Distraction (20 page)

“I think he’s anxious to get out and about. We should
probably go soon. Libby is going to need my help with supper.”

Cade’s arms still circled my waist. “I’ve been on a
horse all day. I’m fine staying right here with you in my
arms.”

I peered up at him. “But I put on the waist
overalls.”

He let me go, took hold of my hand, and spun me
around once as if we were on a ballroom floor. “Yes, yes you did.
And they are part of the reason I’d rather just stay here.” He
pulled me back against his chest. “Kissing you.” His mouth covered
mine and his tongue lightly traced my lips before his kiss
deepened. Every inch of me reacted to his kiss.

We were lost in each other’s touch when the back door
of the house slammed shut. Cade kissed me one last time and then
lowered his arms.

“Libby knows I came out here,” I said, once my
breathing had slowed. “She’s probably wondering why it’s taking so
long for us to saddle the horses.”

“I guess she’s slamming the door shut as a warning,”
Cade said disappointedly. “I suppose we should head out on that
ride, but I still think this was more fun.”

“I’d have to agree.”

The horses walked side by side as we headed down a
road I’d never been on. At home, there were only a few well-trodden
paths, and all of them led to the village. Out here, the world
seemed to have no end and every road led to a different place.

The landscape looked eerily different after the dust
storm. Grasses were a muted gold color and the round weeds that had
rolled into the yard now bordered many of the pastures. Even the
tallest trees, just sprouting fresh green leaves, looked
prematurely aged as if they were entering fall rather than
spring.

“It’s amazing what one dust storm can do.”

“This? This isn’t much. One good rainfall and the
dust storm will just be a bad memory. We’ve had blizzards blow
through here that shear off every tree branch, leaving them looking
like armless skeletons. You walk outside the next day, and you
could swear you woke up in a whole different world. It’s a strange
feeling.”

I smiled to myself. “I’m sure it is.”

“Poppy, do you think you’d ever consider staying here
with us? I mean once we find your grandmother.”

The question caught me so off guard, I was
speechless.

He stopped his horse and Red stopped as well. His hat
shaded most of his face, but I could still feel his gaze on me. “I
want you to stay, Poppy, here on the ranch . . . with me.”

If only I’d truly wandered here, lost and waiting for
my grandmother. If only I had not been sent here to hide from a
heinous man whose powers were more dangerous than the sharpest
blade or fastest gun. If only I had not promised, in blood, my hand
to Angus Wolfe, I would have jumped at the chance to stay here
forever with my knight.

My lack of response worried Cade. He faced forward
and urged River into a walk. Red followed.

We walked along in tense silence for what seemed an
eternity. It took all my courage to speak. “I care greatly for you,
Cade. But—”

“It’s all right, Poppy. You don’t have to tell me.”
His tone lacked the usual confidence, and for the first time since
I’d met him, he seemed hurt.

My foolish lack of inhibitions was completely to
blame for this. If only I’d shown more restraint. But everything
about the man made me crave his attentions. There was no way I
could’ve stopped myself. I’d become so vulnerable to his charms,
I’d given both of us false hope. In the back of my mind, where I’d
pushed the dark reality of it all, I’d always known that none of
this would fall smoothly and easily into place. There was nothing
smooth and easy about my life.

We continued on in strained silence until we came
upon a wagon that sat jammed in a narrow trench. It leaned to the
side with one wheel hanging off the road. A small, rather steep
hillside bordered the road. It seemed one strong push and the wagon
and its contents would tumble down the side.

An older man with a floppy brown hat and patched
trousers stood at the front of the wagon pulling on his cart
horse’s bridle. But the horse was no match for the weight of the
wagon. A large silver ball of the thorny fence material rocked back
and forth in the bed with each movement of the wagon.

Cade said nothing to me as he hung his hat on the
pummel of his saddle and slid to the ground. His silence felt like
a knife slicing my heart.

“Looks like you could use a hand, Perkins,” Cade
called to the man.

The man leaned forward and looked around his wagon.
“Tanner, thank goodness you’re here. I just came from town and now
my wheel is stuck.”
“I see that.” Cade rolled up his sleeves, walked to the edge, and
picked up a thick, fallen branch.

