KanesBounty (9 page)

“I believe you, Lena.”

“Then what?”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “In training,
they made us probe the minds of people who resisted. I hated it, but I did it.
It’s the only experience I have with probing and it was not at all pleasant. I
don’t want to hurt you.”

She smiled. “You won’t hurt me, Kane. I know you won’t.” She
smoothed the crease between his brows. “Let’s do this step by step. What’s
first?”

He faced her and lifted his hands to the sides of her head.
He touched his forehead to hers. “Relax and open your mind, Lena.”

He searched his telepathic sense for the ill-used muscles
that would allow him to probe her mind and found them eager to comply. Again,
his cock jumped and pressed tightly against his zipper.

“Should I touch you?”

“You can if you want.”

Her hands traced even paths up and down his ribs in a gentle
caress. It was at once arousing and soothing. His mind nudged at her
consciousness. She let down the first barrier. He heard her gasp as his thought
trickled through hers. Her hands slid to his hips.

He pressed further with his mind. He hit a wall.
Relax,
Lena. Let me in.

As if a flower blooming for the sun, she opened up her
thoughts to him. He milled through her childhood memories, quickly skipping to
the recent past. He saw Thorn beating her, saw the guard who helped her and
even saw the first time she had gazed at him in the bar in Savannah. Each
memory was fresh and alive with innocence. She only protected, never harmed.
Everything she had done was to protect her grandmother or the stones. She
fiercely fought to keep her ex-husband’s hands off the power her gifts could
bring him.

The memory of their lovemaking flashed as though it was
lightning through their minds. He felt her fingers at his fly, but was caught
up in how pure her memories flowed. She wanted him as desperately as he’d wanted
her. She gripped his cock, working it up and down. The gasps he heard were his
own. In the memory, he was fucking her up against the wall of the hotel room.
Her climax was close.

Feel me, Lena.
He opened his mind up to her. He
allowed his memory of the same event to rush into her. Her breath came in short
gasps and she tugged harder and faster on his shaft. He probably could have
come from just the vivid memories, but her fingers sliding over his cock pushed
him over the edge at the same moment the memory of her pussy clenching around
him in Mexico flooded his senses.

Kane released her head and pulled her body tight to his. She
trembled in his arm. Her own rapture spread from her clit and he felt it too
through their connection. It was as if four orgasms combined. He experienced
both his and hers in the memory and in reality.

“Kane?” she said in a small voice.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m…that was… I don’t even know what that was. Intense,
wonderful, overwhelming.”

He pulled away so he could look at her face. He found a
satisfied smile on her lips. “Then I didn’t hurt you.”

“It was extraordinary, and no, you didn’t hurt me.”

He kissed her forehead, went to the bathroom and cleaned up.
There was one towel. He dampened it and brought it to her. She wiped her hands.

“I didn’t realize it would be so sensual,” she said.

“Neither did I.”

They left the bedroom. Joshua was stretched out on the
couch. He didn’t say anything out loud, but Kane could hear the questions.

Kane nodded. “Let’s go to Jersey.”

“All right.” Joshua stood up and walked to the door without
asking a single thing about the mind probe.

When they were at the car and Lena was safely seated inside
with all the doors closed, he turned to Kane and smiled wickedly. “You can
thank me another time.”

“Did you know?”

He shrugged. “Not for sure. I suspected if Lena had told you
the truth and everything was as she said, you would find something mutual to
remember.”

“You could have said something.”

“And ruin it for you? I wouldn’t do that. Your first time?”

Kane felt his cheeks flush. He couldn’t remember a time he’d
blushed in his life. “Yeah. Other than training.”

Joshua winced. “I hated that shit. Brutal.”

“I never wanted to do it again.”

They were probably talking too long. Lena would start to
wonder. Kane went to open the back door. Joshua’s hand gripped his arm. “Are
you in love with her?”

Kane shrugged. “What does love feel like?”

Joshua frowned and he thought he detected sorrow in his
brother’s eyes and mind. “I’d go through hell to protect you. I consider that
love, little brother.”

