Read A Summer Smile for Free Online

safe in there once I scrounge up some ground cover to hide the opening." He grimaced. "I don't like the idea any better than you do. I have a thing about closed-in places too."
    "Then why not stay out here?"
    "Because it's safer for you in the cave," he said curtly. "Stay here. I'm going to take a look inside. I don't like unpleasant surprises."
    The mouth of the cave looked dark and menacing in the fast-failing twilight. "Are there any bears in S aid Ababa?" she asked.
    "Not that I know of." Daniel leaned his rifle against the wall of the cliff beside the cave opening, unstrapped his backpack, and dropped it to the ground. "I was thinking more on the line of bats and
    spiders."
    "Bats!" She shivered. "I think I'd rather face a bear."
    "Well, with any luck you won't have to face either one." He had drawn a small penlight from his backpack and was on his knees starting to crawl through
    the low opening. "Though I do think it would be a good idea to examine your priorities in that area."
    He seemed to be gone a terribly long time. Dear heaven, she hated just standing there waiting helplessly while Daniel took the initiative. Why hadn't she insisted on going with him? He had been risking his life for her from the moment he had walked into the cabin of the plane she'd been held hostage on, and she was still letting him run risks. That hole looked so dark and creepy.
    Snakes! What if there were snakes in there?
    She wasn't even aware that she had dropped to her knees until she had crawled halfway through the opening. Oh, dear heaven, it was dark in here. And she could hear no sound in the darkness ahead.
    "Daniel?" It came out as a whispering quaver, she noticed in disgust. What a miserable coward she was being. She lowered her head, took a deep breath, and began to crawl forward as fast as she could.
    Suddenly her head ran into something solid with a force that made her see stars. She lifted her head swiftly in alarm and she rammed into something equally hard. A chin?
    "Ouch!" It was a pained grunt from the bulk in front of her, followed by a shockingly explicit curse.
    "Daniel?"
    "Who else would it be, for heaven's sake? What the devil are you doing in here? Besides trying to knock me unconscious, that is."
    "I was worried about you." She found her arms clutching at him desperately. "Snakes." "What?"
    "There might be snakes in here." He was so big and warm and safe. She had slithered forward and now his arms were holding her. She could hear his heart beating beneath her ear, filling the darkness with its vitality. "Why isn't your flashlight on?"
    "I was saving the batteries. I don't have extra batteries for this one and we may need it later. 1 used it to check out all the nooks and crannies and then turned it off for the crawl back to the opening." His hands were moving over her shoulders and back in a caress that was sexless, she could tell. Yet his touch was causing hot vibrations to spread to her every nerve ending. "Didn't it occur to you that if you were afraid, it would be smarter not to come crawling to my rescue?"
    She shook her head. "If you're afraid of something, you have to confront it. I found that out a long time ago. If you hide your head, it festers inside of you until it poisons you. I had to come."
    His hands stopped their soothing caress for an instant. "Yes, I think you did." His lips brushed the top of her head with a feather-light kiss. "You'll be glad to know that your attempt to rescue me wasn't necessary. No snakes. No bats. No bears." He pushed her gently away. "Now, suppose you turn around and crawl out of here? I have a craving for fresh air. This place is smaller than I remembered." He turned her around and gave her derriere an encouraging pat. "Move."
    The air smelled clean and sweet despite its heavy heat when she crawled out of the cave. She shifted away from the opening and settled herself with a sigh of relief against the hard stone of the cliff wall. Daniel was close behind and rested beside