Out of Control by Mary Connealy Read Free Book Online Page A

hours every afternoon or I can go out for a walk. I’ve had an interest in geological history for most of my life. So when I found the cavern, of course I explored. And I found a fossil.”
    â€œAnd a fossil is . . . ?” Rafe arched a brow and waited.
    â€œBones. I found old fish bones.”
    â€œYou found fish bones. Someone probably left the scraps from their meal behind.” Rafe sounded as if he were talking to a five-year-old. Or maybe he had the mental age of five; she wasn’t sure.
    â€œNot scraps . These are fossils .”
    Rafe’s expression was the very height of skepticism.
    Julia forged on. “I went for a walk today, as usual, but I . . .” She rubbed her head. “That man scared me. I doused my light because it gave away where I was. I ran. I must have hit my head and been unconscious for a while, but since I was unconscious, I’m really not all that sure how long I lay there. All I know is when I woke up it was pitch-dark. I tried to find my way to the entrance, and I did find the ledge; it had to be the right spot. I climbed it, but I couldn’t find my rope, and with no sunlight there was no way to see if I was in the right place.” She remembered something else. “I left my lantern down there. I need to get my lantern back.”
    â€œYou’re lucky you didn’t splash kerosene and set yourself on fire,” Ethan said from behind her.
    She really wished Ethan would move closer to Rafe so she could keep an eye on both of them. “Well, yes, now that you mention it, I am very lucky.” Julia rolled her eyes at the man’s imagination. “Of course I’m lucky any number of other things didn’t happen. I was quiet for a long time because I was afraid of that man. But finally I couldn’t stand being trapped any longer and I called out for help, and . . . and you . . . you were there. You answered. You saved me.” Her voice broke, and she launched herself into Rafe’s arms again. “Please, Rafe. Poor Audra. I’ve got to get home.”
    â€œIt’s full dark.” His arms came around her waist, and the strength of them was so wonderful she got ahold of her upset. “It’ll be all night getting you home.”
    â€œNo, I can tell you don’t believe me.” She pulled back far enough to look him in the eyes and spoke softly, persuasively, using small words with few syllables. “But I’ll show you the way.” She tried to sound coaxing. Maybe if she offered him a cookie. “I do have a trail. How else could I have gotten there? You don’t think I hiked twenty miles, do you?”
    â€œSo, you’ve found some treacherous mountain trail that fords that deep, fast-moving water and you want to go home that way in the dark?”
    â€œYes!” Julia smiled and gave him a quick encouraging pat on the shoulder. He’d finally started to act like a reasonable, intelligent man.
    â€œNo.”
    She’d fallen into the hands of a complete idiot. She let go of the idiot and sat back down. “I can’t stay out overnight. My father might kill himself searching for me.”
    Julia doubted that very much, but she thought it might appeal to Rafe’s heroic nature. He really was heroic. A hero didn’t have to be a genius after all.
    â€œWe’ll go at first light.”
    He really was bossy, too.
    â€œI know your family will be frantic.” Rafe picked up one of her hands, and Julia noticed for the first time that she had several bleeding fingernails. Then she forgot about her nails as his touch reminded her of his kiss, though she was sure now that he’d only kissed her to turn her attention from her hysterics.
    It had certainly worked. And then he’d asked her if she was sixty years old, in a voice that sounded slightly sickened. And she’d slapped him.
    If she had it to do over again, she’d slap