Safe by His Side. Debra Webb

glanced up at the sky and then directed his scowl back at Kate. “The sky’s clear, it’s going to get really cold tonight. Unless you plan to sleep under the stars, you’d better get a move on. I won’t stop to remind you again,” he added before he turned and continued.

      Kate had the sudden, almost overwhelming urge to click her heels and salute. God, he would make a great drill sergeant. She quickly scanned the vast, blue sky. It looked much bigger somehow from here. There wasn’t a cloud to be seen. He could be right, Kate supposed. Obviously she wasn’t a meteorologist. She didn’t know one cloud from another, or what their absence meant in regards to their current circumstances. She shrugged and forced her weak, wobbly legs into gear. She’d have to hurry to catch up or risk being left behind.

      The trail climbed steadily upward. Kate was a little winded by the time she got within conversational distance of Raine. Not that he would be interested in conversation—he’d made that point quite clear. Her chest still ached, but she attributed the discomfort to fear. This man, she glowered at her leader, scared her. His friends—no, make that his enemies—scared her.

      The trail took a hard right, which brought them into an area of total and unexpected devastation—a raw, open gash in the side of the mountain. Kate was taken aback by the stark contrast to only moments before.

      There was absolutely nothing growing—no trees, no bushes, no nothing. The large expanse looked like the aftermath of a savage hurricane. Massive boulders lay scattered like marbles. Huge trees had been tossed about like toothpicks. In the distance, trees, logs, mud and rocks lay piled at least fifty feet high, a decaying monument to whatever had taken place to wreak such destruction.

      Raine trudged on relentlessly, taking little note of their surroundings. Kate had been so engrossed in the unnatural phenomenon that she’d fallen way behind again. True to his word, Raine didn’t appear concerned about whether she kept up or not. Pushing herself to move faster, Kate soon caught up with him.

      “What caused all that? It looks like an artillery battle was fought here.” She took one final look back over her shoulder at the naked area. In some stretches the earth had been scraped down to the bedrock. How could that spot look as if it had been hit by a holocaust and everything around it still appear so lovely and tranquil?

      “A flash flood.” Raine stopped and looked back as if he’d only just noticed his surroundings. He stared at the devastation for a long moment.

      Just when Kate was sure he didn’t intend to say anything else, he continued. “They say a monster storm hit, dumping massive amounts of water in a matter of minutes. Cresting at—” he shrugged “—more than twenty feet, it was like a highland tidal wave surging through and taking with it everything in its path.”

      Kate looked around warily. “That doesn’t happen on a regular basis around here, does it?”

      One corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile. “You don’t have anything to worry about as long as you don’t stand in one place too long,” he said, and then pushed off, heading ever upward toward wherever the hell they were going.

      Kate didn’t find his little jab amusing. She heaved a frustrated breath and obediently trudged after him. In her efforts to keep up with his long legs, she tripped over every exposed root and loose rock in the trail. She glared at his broad back. Raine seemed to know exactly where to place each step. His self-assuredness frustrated her all the more. Just once she’d like to see him lose his footing or trip over one of nature’s obstacles, she mused as she kicked another rock out of her path.

      Kate shivered in her parka. The sun was dropping slowly but surely behind the mountains in the distance, taking its waning warmth with it. Orange and purple streaks slanted across the sky behind the slope of majestic trees that gave way to the valley below. The view was breathtaking. Though Kate felt sure she had heard of the Smoky Mountains, somehow she knew she’d never before seen a view like this one.

      An occasional squirrel scampered into the open, gave Kate a curious look and then disappeared back into the forest. Birds went about their business, flying overhead or squawking from their perch on a nearby tree limb. Kate didn’t readily recognize any of the varieties. She obviously wasn’t a bird-watcher.

      Raine, on the other hand, seemed to know his way around this place. How did he know so much about the mountains? she wondered. Had he always lived around here? For that matter, what did she really know about him at this point?

      Nothing.

      Except that he was dangerous, she reminded herself. She had no idea where they were headed, either. She was cold and achy. Dusk had descended upon them. And she was starving.

      She had a right to know where he was leading her, didn’t she?

      Damn straight, she did.

      Kate stamped off after him. “Excuse me!” she shouted to his back.

      As she had anticipated, he ignored her.

      Her anger brought with it a burst of energy, Kate broke into a dead run. “I said, excuse me,” she repeated when she skidded to a halt right beside him.

      He paused, turned to her and lifted one eyebrow, a look of bored amusement on his too-handsome face. “I’d be more careful where I stand if I were you,” he warned. He inclined his head toward her side of the trail.

      Kate glared at him for half a beat before looking in the direction he’d indicated. Her eyes widened in fear when she realized she stood on the edge of a precipice. Instinctively, Kate flung herself at Raine. His arms went instantly around her as her feet shifted in the loose dirt and rocks that scattered over the edge.

      “Holy cow,” she muttered as she clung to his jacket. His arms felt strong and reassuring around her. “I didn’t even see it.”

      Raine set her away from him and on solid ground. “You should be more careful,” he said smugly, giving her an amused look.

      “Thanks for the warning,” she retorted, her heart still thundering painfully in her chest. She called him every vile name she could think of under her breath.

      Raine reached out and grasped a heavy wire cable that had been strung alongside the trail for some sixty or seventy feet. “Hold on tight and watch your step,” he called back to her.

      Kate uttered a nasty four-letter word, one she didn’t even realize she knew until it rolled off her tongue.

      Raine didn’t have to tell her twice to be careful. She held on to the cable with both hands as she cautiously edged forward. She took one hesitant look at the drop-off and cringed. It plunged a good hundred feet down. If a person survived the rolling, tumbling fall, climbing back up would be a real problem. Kate felt fairly certain that Raine wouldn’t be interested in helping her climb back up.

      To her surprise, he waited for her on the other side of the drop-off. When Kate made it to his position, she wrinkled her nose and asked, “What’s that smell?” The deep woodsy scent was gone, replaced by some sort of chemical odor. She couldn’t quite identify it, almost a metal smell.

      “Alum Cave Bluff. The rain and subsequent slides bring out the metallic odor,” he told her flatly. He offered no further explanation, just turned and continued forward.

      Kate stuck our her tongue at his broad back, but followed obediently. A regular Mr. Personality, she fumed.

      The trail grew steadily steeper as the ground beneath her feet became more powdery and less rocky. Her close encounter with the precipice had caused her to forget the demand for information she had intended to make. She still didn’t know where they were headed.

      The trail led them underneath the overhang of a bluff. The interesting terrain momentarily distracted Kate as she squinted to make out the formations. The natural beauty of the rocks and landscape grew more and more difficult to see as darkness closed in around them.

      “Watch out for the icicles.”

      Kate shifted her gaze from the rock wall to him. He pointed skyward and then moved swiftly beyond the craggy