Christmas Kisses Collection. Louise Allen

      “I want to lead this time.” Ellen wasn’t sure what had gotten into her when she said that.

      Chance looked surprised. “Okay.”

      Ellen chose her path carefully, managing to get out into the middle of the river without any mishaps. There the water was moving faster and the gap between the rocks was wider. She hitched up her pack, preparing to jump. Pushing off hard, she jumped over the water and landed on her hands and knees on top of the next rock. Chance stepped up beside her. He took her forearm and helped her up.

      “You’re the most determined woman I know.”

      “Thanks.” Ellen moved on across the river. When she reached the other side she waited for Chance to join her, which he soon did. “Come on. We need to get going.” She headed down the path.

      “So are you usurping my authority now?”

      “I just thought I’d like to lead for a while. You know the saying: if you aren’t the lead dog, the view never changes.”

      He released a bark of laughter. The birds reacted by screaming and flying away.

      “Shush,” she said.

      Chance looked contrite then searched the area. His gaze came back to her. “No more smart remarks from you.”

      “You can’t blame me for that. You were the one being loud.”

      They didn’t walk long before the sound of civilization could be heard over the flow of water. Chance took the lead again, making his way into the greenery under a large tree. From their location they could see women doing laundry at the riverbank. There was an open field of high grass between the women and a group of huts sitting back against the jungle.

      Chance put his mouth close to her ear. “We’ll have to stay here until they leave. We might as well rest.”

      They slowly and as quietly as possible removed their packs. He leaned his back against the tree and she scooted up next to him. The women’s chatter lulled her to sleep.

      “Ow!” Ellen woke, slapping at her pants leg. She’d been bitten. Shaking out the material, she saw nothing.

      Something was wrong. Chance was gone. Going up on her hands and knees, she searched the river area where the women had been. There was no one in sight.

      Chance knew how she felt about being left alone. How could he disappear? Terror threatened to fill her chest but she pushed it down.

      He would be back. He had to come back.

      Off in the distance, downriver, clothes were hanging over a rope strung between two trees. There was a movement. One of the items disappeared from the line. Chance. She watched another piece of clothing being snatched away.

      He would have to cross the field and come upriver again to get her. It would be safer if she met him. Quickly pulling on her pack and putting his bag across her chest, she carefully left her hiding place. With her body as low to the ground as possible she worked her way across the field. A dog barked. She crouched down. Her calf burned. She couldn’t worry about that now.

      Waiting for further noise and hearing none, she hurried to the jungle edge and along it to where she’d last seen Chance. There he was, pulling another item from the lie. She moved again to where she’d seen him duck out of the trees.

      Chance’s eyes went wide when he saw her. He handed her a couple of articles of clothing and nodded his head downriver. He didn’t give her a chance to respond before he took his bag from her and quickly moved to the river and down the path. They walked at a rapid pace for a good while before he stepped off the trail.

      Out of sight he turned to her. “You scared me to death, showing up like that.”

      “And you left me.”

      “I planned to be back before you woke.”

      She glared at him. “Don’t do that to me again.”

      Chance studied her a second then said, “I won’t. I promise.”

      She believed him. “I saw you and knew you’d have to double back for me so I decided to meet you.”

      “Smart girl.”

      “So what did you get us?” She rubbed her calf. It was still stinging. What had bitten her?

      “Something for us to sleep on and a couple of clean shirts.”

      Ellen grinned. “I look forward to high-style living tonight. Shouldn’t we get moving?”

      “You’re starting to sound like me.” Chance smiled back and headed down the trail. Ellen had almost scared the life out of him when she’d shown up near the clothesline. He had really misjudged her when he’d first met her. Ellen had a backbone of iron.

      When she’d announced that she was going to take the lead he couldn’t help but be proud. If he had been in her place he would have been tired of following as well. The woman was full of surprises. His mother and ex-wife would have given up before they’d even got started. He wasn’t used to having such a resilient woman in his life. Life? Could he really have her in his life? Would she stay with him?

      He set a steady pace and Ellen kept up. A couple of times he checked behind him to see how she was doing. There was a determined look on her face, but occasionally her face was twisted as if she were in pain. Her feet must really be bothering her.

      It was drawing close to evening and he had started to look for a place to stay for the night when the sounded of rushing water reached his ears.

      “Is that a waterfall?” Ellen asked with enthusiasm.

      “Sounds like one.” If luck was with them they might have a good safe place to sleep and an opportunity for a fire. Even a bath.

      They made a turn in the path and the water disappeared over the edge of a cliff.

      He called back. “Are you up for a little climbing?”

      Ellen shrugged. “Do I have a choice?”

      “Not really. But if all goes well it’ll be worth it.”

      “Lead on, then.”

      Over the next half an hour they made their way around and down to the pool of water at the bottom of the falls.

      “It’s amazing,” Ellen said.

      “It is. Honduras has incredible falls. I’d leave you here but I know you’d have none of that so come on and let’s see if we can find a room for the night.”

      “Here?”

      “Sure.” Chance led the way around the pool toward the falls. He made a few maneuvers across rocks until they had worked their way behind it. There was the small cave he was looking for. It was large enough for them to remain dry and still have a small fire.

      Pulling his bag off, he dropped the clothes on top. Speaking loudly, he worked at being heard over the roar of the water. “Your hotel room for the evening.”

      Ellen looked around. “It’s wonderful.”

      “I need to look for something dry enough to burn before it gets too dark. Are you going to be okay here by yourself or do you want to come with me?”

      “Aren’t you worried about the smoke being seen?”

      He smiled and pointed to the falls. “It’ll blend in with the mist. We’re safe. Hopefully we can have dry clothes.”

      She looked unsure a moment then straightened her shoulders. “No, I’ll be fine here.”

      “I won’t be long. Why don’t you get that trash we have in our packs out to use as starter?”

      It took Chance longer than he’d expected