Christyne gasped and scrambled to the edge. Through the clear water she saw him descend, bubbles escaping his mouth.
“You as well,” the man finally said as he shoved her over the side.
Cold stabbed at her like hundreds of needles and she thrashed about. Light from above, dark below. The weight at her neck pulled her down. Down into the darkness. Pain bit into her wrists as she tried to struggle out of the bindings, but they held firm.
Even as cold snapped at her from without, heat expanded within. Burst from her chest and flowed outward. The need to breathe grew. Pushed down on her. Overtook her every thought.
She must not.
She looked up, but only a prick of light remained.
The pressure on her chest deepened. Her throat constricted.
Must. Breathe.
Water entered her nose. Ran down the back of her throat in a burning path. Filled her lungs.
Jesus, receive my spirit.
The darkness swallowed her whole.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Germany, Present Day
“What are you doing here?” Amber blinked in case her homesick heart had conjured up the man before her. But there her brother stood, in the hall of her dorm instead of the middle of wedding preparations in England.
Michael grinned, his USN t-shirt stretched across a chest disciplined by years of hard work and sacrifice for his country in the navy. “Wow. Feeling the love, sis.” He pulled her forward in a headlock-slash-hug.
She pushed at his ribs and dislodged herself from his one-armed hold. “Jack know you’ve escaped the wedding pandemonium? You haven’t gone AWOL, have you?”
“She can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Amber shook her head in mock sympathy. “Poor girl.”
Michael leaned his shoulder against the door jamb, studying her with intense scrutiny.
Pleasantries now over.She didn’t need him to hop the Channel to the mainland as if she were a child, as much as she had been longing for home and the simplicity and straightforwardness of her life before…everything. Before the doubts set in and hardened like Play-Doh left out in the sun. Before her insides swirled like a whirlpool of confused thoughts and feelings for Seth. Before allthat. She didn’t want big brother to come swooping in to save the day.
Of course, the brother to do the rescuing was the one with actual hero training. Oh well. If Adam were at her doorstep right now, that gossip rag would probably be getting sued.
She took a step back toward Michael and patted his scruffy cheek. The one thing that hadn’t stuck with him from his fighter pilot life: daily shaving. The close-cut haircut, yes. The overprotective streak, too much. The cocky attitude—well, he’d had that even before talking to a recruiter, so she couldn’t blame Uncle Sam for that one.
Meeting his gaze with the same intensity, she hoped he’d see what her family—especially her brothers—were too stubborn to admit. She’d grown up.
“I’m fine. Your job as a scout is complete. You can report back to the Carrington clan that I’m all good.” She exited the room and closed the door behind her. “If you hurry, Jack might not even know you’ve been gone.”
His footsteps echoed behind her down the hall. If she listened hard enough, she could detect the slightly uneven gait his prosthetic gave him.
“You’re cute. Delusional, but cute.” He caught up to her and gave her a look out of the corner of his eye. “You also have the day off.”
She slammed to a stop. “What?”
“I talked to your boss and arranged for you to have the day off so we could hang out.”
Counting backward from ten would do her good. Instead she clamped her molars together. “You can’t waltz in here and take over my life.”
He turned to face her. “When I read about your life in a tabloid, you better believe I’m going to do more than waltzing.”