Kane thought about it for a second. “Then maybe I love her.
I’d die to protect her. I died a little watching the vision of her tagged and
bagged.”

Kane didn’t wait for a response. He pulled open the car door
and got inside.

Hopewell, New Jersey, hosted rolling hills and beautiful
country homes. Cows and horses munched happily on rich green grasses and
children rode bicycles down Route 518. It was bucolic in its serenity. The
small, white farmhouse was set back off Sunnydale Road. The sign at the road
said Wilmar Farms and had the outline of a horse burned into the wood.

“Your grandmother runs a horse farm?” Joshua asked.

She smiled. It was not entirely out of the question. Gran
probably could run this farm if she wanted to. “It belongs to some old friends
of the family.”

The sedan worked the dirt drive into a cloud of dust as they
approached the house. Two figures waited near the porch. When the car pulled to
a stop, Lena opened the door, ignoring the warnings from both men.

They were both out of the car an instant after her. Bill and
Peggy Flack waited with big smiles on their faces as soon as they saw Lena get
out of the strange car. She flew into the waiting arms of the tall woman and
felt the comforting pat on the back from the stocky man beside her.

Peggy was lean and muscular from a lifetime of training
horses. Bill was several inches shorter than his wife, but he was as solid as
he’d been forty years earlier. They were both past seventy and as sharp and
strong as most people half their age.

“Lena, we didn’t know what to think when we heard the car.
No one we know has a car like that. Uncle Bill has his revolver tucked in his
belt and I stashed the shotgun on the porch.”

“Do you want me to shoot these two, Lena, honey? I’d be
happy to do it,” Bill said.

She broke away from the comfort of the hug. “No, Uncle Bill.
They look shady, but they’re with me. Uncle Bill, Aunt Peggy, this is Kane and
Joshua Lakeland.”

Joshua shook Bill’s hand and nodded to Peggy. “You have a
pistol, sir?”

Bill pulled the Colt revolver from the back of his pants,
removed the clip and pulled the slide to remove the round in the chamber. He
handed it to Joshua. “Just my service pistol, but I keep it clean and fire it
regular.”

Joshua examined the weapon. He held out his hand. “May I?”

Bill thought a moment and then handed him the magazine.
Joshua snapped the cartridge into the butt of the gun. “Best to keep this
loaded, sir. You never know when you might need it.”

He handed the gun back and Bill nodded.

“We’ve been worried sick about you, Lena. Your granny’s
beside herself with no word in months.”

“I know, Aunt Peggy, and I’m sorry. I couldn’t risk
contacting you.”

“Best if you go see her now. She’s up at the barn,” Bill
said.

“Are these two here to protect you?” Peggy asked.

Lena looked from Kane to Joshua. They did look as if they
were bodyguards the way they were hovering around her and searching the area.
“They’re…involved,” she said, for lack of a better explanation.

Peggy nodded. “I’ll put some coffee on.”

Coffee was the answer to most of life’s problems. As a
child, Lena could never remember being at the farm when there wasn’t the smell
of coffee warming the air. She smiled and started toward the barn.

The long white building brought back a flood of happy
memories.

“Are they related to you?” Kane asked.

She shook her head. “No. Gran’s best friends. I’ve always
called them aunt and uncle. Oscar doesn’t know about them. He didn’t ask much
about my family and I never mentioned the Flacks. It seemed as if it would be a
good place for her to hide out.”

“Did you grow up near here?”

“No. Cherry Hill.”

The barn door was slightly ajar. They could hear humming
coming from within. A moment later, an older woman with white hair and fair
skin stepped into the yard.

“Gran.”

Her grandmother’s eyes were wide and a smile spread across
her face, which could only be described as pure joy. “Lena.” She opened her
arms and Lena rushed into them and started to cry.

“There, there, you’re fine. I’m here.” After a few minutes
she said, “Maybe you’d better introduce me to your friends.”

Lena wiped her eyes. She took hold of her grandmother’s hand
and smiled. “Rose Lanier, this is Kane and Joshua Lakeland. Kane…” She didn’t
know how to finish the statement. What could she tell her grandmother about
Kane?

