Cowboy from the Future (17 page)

She
liked that.  “Are you
sure
you’re not flirting with me?”

Cade’s
felt his mouth curve.  “I mean it.  The fact that you’ve come here to help
me…”  He shook his head.  “You told me to thank you for it later, but I wish to
thank you, now.  There may not
be
a later and you should know that I am…
overwhelmed that you would do this.  Thank you.”

She
smiled at him.  “You’re welcome.”

For
once in Cade’s life, no one had to remind him to be soft.  His insides were
forever melted where she was concerned.  There was no going back.

He
cleared his throat.  “This plan of yours is,”
the most amazing thing anyone
has ever done for me
, “very sweet.  But, it was also reckless.  So, when
we’re caught, you must tell them that I kidnapped you.  Alright?”

“Like
even this think-tank of a town would buy
that
story.  How the hell could
you kidnap me from your jail cell?  Alien transporter gun?”

“They
won’t care about logic.  They’ll be looking for a way to blame me and you need
to
let
them.  Do not say a word in my defense.  It will save your life. 
Promise me.”

“I
have a better idea.”  Addy lowered her voice to a mocking whisper.  “Let’s just
not get caught, cowboy.”  She winked and slipped away from him, heading down
the street.

Cade
stared after her.

The
woman was insane.

Cursing
under his breath, he stalked out the door.  Her rescue was truly the high point
of his entire existence.  The first time anyone had ever risked themselves for
him.  But, for the life of him, Cade couldn’t think of one rational reason why
she’d be taking such a chance.  It
had
to be some kind of lunacy.  A
genuine mental disorder.  Why did he even try to talk to her like she was a
normal person, when she so clearly
wasn’t
normal?

A
normal
person wouldn’t do these things.  A
normal
person wouldn’t
break a Voltyn out of jail, or let him touch her, or knockout a guard like it
was any other Resday.  In fact, if Addy was a
normal
person, she
wouldn’t be in Shadow-of-the-Gods, at all.  She’d be safely ensconced in that little
prairie house Michael Landon wished to build for her, surrounded by pretty
things and music.

Gods,
Cade detested Michael Landon.

The
rest of the polis was still convinced Outlanders were about to invade.  Cade
kept his head down as frantic citizens rushed passed.  Pretty soon everyone was
going to realize they’d been had.  He had to make sure Addy was out of
Shadow-of-the-Gods before that happened or she’d be strung up beside him and
his idiot brothers.

“Where
you running off to, flower?”  Manston stepped out from the shadows, where he’d
apparently been hiding.  No doubt he’d wanted to avoid being drafted for a
fight with the Outlanders, so he was laying low.  Spotting Adeline walking
passed must have seemed like winning the annual sweepstakes.

“Oh
great.”  Addy skidded to a halt as the son of a bitch shifted into her path. 
“Look, we’re in a hurry here.”  She told him in her language.  “Just move out
of the way and… ”

Manston
cut her off.  “No sense with that fancy talk, girlie.  I’m not that fucking
Voltyn, hanging on your every stuck-up word.”

Addy
rolled her eyes.  She didn’t need an exact translation to know the guy was a
waste of time.  “Whatever.”

Manston
quickly blocked her, as she started around him.  There was a bottle in his hand
and a leer on his face.  “That inhuman asshole hasn’t been letting anyone near
you, but, now that he’s out of the way, you and I can finally get to know each
other a…”  His taunt stopped short, as Cade came up behind her.  “What the
shit?”

“Oh,
did I forget to mention the hanging was cancelled?”  Addy smirked at Manston. 
“Ready to move yet, dickhead?”

Manston
took a lurching step backwards, his eyes on Cade.  “You bastard!  You think
you’ll get away with this?  Huh?  The sheriff will hunt you down and kill you,
like he shoulda done from the second you took a human woman as your own.”

“She
told you to move.”  Cade said quietly.

