Tiernan helped Ella dismount, her skirt fluttering up. ’Twas the gloaming, the time between day and night, and the forest made it seem even darker. Though what he wanted was to scoop her into his arms, he brushed her hair back from her face instead, looking for cuts or bruises. He couldn’t see well enough to be satisfied.
“Are you all right?” he asked, hard-pressed not to check over every inch of her. That would require more touching than he could stand. “Not hurt in any way.”
“I’m fine.” Ella was staring at him as if she really was seeing a ghost. “How did you—”
“Carrie, the head of makeup, she said she could make me look like anyone, and I took her at her word.”
Pulling off the wig and the prosthetic that had given him a blade of a nose and high, wide cheekbones, he knelt down next to the stream, pulled out the tube of cleanser Carrie had given him and started removing the makeup and bits of glue.
Ella took out her cell and flipped it open, cursed under her breath and flipped it closed again.
“No signal,” she said, shoving it back in her skirt pocket. “The grandparents must be going crazy wondering what happened to me. If they saw you from a distance, who knows what they thought. You even fooled me for a moment and I was up close.”
“I guess Carrie did a grand enough job for me to pass in the dim light.”
Ella crouched down next to him. “But how did you know what Father looked like?”
“Internet research.” Tiernan removed his shirt and used it to wipe his face clean. “I found an article about your da and printed it to read later. There was a photo of him. I gave it to Carrie.”
“Whatever gave you the idea? You couldn’t have known you would need to do something so drastic to rescue me.”
“Indeed I could,” he countered. “McKenna instinct. Or call it whatever makes you comfortable. When you wouldn’t let me come with you, and so many people were so hostile, I just knew something terrible was at hand. I couldn’t let anything happen to you. The ghost of your da was the only thing I could think of that would make an angry crowd hesitate long enough for me to get you out of harm’s way.”
“But you put yourself in danger!”
“As did you,” he returned. Having stayed calm until now, Tiernan allowed himself some release. “You should have left, gone home as I suggested, but you would not.”
“I couldn’t!”
Responding to her raised voice, he tersely said, “I beg to differ! Nevertheless, when you did not, the least you could have done was taken precautions.” Now that the crisis was over, he was angry with her for putting herself in jeopardy. “I offered to help you twice today and you refused.”
“This was my battle to fight!”
“’Twas our battle, Ella. When you care for another person, you share the bad, as well as the good.”
She blinked and her voice cracked. “You c-care for me?”
“Aye.” Feeling his ire settle, Tiernan stroked the side of her face and thought about what Kate had said. Still, he couldn’t put his true feelings into words.
She swallowed hard and dropped her gaze. “Oh.”
Tiernan’s breath caught in his throat. She hadn’t returned the sentiment. Her confusion dashed through him like knives to his heart.
Then she looked up and said, “I was drawn to you from the first, only I didn’t want to be. You were too dangerous to be around.”
“I did warn you.”
“I don’t mean the prophecy. You were as comfortable with your psychic abilities as my father was with his…and you tried to make me use mine. That made me afraid of getting too close.”
“Are you afraid now?”
“Right at this moment?”
“Aye.”
She placed a palm on his bare chest. “How could I be after what you did for me?”
Too aware of her touching him, of his wanting to touch her, hold her, Tiernan was frozen to inaction. He wasn’t frozen to her reaction to him, however—longing mixed with hesitation—or to his own feelings that were quickly spinning out of control.
He loved her, really loved her, something he’d never thought would happen to him. He hadn’t been able to admit it to himself until he’d ridden onto the rez and had seen her in trouble. Then he had known.
His head went light with the wanting and he swayed a little closer so that his chest brushed her breasts. He felt her nipples pebble against his bare flesh and got an immediate erection. Never breaking the gaze that connected them, she ran her hand up over his neck to cup his cheek. Sweet torture, he thought, knowing he should back off.
“Oh, Tiernan,” she breathed.
Just hearing his name whispered over her lips was his undoing. He had to return her touch, taste her mouth again, hold her just for a moment.
That’s all it could ever be between them, he thought hazily and with remorse, as he crushed his mouth against hers.
Anything more would place her in mortal danger again, and this time he might not be able to save her.
THE STRESS OF the day melted away while in Tiernan’s arms.
Though Ella knew the danger wasn’t over yet and wouldn’t be until they’d uncovered and stopped the villain permanently, she couldn’t stop herself. Losing herself in the kiss, in the feel of his body pressed against hers, she slid her hands around his neck, scraped her nails down his back until he groaned into her mouth.
Her body quickened even before he grabbed her butt and pulled her tight against him. She couldn’t get close enough to suit her, not unless she wrapped herself around him and drew him inside her.
Rocking against him, she told him what she wanted without words. And when he murmured, “Nah-nah,” against her mouth and tried to push her away, she dug her nails into his back and kissed him harder. She wasn’t going to let any prophecy keep them apart! He fought her for a moment, but halfheartedly, and in the end, she got her way.
