It's In His Heart (A Red River Valley Novel) (13 page)

Her eyes narrowed. “Love the wifebeater tank top, Coop. It suits you.”

He bristled. Considering he’d been unjustly accused of a crime against a woman, that was a cheap shot. “Are you stereotyping me, Ella?”

“Yep.”

He pulled the last strap tight, and she lost her balance again. When she grabbed his bicep for balance, his skin tingled under her fingers. He hadn’t felt that sensation when Sandra wrapped her cat claws around his arm. Sandra hadn’t interested him in the least. Coop couldn’t get away from her quickly enough. It was Ella who tugged at his attention and made his pulse sing like the engine of a brand-new luxury car.

“Try not to fall behind, Dennings.” He finished adjusting the vest. “I’ll have to tow you in if you can’t make it to the finish line on your own.” He gave the life jacket one last tug. Her knees dipped a little, and her grip tightened around his arm. He steadied her, his heart softening when fear flashed in her eyes and her brow furrowed. Okay, enough of his razzing her. She really seemed scared. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“If you can do it, then I can certainly do it.”

He studied her for a second, then gave his head a quick shake. He looped a nylon cord around her neck and tucked the whistle dangling from it inside the vest. “If you get in trouble, use this.”

“Don’t worry about me, Coop. I can take care of myself.”

“Is that so? Then when we go through the Eye of the Needle, you won’t need my help.”

She frowned. “The Eye of the Needle? What’s that?”

“The only class-four rapid on the course,” he said as he turned toward his raft.

C
hapte
r
T
hirteen

Ella held the double-bladed paddle in her hands, not entirely sure why rafting was considered fun. Nothing about it looked fun to her. She’d watched Coop give another demonstration, watched the first, second, and third waves get in the water and practice before taking off. Not a darned thing about it looked fun to her. When he talked about rolling a capsized raft back into its upright position, her stomach tossed for a second or two.

She tried to stop the trembling in her hands and looked across the river at Coop. He sat in his single-person raft, treading in the same spot like an expert Olympian rafter.

“Okay, last wave. Get into your raft. When you see the orange flag waving,” he pointed to Dylan fifty yards downriver, “use your paddle to push off. Remember—don’t crowd the person ahead of you, especially when we get to the rapids. If you get thrown out of your raft—”

Ella’s ears started to ring.

“—and you can’t reach it, roll over onto your back, cross your ankles, and float down the river feetfirst. Your life vest will keep you afloat until we can get to you.”

Both hands went numb, and Ella looked down. Her fists were wrapped so tightly around the shaft of the paddle that her knuckles had turned a sick-looking white.

Ella glanced at Coop. He pointed toward her vessel of doom, his eyebrows rose high above his dark sunglasses.

“Everything all right over there?” he yelled.

Releasing her paddle, she gave him the thumbs-up and smiled. No way was she giving him the satisfaction by backing out.

He got out of his raft and waded over to her with a skeptical look.

“I’m good.” She waved him off. “I’ve taught history to teenagers at one of the roughest high schools in New Mexico. I can handle paddling down a river for an hour and a half.”

He leaned in and spoke softly so the other rafters couldn’t hear. “This really is supposed to be for fun.”

“It will be. Just as soon as it’s over,” Ella said dryly.

One of the kids in the raft next to Ella asked his dad impatiently, “When are we starting?” He couldn’t have been more than ten years old, and he glared at Ella. She had a sudden urge to stick her tongue out at him.

“You don’t have to do this, Ella,” Coop said. “You can drag your raft over to the parking lot and be done with it.”

She shook her head. “In front of all these people? No way am I taking the walk of shame.”

He studied her, a hand on his hip. “Then get in,” he finally said. “We’re holding everyone else up.” He waded back to his raft.

She got into her vessel of doom, and Coop paddled over to her. Visibly checking her position, he nodded with a scowl on his face. She couldn’t keep her raft steady.

Stupid way to raise money.
Who the hell came up with the idea, anyway? Writing a check would’ve been so much easier. Quicker.
Safer
.

“You’re looking a little pale, Ella. Sure you can handle this?”

“I’m ready, Dr. Disaster.” Seemed appropriate. She smiled at him.

His lips curled up into a half smile. He back-paddled upstream.
Show-off.

Dylan yelled, “Everybody ready?” After a few moments, he waved his large orange flag.

“Jeez, this isn’t the Indy 500,” Ella muttered. She reluctantly used her paddle to push off the riverbank, watching dry land slip farther away.

“Ella,” Coop shouted at her, and she jumped. “Use your paddle.” He lifted his high in the air. “This thing in your hands.”

Smart-ass.

Ross and Sandra were already a few hundred yards ahead of her, and they disappeared around a bend in the river.

The bow of her raft was pointed to the right, or the starboard side. Right? Er, correct? Ella was already confused. When she dipped her paddle into the water off the starboard side of the boat, it turned more to the right and she was going sideways down the river.

Coop yelled at her, “Opposite side!”

The current took her and swept her to the right again. Now she was facing backward.

The dad of the two young boys called to his sons to stay on the opposite side of the river. Ella wanted to scream at him. Really, what kind of manners was that to teach kids? He might as well have told them to steer clear of the crazy lady.

Coop rotated his paddle from one side to the other, digging into the water with long, swift strokes. He quickly caught up to her. “If you want to turn starboard, paddle on the port side.”

“Really? We’re in blow-up rafts. These aren’t battleships off the coast of Normandy.” Ella rolled her eyes. Boys and their fantasies.

“Just paddle, Ella. You’re already way behind everyone else.”

