Free Out of Control by Mary Connealy

stop himself from kissing her. “The cavern’s just ahead.”
    She gave him a groggy smile, then nestled closer into his arms and rubbed her cheek on his chest. A man might well risk anything to wake up to such a smile. Then she gathered her strength and began looking around.
    â€œWe have to leave the horses here.” Pointing at a grassy slope, she said, “Picket them and we’ll walk.”
    Rafe did what the bossy bit of goods ordered.
    He swung off his horse, and when it came time to set her down, he realized just how comfortable he’d gotten holding her in his arms. When his feet hit the ground he released her legs. Maybe she could have stood on her own, but just in case, he kept his arm around her. He stood with his tall stallion between them and Ethan. Their eyes met. He moved a bit closer—and he was mighty close already, so that was saying something.
    He felt as if he searched for something in her eyes. He had no idea what.
    The moment stretched, and then Ethan led away the horses that had given Rafe a sense of privacy. Ethan’s horse was already staked out to eat grass. How long had Rafe stood there searching in Julia’s eyes?

    Shaking her head to clear it, she saw the first whisper of the approaching dawn. “I’ve been gone all night. Audra will be frantic. Come, we have to hurry.”
    She darted toward the nearby crest. She heard Rafe and Ethan moving and glanced back to make sure they were following. It occurred to her they didn’t need to go home with her. She could obviously walk home. And yet the dark and the strain of yesterday and the fear that would have Audra in its grip, and Rafe’s certainty that her rope had been moved deliberately so she couldn’t get out of the cavern kept her silent.
    She stepped to the top of the knoll and stopped so suddenly Rafe bumped into her. She pointed to the west. “Look at that.”
    The rising sun was shining on the snowcapped mountaintop miles away. Rolling, rugged mountains cloaked in darkness in such a way that distance meant nothing. That mountain shined white, cast with the pink and orange of dawn.
    â€œSo beautiful.” Her words were mere breaths that joined with the brisk morning breeze. “Like that cavern is beautiful. The heights and the depths. All created by a God who loves us.”
    She was finally able to tear her eyes away from the sight of that snowy peak washed in color. Below her was a steep descent to rushing water and the rocky span she needed to cross. Looking at Rafe, she said, “I hope you’re used to a rugged trail.”
    Rafe shrugged. “I reckon if you can do it, I can.”
    Ethan snickered.
    Men.
    Julia sniffed and started down the slope. Let them keep up.
    Of course they were very strong men. And one of them had saved her life. And now they were both protecting her while they saw her home.
    Men had their good points.
    Something she never thought about much, considering her father’s cranky nature.
    The descent took them out of the line of vision of that distant white mountain. And they went from a glimpse of dawn to the dark of night in a few steps. “It’s like being swallowed up by darkness.”
    â€œThere’s nothing here that could be called a trail. Are you sure we’re going the right way?”
    Julia’s eyes narrowed, she knew it, but she kept her back to Rafe so she could be as irritated as she chose. “That boulder there, the one that looks like a five-hundred-pound duck . . . ?”
    â€œA duck?” Rafe muttered from behind.
    â€œI see a loaf of bread,” Ethan said. “But then, I’m pretty hungry. I’d eat duck too if we had any.”
    â€œWe go to the right side.” Julia ignored both of them. “Then we’ll need to do some climbing to get down the next stretch.”
    â€œAnd you found this place on your afternoon walk?” Ethan didn’t call her a liar. That