“Did you hear about Sheriff Stanton?” the man
asked.

“I heard he was feeling badly.” Cade assessed the
wheel problem while the man continued.

“He’s dead.”

Cade’s face shot up. “Dead? That was fast. Too bad.
Stanton was a good man.”

“He sure was. The new man already arrived this
morning, a U.S. Deputy Marshal.”

Cade looked underneath the wagon. “You don’t
say.”

The man laughed, showing a mouth sparsely populated
with teeth. “And he’s already got a reputation for being the
meanest lawman this side of the Mississippi.”

Cade looked at him. “How’d we get stuck with
him?”

The man lifted his thin shoulders. “Don’t know for
sure, but like you say, we’re stuck.”

“That’s not good news. Well, let’s see if I can pry
the wheel loose while you move the horse forward.” Without
hesitation, Cade slid down the gravelly hillside and positioned
himself beneath the wagon. If it slipped, it would roll right over
him, but as usual, he showed no fear.

Cade stuck the branch below the wheel and pushed with
all his strength. The old wagon creaked as the wheel inched
forward. Dirt and gravel slid down the hillside. “Pull your horse
forward when I say
go
,” Cade called.

“Right.”

Cade positioned his feet as securely as was possible
on the unstable hillside. The muscles in his forearms bulged as he
pushed down on the branch. “Go!” A small avalanche of sand and rock
slid down around Cade’s feet as the wheel popped out of the rut,
and the wagon lurched forward. As the wagon shot ahead, the roll of
dangerous fencing wire hopped over the side and headed downhill
directly toward Cade.

“Cade!” I screamed.

His face popped up, and his feet fell out from under
him. He slid down several feet before stopping himself on a rock.
The ball of thorns rolled toward him like a skin shredding boulder.
Cade covered his head and braced for the pain. I could not stop
myself. The ball of metal bounced into the air and neatly over
Cade, landing on the ground below.

Cade lay there quietly for a moment then lifted his
head and looked down at the ball of wire. He pushed to his feet and
climbed back up the hillside. The grateful wagon owner gave him a
hand up over the side. “Well, that was a miracle,” the man said. “I
thought, sure as fire, that that roll of barbed wire was going to
skin you alive. But hell if that thing didn’t just bounce up and
fly over you. Someone’s watching over you today, Tanner.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Cade said darkly. He glanced my
direction. His expression made my throat tighten. I’d gone one
miracle
too far.

The tension on the road away from the ranch was
nothing compared to the heated silence we endured on the way back.
After Cade and the wagon driver had used rope to get the ball of
wire back into the wagon, Cade had climbed back into the saddle and
turned River back toward home. He hadn’t looked at me or spoken to
me the entire way, and several times, I had to force back the tears
that burned in my eyes.

If I hadn’t used my magic to lift the ball of wire,
Cade most certainly would have suffered grave injury, but his icy
reaction almost made me wish I’d taken the chance of letting it
roll over him. Of course, I knew I was kidding myself. I would
never have allowed him to be hurt. Only now, it seemed we were both
suffering miserably.

We walked the horses into the barn. Little pieces of
my heart splintered off with each passing moment of cold silence. I
had no reasonable or believable explanation to give him for any of
it.

Cade slid past me and yanked off Red’s saddle, and I
picked up a brush to groom the horse. The thick, black feeling of
heartbreak weighed down every muscle in my body, and just running a
brush over Red’s back took all my strength. It was obvious I had
overstayed my welcome, and I needed to leave the ranch soon. That
thought blackened my mood even more because I knew I would be
leaving a piece of myself behind.

Angry, strong fingers grabbed my arm, and I dropped
the brush. Cade pulled me to the wide beam in the center of the
barn and pressed me up against it. The rage in his green eyes was
softened only by the obvious torment he was suffering. “Who the
hell or, should I ask, what the hell are you?”

His harsh words brought forth the tears that had
waited to be freed. “I can’t tell you. You wouldn’t
understand.”

