‘Cooee.’
‘Alright, I’m coming,’ he said grimly. ‘Hold on.’
Their ledge was precarious. It might be safe for a little longer but the waves were already reaching just beneath the rock they were on.
Swimming out to Nathan, the sea had at least been clear. Here, though, the partial cliff collapse meant the sea was churning round jagged rocks. On her own she might have clambered back, knowing she’d probably be able to haul herself out if she was washed in. With Nathan, though…not.
He’d been extraordinarily brave. He’d lain limply in her grasp as she’d towed him here, and for a five-year-old to do that…
She was so proud of him she could cry, but she couldn’t take him further. Neither could she leave him to get help.
Her phone was dead-salt water wasn’t great for reception. All they could do was wait. And hope.
‘He’ll come, won’t he?’ Nathan asked again, through chattering teeth.
‘Of course he will,’ Erin said, but it sounded hollow even to her.
Stay or go? Damned if she did, damned if she didn’t.
Stay. There was no choice.
She held onto Nathan, she hugged him and she prayed. Dom, Dom, Dom.
‘Erin…’
When had her name ever sounded as good?
‘Cooee.’
She’d expected him to go for help. She’d never thought he’d clamber round the rocks.
He was ten yards away before she saw him in the moonlight. He’d been washed from a rock and had a handhold again, hauling himself out of the sea and up to safety.
She didn’t move. Nathan was hugged hard against her and it was Nathan who was directing traffic.
‘We’re up here. Dom, look out, there’s another wave, duck, hurry, we’re here.’
He’d reach them, she thought, mistily. Her kelpie.
She sang it with joy in her heart. Nathan stared at her like she’d lost her mind, and Dom hauled himself up the last rock and heard what she was singing. He stared at her as if he couldn’t believe his eyes-and then he burst out laughing.
He gathered the pair of them into his arms.
And then he kissed her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
FIRST things first. Or, rather, second, because the kiss came first but that didn’t count as it was imperative. Erin tugged herself from Dom’s hold and smiled mistily at her love.
‘I knew you’d come.’
‘Marilyn told me you were here.’
‘Good old Marilyn,’ she said happily. ‘I rescued her and she’s rescued me right back. But, Dom…’
‘Mmm?’ He held her tight, with Nathan squeezed somewhere in between.
‘I dare say you didn’t think about it on your very noble climb around here but we can’t climb back and my phone got wet. The tide’s still coming in. These waves are getting higher. And if I’m not mistaken, your phone just got wet too.’
‘Yeah, but I phoned before I climbed,’ he said lovingly, and she blinked.
‘You phoned?’
‘Triage,’ he said. ‘What they taught us in medical school. Think about danger-i.e. personal safety first.’
‘You’re wonderful,’ she said happily. There was no earthly reason to be happy. She was soaked, she was battered, she wasn’t in the least bit safe-yet-and here she was, grinning like a fool just because this man had put himself in the same deadly peril she was in.
‘I love you,’ he said, and she stopped grinning.
‘P-pardon?’
‘I think you heard,’ Dom said. He hauled Nathan onto his knee. Dom was sitting on the end of their ledge, his feet hanging over the side so his already soaking feet got even wetter. It didn’t look like he cared, though. ‘Do you think she heard, Nathe?’
‘You said you loved her,’ Nathan said. ‘Why?’
‘Good question,’ Dom said.
‘Um…Dom?’
‘Yes, my love,’ he said, so lovingly she thought she’d drowned and gone to heaven. But this wouldn’t do, she told herself severely, trying to focus on something other than what he’d just said. There was a certain amount of triage she needed to do herself if this wasn’t to be the shortest engagement in the history of the world.
‘Um…you said you rang before you came.’
‘I did,’ he said-modestly. ‘I told Graham I thought you were stuck on a cliff at Moonlight Bluff-that’s where we’re sitting, by the way. I said if he didn’t hear back within ten minutes could he contact the authorities and get a helicopter.’
‘You didn’t,’ she breathed.
‘I know-Mr Wonderful,’ he said modestly, and she choked.
‘Um…how do we know the helicopter’s free to come save us?’ she asked. She shouldn’t ask. Nathan had relaxed, slumping against Dom, feeling safe and loved and…home. Like she wanted to be. And she could be, she thought, dazed. She just had to get these niggling worries sorted first. Like whether or not they were going to drown.
‘We don’t,’ Dom said. ‘So I’ve organised one of the fishermen to bring his boat round from the harbour and play floodlights on the cliff.’ He peered out into the darkness. ‘He ought to be here any minute. If the helicopter doesn’t arrive, Graham’s organising guys to abseil from the cliff top and haul us up.’ He winced as a wave splashed to his thighs. ‘I hope they hurry. You guys have got the best spot. I’m getting cold.’
‘You didn’t order a heater and hot soup while you were at it, I suppose,’ she said waspishly, and he grinned.
‘Didn’t think of it,’ he admitted. ‘Now-where were we? Oh, yes. I love you.’
‘Seriously…’
‘Seriously,’ he said, and suddenly his tone
‘Don’t you dare stop,’ she said. ‘I don’t care how cold the water is. This is a story I need to hear right through to the end.’
‘Okay.’ His voice gentled and his hand gripped hers. ‘Okay, I stood at the car crash and I saw how close that little family had come to being wiped out. And you know what I thought? I thought at least they’d had each other. They were with each other. And I thought, even if I died right now-which, mind you, if this water gets any colder is on the cards…’
‘Shut up and talk,’ she said lovingly.
‘Yeah, well,’ he said, and sighed. ‘Okay, if we died right now, which isn’t going to happen by the way, Nathan, because my plan is brilliant, then I wouldn’t have spent a single night with the woman I love.’
‘With who?’ Nathan asked, teeth chattering, confused but still trying to keep up.
‘With Erin.’
‘But you did spent a night with her,’ he objected, concentrating fiercely. ‘Last night. We all slept together after the fire.’
