Alley’s eyes widened in horror. They were out in the middle of nowhere, and Shane was having an allergic reaction to the ant bites. His face had turned red, covered in sweat, and he struggled for air.
“Don’t panic,” she said out loud. Whether the advice was for him or for herself didn’t matter.
Shane wheezed, struggling to draw air into his lungs. His trembling arm lifted and he pointed to the horse.
“Saddle . . . bags,” he rasped.
Alley strained to make out the words. She tore her eyes away from him and rushed up to the horse, who stood grazing without a care in the world. The end of the rope Shane had used to pull her up the ravine was still tied to the saddle horn.
Her hands shook so badly, it took several tries to unbuckle the saddlebag closest to her on the side of the horse. She let out a cry of joy when she pulled out a red vinyl kit with a white cross on the front. Shane was in anaphylaxis. She needed epinephrine. In a pinch, cold meds with epinephrine in them might help, too, but would she find anything like that in this kit?
She rushed back to Shane’s side. His wheezing had gotten worse. Dropping to her knees beside him, she unzipped the kit. Several bottles, tubes, and packets of gauze fell to the ground. Alley dumped the rest of the contents on the ground.
“Thank God,” she cried. Her heart skipped in her chest. A pack of injectable epinephrine was among the emergency medical supplies. Shane had come prepared for everything.
She ripped open the package and took out the single-dose syringe, taking off the cap.
“Sit back, Shane. I need to inject this into your thigh.”
He stared at her with wide eyes, but was unable to do much else but nod. Without hesitating, Alley pushed the needle against Shane’s leg, straight through his denims. He stiffened for a moment, then relaxed.
“You’re going to be okay.”
Alley had to say her thoughts out loud so she might believe them. Her voice had never cracked this much. Her limbs were weak and shaky from the natural adrenaline rushing through her body, as if she’d injected it into her system. She sank to the ground, glancing around first to make sure there were no ants anywhere.
Catching her breath, she tensed when Shane’s hand clamped around her arm. She faced him, noting the grateful look in his eyes. His wheezing had already seemed to lessen.
“Thank you,” he rasped. “You saved my life.”
The impact of his words shot straight to her core. She’d had some emergency and first aid training in school, but nothing this hands-on. She could recite the reaction going on at a molecular level in Shane’s body by heart, but this was the first time she’d witnessed it in person.
“Whoever packed that epinephrine in the medical kit saved your life,” she stammered.
Shane’s grateful look remained on her, making her cheeks flush. To avoid eye contact, she gathered up all the items she’d dumped out of the medical kit, and stuffed them back in the pouch.
“There is cortisone cream here and some antihistamine pills. I think once the injection takes full effect, you should take some of those. I can put the cream directly on the bites.”
There was also another syringe of epinephrine, if the first one didn’t do the job. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to use it.
“I also think you need to get straight to a doctor and be checked out.”
Shane’s chuckle turned into a cough. He still wasn’t completely out of the woods. His chest moved up and down, and the wheezing eased with each breath he took, but his system was still physiologically in shock and trying to rebalance itself.
“Doesn’t look like that’s going to happen right now,” he rasped. “I never thought a few ant bites could cause this.”
“Anaphylaxis is serious, Shane. You didn’t know you were allergic to fire ants?”
He shook his head. “Don’t think I’ve ever been bitten by them.”
“Their bites are unpleasant in any situation, but your body is clearly sensitive to the allergens in their bite. Your body went into defensive mode to fight off what it thought was an invader.”
“I’m glad you’re explaining it to me in layman’s terms.”
Alley stared at him, then smiled. “If you want, I can discuss immunoglobulins and mediators such as histamines, tryptase, prostaglandins, and various others. The high amount of prostaglandins your system produced caused bronchoconstriction to where your airways closed off. It’s also responsible for –”
Shane raised his hand and pressed a finger to her mouth. He struggled to sit up, and leaned toward her. His smile turned to a grin.
“You had me at defensive mode,” he murmured, “All those fancy words sound really good coming from you.”
Alley swallowed at the way he looked at her. Her own airways seemed to be closing off, making it hard to breathe. Admiration shone in his eyes. His pupils were more dilated than normal, but it had to be from the epinephrine.
She blinked and tore her gaze away. Shane was grateful for her help, nothing more. It was ridiculous to read anything more into the way he looked at her, or the way he’d held her down in the ravine. At that time, he’d simply been glad that his search for her was over. She moved to stand, keeping weight off her sore foot and brushing some dirt from her already-dirty jeans.
“If you’re feeling up to it, shouldn’t we be going?” she stammered. Her gaze drifted to the sky. It would definitely be getting dark soon. Shane really needed to be checked out by a doctor. She glanced at him.
“It’s getting dark.”
