Chance Encounter(14)

Ally smiled in gratitude for tall trees and high mountains. With any luck, she wouldn’t gain good reception for days.

They walked. Or rather, Chance walked and she ran to keep up with him. In a matter of minutes, she was ready to expire. Humiliating as it was, she needed to stop. “I’ll catch up,” she gasped, sinking to a rock.

Chance came back to stand in front of her, hands on his hips, frown firmly in place. “Already? We’ve gone a quarter of a mile.”

This unexpected dent in her new lifestyle was embarrassing, but only a temporary roadblock. “I’ll be fine in a sec,” she said, chugging air.

He looked her over from head to toe, slowly, then back up again, and when his eyes changed, darkened, even more heat suffused her. Nervous, she rubbed her palms on her thighs, then winced at the already developing blisters from shoveling.

Chance reached out and grabbed her wrist, turning her hand over to inspect her palm. “You’re blistered already?” Cupping the back of her hand, he bent his head over it. His fingers were warm and calloused, and he lightly brushed his thumb across her sensitive skin.

A tingle ran up her arm, down her breasts and pooled between her thighs. She snagged her hand back. “I’m fine.”

“You’re in terrible shape.”

“Gee, why don’t you tell me what you really think?”

He simply started walking again, until he realized she wasn’t following him for a change. “Hurry,” he said over his shoulder, but she shook her head because if she had to walk another foot right that minute, she was going to dissolve into a whimpering mass.

Stopping again, he tipped his head up and studied the sky as if hoping for divine intervention.

“Go ahead,” she said. “I’ll catch up.”

“No you won’t. You’ll end up giving some bear indigestion.”

“Nah, I’m too tough.” She smiled at him, but it might have been a bit shaky because that bear bit had gotten to her. She peered into the woods around her, but didn’t see any signs of big, hungry bears. “I’ll be fine right here.”

He didn’t even attempt to hide his relief. When he started off again, Ally gave herself a moment to recover. Then she followed, knowing if she could only go at her own pace, she’d be fine.

And she was. Until she realized sometime later she no longer had the trail beneath her feet and she had no idea in which way she’d come.

Okay, no problem. But she was surrounded by three-hundred-foot lodge pines in every direction, and every one of them looked the same.

If you get lost, hug a tree and blow your whistle.

Yes she’d learned that from some kids’ magazine she’d read while waiting in the dentist’s office, but it was better than panicking. So she leaned on the closest tree, wishing for a whistle and her quiet, cozy, warm, friendly library job.

The woods were very noisy. A pine needle floated down, hit her cheek and she nearly croaked. They didn’t have scary woods in the city.

How had this happened?

She was lost and was going to be some bear’s lunch. With a sigh, she rested her forehead on the tree and started to give in to self-pity. She even thought about crying, but suddenly her watch beeped at the top of the hour, giving her the brilliant idea of setting off the alarm on purpose.

Beep, beep, beep.

It was an annoying sound, but one she hoped would carry through the thick, dense woods. Just like a whistle.

Bees buzzed. Something chirped. Something else, alarmingly close, rustled.

Beep, beep, beep.

How long could a human go without eating, she wondered. Would she freeze to death in one night, or would it would take more?

Beep, beep, beep.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Ally sagged in relief while pretending she didn’t have a care in the world. Or that Chance’s low, husky voice wasn’t exactly what she’d hoped to hear. “Oh, there you are,” she said as casually as she could while gratitude made her weak. “Just checking your rescue skills.”

He laughed. “Yeah, right. Admit it, city girl. You were lost.”

“Was not.” Ally consulted her watch. “And I’m proud to tell you, you found me in less than twenty minutes. If I had been lost, that is.” She smiled. “Which I wasn’t.”

“Turn off that alarm, it’s driving me crazy and scaring the wildlife. And you were so lost.”

“Okay, I’ll admit I never got to the top of this mountain. But how about you—”

“Don’t even say it. You’re going back. I’m taking you to your cabin.”

“I told you I don’t need to rest.”

“Fine, you’ll go to the office then—where you’ll stay if I have to handcuff you myself—and I’m coming back up here. Alone.”

Where he’d probably do something thrilling and reckless without her. Darn it. She was going to have to break him in slowly, she supposed. “Do you really have handcuffs?”

He smiled slowly. “Yep.”

Oh, my. She followed him back to the trail, thinking about that and getting much warmer than the sun warranted.

Chance walked ahead of her in silence, probably satisfied he’d gotten things—her—under control. She watched his nicely muscled rear end for a moment and thought, next time I run into that body, I’m keeping my hands out and low.