“And he’s the type who would do something like this?”
“The guy’s a crook. He basically got his company by swindling someone else out of it. He’d almost drained it dry by the time Bryan moved in to take it over. Childers’s name has been connected with several crimes—mail fraud, embezzlement, that sort of thing—but there’s never been enough evidence to bring him up on charges. Yeah, he’s the type who would do this.”
“Do you—?”
He looked at her when he faltered. “Do I what?”
“Do you think they ever intended to let us go?”
Donovan’s eyes held hers for a moment, and then he looked away.
He had never lied to her, Chloe mused. He simply chose not to answer some of her questions. And maybe that was just as well.
Still, she felt the need to ask just one more question. “Do you think Bryan will find us?”
He answered that one without hesitation. “He’ll find us.”
“You seem to have a lot of confidence in him.”
“I do,” he answered simply.
“I hope you’re right.”
After a few more minutes of listening to the rain fall, Donovan stirred. “How are your feet?”
“Numb. I can’t really feel them right now.”
“Still thirsty?”
“Not enough to go out in the rain,” she answered with a faint smile.
“I’d go get you some water, but I don’t have anything to carry it in.”
He was so determined to take care of her. A bit wistfully, she found herself wondering if it was only because it was his job to do so. “That’s okay.”
“I wish I had something for you to eat. I guess we could chew on some acorns or something.”
That made her laugh. “No, thanks. I’m not quite that hungry yet.”
“You have a nice laugh,” he murmured, his gaze on her smiling mouth.
Her smile immediately froze.
Donovan looked away. “Uh—Bryan thinks so, too. He mentioned it when he first told me about you.”
Bryan. The name slid between them like an invisible wall.
Funny. Chloe could hardly bring Bryan’s face to her mind at the moment.
The rain eventually slowed and then stopped. Chloe inched to the cave opening to peer out again. Water dripped steadily off the leaves of the branches that nearly obscured their hideaway. Swollen by the downpour, the stream ran more swiftly than before. A deer and her fawn drank downstream, then turned and disappeared gracefully into the trees. The sky was still low and gray, but the rain seemed to have ended for a while.
Under any other circumstances, Chloe might have been enjoying this encounter with unspoiled nature.
She wasn’t surprised when Donovan said, “We should get moving. Before it starts raining again.”
Though it wasn’t easy, she nodded. “I’m ready.”
“You’re sure you can walk?”