Bound to You (One Night of Passion 1.50)

“Absolutely,” she called.

“Okay, I’m going to pull you up, now. Hold on tight.”

She suddenly rose three feet in the air and bit off a gasp. The rope cut into her hips and thighs; it pulled painfully against her forearms, straining her biceps and shoulders.

“You okay?”

“Yes!”

A loud grunt of effort tore through the air. She jerked another three feet, and the cave started to drop away from her. She heard another grunt from above and higher she went. About halfway up, she remained suspended for several seconds, swinging back and forth. She looked up through the hole, seeing the rope had been tossed over a tree branch fifteen feet above the ground. John was pulling it at an angle away from the hole, the tree branch taking much of her weight off the possibly fragile lip of the sinkhole. She couldn’t imagine the effort it must be costing him to haul her up.

Her hands were growing sweaty where they gripped her arms, but her discomfort was quite manageable. She was worried about John. Was something wrong?

“John? Are you okay?”

“Hold your horses, Missy,” Lila muttered near the edge of the cave. “You think it’s like playing on the monkey bars for him to haul you out barehanded?”

Embarrassment swept through her. She opened her mouth to contradict the cantankerous Lila, but stopped herself. “No, of course I don’t think it’s easy. I was just worried something was wrong. Is he okay?” she asked quietly, for Lila’s ears only.

“He’s fine,” came the reply, softer than Jennifer would have expected. “That boy is stronger than an ox, body and spirit. He’ll get you out of there.”

She thought she heard John gasp for breath. “It’s okay. I’m ready. Hold on, Jennifer.”

She flew higher, this time in two rapid, strong jerks of the rope. Her heart leapt with excitement when she reached up and touched the edge of the ground. A gray-haired, wrinkly-faced woman wearing a frown stuck her head over the edge.

“Give me one of your hands,” Lila ordered.

Jennifer put one of her hands in Lila’s. Her skin was dry and leathery, but the old woman had a wiry grip.

“One, two, three,” Lila shouted.

Lila yanked. Jennifer heard a mighty grunt of effort and then a sustained growl from John, and suddenly she was sprawled on the surface, her forehead pressed against a patch of weeds. Lila’s hands were on her, swinging her hips and legs onto the ground. Jennifer came up on her elbows, panting. The brilliant sun shining in her eyes made the forest look unreal, like a flickering, golden and green fairyland. For the first time, she realized Lila was also lying on the ground.

“Stay spread out on the ground, keep your weight disbursed. Less likely for a cave-in that way,” Lila instructed. “Now crawl toward John.”

Jennifer did as she was told, keeping John in her sights the whole time. He stood with his feet braced against the gnarly roots of an oak tree, the rope wrapped around his forearms and hands several times. Even though he wasn’t pulling on the rope anywhere near as hard as he must have been moments ago, his muscles still kept the rope taut. She couldn’t begin to imagine the strength it must have taken him to pull her out of that hole, drawing on the rope in an almost vertical motion from where it was suspended from the tree branch.

“I hope you know a good chiropractor. You’re going to need it after pulling me out of that hole,” she said regretfully as she neared him, doing an army crawl.

His mouth twitched. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Her attention was diverted when she heard a whining sound.

“Hi, Enzo. Thanks for supper last night,” she greeted. The tawny- and black-haired German shepherd sitting near John wagged his tail.

She’d almost reached John when a woman shouted from the path.

John’s head jerked around. “Pierce . . . Mulligan?”

Jennifer stuck her face up over the weeds and saw that John was correct. Several people stood on the distant path. She made out Katie Pierce’s golden hair and her anxious expression and tall, broad-shouldered Rill standing next to her. A brown-haired man wearing a police jacket stepped off the path.

“Keep back,” John shouted. “This ground is dicey. It’s liable to give with any more weight. We’re coming toward you.” He reached for Jennifer when she crawled up next to him. He released the tension on the rope and helped her to remove it from her hips.

He touched her shoulder and she looked into his face. His eyes weren’t just blue, like she’d thought in the cave. They were a startling azure color in sunlight. “Go ahead toward Katie and Rill. I’ll follow Lila.”

“Do I have to keep crawling?”

“Yeah, just to be on the safe side. You can stand up when you get to the Pierces.”