Rose narrowed her pale-blue eyes at both men before studying
Kane carefully. “Telepaths,” she said.

“Yes ma’am,” Kane said.

Joshua looked sharply at his brother, then asked Rose, “How
did you know we were telepaths? Are you a dowser?”

She shook her head. “I just have a sense for some things.
I’d guess you’re a bit more too.”

Joshua didn’t say anything.

Rose nodded as if to say he couldn’t fool her.

“We need to talk, Gran. Something has happened and I don’t
know what it means.”

“What is it?”

They started walking back toward the house. Gran looped her
arm through Lena’s and listened. The older woman was taller than her
granddaughter. She was past seventy, but strong both physically and mentally.
Not very much got past Rose Lanier.

“First of all,” Lena began, “Someone else besides me has
triggered a vision.”

Rose stopped. “Oscar?” There was no mistaking the horror the
idea caused her.

“No, not Oscar, thank god.”

“Who then?”

“Kane.”

She stopped again and turned to look at Kane. He appeared a
little embarrassed. Her heart swelled a little more every time she looked at
his sharp features and they softened.

Rose moved closer to the bounty hunter. She examined his
face. “It’s very important. The stones never do anything without a good reason.
If they responded to you, there must have been a need.”

He dug his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I was about
to throw them in the sea. Could have been self-preservation.”

Rose circled him with her hands on her hips. “Maybe, but
I’ll have to hear about the vision.”

“That’s the thing, Gran. There were two visions. Two visions
that are opposing. The two cannot exist in the same universe. And I triggered
the same two visions today when I asked for the future.”

“Impossible.” In spite of her claim, something in her tone
indicated she knew more. “We had better go inside and hear the entire story.”
She still didn’t take her eyes from Kane and he continued to look
uncomfortable.

Then she turned and walked ahead of them to the house.

Kane leaned down and his breath brushed her ear. “Your
grandmother lied just then when she said impossible.”

“I know.” She had never seen her grandmother lie before, and
since the men were telepathic, she couldn’t imagine why the older woman would
choose this moment to fib. There had to be more to it.

He took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. She
looked up at him, then down at his big hand entwined with her delicate one.
Joshua had already started after her grandmother and so they were relatively
alone.

“Are you going to tell your grandmother about us?”

A knot started to form in her throat. “She probably already
has an idea.”

“I’ve had a crazy thought.” He kicked the dirt and looked
ahead to where his brother was holding the front door open for Rose. “Could
those stones have maneuvered us to preserve themselves? Could all of this be a
manipulation?” With his hand still clutching hers, he moved the two between
them, first toward him, then toward her.

The idea her stones had that kind of power was both
intriguing and terrifying. She’d never known of the Stones of Adeline to do
anything but offer a glimpse of the future. “I don’t believe the stones are
cognitive. I’d hate to think what is between us is not real.” The lump in her
throat grew and tightened until the last word came out as a croak.

He pulled her forward, trapping their hands between them.
Their fists pressed between her breasts, his other hand wrapped around her
back. He leaned down and kissed her. “I hate it too. I want this to be real,
Lena. But I can’t ignore the fact that I have never felt anything like this
before in my life. Before I met you, I would have said I was incapable of these
kinds of emotions.” His eyes were filled with passion and sorrow.

She wondered if he was sad because he’d been so wrong about
his own character or if he was afraid their connection was fake and would fade
as soon as the stones were safe again.

She touched his cheek, refusing to believe what they had
came from an outside source. “Let’s go and see what Gran has to say.”

They held hands until reaching the house. Loneliness washed
over her as his hand slipped from around hers. He must have felt her
desperation and reached out and gave her arm a squeeze as she passed into the
familiar kitchen.

It was a typical farmhouse kitchen that had not been updated
in forty years. Whitewashed cabinets banked two walls. An enormous porcelain
sink bore the proof of a well-loved home with its scratches and chips. One wall
was windowed and a large wood table filled the space.

Joshua accepted a cup of coffee and chatted with the Flacks
as if they were old friends. He asked how long they’d owned the farm and what
type of breeding operation they had. Bill answered jovially that they’d been
there since the Earth was new and they bred thoroughbreds, but they were
getting old and planned to sell the place soon enough.

