Stop it, Kady, she told herself. Her mother had told her, “If you allow a man into your life, choose him carefully.” Gregory was a carefully chosen man, perfect in every way.
And Cole Jordan was about as imperfect as a man could be, and she hadn’t chosen him. Fate had.
Chapter 9
MAYBE IT WAS BECAUSE KADY WAS CONTEMPLATING HER LIFE so intensely that she didn’t pay attention to her feet. She had paused on the trail to take a deep drink of water from a canteen and to tell herself that she had to keep her eyes off various parts of Cole’s extraordinary anatomy as he walked in front of her. When she started walking again she slipped a bit and the next moment she was sliding down the mountainside on her back, rocks flying all around her as she raised her arms to protect her face.
When she hit the bottom, she stayed where she was, trying to assess if anything was hurt. But she seemed to be all in one piece, just bruised a bit. Lifting her head, she looked back up the mountain and was shocked to see how far she had slid. Far above she could see Cole’s form, looking tiny, the late afternoon sun behind him. She raised her arm to wave to signal that she was all right, but she dropped her arm again when a sharp twinge went up her elbow.
With a sigh, she looked up the hill. Now she was going to have to climb all the way back up that very steep slope.
In the next second Kady twisted about as she heard Cole coming down the mountainside. She’d never seen anyone move as he did. He was completely heedless of his own safety as he ran straight downward, staying on his feet even as rocks and sharp bushes tore at him. Kady wanted to yell that if he slid down as she had, he’d have an easier time of it, but she could tell that he’d never hear her.
He seemed to reach her within seconds, grabbing her in his arms with the fierceness of the bear he had imitated. Kady could tell by the whiteness of his face that he was frightened; she could feel his body shaking.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I didn’t hurt anything. I—”
He ran his hands over all of her body in a detached way as he checked for broken bones and looked for blood. Except for a raw place on her elbow and a couple of tender places on her right thigh, she was unhurt. She must have slid down on her pack, and the distance between her body and the gravel had protected her.
But nothing had protected Cole. There was a bloody scratch on his cheek, a cut on his arm, his trousers were torn.
“Lie still,” he said, his voice low and full of fear. “I’ll carry you back up. Then I’ll run with you to the doctor and—”
“Cole!” she said loudly. “I’m all right. I’m not hurt.” She could tell by his face that he hadn’t heard a word she’d said, so she pushed away from him and stood. When he still didn’t stop looking worried, she jumped up and down a few times. That caused some pain to her bruised leg, but she’d have died before she let him see it.
Cole didn’t say a word as he stood, tossed her over his left shoulder, pack and all, then started the long climb back up to the top.
After the first few minutes of his carrying her, Kady didn’t bother trying to get Cole to listen to her assertion that she was unharmed. And when he reached the top and she saw how pale his face was, she didn’t say anything except to suggest that they make camp and spend the night right where they were. Cole made no protest.
Nor did he protest when she filled a canteen with water, then told him to remove his shirt so she could wash his wounds.
Maybe it was because the sight of his broad, muscular back made her hands tremble, but she started talking about her world. As she washed, carefully removing tiny rocks from the cuts in Cole’s arms and back, she told him about Onions, and about the President coming to eat. She also talked about Gregory and his mother. While she had Cole remove his trousers so she could tend to a bloody place on his thigh, she told him of the wonders of the twentieth century. Maybe if she remembered every miraculous invention that the twentieth century took for granted, she’d remember why she so desperately wanted to return.
“There,” she said at last as she wrung out Cole’s red bandanna that she’d used as a washcloth. “You don’t seem to be hurt fatally, but you’ll be sore tomorrow. Coming down that hill like that was a really stupid thing to do. I waved at you and told you I was fine. Why didn’t you—?”
She broke off as Cole put his head in his hands as though he was crying.
Without a thought, she went to him, and put her arms around him. He was naked from the waist up and wore only the torn long johns from the waist down. Abruptly, he went tumbling backward onto a grassy area, taking Kady with him, holding her very close to his nearly bare body.
“I have lost so many people,” he said raggedly. “I am afraid to love anyone because whoever gets close to me dies. It’s as though I’m a jinx on the people I love.”
“Ssssh,” she coaxed, stroking his hair, trying to calm him.
“Only my grandmother survived, and that’s because she went to Denver to live. Legend is cursed for the Jordans.”
His big hands buried themselves in her hair as he pulled her to him, holding her as close as he could without breaking her. “I’m afraid that if I love you, something horrible will happen to you too.”
She tried to pull away from him, but he held her too tightly for her to move. “Nothing will happen to me because I’m not from here,” she said, which, even to her, sounded dumb. “Cole, you don’t love me. And I don’t love you. I’m going to marry someone else, remember? I’m not even going to stay here. You are going to help me return, aren’t you?”
It was as though she hadn’t spoken, since he continued holding her in a way that felt safe and familiar. Maybe it was the unaccustomed exercise of the day, but Kady suddenly felt very sleepy. She should, of course, get up and build a fire and make some broth from the rabbit bones she’d saved, and she should put down some blankets between them and the cold, hard ground. But as she felt Cole’s body next to hers, none of those things seemed very important. She knew she should remember Gregory and her pledges to him, but at the moment all she could think of was Cole’s warmth and how good it felt to be in his arms.
With her mind drifting, she realized that one of the things she liked best about being near Cole was that when she was with him, she didn’t feel fat. When she was in the twentieth century, she seemed to be aware of what society termed “excess fat” every minute of the day. Maybe she felt small because Cole was so large, not like so many modern men who had so little flesh on them their cheekbones looked like razor blades. Or maybe it was because people in the nineteenth century didn’t seem to want women to have bodies shaped like pipe-cleaner dolls. Whatever the reason, Cole made her feel beautiful and voluptuous and so very, very desirable. She almost wished he would . . .
“Talk to me,” she whispered, her lips on the warm skin of his neck. If she didn’t have something to distract her, she would start kissing him.
He didn’t seem to notice the cold ground as he caressed her hair and her back, then moved one of his big legs over hers. “Three years after my friend Tarik’s death, his father struck it rich with a silver mine. He used the money to build the mosque in honor of his son. The place hasn’t had much use since Tarik’s father’s death, but I take care of it. I have a key and when we get back to Legend, if you want to, I’ll take you inside. It is a beautiful place. Serene and full of prayers.”
The last words trailed off as Cole fell asleep, his arms clasped about Kady. She started to pull away, but his arms were locked about her. She was hungry and there were things she needed to do, but the warmth of him and the quiet night quickly lulled her to sleep.