Dan stirred restlessly and turned to her. “If you went back to Herfron, what would you tell your people?”
“It’s not if, but when,” she reminded him gently, leaning forward in her earnestness to make him understand. “I will go back, Dan, and explain what happened if I can retain my memory. But the answer to your question is that, if I had a chance, I’d like to return and live here.”
Turning his head, Dan stared back out at the landscape. Kendra mentally etched his profile into her brain. It was a strong male look, one that made her feel as if he could handle all problems—any problems—except that she knew he couldn’t. Dammit.
“Why wouldn’t you have a chance? Would they kill you?”
“No. But our normal process is to wipe out our memories on the way home and file them.”
“Does anyone have access to these files?”
Kendra watched, fascinated, as a bird alighted on the inside branch of a spindly cactus. “Only the Elders.”
“Who makes decisions based on that information?”
“The Elders.”
“Well,” Dan drawled thoughtfully. “They’re not the knowalls you think they are, honey, or they wouldn’t allow Dirk full rein. If he goes around trying to kill others, he keeps it a secret. Either that, or they condone everything he does.”
“The Elders wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“All decisions are based on whether or not something is for the highest good of our race.”
“If what you just said is true, your death might be expedient.”
“Don’t say that,” she admonished. But her own fear of his direct dealing with the problem had already done its job. He was right, he was right, he was right, her pulse sang with confirmation. For the first time in her life, she understood firsthand what fear tasted like.
“Dan?” Her gaze locked with his and she tried so hard not to let her fear show.
But Dan understood her needs. His arms opened, enfolding her to his chest, keeping her head comfortingly close to the steady thump of his heartbeat. One hand ran up the inside of her cotton shirt and his lightly callused fingertips soothed the soft skin of her back.
The rhythmic sound reassured her that all would be well. She knew better, but at least his presence delayed the panic she felt bursting through earlier.
Kendra’s fears slowly ebbed. Her arms refused to let him go, however; and she opened herself to Dan, allowing him to see her own worries and doubts.
He must have read her, for his arms tightened around her and a frustrated moan echoed from his throat. He buried his mouth in the curve of her neck, caressing her with his warmth.
“It’ll be all right,” he promised in a low, gravelly voice.
Kendra nodded a silent response, but they both knew better. Even though they’d slipped away from Cowboy this time, he would follow them until he found them. They would have to be constantly vigilant. Until Kendra could get word to the Elders, running from the threat of being killed would be their future pattern.
“We won’t have to,” Dan stated aloud. “This will end soon.”
Kendra gave a shaky laugh. “You’re getting good at reading my mind. I’d better watch what I’m thinking.”
“Don’t block me out, honey.” The raspy sound of Dan’s voice ran down her spine like chilled wine. “I might find some small fact we could use that you didn’t think was important enough to mention.”
She smiled and pulled away from the comfort of his chest. With an intense feeling of need and love that made her fingers shake, she framed his face. His skin was warm from the sun, tanned and golden brown. His deep-set blue eyes stared down at her intently with an emotion she couldn’t fathom but made her feel warm all over. “Can you tell what I’m thinking right now?” she questioned softly.
His expression changed slowly. “Are you sure?” he asked.
“Very, very sure,” she whispered back, almost afraid to move in case she broke the spell that seemed to surround them.
A smile burst over his face and tenderness shone from eyes that delved into hers. “Well, then, little lady, the least I can do is accommodate you.”
He leaned her back on the down-filled sleeping bag. Then, in the shade of the Mexican mountains and a tall cactus, Dan kissed Kendra. His touch was tender but possessive, his kiss sweeter than Kendra could ever have imagined. With tantalizing slowness and an equal amount of gentleness, Dan began telling Kendra—wordlessly, with lips and hands—how much he wanted her to stay with him.
Her sighs turned to moans. Still he refused to give her satisfaction or take his own. Kendra was his and this was his way of branding her with his essence. As his tongue circled her peach-tinged areola, her breath caught in her throat.
