LEGEND Read online

  “Yes you do, and if I had time now I’d take you upstairs and show you how very much you like me. But I don’t have time. Luke and I—”

  Kady had once thought that Gregory was vain, but this man won all prizes. “You aren’t listening to me, are you? I don’t want anything to do with you. Go spend the night with Luke or your macho Wendell or your anorexic Leonie for all I care. It doesn’t concern me in the least.”

  “Kady, honey, you really don’t mean that, and if I had time—Ow! Why’d you kick me?”

  “Because I don’t have a knife handy.”

  “You don’t mean that,” Tarik said, but from his tone she could tell that he was shocked.

  “I mean every word of it. Go sleep in one of the brothels, that should suit you.” With that she pushed past him and went up the stairs in search of the blue bedroom.

  “Looks like she doesn’t want to have anything to do with you,” Luke said, chuckling, to his cousin when they were alone on the porch. He’d seen too many women make fools of themselves over his extraordinarily handsome and extraordinarily rich cousin.

  “Who? Oh, you mean Kady. No, she’s crazy about me.”

  “So we all heard. Seems to me she wants to stick an apple in your mouth and shove you in an oven.”

  “Naw, no problem. She’s just upset because her last boyfriend was a real bastard. Has nothing to do with me.”

  “I thought I heard you sued her and you told some great, whopping lies.”

  Tarik waved his hand in dismissal. “You shouldn’t listen at keyholes. Listen, I need your help with something. Is there anything you can do to get rid of Wendell for the night?”

  “You mean like drug her beer, that sort of thing?”

  “Can you do that?”

  Luke shook his head in disbelief. “What’s wrong with you? Most men adore Wendell.”

  “I don’t, which is exactly why she wants me. And, no offense to your sister, but I don’t have the stamina for her. So, tell me, how can I get rid of her, and are you willing to spend the night helping me?”

  “Me? A boy like me?” Luke said with heavy sarcasm.

  Tarik gave him a crooked grin. “You touch Kady again and I may make you prove your manhood.”

  Luke laughed. “Don’t tell me you were telling Kady the truth! Hard-hearted Jordan couldn’t have fallen in love with a pretty little woman like Kady? I thought you went in for piranhas like Leonie and my dear, cycle-straddling sister.”

  “Someday, when you grow up, I’m going to tell you the facts of life, but not yet. You want to help me or not?”

  “Would it be too much to ask what you want me to do? Will it be interesting enough to lose a night’s sleep over?”

  “What if I told you I’d found a hole through time and if we go through it we can walk into the past?”

  For a few moments Luke stared at him in speculation. The story was preposterous, but he had faith in his cousin. “Right now you could be upstairs conning your way into Kady’s bed—I don’t believe that story of your being married for a minute—yet you want to spend the night ghost hunting?” he asked softly.

  Tarik just looked at him.

  “If it’s that important, then I have suddenly developed a case of insomnia.”

  “So what do we do with your sister?”

  “Leave her to me. I learned a few things while I was in law school.”

  “I knew all that money I spent on your education would pay off.”

  “Actually, I learned this in a bar way downtown, and I can assure you that it had nothing whatever to do with law school.”

  “So what are you waiting for? Make sure Wendell doesn’t follow us; then meet me by the Hanging Tree in one hour.”

  “Shouldn’t you spend ten minutes or so with Kady?” Luke asked smugly, implying that was all the time his ancient cousin would need with a woman.

  Tarik didn’t smile but looked up at the window of the blue bedroom. “If I went back to that room, I’d never leave, not for days,” he said with tears of regret in his voice.

  “This must really be important,” Luke said softly.

  “It is. I’m preventing Kady from risking her life. Now, go on, do whatever you need to so you can meet me in one hour.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  Chapter 27

  SO MUCH FOR LOVE, KADY SAID TO HERSELF AS SHE WANDERED along the old path winding up the mountain. What did it matter to her that Tarik, this man who said he loved her, hadn’t come home all night? It wasn’t as though they were actually married, not any more than she was actually married to Cole. After all, a person can’t marry a ghost, can she?

  As she strode up the path, she stopped now and then to pick herbs and wildflowers and put them into the basket she carried.

  This morning, just as the sun was rising, Tarik had stumbled into “their” room and flopped onto the bed beside her. He was dirty, caked with mud, and there was the faint smell of manure about him, but he didn’t remove his filthy clothes, just fell onto the bed. When Kady had awakened and looked at him, he’d said, “Hi, darlin’,” then instantly fell asleep.

  Getting out of bed, Kady glared at him. She should have left him where he was, as he was, but instead, she’d pulled off his shoes, then struggled to pull his denim jacket off. He’d wakened just enough to tell her she smelled good and he was very glad to see her, but then he’d fallen asleep again. So Kady covered him, then went downstairs to make breakfast.

  Afterward she’d packed some lunches, and taking one herself, she’d headed up into the mountains, wanting time to get away and think about her life. Which, as far as she could tell, was a mess.

  Tarik had told her that he loved her, but of course that was a lie. How could a person love another after they’d known each other only a few days? Even if all the books were full of such stories, it couldn’t really happen, could it?

  And what did she feel for him?

  “Nothing,” she said aloud as she looked up at the sky and saw the darkening clouds. She felt as much for him as he felt for her, which was exactly nothing.

  After she’d solved the problem of Legend, and she had no idea when that was going to happen because this morning the rock still wouldn’t open, she was going to get a job cooking somewhere and never see Tarik Jordan again. He’d go back to his Leonies and his Wendells, and she’d never see him again.

  Now, as Kady looked around her, she thought how she was going to miss Legend. If Tarik was telling the truth—the truth about his lie, that is—then she didn’t own Legend because she’d never owned his assets and therefore couldn’t give the town to herself. After she left this time, she’d never see the place again.

  The first cold drops of rain hit her in the face, and she knew she had to run for shelter. She’d come out without rain gear, and in the mountains, hypothermia was a danger.

  Within minutes the rain started coming down harder, and she started running. Maybe she could find a rock overhang or—

  She stopped her thoughts as she stood in the middle of the trail and looked ahead of her. Blinking, trying to clear her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There seemed to be a cabin just ahead of her.

  “Cole’s cabin,” she said in disbelief. The cabin she had stayed in with him, where he’d growled at her and teased her and made her laugh.

  Ignoring the mud and puddles, she started running, and within minutes she had reached the cabin and the dryness of the porch. With her breath held, she put her hand on the door, hoping it wouldn’t be locked, for the cabin was in excellent repair. Obviously, someone took good care of it.

  The well-oiled hinges moved easily as the door opened, and Kady held her breath as she looked inside. It was quite beautiful, with curtains of red, green, and gold, Berber throw rugs, a couch of dark green corduroy, and a bed with a spread that matched the curtains. To find a cabin in the middle of nowhere that looked as though it had been done by a professional decorator was like entering a fantasy.

  The huge st