didn’t want to pick a fight, but she wouldn’t let him believe a lie. In the dark, it was easier to say things the light might not allow. “It has nothing to do with Rick. We haven’t even been on a date yet. He just asked me out yesterday.”
“But Jaci…”
“Was just being Jaci.”
His fingers touched her arm again, worked their way down to grasp her hand as he stepped against her. “So what’s stopping you? Why can’t you do this?”
She shook her hand loose. “We’ve moved on. No use going back.”
There was a long pause and then his voice cut through the darkness. “Enough said.”
The finality in his words lingered, holding her motionless, and she sensed a sudden loss, as if he had vanished from her life again. When she heard the pump of the flashlight, she realized he had only bent down to retrieve their bags.
They avoided eye contact as he took her arm and helped her to the opening.
“It’s sort of a tight squeeze, but it’s not far. We’ll have to crawl.” He shone the light into the tunnel, angling it toward what looked like an indentation in the right-hand side. “That’s where we’re going. Think you’re up to it?”
Kyndal nodded and dropped to all fours. Her knees were already tender, but crawling was a lot easier than hobbling, and she needed some distance from him, even for only a couple of minutes.
She moved slowly, lifting her knees clear of the ground rather than scraping them on the stone beneath. Chance stayed well behind, keeping her path illuminated.
The tunnel continued to a point where it faded into nothingness. Another larger cavern? Did this cave never end?
She followed the angle of the light to the indentation, a quasi-rectangular hole that required her to turn on her side to scoot through. Inside, the small niche appeared to have been formed by a giant ice cream scoop.
Chance followed her in, filling up a large part of the small space while the fresh memory of the kiss they shared lingered in the air, taking up the rest.
Kyndal gave a mental groan at the forced intimacy and sent up a prayer that someone would find them soon.
CHAPTER TEN
“THE KIDS’ CANS WERE EMPTY, but who in their right mind has a family portrait taken with everybody holding up cans of Skoal?” Kyndal threw up her hands in mock wonder.
Chance laughed, not only at the story, but at Kyndal’s animated way of telling it. She’d finally dropped her cool facade and relaxed into the Kyndal he remembered—the one who did everything with zeal.
What he hadn’t been able to reconcile in his mind was that, since college, the brilliant girl he’d known had already been involved in a scandal and was eeking out a living by taking family portraits at a Walmart wannabe. That bothered him more than a little.
“So, if you get this job, will you move back to Paducah?”
She smoothed a hand down her hair and leaned her head against the wall. “Yeah, or somewhere close.”
Kyndal…back in Paducah…unattached. That thought was disconcerting, considering the attraction between them. Any contact would have to be limited. Affiliation with her scandal would be all he needed to blow his political ambitions to Never Never Land. Paducahans wouldn’t take kindly to anyone who worked against the river industry.
Before he could delve too deeply into the matter, her stomach let out a roar that sounded as if an animal had them cornered.
“Sounds like somebody’s hungry.”
She pulled her pack into her lap. “You set up the house—” she nodded toward the T-shirt he’d taped across the doorway to hold in their body heat “—so I’ll cook. How do you like your granola bar?”
“I prefer sunny-side up, but since all we have is this flashlight, however you fix it is fine.” He moved to his knees
and stretched his arms over his head, brushing his fingertips on the ceiling.
While Kyndal fished around in her pack, she motioned again to the T. “That was a good idea. It’s actually pretty warm in here. Are you warm?”
He nodded.
She gave an impish grin. “Do you think it’ll keep the spiders out?”
“Damn it! Would you quit mentioning the freaking spiders? They’re not going to come this far.”
She gave a playful laugh and held out one of the granola bars to him. He reached for it, then hesitated and waved it off. “I’m really not very hungry yet,” he lied.
She saw through his charade and rolled her eyes. “This is no time to be gallant, Chance. With