Rogue's Revenge - By Gail MacMillan Page 0,44
bear if she fell over it.”
“If it were a bear, you wouldn’t have heard it.” He adjusted the gas as a flame leaped up. “I’ve seen a four-hundred-pounder move as silently as a shadow.”
“But no birds were singing!”
“What?” He snapped around to face her.
“No birds were singing. Gramps always said that meant a predator was near.”
“I’m glad you remember one of Jack’s lessons. What did you do after you decided it was a bear? Run?”
“Of course not. Not until I threw my hat in his direction to give him something to sniff and me a head start.”
“You did listen to Jack.” Satisfaction brightened his tone.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Exasperation overpowered fear. “Aren’t you going to investigate? Aren’t you going to…”
“Take on a bear with a knife, a hatchet, and a can of pepper spray? They’re the only weapons I have. I’m not that heroic. I’ll go back and get your hat after we eat. You’ll be needing it. By that time, whatever you heard will be gone.”
“Ahhhhh!” She plunked herself down on the shore and clasped her hands on top of her head. He was the most frustrating creature she’d ever met. And that included several green-broke horses.
“Those clothes fit pretty good.” He glanced over at her as he put coffee on to brew. “For only having met you once, Jess did a great job of sizing you up. You smell nice, too. Guess she has good taste in whatever that stuff is.”
“You arranged all this yesterday when you went to town, didn’t you? The roses were only a ploy to soften me up, to get me to trust you, and drink that Harvey Wallbanger of a wine.”
“Elderberry.” A smirk curled one corner of his mouth. “If you had been familiar with wine made from local berries, you might have taken it a little easier.”
“Oh, and that fact lessens your culpability?” She rested her back against a log and stretched her legs out in front of her.
“No.” He took a couple of sandwiches out of a plastic container, put them into a frying pan, and set it on the stove’s second burner. “But it does explain why I had only a couple of glasses and managed to stay awake. Careful, that’s hot.” He stopped her as she reached for the coffeepot.
“I’m so thirsty and hungry I could swallow molten lava,” she said but drew back and waited for him to serve her the coffee in a tin mug, along with the toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich on a plastic plate. She took a sip of the steaming brew, bit into the sandwich, then closed her eyes and munched in ecstasy.
“Mmmmmm,” she moaned with pleasure. “Food from the gods couldn’t taste any better.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” He joined her against the log, his own coffee and sandwich in hand. “But there is a special something about food cooked and eaten in the outdoors. Especially after a fifteen-hour fast.”
“Fifteen hours? What time it is? How long did I sleep?”
“It’s shortly after noon. You only slept a few hours, Rip Van Winkle. Don’t worry. You haven’t aged perceptibly.”
“Clever, aren’t you?” She paused in wolfing down her lunch and glared at him. “As soon as I’ve finished eating, I plan to start walking back to the Lodge. All I have to do is follow the river.”‘
“And cross two ravines with freshet-flooded streams and temperatures so cold they will kill anyone foolish enough to try to cross them at this time of year.” He replenished his cup and hers. “Hypothermia isn’t a pleasant way to go.”
“So I’m trapped here…with you?”
“Looks like it.” He sipped his coffee, watching her over the rim of his mug.
“Well, don’t expect any romantic moments, buddy!” She stacked her cup and plate beside him and leaned back against the log. “Not if you were the last man on earth and the human race were about to become extinct.”
“Fine by me.” He gathered her dishes with his and stood. “All I want you to do is enjoy the ride, drink in the ambience, and allow yourself to develop an appreciation for the surroundings. You can get started while I pack up our gear.”
Allison drew a deep breath of clear, cool spring air lightly flavored with the scents of burgeoning greenery. Just this once it wouldn’t hurt to do as he instructed.
Maples and birches, their buds already beginning to fan out with the promise of new leaves, surrounded their landing site. Riverside ferns and grasses, too, were becoming verdant with rebirth. Even the alders along