Free Bella's Vineyard by Sally Quilford

things
worse. Vance would probably die trying to protect her. Still, the thought of
leaving him to be killed tore at her heart. “I’ll bring help,” she said.
    She started
crawling to the next rock, only to have a bullet hit the ground near to her
hand. She felt Vance yank her backwards. “They can see your white dress,” he
said. “Damn! I should have thought of that.”
    “You said they
didn’t want to shoot me.”
    “They don’t, but
I’m wearing a white shirt. They won’t know if it’s me or you so they’ll just
shoot anyway. Damn, damn, damn!” He leaned against the rock, but a sudden
footfall caused him to spin around and fire. They heard a cry in the night.
    “Well, it sounds
like I hit one,” he said. “Now we just need to find somewhere to take cover.”
He looked around him. “I know where we can go.” He picked up a couple of
pebbles and threw them to his right, before pulling Bella to the left, and the
next rock along. She heard another shot fire out, presumably in the direction
of the pebbles. “There’s some caves up in the canyon,” he said in a low voice.
“We’ll try to get up there.”
    “Won’t we be
trapped?”
    “Yes, but
there’s a few of them and they all go dark and deep. Come on.”
    It took them
over half an hour of moving slowly, from rock to rock, whilst Vance worked at
redirecting the rein of fire from their assailants. Finally, they reached a
ledge in the canyon and another rock to hide behind. “Be careful up here,” he
said. “Keep very low, because we’ll be in view. Wait a minute. I’ve got a
better idea.” He took off his shirt and rolled it up tight. His dark skin tone
camouflaged well against the rocks. “Now we only have to worry about your
dress.”
    “I am not taking
it off.”
    “No, if you do
that, I’ll be more of a danger to you than they are. I know.” He picked up a
handful of dirt and brushed it on the skirt.
    “This is my best
dress.”
    “You got a
choice, Bella. It can either be stained with dirt or blood. Perhaps you’d
rather deal with the bodice.”
    She picked up
some dirt and began rubbing it over her dress.
    “Turn around, so
I can get the back.”
    Bella did as she
was told, trying hard not to think about his hands sweeping dirt over her rear.
    “May is going to
be furious,” she said.
    “Not when I
bring you home alive, she isn’t. Come on.”
    He led her
across the ledge. At first it was wide, and they were able to take cover behind
some of the rocks that rested on the edge. Then it became narrower, and cover
hard to come by. He missed the first cave, and the second, pulling her around a
corner where the ledge became narrower still.
    “Don’t look
down,” said Vance, with his back to the ledge. Bella did the exact opposite,
feeling herself sway a little. She grabbed the cliff wall, and cried out in
terror.
    “Shh,” said
Vince as a shot rang out. “Do you wanna let them know where we are?”
    He held her hand
tightly, before leading her into a third cave. When they’d walked a bit further
inside, any light from the moon and stars disappeared, leaving them in
pitch-blackness. Bella walked forward a little, coming straight up against
Vance’s bare chest. She moved, backing into a wall, which felt damp and slimy
to the touch.
    “With any luck
they’ll get tired of looking in the others and give up,” Vance said.
    “What if they
don’t?”
    “They won’t be
able to enter the cave with their gun pointed, not on that narrow ledge.
They’ll be too busy holding on to the side, so I’ll be waiting to pick them off
with mine. Are you cold?”
    “Freezing.”
    “Here,” he
reached out in the dark. “Put my shirt on.”
    “What about
you?”
    “I’ll be fine.
Put it on. It’ll be better for both of us if you do.”
    Bella, not wanting
to ask what he meant by that, put the shirt on. It was still warm from where
he’d worn it, and smelled of him. Wearing it made Bella feel that she had
become a part of him