“How do you feel about camping, Alley?” He smiled and raised himself to stand on unsteady legs. He coughed, but the wheezing was almost gone.
“Camping?”
Shane stumbled forward and leaned heavily against his horse. “I don’t think I’m in the mood to walk all the way back to the ranch right now, and like you said, it’s getting dark.” He faced her, studying her with eyes that weren’t quite in focus.
“You mean, you want to spend the night out here in the woods?”
Alley’s heart dropped to her stomach. She’d never been camping in her life. How many times had she read about adventures in the woods, and stories of survival? Never had she thought she might be living in one of those stories.
Shane smiled at her while resting against the horse. “I was supposed to come and rescue you, Alley. I think it’s too risky to try and walk back to the ranch in the dark. We’re going to be out of daylight in about an hour, and it’s at least ten miles to the ranch, if not farther.” He patted the horse’s neck. “Gus here picked up a nail. He’s in no better condition to make the trip back right now than we are.” He chuckled. “What a trio we make.”
Alley limped up to him, assessing him with her eyes. Her pulse raced. This was a serious predicament they were in, but she would have been much worse off if she had been out here alone. She could spend one night in the woods, but could Shane, with his allergic reaction?
“You need to see a doctor,” she whispered.
His hand reached out. He hesitated, then his palm cupped the side of her face. The feel of his calloused hand against her cheek sent a burst of electricity through her. She was out in the middle of nowhere . . . with Shane Taggart. Not even in her wildest dreams in high school had she conjured up this scenario.
“What about you, Alley? How’s your foot?” The concern in his eyes was for her. He wasn’t even worried about himself.
The mild throbbing in her foot hadn’t even registered after Shane had lifted her from the edge of the ravine. Right after that, he’d stuck his hand in the fire ant nest, and gone into anaphylaxis.
“My foot hurts a little, but honestly, I forgot all about it.”
Alley barely got the words out. He hadn’t removed his hand from her cheek yet. What should her reaction be? Step away from him? Pretend this didn’t affect her in a way that left her feeling like melted ice cream, ready to collapse into a puddle on the ground?
Whatever her misconceptions had been, based on what she’d remembered about Shane from school, now flew out the window. She’d already started seeing him in a completely different light since the day they’d had lunch at Evie’s. What to make of him now? Her heart and mind were a jumbled mess.
“I saw some painkillers in the first aid kit. I can take some if the pain in my ankle gets worse.”
Shane nodded. He continued to gaze at her as if some invisible beam glued his eyes to hers. The allergic reaction and subsequent injection must be messing with his head.
Alley moved her face to the side and took a step back, a signal for Shane to remove his hand. To keep from reading too much into his actions, she searched her mind to remember what needed to be done in a survival situation.
“I think if we’re going to camp out in the woods tonight, we should have a fire, right?” She glanced at his hand that had been bitten up by the ants. Multiple blisters covered the skin.
“I think you need to lie down. Your system just went through quite a shock. I should put some cortisone cream on your hand, and I’d like you to take some antihistamines.”
Shane looked as if he was about to say something, but his jaw relaxed, and he merely nodded. He finally moved his eyes from hers and glanced around.
“I’ll get Gus unsaddled and tied somewhere so he can eat, then I’ll work on setting up some type of camp and start a fire.”
Alley shook her head. She sniggered. “You’re out of your mind, Shane Taggart,” she scolded. “I said you need to lie down. Let the chemicals in your body rebalance. I’ll take care of this.”
His brows rose. “Do you know how to set up a camp?”
“No, but I’ve read plenty of survival stories. I’m sure I can figure it out.”
The look on his face clearly communicated he didn’t think she was capable of taking care of things.
“I’m not a doctor, but if you relapse and have another reaction, we’ll be worse off than we are right now.” Alley held her hand to her hip and glared at him. “You might as well listen to me and go sit under that tree over there, and then we’ll all have a chance to get through this alive.” She spun away from him, then changed course and faced him again. “Better yet, lie down under that tree and elevate your legs.”
A slow smile formed on his astonished face, which turned into a lazy grin. “Yes, ma’am.”
Surprisingly, Shane did what she said. He must be feeling worse than he let on. He moved around the horse, and lowered himself to the ground beside one of the many pines that grew in this area. Because of the dense growth of trees, she’d lost her way and ultimately tumbled down the ravine. Her cellphone hadn’t had a signal since she fell from Harley after one of the reins broke. If Shane hadn’t found her, she would have been out here alone tonight.
Alley turned away from staring at him. She no longer had a crush on Shane Taggart. That had gone away a long time ago. No, now it was ten years later, and she was falling in love with the man he had become.
She blinked away the sudden tears that pooled in her eyes. They were two completely different people, from two different backgrounds. Like ten years ago, what could he possibly see in her now? It was as he’d said weeks ago. People in Burnt River helped each other. There was no need to read anything else into his actions, or the way he looked at her.
