A phantom, vaguely shaped like a man, but as dark as a shadow, vaulted toward the men, its body covered with parts of the eagles until it looked like a two-hundred-pound bird ready to attack.
Cole had tied wings onto his arms; more wings encased his strong legs. His face had become the beak of the bird of prey, the distinctive white feathers of the bird covering his head and neck. He looked like a spirit set on avenging the deaths of his murdered brothers.
If his appearance weren’t enough, there was his screech, the piercing call of an eagle, but louder, more maniacal, that cut the air like one of Cole’s knives.
The three hunters, in a marijuana stupor, sat up slowly, looked at the gigantic eagle looming over them, then seemed to take an eternity before they could gather their wits enough to be afraid.
Cole, who seemed to be enjoying his role of terrorizing the men, spread his winged arms and flapped them over the head of one man until Kady almost felt sorry for the hunter. The other two men didn’t need such close persuasion, as they leaped up, bumping into walls as they fought disorientation as well as terror. When they tried to grab their rifles and handguns, Cole’s screeches became almost demented, as though the eagle was going to tear them to pieces.
Within minutes, the men, their boots under their arms, left everything else and began the mad scramble down the mountain path. And Cole was right behind them, his long arms outstretched as though the eagle he’d become would engulf and devour the men.
After the men had fled, Kady sat absolutely still for a long time, staring into the light in front of the ruins, looking at the empty campsite.
She was sure she should get up, go find Cole, and tell him his performance was great. She should thank him for terrifying the hunters because she was sure that those men would never again shoot an eagle. But instead, she just sat where she was. There was something so chilling about Cole’s performance that, truthfully, he had frightened her. It was as though he actually were the spirit of those dead eagles. It was as though he’d cast a spell and the eagles’ souls had entered his body and told him how to move. Even his screech had been as much like an eagle’s as one could be.
Kady expected Cole to come across the ravine to get her, but he didn’t. It seemed that every atom of her body was listening for him on the path behind her, but he didn’t come.
When what seemed like hours had passed, Kady stood and listened, but she could hear no sound of the three hunters or of Cole. As quietly as she could, she started walking toward the end of the ravine and found the little bridge of earth that led to the ruins.
She was at the edge of the ruins, looking at the smoldering fire and realizing that the smoke was drifting her way, when out of the dark trees, Cole came screeching down upon her. He had a knife in his teeth and what skin that wasn’t covered with feathers was caked with cracked mud. He was a formidable sight and involuntarily, Kady stepped back from him. He wasn’t a choirboy now. Now he looked like something from the worst nightmare anyone had ever had.
Taking another step back, Kady almost fell into the smoky fire. I don’t know this man at all, she thought, and when he came closer, she put up her arm as though to protect herself.
But Cole, grinning, grabbed her in his strong arms, lifted her off the ground and swung her around. When she struggled against him, he buried his face in her neck, feathers, beak and all, and said, “Trust me, my little wife. Give me your life and trust me.”
Kady was still stiff in his arms, repulsed by the feathers and what they represented, but maybe the smoke affected her, because when he began to twirl her about, going round and round, holding her close, she started to relax.
“Let go, Kady, my love,” he whispered. “Let someone else take care of you. Give yourself to me.”
“I can’t,” she answered, but she could feel her body becoming more pliant in his arms. “My life is elsewhere, in another time.” She’d meant to say the words with conviction, but instead, she began to hug him back, began to feel the way her face fit so perfectly into the curve of his neck. It was beginning to feel right that this man was clad in these gorgeous feathers, for she almost felt that he could fly away with her.
“You don’t have to be the best little girl in the world,” he said. “You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to do anything to make sure people love you. I love you just as you are.”
“Just as I am,” she said, feeling as though burdens in her life were lifting. It was all too much to think of—that she didn’t have to be the best cook, the best daughter, the best at everything in the whole world. Maybe it might be . . . What was that word she’d heard but understood so little? Fun. Yes, that was it; it might be fun to—
Leaning back, Kady looked at Cole for a moment, with the eagle head over his own, the brown feathers of the poor creature’s body tied under his chin so only the lower half of his face showed. The dark man in her dreams always had the lower half of his face covered, but Kady was sure that if she had seen the man’s mouth, he would have lips just like Cole’s.
It seemed the most natural thing in the world to bring her mouth down on his and kiss him.
She was dizzy with the sensations that ran through her body. Maybe it was the smoke, maybe it was the thin mountain air, or maybe it was this beautiful man with his big muscular body that made Kady react with such feelings of sensuality. It seemed quite natural when he put his hands under her seat and lifted her so her legs could slip about his waist.
“Kady, I love you, I love you,” he whispered again and again as she leaned her head back and allowed him free access to her neck.
And Kady knew that at that moment she had never wanted any man as much as she wanted Cole Jordan. Maybe she wasn’t in love with him, and maybe the great clouds of marijuana smoke were making her react in a way that was not normal for her. All she knew was that she desperately wanted him to make love to her.
