Echoes of the Past

By DJ Cameron

Tanner Kinkaid is a rodeo cowboy and Montana cattle rancher. Best known for his unique ability with horses. Kinsey Langley is a well respected antique dealer who travels within the elite high society social circles.

When their worlds collide, can the down in the dirt cowboy and the uppity antique dealer work together to solve a two hundred year old mystery? They must be able to overcome their differences and accept the idea they may actually be reincarnated lovers from the past.

It will take all their strength, willpower and love to defeat the evil lurking around every corner and keep one of them from tragically dying...again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DJ Cameron
• Release date: May 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476349688

DJ Cameron

I live in the Arizona desert and write paranormal romance novels. I have had many of my own experiences and have always had an interest in the paranormal. I go on paranormal investigations when I can and when not writing or investigating, I enjoy spending time with my husband, horses and granddaughters. I write books for adults under D.J. Cameron and books for all readers under Diana Klabis.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Kinsey had just returned home to New York. She had been gone on business for two weeks and was planning on surprising her fiancé Marcus, with a candlelight dinner and some sexy new lingerie she had purchased. She opened the door to the apartment she shared with him, only to hear strange sounds and voices coming from the living room. She frowned; Marcus wasn’t supposed to be home until later.

She quietly set her suitcase by the door leaving the door open. Creeping down the hall pepper spray in one hand, cell phone ready to call 911 in the other, she went to confront the intruders.

As she rounded the corner at the end of the hall the scene before her was inconceivable. A brunet bent over a chair with Marcus thrusting his enlarged member into her as a blond man sitting in the same chair was sucking her breast while yet another woman knelt in front of him running her mouth all over his cock while Marcus was reaching out running his hand over her buttocks.

As Kinsey took in the scene before her, she felt revulsion and rage rising up. The room began closing in on her and she felt like she couldn‘t breathe. She thought she might pass out or vomit right there.

It seemed like an eternity rather than mere seconds that she experienced so many feelings at once. Kinsey was fluctuating between rage and revulsion. The group was so wrapped up in their orgy they hadn’t heard her enter. All heads whipped up and around at her shocked gasp. Her purse and pepper spray crashed to the floor with a loud thunk.

They had stopped what they were doing. Clearly Marcus hadn’t been expecting her. The women looked from each other to Marcus in confusion. They hadn’t been expecting another woman to join the group and from the look on Marcus’ face it didn’t appear he had either.

The blonde man stood up. He was tall very muscular a wide smile splayed across his face. Hey sweetie didn’t know you were coming. Sorry we started without you there’s plenty for all, ready to join us? He extended his hand towards her invitingly.

Kinsey couldn’t believe what she was seeing let alone comprehend what he was saying to her. She was so shocked at what she had walked in on that all she could do was stand there with her mouth hanging open.

This couldn’t be happening in her home. A camera was set up and they were recording their orgy. She closed her eyes and opened them again. No it wasn’t an illusion, she wasn’t dreaming, this was really happening in her own living room right before her eyes.

Marcus certainly hadn’t been expecting her to come home yet. But being Marcus and believing himself to be very suave and debonair he tried to play it off like it was nothing. Hey baby you‘re home early. Marcus said somewhat casually. His mind began to reel trying to come up with a plausible explanation.

That did it, Kinsey’s trance was broken. She came back to her senses and started screaming at them. GET OUT! Grabbing the first thing that came to hand, she hurtled it at Marcus. He ducked but not before he took a glancing blow to the shoulder.

Blondie and the girls, fearing they may be the next targets of this clearly insane woman, were grabbing clothes trying to get them on as fast as they could while getting out of the line of fire. Kinsey was grabbing anything in sight and throwing it at all of them now. Her can of pepper spray nearly missed its mark as it bounced off the side of the blonde man’s head.

The brunette that Marcus had been entangled with tried running past Kinsey first. She didn’t quite make it before Kinsey had her by the hair and yanked her back landing a right hook to her face. With any luck the bitch would have a nice big fat lip along with a black eye. Kinsey was going for a second punch which made its mark landing the brunette in the nose.

Marcus jumped over the couch seizing Kinsey around the waist trying to pull her off the brunette. Kinsey had managed to wrap her left hand into the woman’s long hair and had a firm hold. Kinsey’s fist was pulled back ready to launch into another assault. Marcus grabbed her arm bringing it down to lock it at her waist.

The brunette was screaming and twisting trying to get Kinsey’s other hand unwound. Apparently it was every man or woman for their self because the other two skirted around the trio and bolted out the door without as much as a backward glance. The other woman was the only one who had made it out apparently unscathed.