He realized he was affecting her just as much as she affected him; that she wanted him as much as he wanted her. “Say it, dammit,” he muttered hoarsely. “Don’t make me say it first.”
She knew what he wanted, and she gave it to him. Her hand touched his jaw, lifting his head so that he could stare deeply into her eyes. She wanted him to see the honesty there. “I want you, Dan. I want you so badly I tremble with the need.”
Sighing in relief, he enfolded her in his arms and entered her. Her gasp told him she had waited for their coupling as much as he had needed it. Just her touch was an aphrodisiac. The heat of her was more powerful than the setting sun, singeing him with her own special kind of hunger. Trying to maintain control, Dan made aching, intense, wonderfully sweet love to Kendra.
Later, darkness covered them like a black velvet canopy with millions of tiny silver holes in it. He still held Kendra curved close to his side as they stared up at the night sky and she pointed out various stars. She was replacing his memories of his wife with experiences that made real the possibility of a future with her. He realized he was in love with her.
7
IT TOOK ALMOST TWO hours for Dan to inflate the trusty yellow raft. He blew until he got dizzy, stopped, then began again five or ten minutes later. Kendra tried to help, but her lungs didn’t have the capacity to blow out a candle at three paces, let alone a raft almost six feet long.
Every few minutes he’d look at Kendra, who spent her free time meditating on a rock at the top of the hill, well hidden from unsuspecting eyes. She was acting like radar, trying to capture a stray thought from Cowboy. Dan was pretty sure Dirk believed they’d continued on their way down river.
Once the raft was packed and ready, he loaded it quickly, then went to get Kendra. Reaching the hilltop, he halted in the shade of a mesquite tree and watched the woman who had changed his life—again. She sat cross-legged, facing the river below. Her body was in a meditation position and her eyes were closed. Her head was tilted like a flower seeking warmth from the morning sun.
Years ago he would have scoffed at someone doing anything New Age, but not now. Now, nothing surprised him. The woman he thought was more beautiful, loving and sweet than any other was an alien. What more could he say?
Oh, it was apparent that she was trying to ignore the fact that she’d be leaving him soon. But he knew. Every moment was borrowed time and he treasured each fleeting second with her. A lump formed in his throat and he coughed to erase it. The sound caught Kendra’s attention but the lump remained.
“Are you ready?” Her gaze took him in from head to toe, as if checking to ensure he was all right. She must have been satisfied, because she smiled with loving possessiveness before he could reply.
“You’re so beautiful.” He hadn’t meant to say it aloud. It just slipped out.
“Thank you.” She gave a little nod to acknowledge the compliment. “So was your wife.”
“No, my wife was pretty, but she was so badly marred by her own problems that she never had the chance to be beautiful where it counted—on the inside.”
Kendra’s brown eyes turned as golden as the sun as they lit with an inner light. He had given her the supreme compliment—the one meaning I see your soul and
it is beautiful. Instead of saying a mere thank-you again, she mentally wrapped her emotions around him, letting him know just how deeply she was moved by his words.
Dan didn’t move, just allowed himself to submerge in the mesmerizing silence of her feelings as she touched his soul. Without saying anything, he opened his arms, “asking” her to come so that he could hold her physically close.
With a grace and style all her own, Kendra rose and stepped into his embrace. Giving him a hug, she turned and leaned against him, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding them there, as if to feel the solidity they created when united. He placed his open palm on the light swell of her abdomen and knew he was cradling his unborn daughter.
The future was hazy, the past was irrevocable, but the present was right here and right now.
And, right now, Dan was in the place he most wanted to be; with this Kendra wrapped in his arms, in an old land filled with ancient memories, watching a new day being born.
It didn’t get any better.
* * *
THE TRIP DOWNRIVER was calm. Dan remained on watch, but saw nothing. Kendra was unusually silent, but said she couldn’t feel the presence of Cowboy.
