The Wedding Adventure by Melissa McClone

Author:Melissa McClone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Sitting in the shade of a palm tree, Cynthia stared out at the water. She’d been in the same position for hours. Watching and waiting for Henry’s arrival.

He isn’t coming today.

The realization hit her like the waves pounding the shore. She rested her head against her knees. If only she were a tiny crab digging a hole for itself on the beach. She wouldn’t mind burying herself in the sand.

What was she going to do?

She was too worn-out and hungry to cry. She didn’t want to sit here and hope Henry decided to show up. Returning to camp was her only option. But she didn’t want to go back. She didn’t want to see Cade. Not ever.

Footsteps sounded on the trail from the campsite. So much for never seeing him again.

“Hungry?” Cade asked.

Her stomach grumbled. No breakfast. No lunch. If only she knew what to say to him. Sorry-I-burned-all-our-food-can-you-feed-me-now wasn’t going to cut it.

“I made you something special.”

She didn’t deserve anything special.

You don’t deserve me. She couldn’t believe she’d said the words out loud. Just thinking them made her cringe. Was it hot enough to spontaneously combust? That was the only way out of this. Or she could drown herself. No, she was too scared to get wet let alone put her head under water. She stared at the white-capped waves rolling to shore.

“It’s a peace offering,” he said.

Nice try, but she didn’t know how to make peace. Yelling or fighting didn’t happen at her parents’ house. Making up was a foreign concept to her. She wondered if it would be cold sleeping outside tonight.

“It’s got chocolate.”

For chocolate she would consider a truce, surrender, peace, whatever it took. She glanced up. Cade handed her a pear half-drizzled with melted chocolate. Her stomach didn’t care whether she and Cade had argued or not. It only wanted food and the pear looked wonderful. One bite wouldn’t hurt. Juice dripped down her chin. She wiped it away. Okay, this was the best thing she’d tasted in days. Maybe she would take one more bite to be polite.

“Thank you,” Cynthia said once she’d finished. Making up was fun and filling. “That was delicious.”

“I’m sorry.”

His apology caught her off guard. She expected a little more chitchat first, some witty repartee, a few confessions and admissions of flaws. But Cynthia recovered quickly. “Me, too.”

He sat next to her and his thigh brushed hers. She hated the way her pulse quickened at the accidental contact.

“I know you were only trying to make me breakfast and not sabotage the adventure, but when I saw the ruined food I lost it.”

She waited for him to say something else. He didn’t. Must be her turn. “I should have realized I was wasting too much food and stopped. We have a long way to go and it’s going to be harder without our food supply.”

His eyes widened. “You aren’t leaving?”

“Of course I’m not leaving.” Staring into his eyes, Cynthia didn’t like what she saw. No trust. No future. Nothing. “You still don’t believe I’m going to stay, do you?”

“I…no.

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