Hawk's Way by Joan Johnston

sneaking off in the middle of the night. You’ll stay with me until you learn what you need to know to survive in this century. Agreed?”
    She looked up into his eyes and said, “All right. It’s a deal.”
    She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth.
    Dallas put his fingers to his lips, surprised athow much they tingled from such a slight touch. “What was that for?”
    â€œThat was to thank you for coming to the rescue.”
    He leaned down and kissed her back, just a slight touch of lip to lip, leaving them both yearning for more.
    â€œWhat was that for?” she asked breathlessly.
    â€œI was sealing our bargain with a kiss,” he murmured against her lips. “There’s no backing out now.”
    â€œNo backing out,” she agreed.

CHAPTER 6
    D allas emerged from the darkness of the cave into the sunlight with somewhat less care this time. He had been here once before and found nothing. He was nearly certain they would not find a portal to the past. But he had promised Angel he would bring her here. So he had.
    He reached out a hand to her. “Let me help you.”
    Angel allowed Dallas to pull her the last few feet up out of the stream within the cave and onto dry land. “It looks the same as it did before,” she said as she studied the surrounding terrain.
    Dallas narrowed his eyes against the glare of the noonday sun. He had that same eerie feeling that things weren’t quite right. The grass was yellow, not green, and crackled under his boots. It seemed more like late fall than spring. But then, he had been through all this before. He looked up at a cloudless sky, expecting any moment to see a jet contrail. However, the sky was a clear blue as far as the eye could see.
    â€œWhich way should we go?” Angel asked.
    Dallas shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He pointed west. “That’s the direction of the cave opening that got dynamited. I suppose we might as well head that way.”
    Angel nodded her agreement and Dallas took off, not waiting to see if she followed him. He couldn’t describe his feelings, exactly. He felt foolish, of course, because he simply couldn’t believe they were going to find themselves in the past. He also felt frustrated that Angel seemed so desperate to return to her life before she had met him. And he felt anxious. His intuition had kept him alive in more than one dark alley. And his intuition told him they were heading into trouble.
    â€œDallas?”
    He paused and turned to Angel. She was pointing at something in the brush to the left. Her eyes were wide and she had her lower lip clasped in her teeth. He followed the extension of her hand and felt his flesh get up and crawl at what he saw.
    â€œIs that what I think it is?” he asked.
    Angel nodded. “It looks like my rucksack all right. Or what’s left of it.”
    Dallas unconsciously touched the Colt .45 at his hip as they moved together toward the leather bag. His eyes scanned the horizon looking for an enemy he could only imagine. A band of raidingComanches? Outlaws? Renegade Confederate soldiers? Every muscle in his body was tensed for action. He knew enough history to have a healthy respect for the dangers of the past. If that was where they were.
    Angel knelt to examine the scraps of leather. All around were pieces of shredded paper that had been her pencil drawings and rags of cloth that had been her clothes. “It’s mine,” she said in a quavery voice. “They’ve destroyed everything.”
    Dallas put his hands on her shoulders and raised her up. He watched her fight the tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Angel. You can always replace what they ruined.”
    She met his gaze and said, “They destroyed all my drawings of my sister and my fiancé.”
    Which were not replaceable, he realized. Dallas felt a sudden rage at the men who had done this, who had