reached the Hudson Gorge and realized it would be a miracle to find them, even knowing their general stopping point. If they changed the plan and camped on the opposite side, he was out of luck and up the river without a paddle or raft.
Gradually he left the pine forest and moved through birch and maple as he approached the river. He was relieved to finally come upon their camping site knowing she and her group would not be far.
Erin had chosen a rocky outcropping, away from the tall trees and on a covering of moss and grass that spread across the gray rock above the river.
The brightly colored tents were scattered in a rough circle. The trees below the outcropping made it impossible to see them, but he could hear their laughter and raised voices plainly enough.
He didn’t see Erin’s little single tent because she wouldn’t camp very close to her charges. He was certain of that much, because his wife liked her privacy. Perhaps too damn much.
He found her camp in short order and dropped his pack beside her gray-and-white tent.
Erin’s pack rested inside the tent, and her food was properly hung in the trees to prevent attracting animals. The peals of laughter and howls of delight guided him to the trail to the river.
A young man and an older woman headed in his direction, winding up the steep path from the water. The route inclined so sharply that the pair clung to saplings as they climbed. The skinny youth wore wet swim trunks and gripped a towel around his neck. His legs were pearly pale, but his face and arms showed a definite sunburn. The woman wore a one-piece bathing suit with jean shorts plastered to her legs and rivulets of water running down her tanned skin.
“Having fun?” Dalton asked.
The youth pointed a toned arm back the way they had come. “There’s a rock like a diving board down there. Water’s deep and still. It’s awesome!”
The woman held her smile as her brows lifted in surprise. “Well, hey there. Didn’t see another paddler.”
He thumbed over his shoulder. “Came overland. The trail from O-K Slip Road.”
She passed him going in the opposite direction. “Well, that’s no fun.”
He stepped off the trail to let them pass and continued, landing on his backside with a jolt of pain more than once.
“No fun is right,” he muttered.
At the bank of the river, he saw the three remaining adult campers and their leader. He’d recognize those legs anywhere. Firm tanned legs pushing off the gray rock as she climbed, leaving wet footprints from her water shoes as she easily scaled the boulder that was shaped like the fin of a shark, using a climbing rope. It was his wife.
On the pinnacle of the sloping boulder she waited for a young woman in a pink bathing suit, which was an unfortunate match to her ruddy skin tone, to jump off and then followed behind, giving a howl of delight that made Dalton frown. He’d never heard her make such a sound of pure exhilaration.
The single male waded out of the water and came up short at the sight of him. Dalton judged the man to be early twenties and carrying extra pounds around his middle.
“Hiya,” he said.
Dalton nodded and the young man crept past him on the uneven bank. The woman in pink swam and then waded after the man, followed by a lanky female with wet hair so short it stood up like a hedgehog’s spines. Erin emerged from her underwater swim at the base of the rock, scaling the slope to retrieve her climbing rope before making a final leap with the coiled rope over one shoulder.
Dalton smiled as the pinkish woman, her face red from exertion, reached the muddy shore, her cheeks puffing out with each breath.
“Where’d you...come...from?” she wheezed.
“Your camp.”
She gave him a skeptical look and paused, one hand on her knee.
“You don’t look like an adventure camper.”
“No?” He grinned. “What do I look like?”
She cocked her head and her eyes narrowed. “A soldier.”
That surprised him as he had once been just that. But he’d left Special Forces at Erin’s request.
“Why’s that?”
She pointed at the hunting knife that he’d strapped to his belt and then to his boots, military issue and which still fit. Finally, she lifted her finger to the tattoos staining his left forearm from wrist to elbow. The overall pattern spoke of lost comrades, blood, war dead and the corps.
“You sure you’re with us?”
“Erin’s my wife.”
Her entire demeanor changed. Her face brightened and the look of suspicion vanished.
“Oh, hi! I’m Alice. Your wife, she’s wonderful. So encouraging and warm.” Her smile faltered. “You’re her husband?”
He didn’t like the incredulity in her voice.
“Yeah.” For now. His stomach gave a twist that had nothing to do with healing tissue.
“Hmm. Can’t see it.”
“Why?”
“She’s fun and you’re, well, you seem kinda...serious, you know?”
His brows sank deeper over his eyes. He was fun.
The woman glanced back down the trail where all but one hiker had vanished. “She didn’t mention you.”
“Feel free to ask her.”
Alice waved. “See you at camp.”
She moved past him and continued up the trail with her comrade on her heels. This other woman said nothing, just gave him a sullen look and glanced away the minute they made eye contact.
Erin reached the spot where she changed from swimming in the calm stretch to wading. He waited beside the kayaks.
Her tank top clung to her skin, and he could see the two-piece suit she wore beneath, along with much of her toned, athletic build. Her wet light brown hair, cut bluntly at her jawline, had lost its natural wave in the water. Her whiskey-brown eyes sparkled above her full mouth, now stretched wide in a playful grin. He took a moment to admire the view of his wife, wet and smiling.
He had the sudden impulse to hide before she spotted him.
Dalton didn’t know how Erin knew he was there, but she straightened, giving him a moment to study her standing alert and relaxed as if listening to the birds that flitted across the water. Then she turned and her eyes shifted to her husband. The set of her jaw told him that she was not pleased.
Dalton was six-three and weighed 245 pounds, but Erin’s scowl made him feel about two feet tall.
“Surprise?” he said, stretching his arms out from his sides in a ta-da posture.
Her
