The Bond Unbroken

by Bond unbroken (NCP) (lit)

  He placed a finger under her chin and tipped her head up to receive the warmest, most gentle kiss she'd ever received. Surprisingly, the kiss had no effect on the lower part of her anatomy, instead it touched something much more elemental inside her. As if he had reached out to stroke her heart, to soothe the very core of her being. With the simplicity of a tender kiss, he touched her soul.

  Mitch rested his forehead against hers. "I don't want to, but I have to leave now while I still can. There are people I have to see. Now, more than ever, I need to find out what's going on and who is gunning for me."

  Katlin stepped back slightly and reached up to trace his lips with her finger tips.

  "Please be careful."

  "You can count on it, darlin'. For the first time in my life, I have a reason to go on living." He caught her finger tip with his teeth and started to suck her finger into his mouth. Katlin caught her breath. He pulled back and placed a kiss in her palm instead.

  "Guess I'd better go."

  "Guess you'd better.

  "Damn," Mitch hissed through clenched teeth them pulled her into his arms for a hot searing kiss that sent her stomach into a mind numbing swirl. As quickly as it started, Mitch broke off the kiss and stepped back to look into her passion glazed eyes.

  "Guess I'd better go."

  "Guess you'd better."

  "Damn," Mitch muttered then turned for the door before he could change his mind. "I think the first person I talk to had better be the parson."

  His back was to her, and Katlin knew he was talking out loud to himself more than speaking to her, but she responded anyway, "I think that would be a good idea."

  Mitch opened the door then turned back toward her, "Can I count on you to stay out of trouble until I get back?"

  "What makes you think I would do anything to get into trouble, Ranger Cameron?" she quipped back with a cheeky grin and a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

  He merely shook his head and looked heavenward. "That's what I was afraid you'd say."

  "I love you," was her only response.

  "I love you too. How does tomorrow sound for a wedding?" he asked. "It'll give you time to get anything you need, and we can invite Rick and the family to the wedding when we see them tonight. They're the closest thing to family I have, and I'd like them to be there."

  Katlin's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach at the reminder that she still had a job to do. A job that was getting more complicated all the time. For first time, Katlin hoped she was wrong about Rick Westfield.

  "It sounds perfect," Katlin replied, forcing a happy smile to her lips.

  He just stood there, looking at her. "Guess I'd better go."

  "Guess you'd better."

  "Damn," he muttered then raked his fingers through his hair before he turned, walked through the door, and closed it quietly behind him.

  Katlin went to the door and pressed her ear against it. She could hear Mitch whistling a happy tune as he made his way down the hallway. When she could no longer hear him, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Sing, if you're out there, please watch out for him."

  She walked to the window, pulled the curtain aside, and looked down upon the alley behind the saloon. Katlin wasn't aware she was crying until the wet salty taste of her tears touched her lips. Almost angrily, she whipped her cheeks with her fingertips. She was happy, damn it. For the first time in her life she was truly, gloriously happy. "Get a grip, McKinnen," she instructed herself firmly.

  Despite her happiness, she was well aware that the proverbial Sword of Damocles was suspended over her head. Any moment it could slash down to sever the fragile cord of happiness so recently formed. Taking a deep shuddering breath she let the curtain drop, closed her eyes, and prayed for strength. In her mind she could hear Sing repeating something he had told her many years ago. It was a treasured bit of wisdom she had never forgotten, something she had attempted to live by over the years. Never had it seemed so relevant.

  "Don't waste your time worrying about what tomorrow might bring, Little One. For if you spend your time agonizing over what might or might not happen, you will lose today and miss the special moments which make life worth living. In reality... it is always today and tomorrow never comes."

  "Thank you, old friend," Katlin whispered before she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and galvanized herself to action. She went to the armoire containing her supplies and retrieved a bag of dehydrated banana chips. The biscuit she'd eaten at breakfast had done little to quench her appetite, and she was suddenly hungry. As an after thought, she grabbed her solar powered calculator and strapped the masculine watch she usually wore to her wrist. She had some detective work to do, and she had a wedding dress to buy. For that she needed money. To get the money, she needed to do a little bartering.

