Legend (Legend, Colorado 1)

“Darling,” she purred. “Is this the little cook you told me about?”

At that Kady gasped. It wasn’t any of her business what Tarik Jordan talked about with his mistress, but maybe it was because she’d seen him so many, many times in her life that his “betrayal” of her hurt.

“I am glad I gave you some amusement,” she said softly, handed him the papers, then turned on her heel to push the elevator button.

“Kady,” she thought she heard behind her, but the woman’s tones drowned out anything she thought he might have said.

“Perhaps we can hire her,” the woman said loudly. “As an under-chef to Jean-Pierre. I’m sure he’d like some help in the . . . kitchen.” She said the last word as though it were a euphemism for “garbage scow.” Whatever else was said, Kady didn’t hear because the elevator arrived and she got into it, her back still to Tarik and his skinny lover.

Once in the elevator, once she was out of Tarik’s mesmerizing presenc

e, Kady worked to control her anger. Now what did she do? she wondered. How in the world was she going to be able to do what Ruth asked of her and to help Legend? Was she going to have to try to find a way to go back into time? If she didn’t know how she did it in the first place, how could she repeat it and how was she going to do all of this alone?

When she returned to her hotel room, there was a package from Mr. Fowler waiting for her. She’d told him of her plan to go to Legend, so he’d sent her a first-class plane ticket, a prepaid hotel reservation, and a letter saying there would be a car and some camping gear waiting for her upon her arrival. He also wished her luck in whatever it was she wanted to accomplish.

The next day Kady had flown to Denver, where a sedan and driver were waiting to take her to her hotel. The hotel clerk had given her the keys to a brand-new Range Rover that was filled with beautiful state-of-the-art camping gear for her stay in the ghost town of Legend.

“I didn’t put in any food though,” Mr. Fowler wrote, and she could almost hear him laughing. “I somehow thought you might like to buy that for yourself. And I just want to say, Miss Long, that it has done my soul good to meet someone like you. You have renewed my faith in humanity.”

At that Kady grimaced. She wished her faith in humanity had been renewed.

After a day in Denver, Kady had risen early and started the long trek up into the Rocky Mountains in search of what was left of Legend, Colorado. According to the brochures she could find and a book on ghost towns, it was derelict, falling down, and generally dangerous to even try to explore. Also, it was privately owned and trespassing was strictly forbidden, as all the signs around the place told any potential explorers. But since Kady now owned the town, she wasn’t trespassing.

The road up the mountain was horrible, with ruts over a foot deep running down the middle, so Kady had to try to drive on the side, keeping the wheels on the ridges. It was difficult for her to do, especially since her experience with driving had been on city streets. And to think that she used to complain about potholes!

Now, according to her map, she was less than three miles from Legend, but she could see nothing, and the road, if possible, seemed to be getting worse. So far, she’d seen three signs warning trespassers to keep out, that this was private property, but she hadn’t paid much attention to the warnings. After all, she now owned the place, didn’t she?

And that thought made Kady smile in derision. Mr. Fowler had said, “Kady, you are giving up your rights to millions, and all you ask for is the deed to a worthless ghost town? You aren’t thinking of trying to mine the silver, are you?”

Kady had smiled and shook her head. No, she wasn’t going to try anything that sensible.

“Good,” the attorney continued, “because that was tried about thirty years ago. There was a belief that Ruthless Ruth had sealed up mines that were producing millions, so C.T.’s father reopened them. Turned out that the truth was that the mines were nearly empty of silver. I’ve often wondered if maybe Ruth’s husband and son knew that and that’s why they wouldn’t sell the land to homesteaders. They didn’t want to cheat the people, because what would they do with the land if the silver was gone?”

“No,” Kady had said softly, “I’m not after the silver,” and she thought of all the hatred that had been caused over mines that were on the brink of being empty. If Ruth had allowed the men to continue instead of blasting the mine entrances shut, then the people of Legend wouldn’t have hated her and maybe her youngest son . . .

Kady didn’t want to think anymore on what could have been but wasn’t. Instead, she tried to concentrate now on getting the car up the mountain and into Legend. Truthfully, she didn’t want to think about what she was going to try to do once she got there.

Maybe it was because she was thinking so hard about the last few weeks and trying to keep her mind off Tarik Jordan’s perfidy that she didn’t see the great, deep, washed-out hole in front of her. In fact, it was almost as though it had been dug in an attempt to keep people out. One minute Kady was driving, anticipating arriving in Legend, and the next she was stuck.

“Damn, damn, damn,” she said, pounding her fists against the steering wheel. She was about twelve miles past nowhere, and she was stuck!

For a moment she resisted an urge to put her head on the wheel and cry; then, reluctantly, she opened the door and got out. Maybe if she looked at the wheels, she could figure out what to do to get unstuck.

“Only if it involves a recipe for a soufflé,” she muttered; then the thought of a soufflé reminded her of C. T. Jordan and his hateful remark, so when she got out, she kicked a rock. Which of course hurt her toe, which made her hop around; then in frustration, she kicked the tires of the car and hurt her foot even more.

Now what do I do? she thought, but didn’t have time to think about it because as she leaned over to check if her toe was broken, a shot rang out over her head. On instinct, she straightened and looked about her, only to be shot at a second time.

For a moment she was sure that she’d already gone through the time warp and any minute she was going to see Cole, and she was going to run into his arms and he’d hold her and—but if she were back in time, she wouldn’t be staring at an automobile.

The third shot came so close to her that it cut the sleeve of her heavy wool cardigan, and that’s when she realized that someone was shooting directly at her. Kady leaped toward the back of the car, heading for the woods on the opposite side, but then a shot came from that direction, too, and fear made her freeze. Paralyzed, she stood where she was in the middle of the road, blinking and not knowing where to run, since she was being shot at from both directions.

It was at that moment that she heard horses’ hooves coming toward her, and still in shock, Kady looked up to see a man on a white horse thundering toward her. He had on something black, a scarf over the bottom of his face, and he was as familiar to her as her own hand.

More shots rang out, but this time they were aimed at the man on the horse, but, ignoring them, he kept coming toward her, and when he got to Kady, he bent down, held out his hand and she took it. Due to the many times she’d ridden with Cole, she knew how to put her foot in the stirrup he had vacated and swing herself up behind him.

When she was on the horse, she put her arms around his waist and held on with all her might as he kicked the horse forward and went galloping down the mountain. She thought that a couple of times he jumped over some things like logs and deep ruts, but she buried her face into the back of him and didn’t look.

After a while he slowed the horse and turned it, but instead of going down the mountain, they started going up again. Kady opened her eyes long enough to see that they had left the road and were on a mountain trail, but she closed them again and put her head against the man’s back. Of course she knew who he was, and she did remember that she didn’t like him at all, but right now it felt good to be taken care of, to be rescued, to be . . . She didn’t want to think anymore, but just closed her eyes and held on.