“All right, Miss Lambert,” he snapped, swinging up onto his horse and yanking on the lead rope of the packhorse. “Have it your way. But I don’t think I’m the only one you’re angry with right now.”

CHAPTER 23

Eric watched Nicole climbing out of her sleeping bag and gave her a tentative smile. “Good morning.”

She nodded curtly, still bitter from the day before. “May I have my shoes, please? It’s very cold.”

He scrambled to his sleeping bag, retrieved her shoes, and tossed them to her, then sat down on a stone next to the creek. “Sorry,” he murmured. “I wish I dared make a fire, but the mountains will be crawling with company today.” When she didn’t answer, he looked up at the sky. “The sun will be high enough soon to take off the chill.”

Nicole slipped into her shoes without looking up, then tied them with an angry yank. She stood up and ran her hands through her tousled hair, her back turned on him.

“Nicole,” he ventured, “look, I’m sorry about yesterday. I—”

She spun around. “Are you?”

“Yes.” He took a deep breath. “Yes, I am.”

“Then let me go!”

He shook his head slowly. “I can’t, Nicole.”

“Your family is free!” she cried, clenching her fists. “You can let me go now!”

Eric stood up. “Cliff hasn’t come back to the camp yet. They think he was caught.”

Her head shot up in surprise; then her eyes narrowed into angry slits.

“And so it goes, huh? Everytime your little revolution loses somebody, Nicole is dragged back up the mountain.”

Her fury was suddenly so intense that she no longer trusted her voice. She grabbed her tote bag and, without so much as a second glance, stalked off toward the creek.

“Nicole,” Eric called as she disappeared into the trees. “Don’t forget to shout every minute or two.”

He gave her a full five minutes before he called the first time. By then she had washed and was pulling a brush through her hair with short, angry strokes. His voice floated through the trees, almost lost in the gurgle of the stream.

“Nicole,” he added after his third call, “I know you’re angry. But if you don’t answer now, I’ll have to come down there.”

“Go ahead,” she muttered, stuffing her brush back into her bag.

“Nicole!” His calls were coming more rapidly and sounded louder now. “I’m not playing. Either you answer or I’m coming down.”