Marcus ended up taking them all down to the floor where he sat on Kinsey. He was still naked and as he straddled her, his flaccid member lay between her breasts. Kinsey quit struggling trying to get the brunette and released her hold. Then she turned her rage on Marcus instead. The brunette took the opportunity to make her escape and followed after the others out the door.

Marcus had Kinsey’s arms pinned to the floor above her head. With is cock so close to her face she could smell the other woman on him making her want to gag at the same time enraging her further. Her chest was heaving and tears were threatening to spill over she was so furious.

Calm down baby. Let me explain, it’s not what you think.

Oh really! Seeing an orgy going on in my living room is not what I think!

No. I was…that is…we were making our demo tape for a movie.

So what, now you’re into porn!

You know I’ve been trying to break into acting and commercials aren’t getting me anywhere…

Oh, so doing porn is? GET OFF ME!

It’s not like that. An opportunity came up that would pay a lot of money and I was giving it a trial run, that’s all. You know I love you and I have to work with other women. That’s all this was baby just work. It doesn’t mean anything.

She glared at him. You make me sick! You bastard! She started bucking up again trying to throw him off but only succeeding in bringing his tainted member closer to her face. Get off before I bite your stinking dick off!

Marcus let her up and jumped back. He kept a watch on her as he sidled around the couch and reached for his pants. He’d never seen this side of her. So much anger she was a force to be reckoned with. Of course she had never actually caught him in the act of cheating before. Though he’d come close a time or two. Knowing she had this fire in her was kind of a turn on.

Kinsey picked up her purse. Be out by the time I get back! She said through clenched teeth as she turned to retrace her steps down the hall to the front door.

C’mon baby, don’t be mad. He said as he started to follow her down the hall still trying to placate her.

She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. I mean it…be out by the time I get back! Then she slammed the door behind her.

≈≈≈

Kinsey was exhausted mentally and wanted nothing more at the moment than to crawl under a rock and hide from the world. It had been a rough week, catching her fiancé cheating in their apartment with multiple partners of both sexes. Of course he claimed he wasn’t cheating he was practicing for a movie. Yeah, like she believed that.

Marcus had called her every day for the past week trying to get her to let him come home. Kinsey had changed the locks so he couldn’t get back into the apartment. Marcus kept trying to use the excuse that they were making a demo tape to get a movie part. She wasn’t buying it. He must really think she was stupid.

Right now, her thoughts and feelings were all mixed up. She lay down in bed and put one arm over her eyes falling asleep almost immediately. That was the first time she had the dream.

She was racing across the countryside on horseback like she was being pursued by the devil himself, hair and cloak flying out behind her. How could he hate her so much to do such a despicable evil thing? It was beyond any reasoning. Her heart was racing as fast as her horse was soaring across the ground. Dare she chance a look behind her?

The sky was covered in thick clouds making it so black outside she couldn‘t see anything. It was the middle of the night and there was a powerful storm brewing. The wind was picking up with the thunder rapidly rolling in, getting louder with each passing moment.

The shadows from the trees stretched like arms reaching out to snatch her from her horse every time the lightening flashed. She tried not to think about her fear, just focus on her purpose as more than one life depended on it.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion of thunder that shook the ground followed by a blinding flash shooting a dagger straight to the earth in front of her. Her horse reared shrieking in fear. The thunder drowned out the scream that was ripped from her own throat as she was hurtled toward the rocky ground.

Kinsey sat up in bed as the scream died out. Her body glistening with sweat, her chest heaving and heart pounding so hard it felt as though it would burst through her chest. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there a moment trying to calm herself. She stumbled into the bathroom splashing cool water on her face.

What a nightmare. She blamed Marcus as the cause. It was all the fighting she had done with him over the past week. She had suspected him of cheating on her before but he would claim she was just being paranoid because he worked with so many beautiful women in the modeling and fashion industry.

Even catching him red handed he still tried to deny it. How stupid did he think she was anyway? Making a demo tape for a movie part? Really? He finally admitted that he was addicted to sex. That was more believable than his first excuse, though she wasn’t buying this one either.

She didn’t deny they were recording what was going on, but she didn’t believe for one minute that it was a demo tape there were making.

CHAPTER 2

Kinsey had been born and raised in Chicago. Her parents owned a small bakery and coffee shop that did a fair amount of business and kept them comfortable through the years. They had lived in a small but comfortable apartment above their shop as she was growing up. In fact her parents still lived in the little apartment above the shop refusing to move.

