Previously in Wild Honey: After a day of hard riding, Jared decides they are far enough from the renegades to safely
make camp. After supper, Jared leaves Alaina alone to prepare for bed. Within minutes he comes racing back and tells Alaina
they have unknowingly set up camp right in the path of the renegades. She grabs Bright Eyes, a blanket and the baby’s
necessity sack then dashes out of the tent.
Issue #16
At first
Alaina couldn’t locate Jared. Afraid the renegades would hear her if she called out to him, she scanned the camp frantically.
Panic was clawing at her throat by the time she saw him untying the horses on the other side of the clearing. She wasted no
time hurrying over.
“Did you change your mind about the
horses?” she asked hopefully. “Can we out run them if we ride bareback?”
“Not without a pretty good head start. But our only
hope lies in convincing them that’s exactly what we did.”
“What are you going to do?”
“No time
to explain. Head for the trees, I’ll catch up with you.”
Without another word, Alaina turned and ran as fast as she could toward the forest where the trees were the thickest.
She was almost there when their three horses nearly ran her down. Frozen with shock, she was still staring after them
when Jared seized her arm and dragged her back into the trees. They were barely out of sight before their
camp was suddenly filled with men on horseback.
“Get
down!” Jared said and pulled her to the forest floor.
Frantic
to escape the renegades, Alaina struggled to get away, wiggling and twisting until Jared finally had to lie on top of her
and pull her hands above her head. “Damn it, Alaina, they’re going to hear you,” he whispered in her ear.
The words seemed to have no meaning for her, as she stared up at him with
huge frightened eyes. The muscles in her throat worked convulsively as she sucked air in through her mouth in a whistling
gasp. Jared could almost see the scream building and knew if he didn’t do something fast she’d bring the men down
on them like ants on a peppermint stick. If only he could keep her distracted long enough for the hysteria to pass. In desperation,
he did the only thing he could think of. He kissed her.
She tasted
like sunshine and clean mountain air, fresh and intoxicating. As he felt the tension go out of her body, Jared realized he
could easily forget the men in camp if he wasn’t careful.
Reluctantly he pulled his mouth away. “Don’t make a sound,” he breathed in her ear.
“They won’t even think of looking for us here until they catch up with the horses and find out we aren’t
on them. We’re safe here for a little while.” He felt her nod and lifted his head slightly to look back at their
camp through the trees. While Jared watched, a man came out of the tent waving Alaina’s extra dress.
“Hot, damn there’s a woman with them,”
he shouted excitedly. “This is our lucky day.”
“Only if we catch them,” said another as he rose from the ground where he had been studying the hoof prints
that led out of camp. “Looks like they saw us coming and decided not to wait around for company. Should
be able to catch them, though. They can’t be that far ahead. You five stay here in case they double
back on us. The rest of us will track them down.” He remounted his horse and headed out of camp with most of his men
following right behind.
“That’s our signal to leave,”
Jared whispered in Alaina’s ear. “Be as quiet as you can.” He rose silently to his feet,
and reached down to help her up. Praying the men wouldn’t start searching the woods for them until
dusk, he rescattered the pine needles, destroying the evidence that they’d been there. But when he pointed to the west,
she stopped him with a hand on his arm.
It wasn’t until she moved around behind him that Jared remembered the precious
cargo he carried on his back. A moment later she was back, indicating that Little Bright Eyes was sleeping peacefully.
Jared motioned for Alaina to follow him and headed toward the sinking sun.
A short distance away from camp, they came to the rocky outcropping that Jared had seen earlier. “If we walk
along the top of the rock they won’t be able to figure out which way we went,” he whispered.
Alaina nodded and started the difficult climb. Jared felt a flash
of admiration as he took her hand to help her over the worst of it. Most women he knew would have succumbed to the hysterics
that had threatened earlier, but Alaina had miraculously pulled herself back together. Even now she tackled the rugged outcropping
without complaining.
Once they reached the top, Jared stopped
to take his bearings, then headed north. The sun dropped below the horizon and twilight enveloped them in its welcome shadow.
Jared breathed a sigh of relief. The renegades wouldn’t be able to track them until morning now.
His relief was short-lived. They had traveled less than half
an hour before full darkness made walking treacherous. Snow and ice still covered the uneven rock in places.
One misstep could easily result in a serious injury. Jared took Alaina’s hand to guide her, but after
the fourth time he stumbled, she pulled free from his grip.
“You
can’t see where we’re going can you?”
He glanced
over his shoulder at her. “That’s a pretty stupid question.”
“Not really. Some people can see in the dark, and others can’t. I take it you’re one who can’t.”
“I suppose you can.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact. Why don’t you let me lead the way?’
Jared frowned. “You don’t know where we’re going.”
“Do you?”
“To Whiskey Jug
’s. You won’t have any idea where we need to take off across country.”
“And you’ll lead us off a cliff long before we get there because you can’t tell where
you’re going. Seems to me, we can sit down and wait until morning, or you can let me lead the way.”
Jared glared at her in the darkness. “All right,” he said grudgingly,
as he moved aside and let her take the lead. “Just watch out for holes and ice-covered rocks.”
“Don’t worry. I have no desire to break a leg up here. How will I
know when we get there?”
“I think there’s a
small spring along here somewhere. That’s where we turn.”
“You think?” she asked in surprise. “I thought you said you knew where we’re
going.”
“I do, I’m just not real sure how to
get there.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” she
said sarcastically.
He looked up at the stars. “I know where
we are, and I know where we want to go. It’s just a matter of putting the two together.”
“Have you ever been here before?” she asked
suspiciously.
“Not precisely here, but I’m pretty
sure we surveyed the other end of this outcropping last summer.”
“Are you sure it’s the same one?”
“I’ve
been all over these mountains and others like them and never seen another formation quite like this one. As far as I know,
it’s unique.”
“But there could be another like
it?”
“It’s possible. Still, if we head north,
we’re bound to hit an area I’m familiar with sooner or lter.”
“And you won’t recognize it when we do because you’re blind as a bat in the dark.”
“Do you have a better solution?” Jared asked irritably.
She stared at him for a moment, then turned and began
picking her way through the rocks. “Be careful, there’s a hole just to the left of us.”