the island feel like kisses.
They’d do far worse to Sam.
Quiet, so quiet, only the distant cackle of birds in the trees, the hum of insects, the murmur of voices and the rapid pounding of her heart.
Sam let the curtain fall as the voices drifted down the pathway.
His expression was grim as he turned. “We’re leaving.”
“Who were they?”
“Locals. But they’re clearly searching for you, and they’re armed. They asked Rosa if she’d seen a woman with bright red hair, shiny like metal. Someone is paying a very nice price to find you.”
The curtain jerked aside and Rosa poked her head into the room. She spoke a volley of Spanish Kelly could barely understand. But Sam nodded.
As the woman returned to the yard, Sam shouldered his pack.
“Rosa told the men she heard of a woman with such hair who was headed to the main road, looking for a bus back to Tegus.”
“She put them off our trail,” Kelly said, relieved.
“For a while. And they’re only searching for a woman traveling solo. Not a couple.” Sam was grim as he checked his weapon.
“Did Rosa ask who wanted to find me?”
Anger glittered in his eyes. “
“This bastard isn’t taking any chances. He probably hired a few ex-army soldiers to find you, in case the ambush failed.”
Digging into her pack, Kelly found a fistful of lempira notes. The money would be enough to buy food for a month for the woman and her son.
Sam would balk. If they left money, whoever was searching for them would know foreigners had been here. But she couldn’t leave this hungry family without helping them.
Turning back to explain, she caught his startled expression.
Wallet in hand, he’d withdrawn several lempira bills.
Sam gave a sheepish grin. They laughed.
The laughter faded, pinching her hard in the chest. How many times in the past had they shared moments like this? When they did things in secret to amend a situation, only to find out the other one had done exactly the same thing?
“Remember when we tied up my dog because he kept following us, and I felt so guilty about it, I returned later to untie him, telling you I’d be right back, and when I got there...”
“He was already gone and the ropes were in my hand. Oops,” Kelly finished.
Sam’s deep chuckle filled the room. “You were always one step ahead of me, Kel.”
Except the night his family died and he was plunged into the abyss.
“What—” She cleared her throat. “Whatever happened to Whiskey Sour?”
Sam tensed. “I gave him to a neighbor who promised to take good care of him. I had to make sure he had a good home. Whiskey was the only member of my family your father didn’t kill that night.”
Stung, she stared at him. “I told you before, my father couldn’t have set that fire. That wasn’t him we saw running from the house that night.”
“Sure looked a hell of a lot like the man.”
“My father never would have hurt your family. He resented working for your father, but he didn’t hate him. But your father...” Damn, this hurt, and she knew it would hurt him, as well. Sam had idolized his father. But he had to know.
“Your father hated me. He wanted me off his property. He offered me money to leave.”
Incredulity filled his gaze.
“He offered fifty thousand dollars if my father and I moved away, Sam.” Her voice dropped. “And if we didn’t take the money, he’d find a way of making us leave.”
Sam shook his head. “He’d never do that.”
“He made the offer to my father the night before the fire. I overheard them talking. They were both angry.”
“You never said anything to the authorities.” A line dented between his brows. “Why, Kelly? Because you knew it would implicate your father? It looks like he had a damn good reason for getting rid of my family, before they got rid of you.”
Her hands went cold and clammy at the fury flashing in his eyes. “If I’d told them, they’d have used it to lock me up for good. I wanted to tell the truth.” Kelly drew in a trembling breath.
“You didn’t tell me,” he said slowly.
“You’d already been hurt enough.”
“No, Kelly. You didn’t trust me. After everything we’d shared, you thought I’d turn you in. Because I’m an Elemental, the race your kind has been taught to loathe and fear.”
Silence draped between them.
“Blood ties.” Sam gave a bitter laugh. “How the hell could I be so damn blind? You chose your people over mine, after I was willing to give up everything for you.”
“Don’t judge me. You’re the one who left.”
He went still, watching her with a guarded look.
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Maybe I didn’t tell you right away, but you never gave me the chance to try. You didn’t stick around long enough to say goodbye.”
His chest heaved, as if he struggled to contain everything inside him. Sam turned. “I couldn’t.”
No more words. Words got them mired in a past they both wanted to forget. Kelly glanced around for a place to hide money for Rosa.
The bed was a pile of boards covered neatly by a hand-stitched quilt. He stuffed his money beneath the cloth. When she went to do the same, he shook his head.
“Keep it. There’s enough to buy food for a month and get herself a little business. If something happens to me, you’ll need money to get out of trouble.”
Rosa gave a real smile as they left, the lingering sadness gone. Sam’s manner was professional, and when he told her about the money, he said it was in exchange for the clothing. Nothing to make her feel humbled. Rosa straightened. In her stance, Kelly saw a pride previously lacking. She went to a woodpile, removed a machete and handed it to Sam.
“Use this as a weapon,” Rosa said. Anger filled her brown eyes. “Those men, they are not bad men. They only want to feed their families. But hunting people like animals is not the way. I’d starve before turning over another. My husband would not approve of men hunting others. He survived the war in El Salvador, and he saw what humans can do to each other.”
“Where is your husband?” Sam asked gently.
Moisture filled the woman’s eyes. “He fell ill from disease. By the time we found enough money to take him to the hospital, the doctors could not save him. I fear sometimes that the same will happen to Miguel. I don’t know how I’d survive if I lost my son.”
Kelly pressed the woman’s hands. They were thin and bony, bearing the scars of a hard life. “When we are safe, we will return and check on you and your little boy.”
Rosa hugged her and gave Sam directions. She waved goodbye as they took a barely perceptible pathway behind her home. A shortcut through the forest, Rosa insisted. It would lead to a road seldom used by anyone but villagers on market day.
The thin ribbon of worn grass wended through a thatch of banana trees and scrub. Sam used the machete to hack through the bushes. It was slow, and knowing there were desperate, impoverished men after her made Kelly even more anxious.
