Books by Linda Conrad

by Conrad, Linda

  Once more Michael Ayze did the smart thing—the good thing—and chose harmony over need and want.

  Back in Michael’s kitchen after her shopping excursion, Lexie wondered what seemed different. When they’d left his sister’s house a while ago, Michael had told her it was too late to start out to find the old medicine man today. But being late didn’t seem to be what was bothering him.

  “Would you mind going over to the college with me this afternoon?” Michael asked as he put away a few frozen casseroles and the new dish towels his mother had sent over. “I have a laptop in my college office I’d like to take with me tomorrow when we head out to find the hataalii. ”

  She shrugged a shoulder. “Okay. But I thought you were on leave from the college.”

  His hair was still damp from a recent shower and he smelled good. Like sage and sunshine. He had on a pair of khaki pants and a yellow T-shirt and looked better than any man had a right to look.

  “I am. But I still maintain an office and stop in now and then to check on the department.” He dropped one of the towels without noticing.

  Lexie bent to pick it up. When she straightened and gave it to him, their eyes met. The electricity between them could’ve lit up an entire city. She’d felt strong vibrations coming from him before, and imagined they were simply the physical, needy kind. Quite normal for two attractive people. But today everything seemed to have changed.

  Regardless of his mother’s insistence on a marriage, and despite whatever the two of them might be feeling toward each other, a relationship between the traditional Navajo medicine man and the Anglo psychic medium would surely not be in the stars.

  She knew it. And she was positive he knew it. Yet, now she couldn’t help wondering what being in his arms would feel like. She would never act on that curiosity, however. So she shrugged and turned away.

  Fifteen minutes later they were back in his huge red pickup truck and on their way to the college. Lexie had changed into the traditional Navajo long skirt and long-sleeved maroon blouse her mother-in-law had bought for her. She hoped no one at the college would mind when a blond Anglo showed up dressed in traditional clothes. The new things somehow felt very comfortable on her.

  “What are you going to be using the laptop for?” she asked Michael in order to fill up the silence.

  “I’ve been researching an old Dine legend and my notes are on the laptop. I was hoping—”

  “What’s the legend?” she interrupted to ask.

  Michael drew in a deep breath, and then let it out. “It’s the Skinwalker origin legend. The story of theWolf Clan, the evildoers in Navajo life who are as old as the tribe.”

  “Will you tell me the legend?”

  “I can give you the most popular version,” he glanced over at her through the corner of his eye. “But I’ll need to shorten it a lot.”

  Lexie folded her arms under her breasts and waited.

  “First of all, do you know who Changing Woman was?”

  “The mother of all Navajos. The first woman?”

  “Yeah, that’s right, more or less. Her son, Monster Slayer, teamed up with another, Born of Water, and the two young men went out into the world to kill monsters. They were preparing the land as the chosen place for the People to live and thrive. As the two men went around, they made the decision not to kill any monsters who served a valid purpose.”

  “What kind of monsters were those?”

  Michael scowled, but kept his eyes on the road. “Give me a second to tell this story the right way. You need to learn not to interrupt a Navajo. Breaking in on someone’s thoughts doesn’t follow the tradition. Only a white man is so impatient.”

  Lexie scowled too, but pursed her lips and waited.

  “An example of the kind of monster the two men decided to spare,” Michael began again, “was the Monster Who Eats the Flesh of the Dead—today we call that one the buzzard. They also saved Monster Who Brings Old Age—to us it’s now known as natural aging and death. Some others they saved were Cold Woman—who brings winter and the different seasons—Poverty Creature and Hunger Monster.

  “We can complain and ask why save these creatures, but the original lengthy legend explains how intolerable life would be without them. For instance, just imagine a world with no death and only more and more people to fill up the land. Each monster they saved has a hidden side which would make the world an infinitely worse place without them.”

  “What does this have to do with the Skinwalker legend?” The question slipped out before she could stop it.

