened. “The guy doesn’t scare you?”

“Not a bit. I mean, okay, sometimes, when he gets uber intense, and I think about having to leave him in a lurch when I go back, a little. But I mean, like in the ordinary way, not the I’ll need therapy after way, you know?” She moved her shoulders. “I like him. He reminds me a lot of that Omelet guy.”

Caroline blinked. “Omelet?”

“You know, that to be or not to be dude whose girlfriend totally overreacted after he booted her to the curb. So not a story a lifeguard likes. Anyway, Shaw hides it but he’s sad like Om, maybe because he’s worried everyone blames him for the Big Bad. I guess no one ever helps him because they’re so scared of the oil-slick thing, but how do you think he likes it?” She shook her head. “Nobody is okay with slugging around that kind of tragic.”

“You’re right,” the other woman said, looking a little surprised. “The fact that the chieftain actually went to the future and brought you back might have to do more with him than the ring, too. Since he’s the only one who knows the real deal, I’d talk to him about what’s going on.”

Julianne nodded. “Is it maybe not a good idea for me to be around him so much? I mean, did I read him wrong, and could he really hurt me or something?”