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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?”
Angel sighed. “No. No family at all.”
The thought of all the walking alone she had yet to do reminded her about her skinned knee. “Do you by any chance have a bandanna?” she asked.
“Sure. Why?”
“My trousers are ripped and my right knee’s getting scraped worse every time I move. I wanted to try and bandage it.”
“I’ll do it.”
Before Angel could protest, Dallas had reached for her. Only he missed her knee and found her thigh. She tensed at the touch of his hand. His fingers walked their way down her leg to her knee.
“Found it,” he said. “Feels like you skinned it pretty bad.”
Angel hissed in a breath of air as his fingers gently probed her wounded knee. She stiffened as he straightened her leg out across his lap and began tying the bandanna in place. She wasn’t used to being touched by anyone, and most especially not by a man.
“That ought to do it,” Dallas said, patting her leg.
Angel suddenly wished it wasn’t so dark. Maybe if she could see the face of this stranger, she wouldn’t feel so awkward in his presence. But there wasn’t any light and wouldn’t be for at least another hour—or two.
“What do you look like?” Angel asked.
There was a long silence. Dallas drew in a breath of air and huffed it out. “I don’t know what to say.”
“What color eyes do you have?”
“Brown.”
“Hair?”
“Brown.”
“How would you describe your face?”
“It’s just a face,” he said curtly.
“You’re not being much help!” Angel snapped back.
“What do you want me to say?”
Angel realized it had been foolish to ask him to describe himself. But she was glad he hadn’t bragged he was handsome…or admitted he was plain. Still, she was curious.
If the situation were different, she would never have asked; but if the situation were different, she wouldn’t have needed to. “Could I touch your face? I think I could tell by feeling, what you look like.”
He hesitated so long she was afraid he was going to refuse. At last he said, “All right.”
To her surprise he lifted her up and set her on his lap facing him, so her legs straddled his waist. It was a far more intimate pose than she would have liked, but she was afraid to complain lest he withdraw his permission for her examination. She was conscious of her breasts inches from his chest, of the heat of his thighs under hers. She could feel his breath on her face. An uncontrollable shiver ran down her spine.
“Anytime you’re ready,” he said.
Angel held her breath as she reached out tentatively in the dark. She found his chin. There was a small cleft in it.
“When was the last time you shaved?” she asked, testing the rough bristle of beard under her fingers.
“Three days ago.”
She slid her hand along his jaw and felt the muscle work under her hand. It was a strong jaw and led to prominent cheekbones. His nose was straight and not too big, but it had a bump along the bridge.
“What happened here?” she asked.
“Broke it in a fistfight. Twice.”
There were wrinkles on his forehead and crow’s-feet at the edges of his eyes. He had done some living.
“How old are you?”
“I’ll be thirty-four next month. How old are you?”
“A lady never tells her age,” she said, then added, “Twenty-two.”
He had a widow’s peak. His hair was thick and soft, and she let her fingers slide through it all the way down to where it curled over his collar.
“You need a haircut.”
“I like it the way it is.”
Apparently he was used to getting his own way.
His eyes were wide-set and large, and the lashes were ridiculously long and curled up from his cheeks where they lay. His eyelids were softer than the skin on the rest of his face, which felt not quite smooth, but not leathery, either. The scar on his cheek intrigued her.
“What happened here?”
“Knife fight.”
She frowned. “Seems you get into a lot of fights.”
“Hazard of the job.”
Angel had left his mouth for last, because it seemed the most personal of his features. There were deep slashes on either side of it. She wondered if he dimpled when he smiled.
“Smile for me.”
“Why?”
“Please.”
What she felt under her hand was more like a grimace, but yes, there were dimples there. “You can relax now,” she said.
She felt a genuine smile form under her hands as he said, “Thanks.”