  Michael narrowed his eyes, but made no further comments about her big mouth. “Some of the really bad monsters hid and escaped being slain. The worst one of those got away by hiding in a deep cave under a large body of water.

  “That particular monster was called Greed, the antithesis of the Navajo Way

  . Sometime later, Diving Heron dove into the water and secretly brought back Greed, in the form of the first medicine man. But Greed was shunned by the People. So he taught himself to change into the form of a wolf with extraordinary powers enabling him to walk amongst them and cause trouble. And thus he became the first Skinwalker.”

  “Cool story. But what exactly are you studying about it?”

  “Lexie…”

  “Sorry. Sorry. Tell it your own way.”

  “Another part of the legend says the first Skinwalker wrote his secrets down on special parchments and hid them in a cavern under a cliff that was reachable only by water. One of those secrets was supposedly the secret of longevity—or how to live forever.”

  “No kidding?”

  When Michael’s lips thinned and his eyebrows came together at her outburst, she clamped a hand over her mouth and suppressed a chuckle.

  “Most wise men down through the ages have come to the conclusion that, unlike the Skinwalker story,” Michael continued soberly, “the parchment legend probably had no basis in fact. In other words, it was just a good treasure story. But more recently, there have been findings suggesting otherwise.”

  She turned to him, fascinated. But bit her tongue rather than ask all the questions twisting in her mind.

  When Michael remained silent for a long moment, she couldn’t stand it anymore. “Are you going to look for the parchments yourself?”

  This time, he didn’t argue but simply answered her question. “After studying many of the obscure legends that have been handed down, I believe the ancient ones may actually have left petroglyphs with special warnings for the People. And I’m hoping they also left directions for finding those parchments. I have in mind looking for a few remote spots where the ancient drawings may be located.”

  Lexie hoped she’d finally learned the lesson of what Michael had said was expected in Navajoland. About not making a comment or asking a question until after the storyteller had a chance to add a last thought or fact. She stayed quiet, thinking of the many things she wanted to ask.

  But after a few minutes of silence, Michael pulled his truck into the parking lot of the Dine College and parked next to the building marked Natural Science Lab.

  “Come with me,” he said, effectively dropping the entire discussion. “I hope this won’t take long, but I don’t want you sitting out here alone.”

  By the time she’d undone her seat belt, Michael had come around the truck, had her door open and was standing beside her with his hand held out to help her down. Unhappy about not getting her questions answered, she was still enthralled by his polite behavior. His brother had never been so thoughtful, that was for sure.

  Taking Michael’s hand, she slid out of the truck but nearly stumbled, and was forced to stop and rearrange the folds of her skirt. She wasn’t used to wearing such a lot of material.

  Michael waited until she’d straightened up again. Then he started down the walkway ahead of her.

  She hurried to catch up. “Is your office in the Natural Science Lab?”

  He shook his head. “I want to check on a colleague before we
head over to the Behavioral Sciences building.”

  They made their way through the wide halls. Before long Michael stopped in front of a corner office door and knocked. No answer.

  “Maybe your friend has gone home for the day,” she suggested.

  “Not likely.” He knocked again.

  Lexie heard someone calling out Michael’s name. Glancing around, she saw a pretty young woman hurrying toward them down the hallway.

  “Professor Ayze! Michael. It’s great to see you.” She had clear, bronze-colored skin and shiny black hair reaching all the way to her waist. She ran up to Michael, threw her arms as far as they would reach around his rib cage and pressed herself against his chest.

  Lexie thought she was beautiful. But that thought brought with it an unwanted wedge of jealousy. She tried to tamp down on the green-eyed monster because, after all, she had no claim on him.

  Michael leaned away from the woman’s embrace but smiled at her. “Amber, I’d like to introduce my sister-in-law Alexis Ayze. Lexie, this is Assistant Professor of Botany, Amber Billie.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Lexie murmured.

  “Hi,” Amber said with a beaming smile as she unlocked the office door. “Come in. I was just down feeding quarters into the junk food machines. But I think there’s an old pot of coffee still on. Can I offer you any?”

