Badland Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

Killer do to you?” she asked.
    His skin shivered from head to toe. Dragging in a fortifying breath, he willed control. Thinking quick, he pointed to where his horses grazed in the shade of several tall buttes, hoped she'd take the twinkling gaze of those green eyes off his stinging cheeks. “Since my horses are still here, no worse for wear, I figure I wasn't a ghost for no more than a day or so.” He took a deep breath to dispel the lingering cobwebs in his head. “It sure seemed longer.” His gaze settled on the horses. Worry about who'd take care of them had been foremost on his mind while being a ghost. They were fine animals, and he'd hated the thought of them left to their own.
    "They're very pretty,” she said, but a new frown had formed. Actually she looked quite shocked.
    "I've been here about three months this time. My family lives over by Nixon,” he explained.
    "Nixon?"
    "Yes, down on the White Woman,” he said.
    "Oh, I've never heard of Nixon, I thought Scott City was near the White Woman basin,” she said.
    "Nope, it's Nixon. Anyway, this time when I gave Buffalo Killer the gifts I had and said I was going to be scouting the land for the next few months, looking for a site to build on, he asked if he could help. I said sure.” He searched the corners of his mind, trying to recall as much as possible. “What I'm assuming was last night or maybe the night before he came by for another visit.” He pointed in the direction of the tall sandstone structure. “His tribe claims the area around Castle Rock has magical powers, and he knows I like hearing the stories. Well, he came by with some whiskey he got from the Army, and he also brought along peyote."
    "Peyote buttons?” Her eyes grew wide. “That's what was in the bowl isn't it?"
    "Yes, those are some nasty little things.” He shook away the quiver racing up his spine. “Buffalo Killer called it a ghost dance. Said I'd see unbelievable things. He was right. I saw unbelievable things."
    Something akin to excitement lit her face. “G-ghost dance? What happened? What did you see?"
    "I don't really know how it all happened. One minute I was eating the awful tasting cactus, and the next minute, I was a ghost floating around an old house. I couldn't get outside the building, other than the tunnel I showed you. I couldn't get back into the cave either. It was the tunnel or the house. Those were my only choices.” He scratched his head, looking back at the cave. Had it really happened? When his gaze fell back on Lila, he concluded it must have. She was proof.
    Lila stared at him, face puckered, and blinking like she was trying to understand what he'd said. Pointing one finger at him, she asked, “You were a ghost? Or you are a ghost?"
    He folded his hands onto his lap, and thought for a moment, took in all the sensations rippling his body and mind. “Was a ghost. I'm definitely human again now. There was a calendar on the wall in the kitchen. It said nineteen-thirty-nine, so I figured I had died and had been a ghost for over sixty years. The first time one of those horseless carriages pulled in, I almost died all over again. If that was possible,” he added with a chuckle.
    "A horse—oh, you mean a car?"
    "Is that what they're called?"
    She nodded.
    "But yours said Mustang on it, and Good Year."
    She smiled. “A Mustang is a kind of a car, and Goodyear is a brand of tires."
    "But the other c-cars I saw had wagon beds."
    A frown formed over her eyes for a moment before she said, “Oh, those would be pickup trucks."
    "Like the one that guy chasing you had?"
    "Yes, what happened to him? What happened to me? How'd I travel through time?” Her eyes grew wide. “How do you know it's not two-thousand-eight?"
    This time Skeeter couldn't stop his hand from giving her knee a consoling pat. The soft, smooth skin made his calloused fingers tingle, but didn't sting him. “Whoa, one question at a time.” He lifted the hand and pointed to the horses. “My