Still locked in a passionate kiss, they fell to the ground, soft with pine needles, and rolled one over the other, Ella landing on top. She pulled her skirts up so that he could put his hands on her.
Seared by his fingers sliding over her cotton panties, she pushed against his hand while unbuttoning her long-sleeved blouse. She could feel his other hand, unzipping his pants, releasing himself, and the picture she had in her mind was enough to make her juices flow.
Ella reached to touch him and was gratified when Tiernan cupped her breasts and thumbed her nipples into aching peaks. Wanting to be joined with him now, she somehow managed to tear her panties away, then found him and sank slowly down his length. She gasped as every inch of her body quickened. There was a rightness to their joining. No matter what happened after—no matter the dangers they faced—they would do it together and they would prevail.
Nothing and no one could pull them apart after this.
TIERNAN AWOKE HOURS later with a weight pressed into his side. The moon was nearly full, allowing him to see Red Crow nearby, snuffling through pine needles for something to eat. As his head cleared and his eyes focused, Tiernan realized what the weight pressing into him was.
Ella….
Then he remembered they’d spent hours making love, and according to his cell, more hours sleeping. ’Twas not so long before dawn—they had some decisions to make.
Ella was half naked, wearing only her skirt and bra and cowboy boots. He’d gotten the blouse off her, had seen the burn scars on the inside of her left arm that she carried as a reminder of what had happened to her da. She’d tried to put out the fire—such bravery and her only thirteen at the time! Tiernan could hardly believe it.
Just as he could hardly believe he’d fallen in love with Ella Thunder…or that he had acted on it!
Realizing what he’d done, Tiernan was horrified.
How could he have lost his head like that?
He’d spent most of his life vowing never to fall in love and if he fell in love never to consummate it. He’d listened to Kate and gone after Ella to fight
for her.
He hadn’t meant to make love to her.
Filled with guilt, he sat up, dropped his head in his hands and moaned.
“What’s wrong?” came Ella’s voice, still soft with sleep.
“I should not have done it,” he agonized. “Should never have touched you. Now you are doomed!”
“Ohhhh…. ” She pushed herself up next to him. “Not the curse again.”
“Why will you not believe me? You, more than anyone, know what is possible.”
As she pulled on her blouse, she tried to reason with him. “I’ve already been in mortal danger and you saved me.”
“But that was before we…” Before they’d made love. And it was love, so deep that he feared it would break his heart if any harm came to Ella because of him. “You must leave. Go far from here, away from me—”
“I’m not going anywhere!”
He tried to reason with her. “I will continue the investigation without you.”
“Forget it!” She got to her feet and buttoned the blouse. “Just stop being so…so…ridiculous!”
He shot to his feet next to her. “’Tis not ridiculous. If you do not go on your own, I’ll—”
“What? Are you threatening me now? I didn’t know macho was your style.”
He looked down into her face, now as closed off from him as were her emotions. Earlier, he’d lost himself in that connection, had never felt so fulfilled, but now he simply felt…empty.
“Be reasonable, Ella. You leave and keep safe, and I promise I will find the true villain and then will come for you.”
“Fine!” she spat, but he knew it was anything but.
Her anger hit him hard and so he stood there stunned as she went for Red Crow, untied his reins from the branch where they’d been fastened, then led him to a fallen limb that she apparently meant to use as a mounting block.
“What are you doing, Thunder?” he asked as she threw herself on the roan’s back. “He’s not saddled.”
“Don’t need it. You wanted me to leave, McKenna?” She reined the horse away from him. “Well, watch me leave!”
“’Tis not what I meant!” He was yelling after her, because she was already heading away from him. “You stubborn woman!”
He might as well save his breath since he was talking to himself.
Not looking forward to the walk home—headquarters was miles away, Tiernan wondered how far he would have to go before running into a band of mustangs. Could he charm a feral horse into giving him a ride home?
He didn’t know what Ella was going to do next. His biggest fear was that she would go and get herself killed and then not only would he be without her, he would have to live with that through eternity, because he would know that he was the one responsible.
ELLA SET OFF, not knowing where to go. At the moment, “nowhere” seemed safe enough. She certainly couldn’t go back to the rez. And she couldn’t go to refuge headquarters lest she put Kate and her family in danger.
What the heck was she going to do now?
When she left the forested area, she gave the roan his head and just rode for a while. As she rode, the horror of the night came rushing back at her.
And the beauty that had followed…
…until Tiernan had ruined it.
She tried to forget the way she’d felt in his arms, tried to hold on to the anger at his wanting to send her away. She couldn’t. Regretting riding off on him and leaving him stranded, she wondered if she should turn back to find him. Well, if she could. Though the moon was nearly full, that didn’t automatically mean she would be able to retrace her steps back to where she’d left him. If he was still there—undoubtedly he’d already left himself, and he could be anywhere between her and the refuge.
Ella pulled her cell phone from her pocket and flipped it open, the screen making a glowing blob against the night. She wanted to reassure Grandmother and Grandfather. She wanted to call Tiernan, to apologize and to see if they could figure out a way to meet up again.
She couldn’t scare up a signal.
