Page 56 of Falling for the Cowgirl
She couldn’t read into his words more than he meant. But something in his tone sent her pulse skittering, like the first rocks trickling down before a landslide.
He was sitting on his heels and took off his hat and wiped his brow. Only then did she notice he was still attired in his Sunday-meeting getup and looking real fine, in spite of being disheveled and dusty and sporting the bruise around his eye that Flynn had given him on Independence Day.
She shoved aside the attraction that rose against her will. She had to remember how they’d parted, that he hadn’t made an effort to keep her, even though she’d given himevery opportunity. She needed to stay mad. “What in the blazes are you doing out here, Jericho?”
“Do you want my excuse or the truth?”
“Do you want me to shoot you or punch you?”
He released a soft laugh. “The truth is that when you didn’t show up for church, I got worried about you being alone with Hance.”
His statement careened through her, leaving her off-balance. She was gonna have to be careful. Hadn’t she just spent the majority of the ride out into the wilderness telling herself not to hope in Jericho again? After all the times she’d rebuked herself to let him go, she really had to do it this time.
“You didn’t have to worry.” She tried to infuse her voice with firmness even though her heart was on unsteady ground.
“You don’t know enough about him.”
“And I reckon you do?”
“More than you.”
“He’s harmless as a kitten.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“I can handle Hance just fine.”
Jericho harrumphed.
She elbowed him. “You know it.”
He didn’t respond, and she sensed an edge to him that hadn’t been there before. Even though she could only see his outline, his jaw was rigid and his muscles taut.
Her nose tickled as tendrils of smoke wafted into their cavern. The growing red glow meant the flames were directly outside the cave opening.
In spite of being able to take care of herself, she could admit she was glad she wasn’t alone in such dangerous circumstances and was with Jericho.
Another gust of smoke blew in, this one stronger than the last. She coughed and then pressed the crook of her arm over her mouth and nose.
In the next instant, Jericho wrapped his arm around her and drew her face against his chest. She found herself sitting on the floor, curled into him, his body shielding her from both the smoke and the heat.
She really oughta back away. But with his strong arms surrounding her and the solidness of his chest supporting her, she had no willpower to do anything but rest within the safety of his embrace.
As the smoke drifted around them, he coughed and bent his head so it rested against hers, his shallow breathing near her ear.
“Should we try crawling back even farther?” Her question was muffled against his shirt.
“We might have to. I just hate to go too far without light ... just in case.”
She didn’t have to ask him about the possibility of drop-offs, cave-ins, or even wild animals. They could very well face danger inside as much as out. But at the moment, they had no choice but to push forward into the unknown depths of the mountain.
“Come on.” Obviously drawing the same conclusion, he led the way toward the other side of the cavern and the next dark tunnel.
She crawled after him. This time the passageway slanted down. It was steep enough that they had to slide slowly and almost step their way down. At the bottom of the incline, the tunnel seemed to open up into a level room, but theblackness was too encompassing to see anything but the faintest of outlines.
The strike of a match was followed by a yellow glow. Jericho held up the match from the stash he carried for his pipe, giving them a better view of where they were. The room had definitely been inhabited at one time. The charred circle of a firepit sat at the center. A line of stones was pushed up against one wall and the dry, empty carcass of a deer against another.
Jericho crossed to the pit and retrieved a half-burned stick. He touched the end to the match, igniting a dangling piece of the bark. As the stick began to burn, he shoved together the remnants of the old fire.