“It’s not true, is it?” she whispered as she buried her face in his neck. “You aren’t a eunuch, are you?”
“Do you believe everything you’re told?” he asked as he hugged her to him.
“Pretty much,” she said, laughing, then brought her mouth to his to kiss him again.
They’d kissed several times since they’d met but each time it had been chaste, closed-mouth kisses, and they had suited Kady, as she’d wanted nothing more. But now she opened her mouth over his, wanting more than chasity.
But Cole did not respond. He did not kiss her back. Instead, he set her down on the ground and said, “Wanta put on some eagle feathers?”
Kady’s head was too full of smoke—and maybe lust too—to respond to his words. “I . . . I, no, I don’t want to wear the eagle feathers.” She started to say more, but Cole put his hand to his forehead and seemed to sway on his feet and instantly, Kady went to him, concerned.
“I don’t think I like your marijuana smoke,” he said as he sat on the ground, his back against the wall of ruins.
Smiling, Kady kicked dirt over the fire to bury the last of the embers, and when she returned, Cole had slid to the ground and was sleeping with all the innocence of a child. Without any hesitation, she lay down beside him, and he snuggled her to him as though she were a teddy bear. Smiling, she fell asleep.
Chapter 11
KADY AWOKE TO THE SMELL OF FRYING, AND SHE FELT SO emotionally exhausted from the last several days that she didn’t even try to guess what it was that Cole was attempting to cook. Wordlessly he handed her a thick white square that was a cross between a biscuit and a cracker and about half a pound of bacon. She ate some but not much. He’d obviously been up for a while because he’d washed off the mud and was wearing clothes. There wasn’t an eagle feather anywhere to be seen.
After a while, Cole doused the fire, rolled up the goods the men had left behind and carefully stored them inside one of the ruined houses; then he bundled his and Kady’s belongings and slung the pack over his back. “Ready?” was all he said, and Kady nodded, then got up to follow him.
She didn’t have to ask Cole why he was so quiet for she knew he was thinking what she was: it was time to go home.
“Cole . . .” she began, but he wouldn’t look at her.
“I’m a man of my word,” he said, “and the three days are up.” For a moment his eyes blazed into hers. “Unless you want to stay,” he said, but Kady shook her head no. She wanted to go home.
“I did something to displease you last night,” he said softly.
“No, nothing,” she lied.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but the smoke—”
“No. It was better that you did,” she said as she looked away from his eyes, but she could see his frown and feel his puzzlement.
But what could she have said? That she was disappointed that he hadn’t made love to her when actually she didn’t want him to and when maybe he physically couldn’t make love to her? Kady, your brain is getting too little oxygen in these mountains, she told herself.
On the way down the mountain there was no banter, no attempts by Cole to make her believe Gregory was after something other than just Kady. Cole walked in front of her, and even though she could see that his shoulders drooped, he walked with a step that said he was a man with a purpose.
They reached the cabin so quickly that she realized that he had led her up the mountain by a circuitous route that took much longer than necessary. After giving her only thirty minutes or so at the cabin to collect herself, he lifted her into the saddle of his horse, mounted behind her, and they started moving.
Once she was in Cole’s arms again, leaning back against his strong chest, she began to think of never seeing him again.
“It’s not that I don’t like you and wouldn’t want to be your wife,” she said. “Especially after getting to know you over these last days. And it’s not that going to bed with a man means you have to be in love with him. In my world there are women who think that going on a date with a man means going to bed with him. It’s just that I’m different and I happen to believe in fidelity. Had you and I met under different circumstances, I’m sure I would now be madly in love with you. But I’m engaged to marry another man, so it can’t be that way. I just don’t want you to feel bad about anything that I may have said—”
“Kady, shut up.”
Nodding at his words, she closed her mouth, then did her best to try to concentrate on Gregory. But the safety of Cole’s arms and the gentle gait of the horse soon lulled her to sleep.
“We’re here,” Cole said softly into her ear.
Slowly, Kady opened her eyes to see a sheer rise of rocks before her that were familiar looking. The light of the day was fading, and she was having trouble seeing clearly, but there, almost hidden under some vines, were the petroglyphs.
Cole helped her dismount, then moved to stand beside her. “Is this what you wanted?” he asked softly.
Kady refused to hear the pain in his voice. He couldn’t possibly be actually in love with her, she told herself. It was just that she was exotic and men loved the unusual. At the thought of being exotic, Kady almost giggled.
Tentatively, she walked toward the rocks, stopping once to glance over her shoulder at Cole, but he was looking at something over her head. Turning, she saw that the rock seemed to be fading away, turning into a ghost image. She had seen so many hours of TV and movies that maybe what she was seeing wasn’t as terrifying to her as it was to a man who’d never seen an airplane. But even with her experience, she had to steel herself as the rock faded and in its place was . . . was . . .
