and she heard it. The ominous sound of cracking rock. The man cursed vehemently as a low rumble began, sending a shudder through the cave.
Suddenly he bolted upright and yanked her to her feet. “If you want to live, you’ll run. Run like the devil is at your heels!”
He took off in the dark, his hand clamped like a vise on her wrist. Angel careered after him, her arm stretched out of the socket as her short legs valiantly tried to keep pace with his long strides.
The rumbling sound seemed to follow them, until finally it caught up with them. Angel felt herself being propelled off her feet by a blast of air. With the kind of strength she could only imagine, the seventh man pulled her into the protective circle of his arms before they were both thrown forward.
“Get ready! Here it comes!”
Angel wanted to ask “Here what comes?” but it was already too late for that. There was no way she could have prepared for what followed. Behind them the cave began to collapse. Thousands of tons of rock fell, blocking their way out and sealing them in what had become their tomb.
When the dust settled again, Angel was surprised to realize that she could breathe easily. She wondered how long the air would last…and whether her kidnapper would take advantage of their remaining time alive to take what he had risked both their lives to get.
The man sat up and put a hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”
“Of all the stupid, shallow-pated, lack-wit questions I ever heard, that one—”
“Whoa, there, lady. That’s no way to talk to someone who just saved your life.”
Angel sat up abruptly, scooting backward out of range of his hand and stared into the dark. She knew he was there, she just couldn’t see him. “You have me all to yourself now,” she said bitterly. “For all the good it’ll do you. I have no intention of relinquishing my virtue to some varmint who—”
“Whoa, there,” he said. “I have no designs on your, uh, virtue.”
“Then why did you drag me in here?” she demanded.
“I was rescuing you, dammit!”
“Rescuing me! In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re trapped in here. We’re going to die! We’re—”
“Whoa, there, lady.”
“If you say that again, I’m going to scream,” Angel warned.
When the cowboy chuckled she said, “I’d like to know what you find so funny about this situation. We’re going to die. We’re trapped.”
“No, we’re not.”
“I don’t know where you’ve been for the past few minutes. To refresh your memory, this whole cave just came down practically on our heads. There must be tons of rock between us and the only way out of here.”
“That wasn’t the only way out.”
Angel was afraid to hope that she’d heard him right. “What?”
“There’s another way out. I’ve been in this cave before, but I’ve never come in this direction. Today I wasn’t paying attention and I took a wrong turn. I didn’t realize there was another way to daylight. You have no idea how surprised I was to see you.” He whistled long and low. “Sure looked like you planned to give those cowboys a run for their money.”
“I wouldn’t have made it easy for them,” she agreed. “You’d best be warned and watch out yourself.”
He laughed then, a rich, full sound. “Lady, I wouldn’t dare make a move on a hellcat like you. By the way, what’s your name?”
“Angel.”
That made him laugh again. “Far as I can tell, you’re anything but.”
“Now, look here, Mr.—”
“Name’s Dallas. Dallas Masterson. Pleased to meet you, Angel—Angel what?”
“Taylor.”
“Pleased to meet you, Angel Taylor.”
She imagined him tipping his hat. Only she was pretty sure he wasn’t wearing one. “If you know the way out, why are we still sitting here?”
“There is a slight problem.”
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