  Michael took the lead. “No, thanks. We can’t stay long.”

  Lexie finally noticed the woman had been carrying a fistful of candy bars. The smell of chocolate nearly knocked her over.

  “Well, how about sharing dinner with me then?” Amber held out an unwrapped bar containing peanuts and chocolate. “Anything with chocolate qualifies as a decent meal in my book,” she said with a toss of her head.

  Michael chuckled, but both he and Lexie politely refused the offer.

  Amber leaned her bottom against a wide desk and smiled up at Michael again. Her eyes were ebony colored and on the smallish side, and Lexie amused herself by deciding the young woman had snake eyes.

  “There’s a couple of reasons why I came by,” Michael told Amber. “First off, I wondered if you’d had a chance to contact the New Plant Tender.”

  “Dr. Wauneka? Sure did. I called her like you said. We traded information on plant species. She knew the exact location of where I could find Erythrina flabelliformis in bloom this late in the year.”

  Lexie laid a hand on Michael’s arm to interrupt. “Dr. Wauneka is a she?”

  Michael threw her another scowl and Lexie backed up a step. Darn. She’d done it again. Opened her mouth and inserted her foot.

  “She is Mrs. Dr. Wauneka,” Michael told her sternly. “Ben’s wife, Tory, who also happens to be a medical doctor.”

  “Oh.”

  Michael took advantage of Lexie having backed up. He turned his shoulder to talk to Amber and effectively blocked out Lexie and all her questions.

  Ah well. She would learn the lesson of how not to interrupt with questions. Honestly she would.

  Michael went on to talk to Amber about some potion he’d made up especially for her. Lexie didn’t catch the entire drift of the conversation. But at one point she did overhear something about an owl who was apparently giving the assistant professor problems.

  Lexie thought that was rather odd. How could an owl cause big trouble? Then again, maybe it had been hooting at her window all night.

  In a few minutes they bid Amber goodbye and were on their way toward the Social and Behavioral Science building. It couldn’t have been too soon to suit Lexie.

  As they were about to enter through the side door, however, a skinny middle-aged man came bustling out and nearly ran right into Michael.

  “Ah, excuse me.” The absentminded looking guy had a scraggly ponytail, was tall and extremely thin. As tall as he was, though, he had to look up to see Michael through thick-lensed glasses.

  “Quite all right, Richard,” Michael said with a smile. “No harm done.”

  “Michael. I thought you were on leave. What are you doing here?” The man peered over the rim of his glasses toward Lexie. “And just look. Here is the very Anglo woman we’ve been hearing so much about.”

  Lexie could feel Michael stiffen beside her. “Dr. Yellow Horse, this is my sister-in-law Alexis Ayze. What exactly have you been hearing?”

  “My, my. I’d imagined the reason you’d come to the campus was because you’d heard the stories,” the other man said in a conspiratorial whisper.

  He turned his head and looked all around like he wanted to be sure he would not be overheard. “You know that young Professor Gorman? He’s a big lug of a guy—even bigger than you. Teaches beginning psych?

  “Well, he’s organized an anti-Skinwalker group while you’ve been gone. Managed to recruit a couple of the newer professors and quite a few students, too.”

  Lexie watched Michael take in the information without making a comment. But she could tell he was carefully processing everything he heard.

  “What does any of this have to do with my sister-in-law?” he asked after a moment.

  “I’ve only heard rumors, mind you,” Dr. Yellow Horse said. “And I have no wish to sanction such superstitious ideas myself. But I do understand that this Professor Gory—oh, that’s the name some of Gorman’s students have given him—” Dr. Yellow Horse interrupted himself “—anyway, supposedly he has accused you of…uh…conspiring with witches.”

  “I see,” Michael said in such a low tone he could scarcely be heard two feet away.

  “Oh, yes. He claims you’ve abandoned your traditional medicine man training and are holding unexplained chants and strange ceremonies—even taking the unusual step of making your parents leave their own home.”