Alley unsaddled Gus, used the lariat to create a picket line for the gelding so he had an area to graze, then brought the saddle to where Shane sat slumped against a tree. His eyes were closed, but his breathing was steady, and there was no more wheezing. Now that the epinephrine had worn off, his body had crashed, just as she’d suspected it would.
After collecting several armloads of wood, Alley created a small fire ring with large stones close to Shane’s resting spot. She used the lighter that was still in her pocket from when she’d removed it from the tack room earlier today to set a pile of leaves and grasses she’d gathered together on fire. It didn’t take long before a nice little flame took hold of the wood she added. It cracked and spit, sending up little glowing embers.
Satisfied, she unwrapped the blanket tied to the back of the saddle and spread it out over Shane. She propped the saddle against the tree, creating a more comfortable backrest for herself. Tossing the saddle pad on the ground, she sat next to him. After rummaging through the saddlebags some more, she found water bottles, snack food, and even a sandwich. Her stomach growled in response.
“I guess it could have been worse,” she mumbled.
The last bits of light quickly vanished, swallowing everything in darkness. The only light came from the fire, casting eerie shadows all around. Alley strained her eyes to see. Hopefully she’d gathered enough wood to keep it going for a while longer. She swallowed a couple of painkillers, then opened the tube of cortisone cream and reached for Shane’s hand that was still slightly swollen. Welts and blisters covered the back of his hand, and she gently applied the salve.
Shane stirred. Startled by the movement, Alley nearly dropped his hand. He shifted his upper body to a more upright position, glancing around until his eyes rested on her.
“You started a fire?” His voice was filled with awe.
“It wasn’t that hard. You left a lighter in the tack room this morning. I was annoyed about it at the time, and stuck it in my pocket.” She smiled. “I was glad to have it.”
Shane blinked. He rubbed his good hand over his face, then looked at her again.
“I’m sorry we’re out here like this, Alley. I was supposed to find you and bring you back before dark.”
She shook her head. “You don’t have to be sorry. I’m the one who got lost, remember? I hope nothing’s happened to Red.”
Shane chuckled. “I have a hunch he’ll be a lot more comfortable tonight than we will.” He paused before he added, “He showed up at my place. Guess he missed me that much.”
Shane’s grin looked distorted from the shadows cast on his face by the flames of the fire, but the glow in his eyes as he looked at her left her heart melting in her chest. Alley blinked, and tore her gaze away. She tossed another piece of wood into the fire.
“How are you feeling?” she mumbled. This was not the time to get tongue-tied again.
“Much better.” Shane reached for her hand in her lap, and gave it a squeeze. “Thanks to you.”
Slowly, she raised her head to glance at him again. She was going to be out here with Shane all night. She needed to get over her silly inhibitions and relax. She’d already successfully set up camp. She could get through this night without tripping all over her words. Silently, she laughed.
Your wildest dreams from high school have come true, Alley. Might as well make the best of it.
She inhaled a calming breath and smiled. “Looks like you thought of everything when you packed your saddlebags. There’s a sandwich, snacks, and water. Along with your medical supplies, we’re all set for a cozy night out in the woods.”
Shane answered her smile with a wide grin. He leaned toward her, his face inches from hers. “I can’t think of any other person I’d rather spend a night in the woods with,” he murmured.
His hand reached up to cup the side of her face again. Alley held her breath. The fire crackled nearby, the horse snorted softly a short distance away, and somewhere from the darkness, an owl hooted. Time stood still as Shane gazed into her eyes.
Then, his lips were on hers. Hesitant at first, the contact was feather-light. His thumb grazed along her jaw. Shane shifted, moving closer to her. His lips adjusted over hers while his hand slid to the back of her neck. Alley stiffened, her pulse nearly pounding up her throat. A warm feeling spread throughout her body and limbs, originating in that kiss, and ending in her heart.
Shane eased back, his hand still cradling the back of her neck.
“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” he murmured, his breath hot against her cheek.
Alley fought for air. “How long?”
Shane smiled, then kissed her again, the contact light and quick, before he answered. “Since the day of Mike Weiker’s memorial, when you walked into Evie’s Diner with my sister.”
Alley’s breath caught in her throat. Her heart beat against the insides of her ribs. Had she fallen and hit her head when she tumbled down the ravine? Everything since her fall seemed surreal – Shane coming to rescue her, the tender way he’d held her, the look of concern in his eyes, and now this.
That kiss had been real. What she saw in Shane’s eyes was real. She’d seen it before, and she’d brushed it aside as unlikely and incomprehensible. It was time to completely push the boy he’d been from her mind, and see the man he had become. This was the real man to complete her dream, and it was time to take the final leap and listen to the advice from a wise teacher all those years ago.