Dancing with the Devil

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ance would have liked to simply bypassed High Rock and the waterfall that cascaded over the cliff there but he had made a promise to Penelope and he intended to keep it... Even if it would mean an extra night of sleeping under the stars with Audrey just one small campfire away. 

If he went straight on through they'd make it to Old Man Thompson's within the next three days but if they went to the waterfall it would be at least four. Truthfully, Ance could use needing to get to safety as an excuse and probably get by with the fib, but he couldn't bring himself to lie to Penelope that way. 

"It's getting rough here," Audrey noted from behind him. Penelope was riding on her horse with her since the girl had decided Ance was too grumpy of a riding partner. Hell fire, it wasn't his fault he was grumpy! It was Audrey's. That damned woman had him twisted up, turned inside out and completely beside himself. Ance wasn't used to feeling so vulnerable and exposed and that's exactly what Audrey caused him to feel. 

When he'd been kissing her beneath the cloudy night sky a few nights ago, it had been pure heaven--or a one way ticket to hell--depending on how you looked at the situation. He wanted her, he knew she wanted him, and yet he couldn't be what she would want and need. She'd want a settling down man, a home every night for supper man, a faithful one woman man... Ance couldn't be that man. He didn't want to be that man. 

If Audrey had been any other woman, Ance would have taken her without caring about the consequences, but Audrey was different. She was a good woman; the only one he had ever met! She was a loving mother which was something Ance hadn't realized existed and she seemed to be a genuinely good person.... Not only that, but she was Penelope's mother and if he hurt her then Penelope would hate him for it--Ance wouldn't do anything to cause that girl to hate him. 

"These rocks are getting big!" Penelope exclaimed as they weaved between the boulders and climbed steadily upward. 

Ance rolled his broad shoulders as he patted his mare on the neck. "We gotta travel up a bit to get to that waterfall I was telling you about," Ance replied, though it wouldn't be much longer now before the trail looped around and they arrived at their destination. Already he could hear the roar of the water cascading in the distance. 

"You remembered?" Penelope exclaimed, her brown eyes lighting up. 

"Have I let you down yet?" Ance demanded with a wink. 

She giggled while Audrey did what could only be described as glowering. Ance winced. Audrey had been damn hostile toward him since the night of their kiss.... A kiss that still burned Ance's lips each time he let his mind go back to it.  Ance didn't understand why she was so damn mad at him. Hell, he'd been protecting her when he'd stopped things before they could go further.  

Penelope's cheerful voice began to sing songs about giant waterfalls and colorful rainbows. Ance let himself get caught up in her song and let Audrey, and his won mixed up emotions, fade from his mind. 

"Mama look!" Penelope exclaimed when they rounded the bend in the trees and rocks and the cascading thirty foot waterfall came into view. 

"Wow..." Awe filled Audrey's voice. "That's beautiful." 

Ance had known they'd love the view and it was why he had brought them here. The small glen they could see just below them at the base of the falls, was Ance's favorite place to camp and one of the only places that not even Irish knew about. The thoughts of why Ance had chosen to share this place with not only Penelope but also Audrey attempted to enter his mind but Ance quickly shook them away. 

"We'll camp there tonight," Ance announced, pointing toward the flat ground, dancing grasses and colorful wildflowers. 

"It's only a little after noon." Audrey glanced up toward the sky. "Shouldn't we move on?"