Once, they heard voices raised in laughter and knew several rafts loaded with tourists were close behind them. They ignored them. Another time, Dan saw an old Mexican on the hillside boiling cactus to make pulque. Dan waved at the old man and he waved back.
Rapids were more frequent now. They were winding their way into Big Bend National Park toward Santa Elena Canyon, where boulders as large as houses were scattered like building blocks in the narrow confines of a sheer-sided canyon. For most tourists it was the highlight of the rafting experience. For kayakers, it was the ultimate test of skill. It could be dangerous if the ones leading weren’t skilled.
Dan thought it was like shooting fish in a barrel—and he was the fish. “We have to get off the river.”
“Why? Are we near your truck?”
“No, but Cowboy probably already knows where the truck is, and is waiting for us. When he finds it, he’ll think we’re still on the river. Our only chance is to outsmart him by getting away from the river, where he expects us to be.”
Dan flipped the oar to the other side of the raft and began edging toward the shore. “There’s a dirt parking lot over there. We’ll see if there’s anyone who can give us a ride to Del Rio or Alpine. We can rent a car there.”
Once they were on land, Dan took her hand and they walked toward the parking area. A family of six was busily packing up gear into the back and top of a large van. Two youngsters, obviously twins, were squabbling over who was going to get the window seat, while the teenagers seemed too busy breaking down equipment to argue. Ten or twelve more vehicles were parked in haphazard fashion all along the side of the lonely highway. Another van—white with blue pinstriping—sat at the far end.
With a light tug on Kendra’s hand, Dan skirted the family. When they finally spotted him, he gave an easy wave but continued on his way to the last car. He tested the doors—all locked. But a bulge on the floor of the driver’s side showed that whoever had driven it had tucked the keys under the carpet. The people who owned the vehicle had the door keys only.
Dan turned and frowned, his voice carrying as far as it could without him shouting. “Honey, would you start unloading the raft? I’ll help as soon as I get our car open.”
She read his mind and he felt her struggling against the lies he was going to tell. Reluctantly, she fed him the lines he requested. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Why can’t you open the door?”
“I didn’t want to worry you, darlin’, but I dropped the key in the river late last night when I was securing the raft. I’ll have to break into the car to get our keys.”
“Oh, honey,” Kendra moaned. “Why were you so careless? I could have put them in my fanny pack, but you insisted on keeping them. Now look at us! Our insurance probably won’t pay for the damage, thanks to your carelessness.”
“Don’t preach at me, honey. I already feel bad enough as it is,” Dan retorted, acting frustrated. It wasn’t much of a reach. “Just get the gear, okay?”
With reluctant steps, Kendra headed back to the bank. As she passed the family, she gave another look over her shoulder in Dan’s direction. He pretended he was busy trying the doors once more just to be sure he’d have to break a window to get inside.
“Lose your keys?” the man called. At Dan’s nod, he asked, “Wanna try mine? Sometimes they work.”
Dan hadn’t thought of that when he began this scenario. If the key worked, it was a bonus. “Thanks. It’s worth a try.”
Dan tried to hide his impatience as the man sauntered over and dug for his keys in the pocket of his faded orange swim shorts. With a slowness that rivaled bread rising, he found the key chain, picked out the proper key and tried it in the lock. The older man wiggled it, turned it, then grinned widely as the latch popped up. “Happens like that sometimes,” he commented with a grunt of satisfaction. “Someone once told me one key will fit every tenth car.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Dan said, looking incredulous. Relief flooded him and he tried to convey that feeling to Kendra. He wondered how quickly he could get rid of the man and get the car packed.
The man shrugged but he was visibly proud of his accomplishment. “Wouldn’ta mattered. If this hadn’t worked, the wire hanger from my trunk would have done the job,” he said. “The missus always does something harebrained with her keys, so I’m prepared just in case. It’s what comes of marrying a pretty little air head.”
