LEGEND Read online

  It was the word “allow” that did it. “I am a free citizen, and you have no right to keep me here,” she shouted at him, then took a deep breath. “I have work to do, and I’m going to do it. And so help me, if you stand in my way, I’ll fight you with every—”

  “Fine,” he said, stepping aside. “Go. Please don’t let me stand in your way. Just tell me one thing.”

  “What?!” she snapped.

  “Where’s your will so I can make sure your heirs get whatever you leave behind.”

  The fact that he was obviously laughing at her made her even more determined to do what she had to do alone. With her nose in the air, she did her best to sweep past him as she started down the path toward the road.

  An hour later, she at last reached her car. She was tired, sweaty, and now that the sun was beginning to set, she was cold and hungry. When she looked at her brand-new, shiny red vehicle and saw that the tires had been taken and it was completely empty of all her new camping equipment, as well as the several bags of food she’d bought, she sat down at the side of the road and put her head in her hands.

  “Ready to give up and return to civilization?” came a deep voice from over her shoulder, and she didn’t have to look up to see who it was.

  “I can’t go back,” she said tiredly, and she could hear the tears in her voice. But she’d be damned if she was going to let him see her cry! He’d probably laugh even harder at her tears.

  But he didn’t laugh. Instead, he sat down beside her, close but not touching, and for a moment he was silent.

  “Did you love him that much?” he asked softly.

  Kady’s first impulse was to say, “Who?” but she suppressed it. For some reason she remembered the gorgeous blonde in his apartment. “Yes, I loved him very, very much.” Truthfully, she wasn’t sure if he meant Cole or Gregory. But did it matter?

  “Look, I’ve set up a camp a few miles back down the mountain. Why don’t we go there and see if we can work out something together?”

  Turning, Kady looked up at him in the growing darkness. He was asking her to spend the night alone with him? Share a sleeping bag maybe?

  “You don’t have to look at me like that. Despite the bad opinion you have of me, I’m not a rapist. Besides, Leonie’d have my hide if I touched another woman.”

  “The blonde?” Kady asked. Of course, she had nothing against the woman except for a few unkind remarks she’d made about Kady’s life work. But if that shapeless, bag of bones was what he liked, who was she to object?

  “Yes, the blonde,” he said with a little smile that made her feel as though he could see right through her.

  When Kady didn’t answer, his face changed. “Look, I’m not after your body, no matter how enticing it is. I have a business deal to work out with you.”

  “Such as?” Kady said, eyes narrowed in distrust.

  “Look, it’s growing dark and Uncle Hannibal’s eyesight isn’t great at best, so maybe he wouldn’t recognize me and might start shooting again. So could we continue this at my camp?”

  Kady knew she didn’t really have any other choice. She couldn’t very well climb down a mountain in the dark, and besides, she was very tired and very hungry. In spite of her discomfort, she hesitated. “What business?”

  Tarik glanced over his shoulder into the darkening woods as though he expected someone to jump out at any moment. “Ol’ Ruthless Ruth left a codicil to her will.”

  “Stop calling her that!” Kady said sharply. “She was a very nice person, and I want to help her.”

  “Oh, yes, I keep forgetting that you met her, that you’re a hundred years old and—”

  “What do you have to eat?” She was not going to be lectured by him again.

  “Trout. I’ll cook it myself.”

  Like Cole, was her inadvertent thought.

  “Unless you would like to cook it. My reports are that you’re a fair cook.” He was laughing at her again!

  “No, not me,” she said, standing and starting to walk away. “I can only make soufflés, not real food like fried fish. And my soufflés are so heavy that if I threw one it would probably break bones.” When she stopped walking and turned back toward him, his eyes were twinkling more than the stars above them.

  His horse was not far away, and this time Kady mounted behind him with reluctance, and now that no one was shooting at her, she leaned away instead of clutching him to her. A short time later they were at his camp, which was complete with a tent, a Jeep, and a horse trailer. Before a fire that was nearly out was a table and chairs.

  “You travel light, I see,” she said with all the derision she could muster as she dismounted. “I almost expect to see a butler and a couple of maids.”

  “Even Jordans have to rough it sometimes.”

  Kady had to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything else, as he seemed to be amused by anything she said. Part of her said that she should be thanking him for saving her life, for coming to her rescue, but somehow the words would not cross her lips. Maybe it had to do with having seen this man so many times during her life. As she sat down on one of the chairs and watched him prepare the fish, she thought how even the movement of his hands was familiar to her.

  He poured her a glass of wine—an excellent vintage, of course—and as she began to get warm as the wine seeped into her system, she was very aware of the growing darkness, and even more aware of his dark good looks.

  “So what did the codicil say?” she asked, and even to her, her voice sounded nervous.

  He dished up the trout, two to each of them, and some roast potatoes flecked with bits of charred wood, flavored with smoke, and took a seat across from her. “It didn’t make any sense really. It said that if Cole Jordan, born in 1864, died when he was nine years old, then no Jordan could accept the return of the money from you for three years after nineteen ninety-six.”

  As he looked up at Kady, the firelight playing on his features, he seemed to be waiting for her to say something, but she concentrated on eating.

  “I’ve done a bit of research into my family history, and there was a Cole Jordan, born in eighteen sixty-four, who did indeed die when he was nine years old.”

  Kady kept her head down. What had she hoped for? That he’d come to save her because he’d fallen madly in love with her? Couldn’t stay away from her? That he’d say he’d been dreaming about her all his life?

  “What do you know about this?” he asked impatiently when she remained silent.

  “I’m sure that my stories wouldn’t interest a businessman like you. What was it you said, that I pop through time like a rabbit in and out of holes, so how could an idiot like me say anything that would interest someone like you?”

  “You’re going to make me work for this, aren’t you?”

  Kady took another sip of wine and smiled at him. “Is there any reason I should be nice to you? Did it cost you a lot to bring a lawsuit against me? Did you have it all prepared for months before I showed up?”

  He didn’t get angry at her reply, but instead gave her a smile that she was sure had melted many hearts. “Everything was done before I met you. But if I’d known what a lovely, kind person you are, then—”

  “If you have tracked me since birth, then you must have learned a lot about me, so could you please stop treating me as though I’m stupid? What do you want me to do to help you get your precious money back?”

  As he leaned back in his chair, his smile disappeared. “All right, business it is. I haven’t any idea what ol’ Ruth was talking about in her letter, and furthermore, I couldn’t care less. What happened a hundred years ago is of no interest to me.”

  “I know. You just want the money.”

  At that he raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes, of course, I’ve sold my soul to the devil and care only for money. You, however, are so noble that you can afford to be given millions and give it away. I am curious, though, on one point: What happens to the many thousands of people who are paid by Jordan money if th