Kinsey had always been a loner for the most part. She didn’t have any real friends to speak of. She was just more comfortable being amongst antiques than people. Even as a child she preferred to be alone with her things or reading a book about historic places in England.

For as long as she could remember Kinsey had been strangely fascinated with period clothing, furniture, and architecture. Therefore, it was only natural that in college she major in antiques and was now a successful consultant. She had a natural instinct for finding true antiques that were valuable.

She had her own collection of certain items that captivated her. Her personal favorites were late 18th century early 19th century items. She was just naturally drawn to that era.

As a child when all the other kids were dressing up as ghosts, goblins and witches for Halloween, Kinsey always wanted to wear the 18th century style gowns. Her mother had always made her costumes since she never wore the conventional trendy ones no matter what the current fad might be or how much her mother pleaded with her.

Her mother said she had an old soul. Maybe it was true. It would certainly explain her need to be around certain antique items.

Kinsey had been to Europe several times in search of antiques for clients. She loved to visit old Estates, Manors and Castles.

When she got the call from Wilford Stanfield’s solicitor requesting her presence right away to view some of his latest finds, it was a welcome distraction from her current situation. She had worked for Stanfield several times. He was rich, he had an English title, Duke of Dunforth, which had been passed down through the centuries though she had always referred to him as Mr. Stanfield since she didn’t know he was titled nobility when she first met him. People with an air of authority about them like he had, just naturally expected you to drop everything when they called upon you.

It was typical for him to make contact through his solicitor and request your presence right away. He paid extremely well and had an inordinate amount of connections. It was working for him that allowed her to make several of the connections that she had. Still, it was extremely annoying to be summoned like that, especially in her current frame of mind.

But she needed to get away and Mr. Stanfield provided the opportunity, wanting her to come to his country home, which itself had a title of Dunforth Manor, for an extended stay, so she could view and verify the authenticity of his latest findings. Since she would be in the country, he would be pleased to have her holiday there as his guest.

It was a beautiful time of year, being early spring. She had never been to his country home, she had always either met him at his townhouse in London or wherever a particular item might be located.

Not really wanting to admit to herself that she wouldn’t mind having her vacation in the English countryside, mainly because she had been summoned there, she began packing and let her mind wander to what his country house would be like.

≈≈≈

Kinsey was looking forward to getting away from the city. But most of all, she wanted a break from Marcus. Marcus Crowley was 6‘5", had blonde hair, blue eyes and a nice build. They could have fashioned the Ken doll after him. He worked out everyday to keep his physique up. He was a male model/fashionista and wanted to break into acting. He had already done some commercials. He seemed to think he was the best thing since sliced bread. He was a handsome man, which he was sure to remind everyone else as if they couldn‘t see it.

They had been together for nearly two years and had been engaged for about six months. That was until last week when she’d gotten back two days early from her trip to California and found him with another woman.

After fighting all week, he finally admitted that he just loved sex and lots of it. In more ways than she would be willing to provide. She was in love with a man whore. Gee, just what every woman wanted. Of course, he swore to her that he would get help that it was a sickness like being an alcoholic.

She told him it was over. How could she ever trust him again? She made him move out of the apartment and told him she never wanted to see him again. She just couldn’t get over being angry.

She wanted, needed, to get away from everyone and everything. She needed time to think and evaluate her life and her relationship with Marcus. She didn’t know if she could be one of those women to stay with a person who would just keep cheating and used his sickness as an excuse.

So all in all she was looking forward to getting out of the country even if she had to do some work. Stanfield was actually doing her a favor by wanting her to come to his country house and look over some items.

CHAPTER 3

Tanner Kinkaid was a cattle rancher in Montana but horses were his real passion, he had a barn full of them now. Wyatt was his stallion, his pride and joy, the first horse he had owned, raised, and broke to be a working ranch horse, he loved that ornery cuss.

He had been raised in Texas by his grandfather Murphy Kinkaid. His parents had died when he was just three years old. They had gone out on a boat for a short Ocean fishing trip along with his grandmother Sadie.

A storm had suddenly come up and they were unable to make it back to the harbor. All the Coast Guard could tell his grandfather, was that there were a few floating pieces from the boat but no survivors. Granddad Murphy had held a memorial service for his grandmother, his mother and his father and taken him home to raise.

As a kid, growing up in the Texas countryside living on his grandfather’s farm, he would spend his summers working on a ranch nearby. He learned to ride and rope extremely well along with his best friend Dillon Montgomery. He and Dillon had even competed a bit in different rodeo competitions and won some money when they were younger.