  Katlin found Ben in his office seated behind his desk frowning at a long line of figures written in the book in front of him. He looked up when she entered and tossed a welcoming smile in her direction before he closed the account ledger in with a decided snap. She propped her hip on the corner of his desk and schooled her features not to betray the satisfied grin teasing at the corner of her lips. Ben didn't know it, but the price on one of the trinkets she was about to offer had just gone up.

  "Having problems?" she asked innocently. The finger trails in his hair where he had raked his hand through it in frustration told her all she needed to know.

  "Not really. I just can't seem to concentrate," he responded. There was feigned accusation in this tone when he added, "For the life of me I can't imagine why I can't keep my mind on something as simple as adding a few columns of figures."

  "I know the feeling," she admitted wryly.

  "It hasn't been boring. I'll give you that."

  Katlin nonchalantly reached over and pulled Ben's account ledger toward her, turned it around, and opened it to the page he had been working on. Pulling out the calculator she'd held behind her back, Katlin hit the on button. Her fingers danced over the keys. Hitting the total key she didn't attempt to hide her smug grin or the calculating sparkle dancing in her eyes as she reached for the pen Ben had been using and jotted the total at the bottom of the column. Without uttering a single word, Katlin calmly turned the book around and pushed it in front of him then waited for his reaction.

  It was all Katlin could do to swallow a chuckle at Ben's bemused expression as he looked from the figures in front of him to the small calculator in her hand then back to the total again before he finally looked up at her.

  "What the hell is that?"

  Katlin placed the calculator on the desk and pushed it toward him. "A miracle of modern technology, Ben. What will you give me for it?"

  Ben picked it up, turned it over and over in his hands before he started pressing number buttons. His eyes lit up, reminding Katlin of a little boy who had just been offered an exciting new toy. "How much do you want?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the calculator.

  She didn't remember what she had paid for the calculator. It had been relatively inexpensive, yet Katlin was also wise enough to know the gadget Ben was holding so covetously in his hand was the only one in existence in the year 1871. Therefore, the calculator was worth quite a bit of money. She was pretty sure they had invented what were called calculating machines sometime in the early eighteen hundreds, but they were big, cumbersome things, mostly used in banks.

  "Does the price of a new dress and anything I need to go with it sound fair?" Katlin asked, almost certain Ben would think he was getting the better end of the bargain. She was so certain she was shocked when she saw disappointment cloud his dark eyes before he reluctantly extended the calculator toward her.

  "You don't have to do this, Katie. I'll buy you anything you need."

  Ben actually believed she was offering him a priceless possession. Again he reminded her so much of her Uncle Ben that she felt her heart lurch. Her sense of fair play wouldn't allow him to go on thinking he would be taking something of value from
her, while at the same time her sense of fierce independence wouldn't allow her to take a handout from him either.

  Katlin glanced toward the calculator in his hand and shook her head to the negative. "Ben, in my time that thing is as easy to come by as the lighter I gave Mitch. It cost me very little. I'm smart enough to know it has more value here, but in a monetary sense only," she insisted firmly. "I genuinely appreciate your offer, and it means a lot to me, but I've never taken a penny from my uncle nor anyone else. I pay my own way."

  Ben was sensitive enough to realize that in Katlin's opinion, paying her own way was a matter of pride, and he had no choice but to respect her wishes. He reached down, opened the bottom drawer, and retrieved enough money to buy her any dress in town, several dresses, and anything else she might need to go with them. In his opinion, it was a bargain at the price. He was now the proud owner of something which was one of a kind in the entire world. All he had to do was figure out how to work the damn thing.

  "You've got a deal," Ben conceded, pushing the money toward her. "Now, would you mind showing me how to use what I just purchased?"

