Free The Kissing Stars by Geralyn Dawson

intrigues me. I stumbled across this place yesterday. You know, these springs are the best source of water around.”
    It made all the difference in the world. Robards visibly relaxed and offered an indulging smile. His teeth were white and straight. Tess would like that.
    He chuckled softly. “Sorry, Mr. Montana, but if you’re here in Aurora Springs hoping to buy land in this canyon, I’m afraid you’ve wasted the trip. I had my eye on this property myself but the owners refused to entertain any offers.”
    “Really?” Gabe paused to sip his coffee. “And who holds the deed on these acres?”
    “Well…” Robards paused to take another bite of biscuit. “Tess’s name is on the paper, but she says it is community property. You should understand that the inhabitants of Aurora Springs are turned a bit differently than most, but then, you’ve probably already seen that yourself.”
    Turned a bit differently was a polite way to say it , Gabe thought. “I did notice the camels.”
    The Ranger nodded. “Castor and Pollux, named after the stars. They’re descendants of Jefferson Davis’s experiment with the importation of dromedaries to be employed for military purposes. Those animals fit right at home here in Aurora Springs. Now, don’t get me wrong,” he hastened to add, “I think the Aurorians are for the most part fine people, but one can’t deny their…how shall I put it…eccentricities.”
    “I’ve never met a woman named Twinkle before,” Gabe observed as he idly sipped his coffee and tried to think of a way to best broach the subject of this man’s courtship of his wife. He wanted to settle this beau nonsense before Tess showed up.
    Robards waved his fork. “Don’t sell Twinkle short. If you can overlook her colorful dress and misguided beliefs, you’ll soon realize the woman is a treasure.”
    “What do you mean ‘misguided beliefs’?”
    “Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
    “No, please. I won’t judge the woman. I’m just curious.”
    After a moment’s silence, Robards said, “It’s the…” he held up his hands and wiggled his fingers in the air “…lights.”
    “ Lights? ” The word combined with the motions grabbed Gabe’s attention, diverting his thoughts from Tess.
    Robards snapped his fingers and sat back in his chair.
    “That’s right. You’re new to the area. I guess you are not familiar with the tales of the Aurora Springs Ghost Lights, or Kissing Stars like Tess calls them.”
    “Can’t say that I am.”
    “It’s a long story, but suffice it to say the Aurorians claim they see unexplainable bouncing balls of light in the night sky near here,” said the Ranger. “Twinkle thinks they’re ghosts. She says her crystal ball is energized by the stars and that’s how she contacts souls on the other side.”
    Gabe scratched his chin. “I saw her séance tent at the Texas State Fair. I thought she did all that as an act—not that she believed it.”
    “Oh, she believes it. Everyone around here believes something foolish about the Mystery Lights. Take the Yankee colonel, for instance. He’s a water witcher and he told me that the magnetic energies put off by the stars empowers his divining rods. He believes the star-charged rods will lead him not to water, but to diamonds.”
    “A treasure hunter,” Gabe said, wondering what life path took a much-decorated soldier in such a direction.
    “Not just any treasure. It must be diamonds. Why, the man happened to stumble across a cache of stolen gold—stagecoach robberies were regular occurrences in these badlands until recently—and the colonel brought it back to Aurora Springs as an afterthought. He wasn’t looking for gold, you see. Just diamonds.”
    “Interesting approach,” Gabe observed. He thought of the other residents of Aurora Springs, the Bakers and Andrew Ross, and wondered about their beliefs concerning these so-called stars. And Tess, of course. Surely she had professional reasons