Red Crow picked his way along a path that led upward, and Ella realized she wasn’t far from the mine entrance—the one Max Borland intended to blow up. In a way, that was a shame. Undoubtedly it wasn’t safe, but rez kids had been climbing up there to explore and mess around for excitement for as long as she could remember. At least she assumed they still did. Though the entrance had always been boarded up, it had been easy enough to make a secret entrance, placing the loose board back in place so no one would know. Of course everyone did.
As she got closer, Ella could see the entrance was now open, free of boards, though there were wooden horses and a Do Not Enter sign. Hmm, the movie company must have been in there, rooting around, deciding where they could shoot.
Well, good for her—the mine would provide her with a safe place to hide out for a while. She could get a bit more sleep, maybe wake up with a clear vision that would tell her what to do next. Being inside the mine would certainly keep her warmer while she made plans. Even at this time of year, the mountains were cool at night, probably in the midforties, and all she was wearing was a cotton skirt and blouse. Her only warmth came from her contact with the horse.
Ella dismounted and loosely looped the reins over one of the wooden horses. A horse tied to a horse—she should at least smile at that. But the responsibility she’d taken on herself weighed her down.
What could I have done differently, Father?
If Father was listening, he wasn’t answering.
Before entering the mine, she tried her cell again. Still no signal.
But the light from the cell allowed her to see what was around her as she entered the pitch-black chamber. She used it to guide her along the tracks the ore cars traveled until the tunnel split off in three directions.
Shortly after entering the left tunnel—far smaller and more claustrophobic than Ella remembered—she wanted to go back. Something stopped her from doing so. It was as if she could feel the mine itself urging her on, drawing her in deeper. The earth seemed to breathe, to expand and contract beneath her feet.
Was it her imagination, or by calling up the elements earlier to save Marisala, had she opened herself to nature’s subtleties?
Feeling the earth’s power like an invisible pull, she let it draw her along the tunnel and into the deep reaches of the mine where chunks of rock lay around her. Before she knew it, she was standing at another split and an opening she didn’t remember.
Compelled to see what lay on the other side, she entered cautiously, her stomach squirreling and her pulse thrashing with warning. There was something here, something the earth wanted her to know. She shone her cell phone around the cavern until she noted a long, wide glint on the far wall. Moving to it, she touched the surface, felt the change in texture—ragged with smooth areas—beneath her fingers.
Shining the light from her cell on the material, she noted the metallic luster that reminded her of the rock she’d found in Marisala’s trailer.
Fool’s gold?
Or the real thing?
“You couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?” The voice shimmered around her.
Ella quickly turned, leading with her cell phone, but the glow fell off quickly, so she saw nothing but blurry movement in the dark.
“Someone had to stop you,” she said more boldly than she was feeling.
Her mind was whirling, searching for an escape route that didn’t seem to exist. She barely remembered the tunnel system and this one not at all.
“Well, you finally found the truth you’ve been determined to get. I hope it’s something you can live with, because you’re never leaving here.”
Ella didn’t need to recognize the hollow voice to know who stood there.
Her stomach hollowed out and she held her breath, knowing she finally was face-to-face with the man responsible for her father’s death.
Chapter Sixteen
The first thing Tiernan saw when h
e got back to the refuge was Red Crow munching away at grass in the pasture—of course Ella had beat him back to the house. Relief warred with his exhaustion at the difficult and lengthy hike.
He went inside to look for Ella, but she wasn’t there, not in the kitchen, not in the bedroom. Nothing was amiss. No dirty clothes, no mess in the bath to indicate she had been there. She hadn’t left because her things were still spread out on the dresser and her case was still tucked into the closet along with her clothes.
“Kate?” he called.
No answer. Everyone was out of the house.
He tried Ella’s cell, but all he got for his trouble was her voice mail. His jaw clenched all through her cheery greeting as he waited to leave a message.
“Ella, be angry with me if you must, but please call me and let me know you are safe.”
An exhausted Tiernan took a quick shower and put on fresh clothes. He desperately could use a lie down, but he couldn’t rest until he knew Ella was unharmed.
Where could she be? Surely she hadn’t gone back to the reservation….
Which is exactly what Tiernan feared.
Perhaps Ella had gone to look for Nathan again—she had told him that she had never found her cousin the night before. Or perhaps she’d just gone to check on her grandparents, to make sure they had not been harmed.
Whatever reason she might have to return to the reservation, she would be giving the people who might have killed her a second chance to do so.
There was only one thing for it, then, Tiernan thought. He had to go after her. The truck was on the set, so he saddled Red Crow.
“Sorry, lad. I know you were ridden hard yesterday, but you’ve had more rest than I, and I need to find Ella as swiftly as possible.”
Riding a horse wasn’t all that swift, but it gave him a flexibility that a vehicle couldn’t. He didn’t have to follow the roads, and a comfortable trot would take him to the reservation in less than half an hour. On the way, he tried to stay in a positive frame of mind. Even if Ella was there on the reservation, she would be all right. Perhaps she wasn’t answering her cell because she’d run out of battery.
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