They were like brothers and had been enjoying their youth and bachelorhood. That was until Dillon had to go and fall in love with Sarah Evans. They were happily married with a new baby girl they named Ella.

After Tanner’s grandfather died, he sold the farm and purchased land in Montana to build himself a small ranch. It had taken a lot of hard work but it had paid off. He had started with two hundred acres of raw land and a handful of cattle, that he had purchased with the money left to him by his grandfather.

His grandfather was by no means a wealthy man but he had done all right in his lifetime with the farm. When his grandfather had passed away, he left his only grandson with a few antiques, some old furniture, a small farm and enough money to get a start. That was 10 years ago. He had added another one hundred fifty acres to his spread and had a large ranch house. He built the house with his own hands and the help of Dillon Montgomery who had moved to Montana with him.

The two of them had built a small house for Dillon and his new bride on a twenty-acre parcel that Tanner had given them as a wedding present.

It had taken them several months to build the house. Dillon and Sarah were in the process of moving from the big house into their own at the moment. Dillon would run the ranch while Tanner was gone and see to any affairs that needed to be taken care of.

Tanner had a natural way with horses and had made a name for himself as a trainer. He had flown throughout the United States to buy cattle and work with horses, but he had never been out of the country. He had gotten a request to go to England to work with the horses for some rich guy. This was going to be a new experience but he wasn’t looking forward to the plane ride across the ocean.

So you goin’ to England to train horses. Who would a’ thought they‘d heard about you way over there. Dillon said with a grunt as he untied the calf they were branding.

Tanner let it up, took off his cowboy hat and wiped his arm across his forehead to remove the sweat as it ran towards his eyes. We got any more water in the cooler? He panted.

Dillon went over and opened the lid, We got one bottle of water left and a couple of beers. They had been branding calves all day and were dirty, sweaty and tired. Tanner opted for the beer.

He took a nice long draw on the beer and signed. Mm, that hits the spot. Lets’ call it a day. Besides, I gotta pack anyway. He took another long drink of his beer. You sure you can handle things while I’m gone? I mean what with the new baby and tryin’ to move into your house an all.

Look Tan, you need to git away from here for a while. Take a vacation, you work so damn hard all the time. You rarely even go out with women an there’s plenty out there just waitin’ for you to come round. Hell every time I go to town there’s half a dozen askin’ after you. No need to worry ‘bout things here, we got things under control and those boys’ll be here in a day or so to work for the summer. Dillon grinned, Remember how we used to spend our summers?

Yeah, it was hard work but I loved every minute of it. Don‘t let ‘em sneak too much alcohol in I don‘t want any accidents.

Don’t worry I’ll keep an eye on things. Dillon laughed. I remember a time or two when we snuck our booze in the bunkhouse and had ourselves a little party.

Yeah and remember how ole Mr. Hanes would pretend he didn’t know what was wrong with us the next day? Tanner laughed. He would just look at us and say, must’ve ate somethin’ bad and tell us what chores he wanted done.

Tanner was the typical cowboy always in jeans, cowboy boots and cowboy hat. He usually wore t-shirts and old jeans while working around the ranch. But today he had on a good pair of jeans, and though he owned some nice shirts, he opted for a nice t-shirt and his comfortable old boots. After all he was going to be on a plane the better part of a day between his flight to Chicago and England, so he wanted to be comfortable.

≈≈≈

He had just gotten off his flight from Billings, Montana at the airport in Chicago and had about a two hour layover before boarding his overseas flight to England. He didn’t know what he was going to do with himself. He preferred the outdoors and wasn’t used to sitting around doing nothing for long periods of time.

He was wandering through the airport shops and admiring the scenery. He could turn on the charm when he wanted to and women seemed to be drawn to his Texas drawl. He was tall, six-foot three-inches to be exact, he had wavy black hair and deep blue eyes, a nice sun bronze color to his skin from working outside.

He had inherited his mothers’ nice straight even teeth and when he smiled it seemed to light up his entire face. He was prone to have a six o’clock shadow which only enhanced his features.

He was lean and muscular from all his years of ranch work. He knew he was decent looking but didn’t consider himself handsome. He had dated a few women but none that he had fallen in love with or considered having any long term relationship with.

He had just rounded a corner after looking through one of the airport shops and was captivated with the sight before him. She was tall and slender with shoulder length hair that was cinnamon in color. She was wearing a pair of jeans that fit her just right and enhanced the curves around her hips and nice rounded bottom. Yep they seemed to hug her in all the right places. She had on a green blouse that tapered to the waist and just touched the top of her jeans.

He was walking towards her and