Journey to Yesterday (20 page)

Leaning forward, she gave her horse a pat on the neck. This
one seemed docile enough and had a smooth, steady gait.

The sound of the stamp mill followed them for several miles
until, gradually, it faded away. The night closed in around them, dark and
quiet.

“Are we going to stay in Aurora?” she asked.

“No. That’s the first place a posse will look.”

“Where will we go from there?”

“Damned if I know. Hang on,” he said, and put his horse into
an easy canter.

Shaye grabbed the saddle horn as her horse bounded forward.
It took only a few minutes to find the rhythm and she relaxed once again. She
had forgotten how much she’d loved riding, although she wasn’t sure she cared
for it in the dark.

She took a deep breath in an effort to calm her fears. The
horse seemed sure-footed enough, and Rio seemed to know where he was going. No
doubt he’d been this way before. Still, she couldn’t help being apprehensive.
Better riders than she had been injured when their horse went down.

She thought about Daisy instead, and wondered if she had
inadvertently been the reason for altering Daisy’s date with destiny, wondered
if there hadn’t been something she might have done to prevent the girl’s death.
Wondered, in the back of her mind, if this was all a dream that wouldn’t end.
Maybe she was in a coma somewhere, and none of this was real…

After a time, Alejandro slowed his horse to a walk again,
and they rode side by side.

“How long before they come after us?” Shaye asked.

“Depends on whether Conner can work that gag out of his
mouth and holler for help. If he can’t, we’ll get a good head start. O’Brien
doesn’t come in to relieve him until after nine.”

“What time do you think it is now?”

He glanced up at the sky. “Right around five. You all
right?”

She smothered a yawn with her hand. “Yes. Just tired.”

“We’ll rest a few hours in Aurora.”

“How long will it take us to get there?”

“We should be there in another four hours or so.”

She groaned softly. They had only been riding for about
three hours, and she was already feeling it in her back and legs.

“Thanks, darlin’, for getting me out of there.”

He smiled at her and she smiled back, more certain than ever
that he was the reason she was here, that they had been destined to be together
long before she was born, and that her journey into the past was Fate’s way,
however bizarre, of bringing them together.

When they reached Bodie Creek, they paused to rest for a
short time. Alejandro helped Shaye dismount and she leaned into him, grateful
for his nearness, his warmth, his strength.

She looked up at him, and he kissed her, the touch of his
lips chasing away every other thought. She was in his arms, where she belonged,
and nothing else mattered.

His arms went around her, holding her close. With a sigh,
she snuggled against him, her hands locked behind his neck.

“Dammit, Shaye,” he muttered.

“What?”

“Darlin’, you feel so good.”

“Hmm, so do you.”

He had to have her, he thought, and soon, or he’d go crazy.
Even now, knowing there was no time to waste, certain Conner would come after
him as soon as he was able, he was tempted to spread his saddle blanket on the
ground and make love to her there and then. But she deserved better than a
quick roll in the sagebrush. He wanted their first time together to be
something she would never forget.

He rested his chin on the top of her head and grinned. On
sagebrush or satin sheets, she was never going to forget it, he would see to
that.

It was a little after ten in the morning when they rode into
Aurora. Shaye fell into Alejandro’s arms when he lifted her from the back of
her horse. Her legs felt like rubber, her back ached, her shoulders ached, and
she was tired. So tired she had almost fallen off her horse a time or two.

He put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against
him while he told the man at the livery stable to take good care of their
horses and have them saddled and ready to go by five. Grabbing her valise and
pack in one hand, he took her hand and they headed down Main Street.

They stopped at the first hotel they came to. Alejandro paid
for a room, asked for a tub of hot water to be sent up no later than four and
then, unmindful of the young clerk’s startled gaze, swung Shaye into his arms
and carried her up the narrow stairway to their room.

After locking the door, he undressed her as if she were a child,
settled her into bed, then undressed and climbed in beside her. He massaged her
back and shoulders, his big hands gentle, and then he drew her into his arms.

His kiss on the back of her neck was the last thing she
remembered before sleep claimed her, and the first thing she felt as she came
awake some time later.

“What time is it?” she asked, smothering a yawn.

“Almost four. We need to get a move on.”

“So soon?” She rolled over, wishing his face would always be
the first thing she saw when she woke up.

“I’m sorry, darlin’, but we can’t stay any longer.”

She sighed, knowing he was right. There could be a posse
after them even now.

The thought of Alejandro being taken back to jail brought
her fully awake. It occurred to her that if they were caught, she would
probably be arrested, too. Maybe hanged alongside Alejandro. The thought made
her mouth go dry. A moment later, there was a knock on the door.

“That must be the water I asked for,” Alejandro remarked.
Sliding out of bed, he went to the door and opened it. An older man and a young
boy stood there, each carrying two buckets of steaming water. He stood back so
they could enter the room.

Shaye sat up, the covers pulled up to her chin. She hadn’t
paid any attention to the room’s furnishings that morning. Now she saw that
there was a round tub in a corner of the room. There was a pretty crockery
pitcher and bowl and a couple of towels on top of the rough-hewn dresser across
from the bed, a rocking chair near the room’s single window.