“You
shouldn’t be allowed to have her!”  Manston continued, intoxicated and
belligerent.  “She’s
my
kind, not yours.  And once you’re dead, I’ll shove
that little bitch down and show her what a human man can offer a…”

Cade
punched him.  He drew back his fist and slammed it into Manston’s scraggly
face.  The miner hit the boards of the sidewalk with a reverberating thud, his
arms spread wide.  His head lulled to the side, his nose flattened into a mush
of cartilage and blood.

Cade
leaned over the man’s unconscious body.  “Next time, just listen to the lady.”

Addy
made a ‘”hmm” sound and glanced up at him.  “Okay, but the guy I knocked out
was tougher.”

“He
was not.  Besides, I’ve been waiting to hit this asshole for years.”

“I
just hope you didn’t hurt your sawing and hammering hand.  It would be a
nightmare if your carpentry skills got even worse.”

“You’re
hilarious.”  He held out a palm to her and led her around Manston’s splayed
form.  “Let’s get out of here, before someone realizes that he’s not just
passed out drunk.  This polis isn’t safe for either of us.”  He looked around,
poised for more trouble.  “Where are we going on this camping trip?”

“That
part of the plan is kind of a work in progress.  We’ll figure it out after we
escape the posse.”

“And
how are we escaping the posse?”

“On
the horses we’re stealing, of course.”

“Fine. 
Where are the horses we’re stealing?”

“With
Deke.”

Round
and round and round…  It was like being rescued by a team of swida monkeys.  “Where’s
Deke?
”

“We’re
supposed to meet him by the feed store with Hugo’s prize mounts.  He said we
could get out of town from that direction.”  She shifted her wrist, so her
fingers were locked with Cade’s.  “Hopefully, they still look like horses.  Either
way, I’m going to name mine Madonna.”

“I
think you sometimes speak random words just to toy with me.”

With
her hand holding in his, though, he couldn’t bring himself to mind.  Gods, he
loved her hands.  They would never hit a child for being different or angrily claw
in bed because she didn’t care about causing pain.  Adeline’s hands were
gentle.  Watching them move on the keys of the vianorgan was some otherworldly
mixture of holy and erotic.  He’d known that it would be far less disruptive if
she stopped preforming on the damn thing for an audience of half-feral miners,
but he couldn’t stand the thought of not hearing the music she created.

Jacobi
had been right earlier, when he said that Cade would just embarrass himself if
he tried to take the instrument away or insist that she remain in her room. 
Addy could do whatever she wished and Cade would die for her right to do it.

The
woman really did beguile him.

She
glanced up at him, like something new occurred to her.  “Hey, you
can
ride a horse, can’t you?  I probably should’ve asked that sooner.  But, it’s
something that all guys in big hats can do, right?”

“I
can ride a horse.”

She
arched a brow.  “From your pissy tone, I’m guessing you’re really some champion
rodeo star, huh?”

“I
like horses.”  Cade assured her.  “But, I don’t know what a rodeo is.”

“It’s
a cowboy show and nice street to shop on.”

He
was opening his mouth to respond to that dizzying gibberish, when the sheriff
and his men went riding by at full tilt.  Cade ducked between two building,
dragging Addy with him.  He pressed her between his body and the wooden
siding.  …Although shielding her didn’t make much sense, since
he
was
the one who’d escaped.  Ridiculous as they were, his actions meant that her
lush curves were pressed up against him.

Voltyn
powers started sparking, blocking out petty human concerns.  They whispered
that worrying about the sheriff was a waste of time.  Cade could burn the whole
polis to cinders before Zecker could stop him.  He could scorch his enemies
from the inside out and ignite the flesh of anyone who threatened his family. 
He didn’t need to concern himself with anything except the woman in his arms.

Nynan.

He
shifted closer to her warmth, wanting more.  Cade was probably still going to
die tomorrow and she was
literally
the most beautiful woman in the
world.  More importantly, she was Adeline Mulhaney, lunatic and miracle.  Just
touching her was more than he’d ever expected to have.  She did not want to
kiss him again, but it was hard for him to think about anything else.