  Like Michael, Richard Yellow Horse lowered his voice to a near whisper after throwing a sideways glance toward Lexie. “Professor Gory also claims you’ve brought an Anglo witch onto the rez to help you with your evil deeds. And now the two of you are living together, without the benefit of a traditional marriage.”

  Michael glared at the other man. “I wouldn’t pass along wild rumors if I were you, Richard. You never know who might be listening.”

  “Right. Of course, I won’t say anything. I’ve known you since I started teaching here ten years ago. I would never for a moment doubt your traditional beliefs.”

  Michael stood silently and stared at him. The quiet scrutiny was making Lexie uncomfortable, and it seemed to do the same for the other professor as well.

  “Uh,” Dr. Yellow Horse finally hedged uneasily. “If you didn’t come to have it out with Gory and his group, why are you here? Are you coming back to work?”

  “I came to pick up my laptop.”

  “So are you going to begin again with your research? Working on the same legend as before?”

  “Yes. I’ve had several new ideas of where to look for the pictographs. I’m certain I’m getting closer to an answer.”

  “How thrilling. I’d be happy to offer my assistance. You know you can always call on me.”

  Michael nodded and thanked him stiffly for the offer. Then he took Lexie by the elbow and stalked off to his office.

  Not more than twenty minutes later, Michael found himself grinding his pickup’s transmission into second as he pulled out of the college parking lot and onto the highway with a squeal of tires. He hadn’t uttered a single word in that whole time, but he was still seething inside.

  Lexie hadn’t said anything, either. He wondered if she was upset, or maybe scared.

  “You okay?” he asked as he drove the truck around one of the detour barriers and down onto a gravel side road. Would the Navajo Nation never finish their incessant road projects?

  She nodded without a word.

  “You did an excellent job of remaining still back there, by the way,” he told her softly. “On the other hand, Richard only made a fool of himself by repeating such trash. You’ve learned your first lesson in living the Navajo Way

  . Wait and listen. Richard shoul
d relearn the lesson himself.”

  “You’re not upset by the rumors he told?” she asked.

  “Not at all. Are you?”

  She shrugged. “It’s not my place. I can certainly move out of your house if it turns out I’m causing you any trouble, though.”

  That was exactly what had made him so angry. He’d known those damned rumors would worry her unnecessarily.

  “You don’t…” He had to pause and clear his throat, deciding to explain in a different way. “I’d already been informed about that anti-Skinwalker group a few weeks ago. I’m not worried about what they have to say. To traditionalists, anyone who would form a public group to talk about witchcraft is probably a witch themselves. Talking about Skinwalkers in public is taboo.”

  “Do you think that Gory professor is really a Skinwalker?”

  “Maybe.” It actually was a possibility that he was. But then again, the idea seemed too obvious.

  “Oh…” Lexie jumped, touching the medicine pouch pinned to her skirt. “Something’s wrong. The pouch is getting warm—it’s almost too hot to touch!”

  He had hoped the eagle fetish would warn her of trouble if she was in any danger. But what was the trouble now?

  Michael glanced in his rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of a dusty gray pickup following them. Its windows had been darkened and the driver seemed to be hanging back for no reason.

  Tapping the brakes lightly, Michael slowed his pickup to a crawl. The other driver did the same, keeping the exact distance between them.

  Saying Navajo curses under his breath, Michael stood on the gas. He didn’t have a clue what this guy was up to, but he had no intention of taking any chances with Lexie.

  7

  M ichael shot a glance at Lexie. Her eyes were wide as she hung on to the passenger door handle with a death grip. But at least she didn’t look hysterical.

  Drooping shadows of dusk cloaked the view out the back window. Michael gritted his teeth when he realized the next few yards would bring them onto a dirt road near the mountain village of Tsaile.

  He flipped on his headlights, more to warn people they were coming than for seeing ahead, and slowed down. As he had known it would, when they hit the combination dirt and gravel, spray flew up on both sides of the truck and rooster-tailed behind them, blocking out what was left of the light filtering down through the trees.