  Katlin leaned over, took the calculator from his hand, and proceeded to give him a quick lesson on the function of each button. Ben grasped the process in a matter of minutes. She then straightened and eyed the money in front of her. That's when she realized she had a problem. Katlin had no idea how much money he had given her, leaving her to feel as if she were in a foreign country where she didn't have a clue as to the value of the coinage or the currency. From the top of the pile of several others, not to mention what looked like bank notes, she reached over and picked up one coin she did recognize. It was a twenty dollar gold piece, also known as a Double Eagle. Even if she knew exactly how much money was there, it sure as hell wouldn't fit into the pockets of her snug Levi's. Oh how she longed for the convenience of being able to produce her plastic Visa card. She also suspected Ben had padded the pot considerably over what she actually needed. If he thought he was pulling a fast one on her, he wasn't quite fast enough.

  "I'll just stick all that in my pocket and run out to the nearest dress shop," Katlin quipped, the humor in her voice unmistakable.

  Unable to help himself, Ben's eyes slid to her figure-hugging jeans, and he felt a grin tugging at the corner of his lips. "That could pose a problem," he had to admit. He also couldn't deny that it might be enjoyable watching her attempt it.

  "My sentiments exactly," she agreed as she pushed the money back toward him. "Why don't I find what I want, then you can go and pay for it. Of course, if you're a man who doesn't mind shopping with a woman, I wouldn't mind the company."

  If the truth be known, facing a showdown in the center of Texas Street held more appeal than shopping with a woman. The only thing less appealing was the prospect of turning Katlin loose on the streets of Abilene. He'd given Mitch his word that he would stick close to Katlin and keep her out of trouble. What the hell? With Katlin, it wasn't likely to be a boring afternoon.

  "Shopping it is," he agreed. Decision made, Ben returned the money to the drawer, added his account ledger and precious new toy to the pile, then closed the drawer and turned the key. He stood, pocketed the key, and then it hit him. Katlin had refused the extra money he had attempted to give her without even saying a word. He'd been had so smoothly he hadn't even been aware of it.

  "Just give me a few minutes to run up and freshen up. I'll meet you out front in fifteen minutes," Katlin said as she walked toward the door. "Oh and Ben," she tossed over her shoulder as she paused at the threshold, "Don't waste your time trying to pull a fast one on me. You're forgetting that I know more about you than you know about yourself." Not waiting around to see if her statement had the desired effect, she left Ben's office, closing the door quietly behind her.

  It wasn't often that Ben Thompson was rattled or caught off balance. At least not until last night when Katlin McKinnen walked through the doors of the Bull's Head Saloon. Was it really only last night? He felt like he'd known her for a lifetime. Still, the implications behind her parting words had left him shaken. She knew when he was born. She knew all about his family in the past, present, and their future. Did she also know when, where, and how he would die? Did he honestly want to know? If he asked, would she tell him, and, if she did, was there anything he could do to change it? Lord, what mind boggling possibilities and temptations that offered.

  What an enigma Katlin was. She confused and never ceased to surprise him. Even more confusing was his response to her. He had traveled all over the country. Had met some beautiful women in his time and had made love to many of them. There was no denying that Katlin was with out a doubt the most enchantingly beautiful female he had ever met. With any other woman who looked like she did, the purely instinctive part of his nature which had no conscience would have kicked in. He would have been trying to figure out what it would take to get her into his bed. There was no blood kinship between them, and his friendship with Mitch be damned.

  When she leaned across his desk to show him how to use the calculator, she'd been totally unaware that she was giving him a tantalizing view of firm, round breasts encased in a sheer lacy garment the likes of which he had never seen. He hadn't risen to the occasion. Hell, he hadn't even twitched. His lack of sexual response to Katlin confounded him to the point where he was tempted to pay Randi a visit just to make sure the damn thing still worked.