Lena walked to the counter where the old percolator
coffeepot had always been. She pulled two mugs from the cupboard and poured.
Kane took milk from the refrigerator, not waiting to be helped by Aunt Peggy,
and poured some in his cup. He looked at her and held the carton up. She nodded
and he added some milk to her cup as well before returning the milk to the
fridge.

They joined the others at the table. Her grandmother was
studying her in a way that had always made her uncomfortable. Her eyes were
narrowed and she even looked at Lena’s coffee, which indicated she had seen the
exchange by the counter. It was amazing how familiar she and Kane had become in
so short a time. Her stomach clutched at the idea that it could all be an
illusion. Even if the attraction was fake, she knew her heart would break if
they parted.

“Now, what do you mean, Kane triggered a vision?” Rose
demanded.

Lena took a deep breath. “We were arguing about how to get
out of this mess, he dropped them in the sand and we saw the two opposing
visions. In one, I’m dead in the very near future.”

Peggy and Bill both gasped.

“In the other…” She looked at Kane.

Joshua said, “The two of them live happily ever after like
normal people, with kids and mortgages.”

Kane gave his brother a sharp look, and she imagined they
had some connection that allowed them to communicate without words. The
conversation did not look pleasant.

“You saw the vision too?” Rose asked.

Lena said, “I triggered the same two visions this morning.”

“Exactly the same?”

“Yes. What is it, Gran?” The hair on Lena’s arms stood up.
Her stomach clutched and her heart started to pound wildly. She was surprised
everyone at the table didn’t notice the sound pounding in her ears.

Her grandmother ignored her and looked at Kane. “You are
partially right, Kane. The stones will protect themselves, though they cannot
give a false reading. It’s not possible. For deception, they have to have human
help.”

“The two futures are not both possible, Mrs. Lanier,” Kane
said.

“No.” She thought a moment. “When the future hinges on an
improbability, then the stones can show both results.”

“An improbability?” Lena asked.

“Like a heartless bounty hunter falling in love with a
fugitive,” Joshua said.

Lena didn’t know what to say. Was Kane in love with her? She
knew she was well on her way to loving him, but was it possible he could love
her? His face was unreadable. He intently listened to her grandmother and his
brother discuss him as if he was a stranger or a potted plant. If anything, he
looked angry.

Her grandmother nodded. “And then acting on those feelings.”

Joshua continued to talk to Rose as if the rest of them were
not in the room. “But there’s no way of knowing which outcome is triggered by
which act.”

“No. That’s true.”

“Why would my touch have triggered the vision?” Kane asked.

“The stones are meant only for Adeline.” Her gaze fell on
Lena. “If the stones detected the death of the current holder and she gave them
freely into your care, then the gift would have transferred.”

Lena thought her heart might have stopped. She had
definitely stopped breathing. She had given her birthright away. Kane’s hand
closed over hers. Immediately, her sense of panic faded to a dull throb. “I
triggered a vision after Kane. The stones did not react strangely to my touch.”

“Curious,” Rose said. “And the fact that the two visions
were exactly the same is very odd.”

Lena thought about it. “That’s true. I have never seen two
identical visions before.”

Kane and Joshua both stood up from the table at the same
time.

“We have a problem,” Joshua said and went to the living
room.

The hair on her arms stood up again. “Kane?”

“Banta,” was all he said. He walked to the windows at the
side of the house, pushed the frilly curtains aside and peered out.

“What’s a ‘banta’?” Bill asked.

“He’s a who,” Lena said.

Joshua returned from the living room. “Mr. Flack, do you
have a cellar or a bomb shelter?”

Bill was on his feet and taking the shotgun from where he’d
leaned it in the corner of the kitchen. He opened a top cabinet door and pulled
a box of shells out, while saying, “We’ve got both. The bomb shelter is still
dry. I was down in there just about a month ago. It’s out back about a hundred
yards into the woods. The cellar is down those steps.” He pointed to a door off
the kitchen.