Page 69 of Hunter

“It will take longer if we climb out of the water,” Hunter told her. “And you will be colder in the air.”

“I’m fine,” she lied.

Hunter paused, then gestured toward a point of land in the distance. “Can you swim that far?”

She eyed the peninsula, telling herself it was well within her range. Never mind that she’d never been in worse shape for a long swim.

“I can make it.” To prove the assertion, she pushed off and started stroking. Hunter came after her, caught up, and kept pace easily as they crossed the open water.

She was a good swimmer, but not today. By the time she was three quarters of the way across, she was breathing hard, and her arms were aching.

“Are you all right?” Hunter asked.

She nodded and kept moving, then finally she reached a point where her limbs simply wouldn’t work.

“I—” She started to slip below the surface. He grabbed her around the chest and pulled her up.

“It is only a little farther. Rest for a minute.”

She let herself go limp, holding onto his arm, relying on his strength to keep her afloat. She thought she felt his lips brush her cheek. “You are very brave,” he whispered. “Very determined.”

“I’ve tried to be,” she answered, then gulped, her vision blurring as his murmured praise rekindled the deep feelings of guilt that had haunted her since he’d fled the guest cottage. All at once, it was impossible to hold back the unspoken words pressing on her heart. “Hunter, the other night . . . I was too shocked and frightened to act normally. I hurt you. I am so sorry. I don’t feel the way you think I do.”

His grip on her stiffened, but he said nothing. When she tried to twist around so she could see his face, he held her fast.

His reaction made her take a gasping breath so that she could keep talking, force him to understand. “When I got up the next morning and found that you had left, I felt so awful. I wanted a chance to explain what happened—that I’d been frightened. And upset. But not with you. Then Reid called, and I was so glad I was going to see you again—talk to you.”

“We cannot stay in the water,” was all he said, sounding as if he hadn’t heard anything she’d tried to tell him.

“Hunter—please.”

“This is a dangerous place for a discussion.” Stroking strongly with his free arm, he began to tow her toward shore. She wanted to dig her fingers into his flesh and force him to listen, but she knew he was right—and that he wasn’t prepared to let her hurt him again.

“I can swim,” she managed.

“I’ll do it,” he said in a gruff voice.

Though pride made her want to insist, she knew it was better to save her strength for walking when they got out of the water. So, she let him tow her.

Finally, she realized he must be standing on the bottom. After climbing out onto a flat boulder, he pulled her from the water. In the chilly air, she began to shiver again.

His look of concern made her clamp her teeth to try and stop their chattering.

“We can’t stay here,” he said. Taking her arm, he guided her toward a stand of pines.

While she propped herself against a rock outcropping, he went back to scatter pine needles over their trail.

She watched him numbly. When he came back, he squeezed her hand, then led her farther along the rocks, searching the edge of the cliff.

His face took on a look of satisfaction as he pointed to a spot where a narrow trail wound upward.

“I thought this was the right place.”

He helped her up the rocky trail to a low door hidden in a crevice. The door looked like it was secured with a padlock, but it wasn’t really locked. Hunter twisted the hasp open, then helped her through the doorway. They crawled about ten feet down a dark tunnel.

“Where are we?”

“I think this is what they used to call an atomic bomb shelter,” he said, switching on a powerful portable light. “It must be from the time when Stratford Creek was a military base.”

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