Barely holding his impatience in check, Dan jabbed the steering wheel with his finger. “I mean just now. Did you read him?”
Kendra nodded, her forehead still wrinkled in a frown.
“And?” he prodded.
“He thinks I’m going back to San Antonio because it’s the only place I know my way around. Because of the way I feel about you, he also believes you and I met when I first arrived in San Antonio.”
“Everything you said is very logical, honey. He’s gathering bare facts, then dressing them in assumptions.”
“Yes, but he’s wrong!”
“Don’t be brokenhearted about it.” Dan’s voice was as dry as the dirt road they’d just traveled. “As soon as he realizes he made a mistake, he’ll correct it. Don’t forget, this is the guy who’s trying to kill us.”
He felt Kendra’s eyes on him for a long moment, but he forced his attention on the road ahead—and somewhere deep inside himself as he tried to second-guess the man who would soon figure out which route they’d taken. Somehow he needed to outthink the enemy to stay alive.
Four hours later, they reached Del Rio. Dan’s shoulder muscles were so tight he thought he’d start shaking and not be able to stop. Kendra sat withdrawn and quiet, hands on her lap, unmoving. For once she wasn’t prodding or plotting; just sitting in silence. Dan should have known that it didn’t bode well.
When he pulled up to a stoplight, he reached over and covered her hands with one of his own. Her skin was cool and dry. “What do you want to eat, honey?”
“Nothing.”
He withdrew his hand and turned into a fast-food restaurant driveway, parking in a spot across from the entrance. “Well, I’m eating here. If you want something, let me know now.”
Kendra’s hands wrapped around his arm, clutching at him as if he were about to disappear right in front of her. When she looked up at him, he was stunned by what he saw: stark, unadulterated fear shone from her eyes like a neon beacon. “Please, don’t leave me. Please.”
He rubbed her hands, spreading his warmth to her. “Shh, it’s all right,” he reassured, knowing he was as nervous as she was but pretending otherwise. “Do you know something I don’t know, Kendra?”
She shook her head, her coal-dark hair glinting with reflected sunshine. “I don’t know anything. I don’t understand what’s going on, and that frightens me more.”
He wrapped his arms around her and rocked her back and forth the way his mother had done when he’d had nightmares as a child. His heart hurt from the pain Kendra was suffering, but he didn’t know what to do about it.
“Poor baby,” he crooned, inhaling the very special scent of her and loving it. “Your world is so logical and structured that it’s a miracle you’ve survived so well in this crazy one.”
She sniffed. “I don’t understand any of it. Especially this...this feeling.”
“Now that you’re cut off from your own people, you’re just plain scared,” Dan explained in a soothing tone. His hands stroked up and down her spine, trying to warm her body the way he’d warmed her hands. “What you’re feeling is fear, honey. Pure fear. It just takes time to get adjusted to it.”
She nuzzled closer to him. “I’ll never get used to it.” Her voice sounded muffled against his chest.
He heard the threat of tears in her voice and had to hold on to his own temper. “You will if you stay here long enough,” he told her. “You’re just a little unprepared for this human life, Kendra.” He pulled away from her. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”
Less than fifteen minutes later, they were speeding down the highway toward Uvalde. Dan munched on his second cheeseburger, occasionally sipping on a giant iced tea. Kendra sat next to him, daintily eating a salad that looked like it was made for King Kong. What amazed him was that she’d eaten one at the restaurant and had two more on the floor of the car.
“Keep that up and you’ll have to go on a diet,” he commented.
“I think not,” she said in an equally dry tone with a hint of humor.
So far, no one had arrested them for stealing a vehicle. Cowboy hadn’t found them. And Kendra was doing better. Overall, Dan thought they were doing pretty well.
He’d never realized just how gentle a soul Kendra was until today. He’d been too busy comparing her to the other Kendra. But the more time he spent with her, the more he knew he’d shortchanged her. She always searched for a peaceful solution. Dan knew that wasn’t the case in his life.
