White Water Passion by Dawn Luedecke

Author:Dawn Luedecke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Beth’s nose itched worse than it had when she’d been ten and Simon had stuck the Chickweed in her face, but she couldn’t move until the large brown animal left. In the early morning sun, she stared at the rotted shelter she’d stayed in during the night, and cringed. Bugs of some kind skittered about hollowed out trails and down the surface of the decomposing, cavernous trunk. The warmth from her body fused with the elk’s body heat. If it wasn’t for the animal’s chosen bed last night right in front of her natural shelter, she would have died during the cold dark hours, but the warmth from the elk’s body filled the small space and warmed her like a blanket. God had certainly answered her prayers.

A tremor shot through the animal’s skin, and it leapt to its feet and ran. Flashes of brown flew by past the opening as the rest of the herd followed.

She wiggled her arm out from under her body and flexed her hand. The numbness she’d felt all night turned into painful pin-pricks as she worked the blood back through her fingers. Now that it was light, she could finally try to pick her way back to camp.

A twig snapped, and she stopped in her tracks, and listened. A squirrel skittered from the ground and shot up a tree. She relaxed.

The sun sliced through the leaves to her left, but the large gap in the canopy of trees the river provided would allow her to catch her bearings and figure out which way to go.

She waded shin-high into the water, not daring to go farther. She craned her neck to see upstream. The familiar peak of the hill across the lake from camp was dark against the cloud-sprinkled sky. She faced the mountain and mentally calculated the distance to camp from the peak, and then turned in the approximate direction. If her calculations were correct, she could cut through the forest and walk straight to camp, as long as she didn’t stray from her straight line. If that didn’t work, she would back track and follow the river, which would take a lot longer, judging by the amount of time she floated last night.

Beth studied the sun to try to gauge the direction she would take. With any luck, she would be there by dinner.

The trees enclosed her in shadows as she picked her way deeper into the forest. Each creak, every crack or thud that sounded, sent fear sliding down to the pit of her stomach, but she knew it was nothing but the voice of the forest.

She walked until her legs ached.

Two, maybe three hours had passed before she stopped to gauge her direction. She checked behind her. The path she’d taken seemed straight enough. She should be hitting familiar terrain soon.

The ground beneath her shifted when she stepped onto an animal trail that descended the hill. Pebbles cascaded to the bottom of the ravine as her foot slipped. She landed on her backside and followed the pebbles.

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