Just then Kendra came up the path with an armful of waterproofed packing and one of the coolers. Dan grinned and waved her over. “This kind man just unlocked our car for us,” Dan explained as he reached for the keys under the carpet and pocketed them before helping her with her load.
Kendra waved at the man as he walked back to his car. Her dark eyes glinted with anger over his comments about his wife, but she yelled a friendly “Thanks!”
He waved back. “No sweat,” he replied. But his hand went to cradle his temple as if a stabbing pain had jabbed at him. Dan stared sharply at Kendra, but she was still smiling.
“Get in the car,” Dan said in a low voice, still with a bright smile on his face. “We’re leaving the rest behind.”
“That’s wasteful,” she whispered back.
“That’s tough,” he contradicted. “Our lives are at stake.”
“What about the poor people who own this car? They’re going to return and find themselves stranded.”
He opened the passenger door and practically shoved her in. “Better for them to be stranded than for us to be dead. Dead, Kendra,” he repeated for emphasis. “Not just without a car.”
He stuck the key in the ignition and turned it. The engine started right up. Quickly he checked the gauges. They were in good shape. They even had a full tank of gas.
Kendra continued her thoughts aloud. “Yes, but his family will be standing by the spot where their transportation was parked. The children will be hot and tired and the mother will be short on patience.”
Dan slipped the car into Reverse, then slammed on the brakes and stared at her in shock. “Can you read the future, too?”
“No, but I can imagine.”
He looked at her cautiously. “Can you tell if the man who owns this car is married and has children?”
“No. It’s all guessing, Dan. Don’t panic. I might be able to read minds on occasion, but that’s about it. I don’t even do a good imitation of flying.”
“Flying?” He wasn’t following her thoughts at all. “What kind of flying?”
She grinned. “You know, like the extraterrestrials in the movies.”
Dan laughed and put the vehicle into gear.
A little less than an hour later, he glanced down at the odometer. They’d gone only twenty-two miles on the rough dirt-and-gravel road, but were finally approaching the exit area of the park.
&
nbsp; “Block your thoughts,” Kendra warned suddenly.
Dan did so, praying that Cowboy couldn’t feel his fear. With quick precision, he pulled onto the main, paved road that led out of the park and continued to drive at a reasonable speed, his mind on automatic as he felt the faint pinprick prodding of Cowboy’s probe. He knew it was Cowboy even before he heard his words: When I catch you—soon—no one else will know what pile of rocks I buried you under.
He gave a heavy sigh and looked over at Kendra. She stared straight ahead, her body rigid. The damn man had left Dan alone because he’d found his prey: Kendra. Dan stepped on the gas and bumped over the road at almost a hundred miles per hour. It wasn’t his van and he didn’t give a damn what happened to it as long as it would run long enough to keep Kendra out of harm’s reach.
As the car careered toward the signs that proclaimed the approaching entrance/exit, he glanced at Kendra again. She sat clutching her seat belt at chest level, her wide-eyed gaze on the road in front of them.
He slowed down. “Are you okay?”
“Are we slowing down?”
“Is that what’s scaring you?”
Kendra nodded. “It is now. There’s more than one way to die, Dan.”
He took his foot off the gas pedal and eased to a stop at the park entrance.
“Go right,” Kendra prompted. “Toward Del Rio.”
“That way is closer to the river,” he told her. “If Cowboy continues to ride downriver, he could mentally pick us up as we come closer to the Mexican border again.”
“Dirk isn’t on the river anymore. He’s heading toward San Antonio, too.”
“How do you know?”
“He’s not the only one reading minds,” she said. “He still wants to find and kill us.”
Now that they weren’t on a death ride, her mind was obviously elsewhere. “You can read his thoughts?”
Kendra looked at him, surprise in her expression. “Of course. So did you for a moment, remember?”
“I know, but I thought he was sending me a message.”
She stared back out the window. “He can’t act on something and mind read at the same time. It’s too difficult.”
Forms of Love Page 11