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horses, all my stuff in the cave.” He shrugged. “I can only speculate on most of this, but I think this place is magical. I think when someone travels through that tunnel, they travel through time."
    She slapped a hand against her breasts, the exact spot his eyes kept trying to focus on, and whipped her head around to look at the cave entrance. “Pete! Is he on his way here? To this time? What year is it anyway?"
    He straightened out his twisted mind and answered her question, “Its eighteen-eighty-two. And I don't think you have to worry about Pete."
    She gulped. “Yes, I do. He won't stop until he kills me. That tunnel isn't going to stop him.” Her voice trembled with fear.
    He wrapped an arm around her. The soft, silky skin of her upper arm filled his palm as her head settled on his shoulder. Her body trembled from head to toe. All of a sudden his heart picked up pace, rattled in his chest like the end button of a diamond back. “Don't fret. I won't let anyone hurt you. Besides, Pete won't find the tunnel."
    "How can you be sure?"
    "He'd never fit for one."
    She sniffled and her head bobbed against his shoulder.
    He tightened his hold around her. He'd never smelled anything sweeter than the scent floating from the curly locks of her hair. A warm, silly feeling tickled his insides. Then a protective, almost angry knot formed in his stomach. “Why would he want to kill you?"
    "Because he's an evil man. I turned him into the police—the law—for um, um, hurting me, and now the law is after him."
    "Why didn't they put him in jail? Sheriff Turley threw Kid in the old well likety-split when he was arrested."
    "A well?"
    He had to keep talking, keep his mind off the way his body was heating up, which had nothing to do with the sun over their heads. “Yes, Nixon didn't have a jail then, so they used the old dried up well. Kid was down there for three days. After he was cleared of the murder charges, he gave the town a donation to build a jail."
    She leaned up and glistening green eyes looked at him curiously.
    His body groaned, but he rustled up a smile. “That's another long story."
    "It must be,” she nodded, and then laid her head back on his shoulder.
    A sigh of pleasure left his chest, he couldn't help it. She had to be the sweetest thing he'd ever met. He could get used to having her around. “So why didn't they put Pete in jail?"
    "They didn't believe he hurt me, even after I showed them all the stuff I'd found out about him on the internet."
    "On the what?"
    "The internet,” she sighed. “Never mind, I'd bet that's an even longer story than the well."
    His hand roamed up and down her arm. Holding her felt so natural, like breathing, and talking with her was like talking to a trusted, old friend. The best-looking one he'd ever seen. “I was more surprised than a bear seeing snow when I woke up in that cave alive again."
    "How'd you get back to the cave before me?"
    He pondered her words for a second or two. “I don't think my body ever left the cave, I think just my ghost did. While I was at the house, I didn't have a body. It's hard to explain, but I just kind of floated around. I could still sort of feel my body, but I couldn't use it. I couldn't touch anything, but things inside still worked. I could see things and hear things.” His nose tickled as her sweet scent wafted by again. “I don't think I could smell either. I don't remember if I could or not. Anyway, I was amazed when you could hear me, because I couldn't, I didn't think my voice worked."
    "It was like a faint whistle in the wind, I don't know if I heard you as much as I sensed what you were saying."
    "Hmm, interesting.” Skeeter rubbed his chin with his other hand. Stiff whiskers confirmed he'd only been asleep one night, and told him he needed to shave.
    "What's interesting?"
    "Well, Pete acted like it was more than a whisper in the wind,” he chuckled.
    She glanced his way. “He did?"
    He nodded, lifted one eyebrow to tease her.
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