She’d also rolled with every punch landed in their direction. And while his gut instinct was to protect this Kendra, experience with her by his side had shown him that she could protect him, too. To Dan, that was amazing. No one had ever protected him before. It was a strange, unsettling feeling, one he wasn’t sure he liked. Her intelligence level was astounding; she absorbed everything immediately and understood it in a working, day-to-day way. But street smarts weren’t part of her life or training. Also, he was beginning to realize that it wasn’t as imperative for her to live through this mess as it was for her to do everything right and fairly, according to Herfronite standards.
If they were getting out of this alive, it was going to be a struggle. Dan had a lot on his hands.
He wasn’t sure when the real owners of their stolen vehicle would report the theft. Since this was the end of a weekend, chances were that the van would be reported stolen sometime today. Since he didn’t want to steal another one anytime soon, his best bet was to get as far away as he could, and as fast as possible.
When they reached the small town of Uvalde, he decided to change tactics. For lack of a better plan, he pulled off the main highway to San Antonio and headed cross-country toward Pearsall.
“Where are we going?”
“Read my mind,” he answered, taking care to circle around a slow-moving truck.
Kendra hesitated a moment, then sat back. “I knew we were headed for Houston, but this doesn’t make any sense. This way will cost us a few hours extra—hours we don’t have to lose if you use the main freeway.”
“If I use the main freeway, I stand a chance of being spotted by the police. Besides, that’s exactly where Dirk will think we are. Let’s surprise him.” And ourselves, he thought to himself, for he had no idea where he was going other than back to his apartment. But once there, then what?
“Do you think he knows who I am and where I’m from?” Dan finally asked.
“I’d say there’s a pretty good chance.”
“But you’re not sure.”
“I’m not sure.”
Dan stretched in the seat, trying to find a softer place. He was exhausted and his body was stiff from the long drive. But he couldn’t give in to any pleasures of relief right now. He had to constantly remind himself that he was running for his life. Their lives.
He glanced over at Kendra. She was finishing her last salad and dabbed at her mouth daintily with a napkin. Then she placed the container neatly in the bag and sat back. Her legs were crossed in yoga fashion, her back rigid and eyes staring straight ahead. He had the feeling that she was searching for Cowboy.
“He’s not close, Dan, but he is following us,” she pronounced ten minutes later. “His resolve hasn’t changed. He still wants us dead.”
“We figured that. At least he’s not hot on our trail, yet,” he stated grimly. “Relax and enjoy the ride while you can, honey. I’ll need you rested for later.”
She nodded, then pretended an indifference he knew she didn’t feel as she took in the rolling landscape.
Until then, Dan hadn’t realized just how tense he’d been while he waited for her to tell him what he’d already known. It didn’t change anything, so he might as well take a piece of his own advice. With a heavy sigh, he leaned back and forced the tension from his shoulders.
Five minutes later, a look in Kendra’s direction confirmed she was asleep. It was just as well. He might need her help driving, later on. One of them had to be alert and he had a feeling that in a
n hour or two he’d be unable to keep his eyes open.
Darkness came and the small, two-lane highway took them through little Texas towns that hadn’t changed in thirty or forty years. After Pleasanton, they hit Stockdale, then aimed up toward Gonzales. But before Dan could reach the thriving little metropolis, his eyes were closing every two or three minutes. He drove through a little town called Nixon, then pulled onto a dirt road just north of it. After going a mile, he realized they were on a horseshoe street leading to a few old farmhouses. When it ended back on the highway, Dan knew he’d found a temporarily safe place to rest—he’d noticed one small, white framed house that had seemed deserted. He made a U-turn and swung back onto the gravel road. Turning out the car lights, he let the moon direct them to the shale driveway of the darkened house and pulled in. He rolled down both windows and took a deep breath of the hay-fresh night air.
Kendra was still asleep. Tomorrow morning he could fight dragons if he had to, but not tonight.