“It’s my apartment,” she said aloud, turning back toward Cole, happiness on her face. “That’s it! I can go back. I can—”
Breaking off, she saw such a bleak look on Cole’s face that her heart went out to him. She didn’t love him, she told herself, because she was in love with another man, therefore it couldn’t matter what expression Cole wore. It didn’t matter that—
Without conscious thought, she ran back and flung her arms around Cole’s neck and planted her lips on his as she kissed him. “I will always . . . care about you,” she whispered. “All my life. You have been very good to me, and I will always remember you. I wish . . .”
“What?” he demanded, holding on to her tight enough to crack her ribs. “What do you wish?”
“That there were two of me,” she said. “I wish I could stay here and go back, too. I wish I could live both lives.”
“Don’t g—” he started, but Kady stopped him with another quick kiss; then, with a firm shove, she disentangled herself from his arms. When her feet touched the ground, she started running the few steps toward the entrance through the rock, because she feared that if she didn’t go this very instant, she would never go.
Before her was the rented apartment with its cheap furniture. She could see the flour tin that the wedding dress had been in on the floor, plus her cook’s jacket draped across her couch. The light was on on her message machine, so maybe Gregory had called. For all she knew, it was several days since she had disappeared and the police were searching for her.
With her hand outstretched, she lifted her foot to take the last step toward her apartment.
But, suddenly, the dark man on the white horse was there, and unbidden, the thought This is the man I love came into her head. It wasn’t blond Cole or look-alike Gregory she loved but this man who had been with her most of her life.
As always, the lower half of the man’s face was covered. In her dreams his eyes were so expressive that she understood him without words having to be spoken. But now Kady did not understand what he was trying to communicate to her. He was in front of her, seemingly close enough to touch, but when she instinctively reached out her hand to touch him, the distance between them increased until he was out of reach.
His eyes looked sad, as though he was afraid of seeing the end of something, as though he even feared losing her. There was no hesitation in Kady as she took a step toward him, as always, wanting to go with him, to be with him. But again the distance between them increased.
“How can I reach you?” she whispered, then saw the man lift his hand in invitation. “Will we ever be together?” she asked, holding out her hand, trying to reach him. “Will there be a time for us?”
The dark man did not answer, but his eyes smiled, and there was such love in them that Kady drew in her breath and when she tried to smile back at him, her breath caught in her throat. More than anything, she wanted to jump onto the horse with him and ride away to wherever he was going.
But Cole stopped her. With one great stride, he caught her in his arms and swept her away from the opening.
And as quickly as he moved, so did the opening in the rock disappear. One second there was a doorway back to her own time, and the next there was only solid rock.
At first Kady could not believe what had happened. “No,” she whispered, trying to pull away from Cole, but he held her tightly.
“No, no, no!” she screamed, then began to beat him on the chest with her fists. “I don’t want to stay here. I want to go back to my own time. You—” she screamed, then proceeded to call him a few names that he had never before heard a woman say. In fact, from the look on his face, he didn’t know some of the words she used.
He released his grip on her arms. “Kady, I’m sorry; I didn’t mean—”
Shoving away from him, she went to the rock to run her hands over the hard, impenetrable surface. Was it open only at certain times of the day? Or only on certain days? What was the key to reopening the rock?
“Look, Kady,” Cole said, eyes downcast, his demeanor that of a man who was truly sorry for what he’d done. “I am sorry. It’s just that I couldn’t bear to see you go.” Tilting his head, he looked at her through thick lashes. “You can’t blame a man because he’s in love with you, can you?”
“If you loved me, you’d have helped me do what I want to do. You, Cole Jordan, are a very selfish person.”
“If by that you mean that I want you to stay
with me and that I will do everything in my power to keep my wife by my side, then yes, indeedy, I am selfish. When it comes to you, Miss Long, I might be the most selfish man alive.”
“Do you think that is the key?”
“What key?” he asked, confused.
“You being alive. Do you think if I rammed one of those knives of yours into your selfish little heart that maybe the rock would open up again and I could go home? To the man I love?” She almost said “men.”
“You could try,” he said good-naturedly.
Kady threw up her hands in despair. “Now what am I going to do?” she said, mostly to herself.
“Live happily ever after with me?” Cole suggested.
Kady gave him a look.
“I see. Want to try again tomorrow?”
“You have left me no other choice.” She took a step toward the horse, then turned back. “I want a solemn, sacred vow from you. You must swear to me that you will help me get home.”
Cole’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes, certainly, I’ll help you get home.”
He had agreed much too readily. “What are you up to?”
“Kady, my lovely wife, it’s late and you must be tired. How’d you like to take a bath in a copper tub and to sleep on a feather mattress with clean white sheets?”
Kady opened her mouth to tell him what he could do with his “clean white sheets,” but every aching muscle in her body threatened to make her regret such words, so all that squeaked out was a helpless little, “With towels?”
“Warmed before a fire.”
“I hate you,” she whispered.
Cole chuckled. “I can see that you do.” With that, he swept her into his arms, then tossed her into the saddle, mounted behind her, and started down a path Kady had never seen before.
And although she was furious with him, it was on the path down that she said, “Did you see him?” When he didn’t answer, she elaborated. “At the doorway, did you see the man on the horse?”
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