As if she’d ever had any doubt, from the moment her Herculean rescuer had seized her in his capable arms. Mighty arms...mighty shoulders...mighty legs. He had to be the powerful runner she’d seen on the beach earlier... he couldn’t be anyone else. How lucky that he’d seen her!
Now that they’d freed themselves from the pull of the undertow, the rest was easy. They even managed to catch a rolling wave, which swept them both in without either needing to make any effort at all. The wave shattered, dumping them on the shore in a tumble of white froth and a tangle of arms and legs.
As the water surged back, threatening to drag them back with it, he pulled her out of its sucking reach, onto dry sand. For a moment they both lay gasping, lungs heaving, throats rasping. She was still tangled in his arms, she realised dazedly. Still safe and protected in those great muscled arms.
‘Well, my golden mermaid,’ he heaved out between ragged breaths, ‘we made it.’
She looked up at him through tangled honey-gold curls. Straight into a pair of startlingly blue eyes. Blue! She’d imagined they would be black...or a deep brown. It must have been his thick black lashes and heavy dark brows that, from a distance, had given the impression of darkness.
‘You s-saved my life,’ she whispered in wonder. And realised her teeth were chattering. With reaction rather than cold. The arms round her were warm, keeping her warm. ‘Th-thank you.’
She expected him to berate her for her stupidity in going swimming on her own, but he didn’t. Maybe he was afraid she’d dissolve into floods of hysterical tears if he started chastising her.
‘You’re all right?’ He stroked clinging tendrils of damp hair back from her face.
‘I’m fine...thanks to you,’ she answered breathily. He had a strong face to match the rest of him, she noted, absorbing each detail with an artist’s eye. Or a woman’s? A well-defined jawline, a straight nose, firm lips...an arresting rather than classically handsome face. It was his eyes that made it remarkable. Even in her shaky state, her fingers itched to sketch him, to clarify the blurred impression she’d made before.
‘You’re going to have a black eye, I’m afraid.’ His fingers lightly traced the fine skin above her left cheek. ‘Sorry...it was an accident Your face connected with my elbow when you were fighting me off.’
‘I—I thought you were a shark,’ she admitted sheepishly. ‘I didn’t think there was anyone else around.’ She gulped in a couple of deep breaths. ‘Where did you spring from?’
‘I decided to come back to the beach for another run.’ There was a distinct glitter in the blue eyes now that caused her to wonder, with a sudden warmth to her cheeks, if he’d come back not for a run, but to take another look at the lone female on the beach? Any man with a physique like his, with stunning eyes like his, must know he had a first-rate chance with any girl he set his cap at. She felt an odd little quiver at the thought, and quickly dismissed it as derision rather than jealousy.
‘I saw you in the water from the sandhills,’ he told her, ‘and decided I’d better follow you...knowing the currents along here can get a bit tricky at times, if you go out too far.’
‘But I didn’t—’ She stopped. ‘I mean I didn’t realise...’ She began to tremble. She hadn’t realised a lot of things, it occurred to her now. The danger from the sea. The danger from this stranger holding her. Not danger to her physically. Danger to her emotions. To her peace of mind.
To her heart.
‘Obviously not,’ came his dry comment. He slid his great arm out from beneath her. ‘You’re shivering. I’ll get your towel.’
‘There’s no n—’ But as she tried to get up her legs buckled beneath her. They felt like tingly, useless rubber.
‘Here...I’ll carry you.’ Before she could protest, he swept her up in his powerful arms as if she were no heavier than a child. Or a bubble of froth. ‘Better still...I’ll take you back to wherever you’re staying. Where I’ll know you’ll be safe.’
Her eyes snapped wide. ‘No!’ She didn’t want Diana knowing she’d gone in swimming alone, despite her warnings, and had almost drowned. ‘Just—just dump me where I left my towel. I’ll be fine.’
‘I’m not leaving you alone.’ His tone said he meant it. ‘You might get into more strife.’
She thought of arguing—did he think she might actually go back into the water again if he left her alone?—but she decided against it, his vow not to leave her alone causing a shiver of excitement all the way down to her toes. She didn’t want him to leave her, she realised. She wanted him to stay here with her...wanted to get to know him better...wanted to know all about him. She owed him her life. Already she felt curiously close to him...drawn to him...mysteriously connected in some strange cosmic way.
Simply because he’d saved her life?
Or because he was the most exciting, most dynamic, most incredible-looking man she’d ever met?
He lowered her onto the striped beach-towel she’d left spread out on the sand. Then he scooped up her discarded shirt and draped it round her shoulders, before dropping down beside her.
She was suddenly very conscious of his near-nakedness, gulping at the huge expanse of bronzed well-muscled chest so close to her, the enormous shoulders, the powerful thighs, the fine dark hairs that went all the way down to—
She flicked her gaze away.
‘You’re sure you’re all right?’ He had the deepest voice, with a richness that rumbled right through her.
She nodded, unconsciously flicking her tongue over her lips. ‘Are—are you all right?’ she asked belatedly. Just because he was built like a rock, it didn’t mean he was invincible. She’d thought her sister invincible once. Tough, self-reliant, hard as nails... But when the man in her life had tossed her aside, she’d disintegrated.
What if her rescuer had a weak heart under all those rippling muscles? Or some other hidden complaint? She would be responsible if...
She shivered.
He seemed surprised at her question, that she would care about him. ‘Mermaid-hunting appeals to me,’ he said lightly, brushing off her concern.
Mermaid-hunting? Or girl-hunting? she wondered, squinting up at him. He was still a male. A very sexy male. As virile as he was strong, she had no doubt. With a heart and a constitution to match, most likely. She felt herself blushing like a schoolgirl.
He traced a light finger over her left cheek. For a breathless second she thought he was drawing attention to her blushes, until he commented. ‘You have quite a bruise under your eye. And some swelling. You should do something about it.’
She reached up to lightly finger the tender spot—making sure he’d removed his own hand first. She could feel the swelling. The tenderness.
‘Damn,’ she muttered. Now she certainly couldn’t go back...not just yet. The police must be there by now, and if she turned up at the beach-house with a noticeable black eye there could be awkward questions. Her Herculean rescuer might get into trouble for causing the injury...even though he’d struck her accidentally while saving her life. They mightn’t believe her...or him.
Or she might get into trouble for going swimming at a beach that was unsafe and unpatrolled. She remembered the warning sign above the beach. ‘SWIMMING HERE IS DANGEROUS’. Not ‘forbidden’, thankfully, but ’dangerous’ was bad enough.
‘You need some ice on it, quick smart.’ He was inspecting it so closely that she felt prickly and breathless. ‘Won’t you let me take you home?’ He touched her arm.
‘No...thanks.’ It was a husky croak. His touch, which had made her feel so safe and protected earlier, now seemed positively lethal. She looked up at him appealingly. ‘I—I can’t go back yet...’
He