With a heavy sigh, Dan leaned back and closed his eyes. He reached over and took one of Kendra’s hands in his, then fell instantly asleep. But the demons that had pursued him all day followed him right into his dreams....
8
THE SOFT CRY of a kitten woke Dan out of his sound sleep. Early dawn registered as he opened his eyes and looked around. It took a moment to orient himself and remember where he was. Then he saw Kendra sleeping in the seat beside him, and he knew instantly.
The whimpering sound was coming from her. Even though she was still asleep, tears rolled down her cheeks. But what hurt Dan the most was her intensely sad expression. A lump formed in his throat and he had to swallow hard. Still, it wouldn’t dislodge.
Filled with an overwhelming gentleness he didn’t know he was capable of anymore, he curled her into his arms and let her rest her head against his chest. She didn’t waken as he moved her, but the soft crying sounds stopped and she snuggled into the warmth of him.
What had he gotten into? The answer was as ready in his mind as the question had been. He knew. For years he’d been in love with another Kendra—his fantasy of Kendra. Mentally, he gave her wonderful, Superwoman-type attributes, building her into a woman he thought he’d needed but one she could never become. But he’d never been satisfied with their relationship. Even though they’d married, he’d felt a gnawing hunger in his soul that he couldn’t explain. When their marriage broke up, Dan realized that his wife had felt that sense of dissatisfaction, too.
Both had built dreams of what happiness meant, and neither had attained it living with each other. Instead of that knowledge drawing them closer together to seek what they were missing, he for his part had become bitter, then had swallowed that bitterness because he couldn’t allow himself to get angry with a mate who had “mental” problems; it wasn’t the right thing for a “good guy” to do. But that bitterness hadn’t evaporated as it was supposed to. Instead, it had festered in the dark corners of his mind.
Until now.
Now, thanks to this Kendra, he understood so many of those same emotions he’d glossed over before—not only his wife’s complicated ones, but his own, deep-seated feelings that he’d even hidden from himself. His dad used to say that the less a man delved into “woman stuff”—meaning thoughts and feelings—the happier a man was. Until last week, Dan had thought his father might have had a point. Now he realized that if he’d taken the time to explore those same thoughts and feelings earlier, he might not have been so unhappy all these past years.
The counterthought was that if he hadn’t met this Kendra, he might not have known just how much he had been missing in a relationship. The kicker was that he would soon lose this Kendra, too. She wasn’t happy away from her kind. She wanted to find a way around Cowboy and return home.
No matter what, he was going to love and miss her for the rest of his life.
A small, regret-filled sigh escaped her full lips and she turned, her arms circling his waist as she gave his chest a kiss. Still asleep, her actions showed just how close they’d become. She trusted him. Did she love him, too? Or was she this way with every man? He hoped it was for him, but he knew better than to expect it. Being with this Kendra had taught him to expect the unexpected.
For the next half hour, Dan held her in his arms and pretended they were just an ordinary couple on their way home from a camping trip, who had stopped to snuggle and enjoy the Texas sunrise.
A few minutes later, Dan’s own eyes closed and he fell into a light sleep. But his arms never lessened their grip on the woman he loved.
* * *
WHEN KENDRA FINALLY woke up, she found herself wrapped around Dan as if he were the only life support in the middle of an ocean. That wasn’t too far from being right; without Dan she might be dead now.
Kendra wasn’t sure, but she had a feeling that Cowboy was just what Dan had labeled him—a rogue. Judging from what she’d felt and malked, he’d been down here for over eight years, ruling according to his own justice. She remembered her training in statistics that had shown almost twenty-five percent of the Herfronites sent down to Earth did not return to her planet. The most common cause for this was death. Originally, she had assumed it was accidental. In fact, that thought had been indirectly promoted by her teachers. Did any of this have to do with Cowboy? Now, she had reason to think so.
