but. He clamped one hand firmly over hers to stop her teasing, even as his hormones expressed immediate interest. He wasn’t yet entirely comfortable with just how easily he responded to this woman. “What?”
“Letting you take me out of here and…” She leaned closer to breathe the rest into his ear. “…buy me a corn dog.”
Shane winced. “Do you know what they put in those things?”
“No, and don’t ruin it for me. We can’t come to the county fair without tasting all the once-a-year treats.”
He rose and followed her out of the stands. “Okay, but I’m not buying cotton candy. I do have medical ethics to uphold, you know.”
Slipping her arm through his, she leaned her head on his arm. “No problem. I brought my own money.”
Shane leaned back on the one empty bench they managed to find in the crowded midway and stretched out his legs. Crossing his arms over his stomach, he barely managed to stifle a groan. Despite his best intentions, he hadn’t done particularly well at withstanding Cassie’s constant invitations to take “just a bite.” As a result, he’d ingested some of the most dubious offerings masquerading as food he’d ever experienced. Following her gaze to a nearby food cart, he said emphatically, “Don’t even think about it. After three corn dogs—which could be more aptly named heart attack on a stick—cotton candy, a pretzel, a caramel apple and something called wild melon sorbet, you can’t possibly be thinking of eating a funnel cake.”
With a look of unmistakable regret on her face, she nodded. “You’re right. I should give it another hour. I’ll be hungry again by then.”
He cocked an eyebrow, raked her slight figure with disbelief. “Your metabolism just might constitute a medical miracle. I should alert researchers at the National Institute of Health.”
Quick reflexes had him deflecting the elbow she jabbed at him. “Not everything has a scientific explanation, you know. And my metabolism is only one of my inexplicable talents.”
Her words managed to puncture his feeling of well-being. He didn’t want to engage in yet another conversation about her so-called abilities. Not for the first time he wondered what had happened to the woman he’d thought he’d known. The one full of life and fun, but with shadows of secret sorrows in her eyes that she’d never spoken of. The one whose sudden claim of psychic ability terrified and dismayed him by turns.
Deliberately, he changed the subject. “What’s the game plan for the rest of the afternoon? Are you signed up for any more death-defying events?”
She laughed, shook her head. “Nope, but you really haven’t experienced the fair until you enter something yourself. I think they’re still looking for contestants for the pie-eating contest.”
Apparently the expression on his face was its own answer. She went on without pausing a beat. “No? Well, the longest beard is out, because even if you’d been interested, you didn’t get the head start most of those guys did. Although,” she reached up, rubbed her hand over his unshaven jaw, “I have to say, the day-old beard is a good look for you.” Her fingers lingered, and her touch, coupled with the slow smile she gave him, ignited an immediate flicker of heat.
“Really?” He lowered his voice intimately. “That’s not what you said when my whiskers were leaving marks on your skin yesterday morning. I distinctly remember when I was kissing your breasts and you said—”
“Or we could go see Hawk at the horse barn.” Cassie jumped up, her cheeks flushed. “I probably should. He’s been stuck with the chores all day.”
Shane rose as well, satisfied by the flare of color his suggestive remark had brought to her face. The woman was a study of contrasts. Strong and confident in her reputation as one of the leading horse breeders in the nation, yet appearing almost unsure sometimes of the allure of her own femininity. Assertive on one hand, with flashes of an unexpected vulnerability that had gotten to him from the first. Discovering the layers of her was an endless fascination.
Or had been until he’d uncovered the one thing about her that would have sent him running from any other woman. The one thing that he’d never be able to live with.
An innate protectiveness had him moving closer to her side, to shield her from the mob of people jostling around them as they made their way to the horse barn. He couldn’t explain to himself why he hadn’t run, couldn’t explain the stubborn hope he clung to that he could talk her out of her sudden foolishness. He only knew it was imperative that he do so.
The crowd thinned as they got closer to their destination. Cassie’s steps slowed as they approached a line of children having their faces painted by an older woman sitting on a stool at the edge of the midway. There were shrieks of laughter as the children dodged around them on their way back to their waiting parents, eager to show off the small brightly colored pictures adorning their cheeks.
“Well, this seems like a harmless enough interest,” he said, glancing down at her. She’d come to a complete halt, her gaze fixed on the woman with the paints. “Are you getting the lasso or the horse?”
Her head cocked, Cassie stared intently at the woman. “She looks familiar, but I don’t think I know her, and I recognize just about most in the county.”
Shane shrugged. The sun overhead was merciless in a way he’d been unfamiliar with until he’d experienced Texas heat firsthand. He found himself wondering if the horse barn would be air-conditioned. Somehow he doubted it.
“Maybe she’s someone who travels the county fairs in the area,” he suggested.
At that moment, the older woman looked up and smiled. “Come, Cassie, it’s your turn now.”
There was a slight accent to her words that Shane couldn’t identify, but it matched the exotic slant of her eyes. Aside from that, her appearance blended in with most of the other fairgoers. She was dressed in jeans, boots and a short-sleeved denim shirt. Her long dark hair was streaked with white, and she wore it pulled back in a simple ponytail.
Cassie smiled tentatively and walked toward the lady. “I’m sorry. I feel like I should know you.”
“You know a great many things, not all of which can be explained. But you trust in your gift, as you should. You’ll share that ability with one to come, and teach her to nurture it. As you must. The ability that brings you your greatest sadness will also save your life.”
Shane felt, rather than saw, the jolt the words had on Cassie. And he’d heard as much cryptic nonsense from the stranger as he wanted to. “C’mon, Cass,” he said shortly. “I thought you wanted to go see Hawk.”
But she remained rooted to the ground, her gaze on the woman before her. If she’d heard him, she gave no sign of it. The older lady leaned forward, a slight lilt to her voice. “Your daughter will share your gift and you will teach her to use it well, not hide it as you’ve been forced to. Accept your future without the fear you’re used to regarding it with. There is joy there, as well as sorrow.”
“My daughter? But when…”
Irritation turned to something else. His hand went to Cassie’s back, in an effort to move her away. “Lady, this fortune-telling nonsense might play with the rest of the fairgoers, but you picked the wrong couple to lay it on.” He couldn’t believe his damnable luck. All Cassie needed right now was a stranger’s babblings to encourage her in her own ridiculous notions.
Her attention switched to him. “It is you, Shane, who regards it as nonsense, but you must learn to listen, and to accept. Cassie’s fear for you is well founded. Afghanistan holds dangers for you that cannot be comprehended. Consider well before deciding your course. Your decision will change everything.”
There was a moment of stunned shock before fury began to boil. He looked at Cassie, a bitter sense of betrayal almost choking him. “No wonder she looks familiar to you. How long did it take for the two of you to cook this thing up?”
Cassie