The wind blew off the water in a fierce swirl, and waves now pounded the rocks with too much force for his voice to carry above its roar. One of those waves knocked him off balance and soaked him as he climbed onto the rocks toward the caves.
“Miss Alwyn!”
Surely she understood the power of the sea.
“Where are you? Heather! Can you hear me?”
He was about to call again when he heard a frightened cry. “Your Grace! In here!”
Blessed saints.
She was trapped in one of those caves. His worst fears realized.
But which one? “Miss Alwyn, keep talking to me!”
More waves, each one more intense and powerful than the first, surrounded him and soaked him with their spume. He had only a minute to find her before those waves filled the caves.
Anyone who could not swim out would drown.
And no one had the strength required to swim out, not even him…not against a crushing wall of water.
He followed the sound of her voice and caught sight of her gold hair and green gown as she fought her way to the entrance. Before he reached her, another wave crashed over the rocks and pushed her back into its dark depths. “Heather!”
He called again, his heart in his throat as he was met with silence. Then he heard a cough and a hoarse sob within the dank hollows. “Over here.”
She was obviously exhausted and struggling to claw her way out. Could she hold on until he reached her?
Ruarke felt his legs being pushed out from under him as another wave rushed in and just as quickly rushed out with a forceful undertow. But he held firm, and was almost beside her when another wave hit.
He surged forward and caught her about the waist. But they were now deeper in the cave, and Heather was clinging to a jutting rock for dear life. “Heather, let go of it and put your arms around my neck.”
She hesitated, afraid to lose her grip and be forever swept into the cave’s dark maw.
“Do it now, Heather.”
The sun could not penetrate more than a few steps beyond the mouth of the cave. Even now, as closely as he held her, Ruarke could hardly make out her slender form. If she slipped away from him, he would never find her again.
“Heather, trust me.”
She was sobbing and gasping for air.
He was breathing hard himself as he fought against another surging wave. “Don’t be afraid.”
She was a slender thing, and each wave was now drowning them as it filled the cave and then pulled out with a riptide force.
He lifted Heather higher so that the water did not completely swallow her up.
“You little fool,” he whispered, inhaling a breath as the water rushed out again. “I ordered you to keep away from here.”
She tried to tell him something, but he could not hear a word above the piercing hum now resounding through the cave.
This was thesinginghe had warned her about.
They would talk later, save the rebukes and explanations once they reached safe ground, assuming they made it out alive.
He yanked her away from the jutting rock. “Put your arms around my neck and hold your breath. This next wave will fill the cave, and this time the water will not rush out.”
He kept his arms wrapped around her. She felt soft and supple against him, but he should not have been all that surprised. His body had reacted to her from the moment she stepped down from his aunt’s carriage that first day.
