The entrance had collapsed.
Tears leaked from her eyes.She wanted to pound her fists in frustration.
She allowed herself a moment to wallow in frustration at the setback.
That’s all this was … a setback.She tamped down the returning panic that threatened to paralyze her, shoving it to the back of her mind.
If rocks had tumbled down, they could bloody well be shoved aside.
Her eyes feeling gritty from dust and fatigue—how late had the night grown?—and her hands and knees on fire, she picked up a rock from the top of the pile and flung it to the far side of the cave.She cocked her head to listen, wanting to be sure the rock landed on the floor and not on Fairfax.It landed with a clatter, not a dull thud, before rolling to a stop.
She tried to gauge the center of where the entrance had been by where the peak of the pile seemed to be, and began throwing rocks off to the side.Some were too big for her to budge so she worked around them.
Perspiration trickled down her spine, her breath came in harsh pants, and occasionally she swiped her sweaty brow with the back of her forearm.The rocks grew heavier.More and more of them were too heavy for her to shift.Figuring perhaps she could move the big rocks by removing the smaller ones supporting them underneath, she worked her way down the pile.
Minutes or hours later, as she paused to catch her breath and stretch cramped muscles, she heard another sound.
A groan.
“Lord Fairfax?”she called.
He grunted.
She clambered down and felt her way to his side, and shook his shoulder.“Lord Fairfax!”
He pushed away her hand as though brushing away an annoying insect.
“I would really like it if you could wake up, my lord,” she said.
“Not tonight,cara,” he muttered.
Sophia sat back on her heels, her hands on her hips.Until she realized her hands hurt too much to rest on fabric, and she let them dangle at her sides.Here she was, trapped in a cave with a collapsed entrance, had been in complete darkness for who knows how long, perhaps no one knew they were stuck in here, her hands and knees and probably other body parts bleeding from crawling on sharp rocks, she was exhausted from trying to free herself … and her only companion wanted to sleep instead of regaining consciousness?
“Wake the bloody hell up!”she shouted.Her voice bounced off the rock walls, reverberated inside her skull.
“Ow, ow, ow,” he muttered.Fabric rustled.“No need to shout,” he grumbled.
Relief washed through her at hearing his rumbling bass voice, even if he likely wanted to throttle her just now.“Can you sit up?How is your head?”
“Thought Iwassitting up.”
She reached out and found his shoulders—both of them.
His hands grabbed hers and held them, waving them in front of where she imagined his face was, before bringing them down to his chest.“Why is it so dark?”
“The cave entrance collapsed.”She detested the break in her voice on that last word.
“Oh.Thought that’s what happened when Clyde fired.”He cleared his throat.“Let’s have a look at the damage.”He let go her hands.
Before she could sarcastically inquire if he had gained the ability to see in total darkness, she heard more fabric rustling, a scratch, and then a candle flared to life, held in Fairfax’s hand.
She blinked at the sudden brightness.
His face was smudged with dirt, darkened from razor stubble, her black fichu wrapped at a jaunty angle around his head holding his folded white handkerchief in place, and streaks of blood marred his hair, temple, and forehead.
He had never been more handsome.She had never been so relieved in her life to see another human.
He dripped a little wax on the ground off to the side and set the candle in it, then started to rise.And sat back down with a thump and groan, holding his hands to his head, his eyes squeezed shut.