He braced a hand on each side, trapping me between
the unyielding wooden beam and his hard body. “Try me.”

I peered up at him through blurry eyes, but the
emotion in his face was all too clear. My tears fell faster, and I
reached up and swiped them off my cheeks.

“You walked into my life, Woman, and ripped the heart
from my chest. I deserve a goddamned explanation. Let me correct
that, you fell into my life . . . from the sky. Should’ve been my
first clue.”

I looked down at my feet. The old lace-up boots were
the only remnant of my true self. I took a breath and lifted my
gaze back up to his face. At this point there was nothing to lose.
“I’m a witch.”

He shook his head and dropped his arms. “If you’re
just going to make shit up then never mind.” He turned to walk
away.

I stepped away from the beam. “Do you want to hear my
explanation or not? Because if you think you’re the only person
suffering here, you’re wrong, Cade Tanner. My heart has been ripped
out just like yours, only I never stopped caring for you.” Anger
now dried my tears. “You obviously fell for someone who you’d
conjured up in your mind. I’m not a meek, helpless little
runaway.”

He held his broad shoulders rigid, but he didn’t turn
to face me as I hurled the bizarre truth at his back. I’d begun my
tale, and, at this point, there was no turning back. “After I’m
done telling you this, you can do what you like with me. I don’t
know how they deal with witches in this century, burning at the
stake, hanging, buried alive, it doesn’t matter to me. Now that my
soul has been destroyed, I’ll gladly accept my fate.”

He turned around and I truly wished that he hadn’t.
My courage and resolve were nearly shattered by that breath
stealing face of his. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“The cow, the cup, the ball of wire just now— I did
all that. And you’re right, I fell from the sky that day. I was
supposed to be transported two hundred years into the future, 1892
Salem. But Angus interfered, and I was thrown off course. I landed
here in Montana . . . on top of a grizzly bear, unfortunately.”

There was nothing in his expression to give me any
confidence that he believed a word of what I told him, but I
definitely had his full attention.

Cade removed his hat and scrubbed his face with his
hand. “You aren’t making a lick of sense, Poppy.”

“Angus Wolfe is the man I’m hiding from. I traded my
freedom for my sister’s life, and now I’m bound to him. He is
extremely powerful and dangerous. My grandmother sent me into the
future to hide from him.”

Cade pushed his hat back on his head and sat down on
the bench lining the wall. It was hard to tell if he was trying to
absorb what I’d told him or if he was figuring out the fastest way
to get me off his ranch.

The tears had returned. “I’ll leave this afternoon,”
I said shakily.

“Where will you go?” he asked, and while I hadn’t
expected him to beg me to stay, his quick affirmation of me leaving
struck me hard and the tears flowed faster.

“I’ll manage.” I had no way to survive on my own, but
at the moment, survival was the last thing I wanted. I’d known all
along that I risked losing my heart to this man, and yet I had not
stopped myself. And now nothing mattered. I was years from home. I
had no family and no place to go.

My feet were unable to move forward, and my legs felt
close to collapse. “You know, as unreal as this must all sound to
you, my feelings for you were real. I’ve been dreaming about you
for years. And now that I’ve found and lost you in a short span of
time, I have nothing else left in my heart.”

His face popped up. “Since the moment I carried you
home in my arms, tattered and bloodied, I have not stopped thinking
about you for a second. Trust me, Sweetheart, I’m feeling this as
acutely as you are.”

He stood and for a moment I thought he’d walk over
and take me into his arms, but it was my ridiculous imagination,
the same delusional imagination that had convinced me to believe
that heroes existed, not just in my heart and mind but in real
life.

He gazed out the open doorway of the barn. “I’ve
spent my entire life on this ranch. That dust storm we had was one
of the few unusual, extraordinary events to occur out here in
years.” He swung around. “Traveling through time? Witchcraft? It’s
all just too difficult for me to believe.”

“Maybe you just need time to absorb it all,” I said,
sounding as uncertain as he looked.

“What I need is a bottle of whiskey.” He spun around
and ran directly into Jackson.

Jackson’s face was pink and he was out of breath.
“There you are, Cade. You are never going to believe this.”