  No, he just had to accept that the inexplicable connection he felt toward her was something he would probably never understand. Even though there was no logical foundation to base it on, in his heart Katlin McKinnen was family. Someone who had instantaneously become so dear to him he would rip apart anyone who dared to hurt her. Her happiness had become important to him, and he feared both Katlin and Mitch were headed for a world of hurt.

  When Mitch informed him they were going to be married, Ben felt compelled to ask him if he had thought the thing through. How was Mitch going to react if, as they suspected, Katlin suddenly disappeared from his life. Mitch's response had been he didn't want to talk about the possibility. He refused to even think about it. Ben suspected he would receive the same response from Katlin. While Ben wasn't a praying man, he found himself praying the powers which brought them together wouldn't be so cruel as to separate them.

  Approximately fifteen minutes later, Katlin found Ben standing at the bar waiting for her, staring morosely into what she suspected was a glass of water. If history as she knew it was accurate, like her, Ben's life had been disastrously influenced by someone with a drinking problem, and therefore he drank only in moderation. In Ben's case, he had grown up with a father who had been known to spend most of his time in the town's saloons before he went to sea never to return. Leaving young Ben and his little brother Billy to support their English mother and two sisters.

  He was so lost in thought he appeared startled when Katlin spoke. "Want to talk about it?" she asked as she joined him at the bar.

  When he looked up, Katlin's heart did a quick two step at the loneliness she detected in his eyes. "It's nothing, Katie. You have more than enough problems without being saddled with regrets I brought on myself," he insisted.

  "Let me be the judge of that," Katlin countered. "You never know, I might know something that will make you feel better."

  "You might," he agreed. "I suspect you also know things I'd be better off not knowing."

  Katlin knew exactly where his thought processes had lead him, and she had been dreading this moment since they'd met. She had been struggling with exactly what and how much of his life she dared to reveal.

  "Why don't we just play it by ear?" she hedged. "Now, why don't you tell what has you feeling so blue all of a sudden."

  "It isn't really so sudden," he admitted. "I've been missing my wife and my boy quite a lot lately. It's about time I settled down in one spot and made a respectable home for my family." Ben didn't admit that since her arrival the feeling had become almost overwhelming.

  "Been
thinking about sending about for Catherine and your son have you?" Katlin knew he would do exactly that but not without painful consequences. "Do you honestly think you're ready to give up your wandering ways, your hell-raising, and your whoring, Ben?"

  "Ouch."

  "Look, Ben, I might not approve of some of the things you've done, but I don't judge you for it. I care about you." His mouth suddenly dry at her forthright honesty, Ben picked up his glass, took a drink, and allowed her to continue without interruption.

  Katlin let out a deep breath and swallowed. She didn't think what she was about to tell him would hurt anything. It wasn't a life or death situation, but it would save Ben and his family a lot of pain if forewarning could prevent the incident from happening. "Okay, here goes. You will send for your wife and son, Ben. I don't know the exact date, but your son will be six years old at the time. They'll meet you in Kansas City, Missouri. On the outskirts of Kansas City there will be a carriage accident, and all three of you will be injured." Katlin noted Ben's hand was none to steady as he returned his glass to the bar. "As I remember it, your son's foot will be broken, and your leg will be fractured. Catherine's arm will be so badly crushed it will have to be amputated. Your family will be forced to spend the rest of the summer at the Lincoln Hotel in Kansas City while you heal."

  "Christ Almighty," Ben groaned as he visualized has son with a broken foot. The prospect of his own injuries didn't pain him, but the thought of his lovely Kate losing an arm nearly broke his heart.

  "Don't you see, Ben," Katlin urged, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. "It doesn't have to happen. All you have to do is have them meet you somewhere else."

  Ben pulled her into a bear hug which threatened to crack her ribs then leaned down to drop a kiss on the top of her head. "Thank you, Katie."

  "That's what family is for," she informed him as she stepped back and smiled up at him with genuine affection. "Speaking of family, how do you feel about giving away the bride?"

  Ben was so touched by her request he had to swallow a lump in his throat before he could respond. "I'd be honored."