The man and the boy emptied the buckets into the tub, nodded
at Shaye, and left the room.

Feeling suddenly shy, Shaye looked at Alejandro. They had
kissed and come close to making love, but she wasn’t sure she was up to bathing
in front of him.

Alejandro plucked a bar of soap out of the bowl. “Want me to
wash your back?”

She glanced at the tub, a rush heat climbing up her neck and
into her cheeks as she imagined his big hands spreading lather over her back
and shoulders and…

He grinned at her as he tossed the soap onto the bed. “I’ll
wait for you downstairs,” he said, and left the room.

She watched him go with mingled relief and regret; then,
knowing it was important for them to be on their way, she picked up the soap
and threw the covers aside. Feeling like she was doing a scene from
Little
House on the Prairie
, she stepped into the tub and sat down, her knees
practically under her chin. She didn’t know how Alejandro would fit in the tub,
small as it was. The water barely came to her waist. She washed and dressed
quickly, ran a brush through her hair, pulled on her shoes, and went in search
of Alejandro.

She found him in the lobby, reading a copy of the
Aurora
Tribune
.

Alejandro looked up and smiled when he saw Shaye coming down
the stairs. Damn, he thought, but she was a pretty woman. Laying the paper
aside, he stood up and walked toward her.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“Much. Better hurry, before the water gets cold.”

He nodded. Why don’t you go order us something to eat?”

“All right.” She ran a hand over the rough bristles on his
jaw.

“Guess I need a shave.”

She cocked her head to one side. “Oh, I don’t know. I kind
of like you this way.”

“Good, cause I left my razor in Bodie.” He dropped a kiss on
her forehead.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Steak.”

“Of course,” she said with a grin. “Rare.”

“I won’t be long,” he said.

Shaye went into the hotel dining room. It was small and
crowded. She stood in the doorway, waiting, while her mind followed Alejandro
upstairs. In her mind’s eye, she could see him taking off his shirt, exposing
his broad shoulders and chest. Her palms tingled with the desire to touch him,
to feel the warmth of his skin beneath her fingertips.

Her longing for him continued to amaze her. Never before had
she felt such a strong desire for a man. She couldn’t help wondering if part of
the reason her marriage to Josh had failed was due to her lack of desire for
him. She had enjoyed their lovemaking, but she had never longed for it, or for
him, the way she longed for Alejandro. If his kisses made her feel like this,
what would it be like to make love to him?

Warmth engulfed her at the mere idea. With a shake of her
head, she hurried across the room to an empty table. She gave their order to
the waitress, then sat back in her chair, her thoughts again turning to
Alejandro, always Alejandro. He had moved into her mind and her heart and she
was content to have him there, had been obsessed with him ever since the first
time she had seen him in the jail. Had she known, even then, that they would
meet? Perhaps it been her own intense longing that had propelled her into the
past?

Her heartbeat increased and she felt a familiar sense of
excitement uncurl in her belly when she saw Alejandro walking toward her. Tall
and broad-shouldered and sexy as all get out. No wonder every feminine eye in
the place tracked his progress across the room. Toward her.

He pulled out a chair and sat down across from her. “What’s
wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing, why?”

“You look like the cat that swallowed the canary.”

“I feel like one, too,” she replied tartly.

He frowned at her. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Not really,” she said, laughing.

“Shaye.”

She shrugged. “I guess I’m gloating because every woman in
the room would like to be where I am right now.”

“On the run?” he asked wryly.

“No, silly, with you.”

He made a sound of disbelief.

“It’s true, and you know it. Lily, Addy Mae, Lottie, all the
girls at the saloon…”

“Lottie,” he exclaimed. “Darlin’, you’re seeing things that
aren’t there.”

“No, I’m not. They’re all crazy about you. Even Madam
Sophie.”

“Sophie! She’s old enough to be my mother.”

“Uh huh.”

Alejandro laughed. “You look mighty pretty when you’re
jealous, darlin’.”

“Good,” she retorted, resisting the urge to stick her tongue
out at him, “‘cause that’s most of the time.”

He leaned across the table, his dark gaze intent as he took
her hand in his and kissed it. “You’ve got nothing to be jealous of, Shaye.”

It was a good thing their dinner came then, she thought,
because if he’d kept looking at her like that, she would have been melted from
the heat of his gaze.

After dinner, they stopped at the mercantile where Alejandro
picked out a couple of bedrolls, two canteens, a coffee pot, and a sack of
coffee, as well as some other supplies. Shaye paid the bill, and then they went
back to the room to collect their things. There was a moment when his gaze met
hers, hot and filled with yearning, that she thought they might put off leaving
for an hour or two. But then, from somewhere in the distance, a clock chimed
the hour as if to remind them they had no time to waste. Alejandro swore under
his breath as he grabbed her valise and their supplies and headed for the door.

Shaye grinned as she picked up her backpack and followed him
out the door. “I know just how you feel,” she muttered.