“Where
is Deke meeting us?”  He asked again, trying to stay in control.

She
looked around in confusion.  “I told you.  Right here.  This
is
next to
the feeds store, right?”

“Yes.” 
Shit, he should’ve known that.  With her, he wasn’t even sure where he was
anymore.  “So, where is he?”

“He’s
coming.  Don’t worry.  Your brother won’t let you down.”

She
sounded supremely confident in a man who’d drilled sniper holes in the roof on
his first night back from the Wilderness War, because the birds “looked like
they were up to something.”  Deke had been making progress with Adeline in the
house.  Her presence really did act like a healing balm for all of them.  Deke
now stayed mostly coherent and slept longer than five minutes a night.  Still,
there was always a chance he’d get lost in his own head and take an axe to all
their dishware again.

Instead
of worrying about Deke’s instability, Addy’s attention was centered on Cade’s
hands.  “What’s that?”

Oh
shit
.

He
quickly released her palm.  “Nothing.”  He tried to shove his hands into his
pockets, but she wouldn’t let him.  Those delicate fingers caught hold of his
wrist and Cade couldn’t have pulled away from her if someone held a laz-gun to
his head.

“Why
are they glowing?”  She asked softly, looking fascinated by the purple
luminescence that emanated from his skin.

“It’s
a Voltyn trait.  I’m sorry.  I know women find it… unnerving.”

Normal
woman,
anyway.

Not
Adeline Mulhaney.  She probably wouldn’t have been unnerved if he
was
an
alien.  For whatever reason, she didn’t look at him and see someone less than
human.  She just saw
Cade
.

“It’s
so beautiful.”  She murmured.  “What does it mean?”

Cade
stared down at her hand cradling his.  “It’s a sign of desire.”  He should
probably lie.  It would be for the best.  Instead, he found himself telling the
truth.  “I can usually control it, but not around you.  It’s too strong.  The
Voltyn powers want me to touch you.”

She
beamed like that was good news.  “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” 
And because he simply couldn’t help it, Cade lifted his free hand to trail one
of his fingers across the curve of her jaw and down her neck.  “I know you
regret kissing me, but I
always
want to touch you, Addy.”

“Regret
it?  No, I’m just sorry that I got you tossed in prison for…
Oh
.”  Small
frissons of energy arced as he touched her.  Addy gasped as if she… liked it.

She
liked it.

Cade’s
teeth locked together at her breathless sound of pleasure.  Their flesh barely
had to meet for the powers to spark.  Instinct had him tugging her jacket off
of her.  He wanted to feel every gant of her skin.  He needed it. 
Now.

“Cade?” 
Her green eyes were wide and shocked.  “Hang on.  You can’t really use that
electricity thing to
play
, can you…?”  Addy broke off in a moan, as his
hand slipped down her arm in a long caress.

Cade’s
eyes closed in ecstasy.  “Voltyn don’t know how to play.”  His thumb brushed
the pulse of her wrist and she drew in a sharp breath.  Just touching her arm
was more erotic than being inside any other woman.

Addy
arched and he could feel the taunt points of her nipples graze his chest.  “I’ll
teach you to play.”  She whispered.  “You’re a natural.  I can tell.  The
electricity is…”  Her body jolted.  “Oh, yeah.  This is going to be good.”

“What
is this ‘electricity’ you keep speaking of?”  He asked enjoying this more than
he’d ever enjoyed
anything
.  It was even better than the kiss, because
Adeline had no motive for this except desire.  She wasn’t trying to get rid of
Hugo this time.  She simply
liked
the feel of Cade’s energy against her
flawless skin.

“
That
is electricity.  What you’re doing right now.”  Her lips parted as his fingers
brushed their way back up to her elbow.  “Jesus,
you
are electricity,
Cade.”  She whimpered softly, green eyes bright.  “Just out of curiosity, can
you do that to me…
everywhere?
”