She dipped her paddle off the left side of her craft, and it drifted to the right. “I didn’t do this to win. I just wanted to support literacy in the community.” Ella tried not to sound sulky.

“How noble of you. Always the Girl Scout.”

Always with the Girl Scout barbs.
“This is a charity event, so why are
you
here, Coop?”

A sly smile curled the corners of his mouth. “To watch out for people like you, Dennings.”

Coop kept glancing to his left. Ella struggled with the paddle. She was in good physical shape and seemed to be relatively coordinated; that wasn’t the problem. She just looked scared. With her acting so vulnerable, a look of terror on her face, and that silly hat announcing she was a nerdy history teacher, he really should have insisted she bow out of the race. But the hardheaded woman probably wouldn’t have listened, especially to him.

He refocused on the river ahead.

His raft cut through the water, and he rounded a bend in the river just ahead of Ella. Looking back, he lost sight of her. Up ahead, the first class-two rapid came into view. Easy, even for a novice.

He stabbed his paddle into the water on the left side of his craft and pulled up to the right bank. When Ella rounded the corner, still looking shaky and awkward with the paddle, Coop pushed off and treaded in place by rotating his paddling back and forth.

When she got close to him, he shouted to her, “Class-two rapid ahead. Veer left around that large rock.” He pointed to the right side of the river. “As soon as you clear it, paddle on the left side and it’ll swing you right so you’ll hit the rapid in just the right spot.”

She nodded, her green eyes wide and glassy.

The hair on the back of Coop’s neck prickled. If he could guide her through the first few rapids with no problems, it might build her confidence. Maneuvering the river was easier than it looked, but fear could cloud a beginner’s judgment and slow their reflex time.

He fell in behind her. Her strokes were uneven and apprehensive. She hesitated, still as uncomfortable with the paddle as when she first got in the raft. Most people got a feel for it after a little while, but she looked like a scared child on a roller coaster. She paddled on the right side first and veered to the left just like Coop had told her to do. But unsure of herself, she switched sides too quickly and it turned her to the right before she cleared the rock, setting her on a collision course with it.

“Paddle on the right!” Coop yelled.

Apparently, she heard him and plunged her paddle over the right side of the raft. The move corrected her, but not quite enough, and the right side of her raft banked onto the rock.

“Lean right, Ella,” Coop yelled over the din of rushing water.

She did and used her paddle to push off the rock. She cleared the first rapid.

“Good girl,” Coop said even though she couldn’t hear him. The small knot in his stomach eased.

He went through right after her and lengthened his strokes to catch up.

“Good job, Dennings.” Coop tried to hide the concern in his voice. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Her smile was uncertain, the fear still apparent on her wary expression. “I still don’t see how this is fun.”

“That’s because your type doesn’t know
how
to have fun,” he teased.

“I most certainly do.”

“This might come as a surprise, Ella, but most people don’t define fun as sitting in a lecture about the pilgrims.”

“For your information, I wouldn’t either. I’d call it . . . interesting.”

Coop laughed. “My point exactly.”

Letting her concentrate and acclimate to the ebb and flow of the raft, he paddled alongside her a ways in silence, until a light roar came from up ahead.

“Hear that?” Coop asked her, presenting the very picture of calm for her benefit.

She nodded, her eyes widening again.

“That’s a class three up ahead. Enter on the left side of the river. Once you clear the first level, the current will kick you to the right. It’s easy for your raft to spin too far. If that happens, just enter the next rapid backward. You’ll be fine.”

“Backward?” The pitch of her voice rose in alarm.

“Experienced rafters go in backward on purpose. Don’t worry, it’s more fun that way.”

Ella gulped, and Coop’s eyes followed the muscle movement down her slender throat. Sympathy pinched his stomach.

He slowed and let her go first. She cleared the first level and maneuvered the second level like a pro. Coop went through and caught up with her again.

“You did great. You feeling more confident?”

She nodded.

“Good, because I couldn’t have done any better on that one myself.”

A few clearings appeared at intervals along the riverbank. River patrols and onlookers gathered to cheer the racers on. Coop waved to a group on the left. Several of the women issued catcalls. Coop smiled and kept paddling in sync with Ella.

“You’re always asking for it, aren’t you?”

“What?” Coop’s brow wrinkled.

Ella threw her head in a backward direction toward the women.

“Those women?” he asked.

“Don’t you know them? You must, for them to react that way.”

“I’ve probably seen a few of them around at Joe’s, but I don’t
know them
know them.”

“Right.”

On this long strip of glassy water, Ella seemed a little more at ease. “Did you see me do anything to provoke them?”

“Not exactly. It’s just . . .” She stopped talking.

“Just what?”

“The way you carry yourself. You seem to like it, like it feeds your ego or something.”

Coop’s pulse kicked. His ego had never been his reason for not committing to a long-term relationship. He just didn’t want to get on the marital roller coaster that his dad had lived on.

“And does pointing out my flaws feed
your
ego?” Their paddles cut easily into the smooth water, as they stayed side by side.

She shot a glare at him, until he gave her a teasing smile. She laughed and nodded. “
Touché.
I’ll give you that one, Dr. Disaster. You’ve earned it.”

The sound of rushing water sounded in the distance ahead and got louder until it became a light roar.

The Eye of the Needle.

He’d maneuvered this rafting course a hundred times, at least. It was an adrenaline rush. Nothing too dangerous, especially with the water so slow this season, but just risky enough to set his blood pumping. This time, a prickle of fear slithered up his spine.

He glanced at Ella and the blood in his veins turned to ice. Obviously, she heard the rapids up ahead, too, and she’d stopped paddling, staring ahead with a blank expression.

And at that moment, he wanted to reach out and gather her into his arms.