Their horses were ready and waiting when they reached the
livery. Alejandro stowed their supplies in the saddlebags, lashed their
bedrolls in place, draped her back pack over one saddlehorn and her valise over
the other.

“Ready?” he asked, and when she nodded, he helped her mount,
then swung effortlessly aboard his own horse.

Shaye settled her skirts around her, then leaned forward and
patted her horse’s neck. It was a pretty little thing, bay in color, with a
small star on its forehead and one white sock. Alejandro’s horse was as black
as the ace of spades.

A short time later, they were riding out of town.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“There’s an outlaw hideout not far from here. I think we’ll
hole up there for a day or two, then head for Frisco. We can catch a train in
Carson City.”

“Outlaw hideout!” Shaye exclaimed. “Are you kidding?”

Alejandro grinned at her. “I know the fella who runs the
place. He’ll put us up, no questions asked.”

“But outlaws?” She was sorely afraid that real outlaws were
not as humorous or easy going as the ones portrayed in movies like
Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
.

“It’ll be all right, darlin’, don’t worry. Calder still owes
me one for saving his life a few years back.”

Apparently she didn’t look convinced because he reached over
and gave her arm a squeeze. “Trust me, darlin’, everything will be all right.”

They rode for several hours, then stopped to rest the
horses. Alejandro loosened the saddle cinch on his horse and then Shaye’s while
Shaye pulled some bread and cheese from the valise and they picnicked in the
shade of a scrawny tree while the horses grazed on a patch of sparse yellow
grass.

“What else have you got in there?” Alejandro asked when she
delved into the valise again.

“Oh, some apples and candy. Some canned stuff. I’m going to have
an apple. You want one?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

She tossed him one, took one for herself. As soon as she
took a bite, her horse wandered over, snuffling softly. “Want some?” Shaye
asked, then laughed as the horse plucked the apple from her hand.

“Guess he wanted the whole thing,” Alejandro remarked.

“Humph! I guess so.” Shaye pulled another apple from the
bag. “Oh, no, you don’t,” she said, jerking her hand away as her horse lowered
its head. “Go on, get! You had yours.”

Alejandro fed his apple core to his horse, then stood up and
tightened the saddle girths on both horses. Offering Shaye his hand, he pulled
her to her feet, grinned when she gave her apple core to her horse.

“Ready?” he asked.

She groaned softly. “I guess so. How much further is this
place?”

“We should get there sometime tomorrow night.” He lifted her
onto the gelding’s back and handed her the reins.

Alejandro glanced at Shaye. She was a beautiful woman, and
spunky as hell, he thought admirably. He grinned at the memory of her showing
up at the jail in the middle of the night, armed with that useless derringer.
Were all twentieth-century women as gutsy as she was? Hard as it was to
believe, he no longer doubted she had come to him from the future. How and why
didn’t matter. She was here now, and she’d saved him from more than hanging.
Foolish as it sounded, she had saved him from the loneliness he had felt as far
back as he could remember. He had always been an outcast, an outsider, never
quite fitting in anywhere, never having a place, or a woman, to call his own.
Shaye had teased him about all the women in his life, and there had been a few,
but nowhere near as many as she seemed to think. And yet, in spite of all the
women he had known, he had never loved any of them enough to settle down. Until
now.

Was it possible he had seen her through the mists of time?
Had his soul felt her spirit and been drawn to the jail that day? Had he looked
into her eyes and known they were meant to be together? Had his soul’s longing
for her been so strong that he had pulled her back in time?

He grunted softly, thinking how ridiculous his thoughts
would sound if he put them into words.

They rode until midnight, then took shelter in a shallow
draw. Shaye spread their bedrolls side by side, hoping, as she did so, that
there weren’t any snakes nearby. A short distance away, Alejandro hobbled the
horses. He built a small fire to warm them and they dined on bread, canned
meat, peaches and coffee, with peppermint sticks for dessert.

She shivered when a wolf howled in the distance. She
remembered reading somewhere that wolves didn’t attack people. She just hoped
the wolves had read the same book.

“He sounds lonely,” she remarked.

“Maybe he’s just serenading his lady love,” Alejandro said.

“Maybe.”

“Don’t worry, darlin’. The only thing out here that’s likely
to take a bite out of you is me.”

She grinned at him across the fire. “Is that right?”

He patted the place beside him. “Come and see.”

She pretended to consider it a moment before asking, “Is it
safe?”

“What do you think?”

Laughing softly, she went to sit beside him. His arm slid
around her shoulders, drawing her closer. His kiss, when it came, tasted of
coffee and peppermint.

They spent a pleasant few minutes necking, something Shaye
hadn’t done since high school, and then grinned at each other when they both
yawned.

“I reckon we’d better turn in,” Alejandro said.

“I reckon.”

“Saucy wench,” he said with a decidedly wicked grin. “Just
because I’m letting you off easy tonight doesn’t mean you’ll be so lucky
tomorrow.”

Shaye’s hand flew to cover her heart. “Oh, my,” she
exclaimed in mock horror, “I’m all aquiver!”