There had to be a way to find another Herfronite and make some kind of connection that would bypass Cowboy so she could get home. And she had to do all this while keeping Dan safe. If anything happened to him, she had an idea she would break every rule. Without him being safe, she would lose all will to live.
She needed to find a way to keep both of them alive, so Dan would be safe and she could return to her own home. Right now, she didn’t have a clue as to how she would accomplish either goal.
* * *
WHEN KENDRA WOKE UP again, her head was resting on Dan’s lap, her body curled into a human fetal position. Dew and sweet hay blended together with the scent of soap that Dan had used to wash his clothing. She focused her gaze on the dash, silently registering that they had to stop for gas sometime soon. They had less than a quarter of a tank left.
“Did you have a good sleep, honey?” Dan asked, his voice as cheerful as a morning sunrise.
She couldn’t say why, but his tone irritated her. That was as surprising as everything else. She wasn’t supposed to be irritated by the little things; it wasn’t the Herfronite way. But, there wasn’t time to ponder this puzzling attitude. Their lives were at stake.
Sitting up, Kendra ran her fingers through her hair, trying to comb it into some semblance of order. It didn’t help much. “I had a wonderful sleep,” she drawled. “How about you, darlin’?”
Dan looked a little surprised at her comeback, but he must have decided to roll with it. “Wonderful. Now, if we can make it home in one piece, I’ll consider myself the luckiest guy in the world.”
“Your home,” she corrected.
He looked even more surprised. “My home what?”
“If we can make it to your home. My home is a little more distant.”
He didn’t say anything but she felt his withdrawal. He didn’t want her home to be different or separate. He wanted her to be just like him—or like his other Kendra. She couldn’t be. That was someone else. Even if she wanted to be from Earth, she wasn’t, she malked gently.
“Don’t humor me or act as if I’m some idiot needing to be calmed.” His voice was a growl.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she murmured sweetly.
“And don’t tell me things you think I want to hear.” His voice was still filled with anger.
“Of course not,” she said softly.
“I just want the truth,” he stated harshly.
“Really?”
“Of course,” he snapped.
She smiled and turned toward him so he could see how relaxed she was. “Then stop being the world’s biggest jackass. You’re arguing with the one person who is in t
his with you. I have just as much at stake in this as you have. Our lives.”
Dan’s anger slowly ebbed away. It was replaced with a sheepishness. “I’m really that bad?”
“Yes.”
“Are you as damned angry as I am right now?”
“No.” She sighed, resigned that she would have to go further to resolve whatever he was feeling. Apparently Dan had to understand everything and took nothing for granted—not even her opinion.
“Why?”
“Because Dirk is doing what he thinks is his job. Having to kill must be a very heavy burden on him. Herfronites don’t kill.”
Dan looked at her as if he’d never understand her compassion for a killer. “He doesn’t seem to be having a hard time to me, honey. I think he’s used to this now.”
She shook her head to emphasize her answer. “No. Herfronites don’t even think of killing. It’s not a part of us. We are not a violent race.”
“Either Dirk is a killer or he’s insane. It really doesn’t matter, since he’s on our tail and wants to kill us.”
Kendra had to admit that he was probably right. She looked thoughtful. “Maybe.”
“No maybes about it. We’re not the first for him.”
“Perhaps not.”
Dan was silent for a moment, chewing over that point. “Kendra, what are your weapons on Herfron?” he finally asked.
“We don’t have weapons.”
Dan’s patience was nearing an end. “Then what do you think Cowboy will use to try to kill us?”
“Most likely a gun, since that seems to be the weapon of choice here on Earth.” Kendra hesitated slightly. “However, there have been so few killings on Herfron that I forgot one or two things. The truth is that we do have a couple of weapons on Herfron, although they’re seldom used.”
Dan was all business. “Could he have one of these weapons?”
“I don’t know. Anything is possible.” She took a deep breath. “Yes. He has to have one. You see, although it can be used as a weapon, it’s really a medical tool that helps heal us from whatever is wrong.”
Forms of Love Page 12