Page 24 of Colton in the Wild
“Yeah.”
“Spence, stop blaming yourself. Frankly, I’m much happier waiting it out here than having you out there hunting something that can shoot back.”
There was no doubting the genuine concern in her voice. He knew what he wanted to think, but quickly quashed it, telling himself it wasn’t that she’d be worried about him, she just didn’t like the idea of being left here alone, injured and pretty much immobilized. And who would?
He dug back into the pack and pulled out the emergency blanket. If it was just him, he wouldn’t worry about it this time of year, in the shelter of the cave. But Hetty was hurt, and she’d lost enough blood she could get colder than normal, and faster. He also dug out the small pack of candles. It might not get dark outside this time of year, but it was pretty dim in this protected corner of the cave.
“That’s my boy,” she said. He turned back sharply. “Always prepared.”
As she echoed his earlier sentiment, his rattled brain rocketed to other circumstances where that might be an appropriate statement. Circumstances he’d never be in with Hetty, no matter how much he might want to be.
He managed a rather tight smile. Then he studied her for a moment. She looked a little better, the furrow on her forehead had smoothed out a bit. “Feeling better?”
She nodded. “Those pills did take the edge off.” She looked at the things he’d brought over to where she was propped against one wall of the cave niche. “You’re going to have to restock when we get back.”
“Yeah.” He always made sure the backpack was ready to go, and he personally tested everything in it himself, so he’d know exactly what he had to draw upon.
“When was the last time you did one of your survival jaunts?”
He didn’t like her using the word survival at the moment, but answered simply. “Spring. But early, when it was still cold enough to really test things.”
“You mean when it only gets down into the twenties instead of the teens?”
“Or negative numbers. I’m careful, not crazy.”
She laughed then winced as if it had hurt, and all his amusement vanished. He was down on his knees beside her in an instant. “Hetty?”
“I’m all right,” she said, although she sounded a tiny bit breathless. “I just…jostled it, I think.” She glanced at the blanket. “I do think we may need that later, though.”
We? He’d planned on putting it just over her tonight, but now that she’d said that—and once he got the delicious idea of snuggling with her under one blanket out of his head—he knew she had a point. The reflective blanket did reflect body heat, after all. That was the whole point of it, and so he should add his own heat, for her sake.
So he would find himself in the position he’d always longed for but never expected to have. Snuggled up to Hetty Amos, under a single blanket, in what dark there was, with practically zero chance of interruption. And imagining what might be happening if she wasn’t hurt.
It was going to be a hell of a night.
Chapter 13
“Talk to me,” Hetty said, not liking this strange feeling that was overtaking her. Every little sound made her pulse kick up, which in turn made her oddly lightheaded, which then scared her even more.
She wasn’t used to being scared. And telling herself she wasn’t used to being shot, either, wasn’t helping much.
“About what?” Spence asked, sounding wary.
“Anything. Everything. I just don’t want to fixate on what happened when I can’t seem to think straight.”
“You were shot, Hetty. Of course you can’t.”
She was pretty sure Spence would be handling it better. She’d bet his brain wouldn’t have disintegrated into turmoil, bouncing from here to there to over there, unable to settle on any one thought or idea.
“Talk about something else. Tell me about… I don’t know, tell me about Gwen.”
He blinked. At least, she thought he did; it was pretty dark back here, and he’d said he didn’t want to light one of the candles unless they had to. But she hated that she couldn’t see well enough to really read him, as she usually could.
Or thought she could.
“Uh…who?”
Despite everything, she almost laughed. “Gwendolyn Merchant? The woman so entranced with you she demanded you take her phone number?”
