A Little Time In Texas

Angel tensed. “What’s that?”

“I lost all my gear back there at the entrance—exit—to the cave. I don’t have any light. So while I know there’s another way out, we may have a problem finding it in the dark.”

Angel had forgotten about the dark. Now the blackness rose again to suffocate her. “Oh, dear God.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m afraid of the dark,” Angel whispered.

An instant later strong arms embraced her. Dallas tucked her head down under his chin. As he did so, at least a day’s growth of whiskers scraped against her temple. Pressed up so close to him, she could hear his heart thumping against his chest.

“Better?” he murmured.

To Angel’s surprise, she did feel better. The dark was not nearly so frightening within the cocoon of warmth he had created.

“How long have you been afraid of the dark?” Dallas asked.

“Since I—” She stiffened in his arms. “That’s none of your business. Look, are you going to just sit here, or are we going to try to find the way out?”

He didn’t answer with words, simply stood and took her along with him. “Let’s go,” he said curtly.

Angel heard the irritation in his voice. She hadn’t meant to be so rude, but she couldn’t explain something so personal to a perfect stranger. Still, she couldn’t help feeling grateful when he took her hand in his and didn’t let go of it. Of course, he probably only held on because he didn’t want to lose track of her in the dark. But she found comfort from the contact, all the same.

“Coming down,” he said.

“What?”

“The ceiling’s getting lower. Duck your—”

“Ouch!”

“You okay?”

“Of all the dumb, noddy-polled, loplolly questions I ever—”

Dallas chuckled. “You’ve got a quaint way of expressing yourself, Angel. But I get the message.” He reached back and found her hand where she had pressed it to her forehead. “How bad is it?”

“I’ll live.”

“Good girl.” He patted her on the back and pushed her head lower. “Keep your head down. It gets worse.”

So much for sympathy, Angel thought.

He was right, though. Things did get worse. Soon they were crouching, then crawling on their bellies.

“How much farther?” she asked.

“Another hour. Maybe two.”

Five minutes more would have been too long. Another hour—or two—seemed an eternity. She was exhausted. There was a hole in the knee of her trousers, and skin was scraping off every time she moved. “Can we stop and rest a minute?”

“There’s a place where we can sit, just a little farther on.”

That sounded more appealing than stopping on her belly, so Angel kept crawling. A few minutes later they were sitting up across from each other. There wasn’t enough room for Angel to stretch out completely, so she sat with her knees upraised. The stone was cool behind her back, and she thanked whoever was responsible for the dry rock floor and the apparent lack of animal life in the cave.

“How could your friends do something like this to you?” Angel asked.

“They weren’t my friends.”

“Then why did you get involved?” Angel asked.

“It’s my job to help damsels in distress.”

Angel smiled despite the awfulness of the circumstances. “What are you? A knight in shining armor?”

“No. I’m a Texas Ranger.”

“Of all the tom-doodle, gim-crack things I ever heard—why didn’t you just say so in the first place?”

“I never got the chance.”

“When I think how scared I was of you—and all for nothing.”

“Does that mean you aren’t scared of me now?”

There was a long pause. “Should I be?”

He snorted. “Not hardly. All I want to do is get you out of here and headed safely home. Then I plan to wash my hands of you and forget I ever met you.”

Absurdly, Angel was irritated by his attitude. So, he couldn’t wait to get shuck of her. Well, it wasn’t any skin off her nose if he did. She would be glad to be shed of him, too.

“What were you doing out there all alone?” he asked.

“Walking.”

“Maybe I should have asked where you were headed.”

“San Antonio.”

“That’s quite a walk from the hill country southwest of Austin, especially for a sprite of a woman like you.”

“I’m stronger than I look.”

“I won’t argue with that,” he said, chuckling. “It’s still a long way for a woman to be walking by herself.”

“It’s either travel alone or not at all,” Angel said.

He paused, then asked, “No husband?”