A Man Like Him. Rachel Brimble

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СКАЧАТЬ as a barrage of catcalls and heckling started. She waved her hands. “Please. Listen. We have no idea if people outside the park are in a worse situation. We have to be thankful we’re alive, and better, we have supplies.”

      “What supplies?” A voice demanded from the crowd. “Everything we own is under the damn water.”

      A chorus of agreement and a rumble of chatter followed.

      Angela’s determination increased. The tenacity that had gotten her through the past two years since her divorce raged like a storm in her heart. She’d survived Robert’s abuse through experience and quick thinking. She’d survive again. God needed her to do a job and she’d damn well do it.

      “We have supplies. Lots of supplies. Enough to get us through today.”

      “What if we’re still here tomorrow?” the same “Man of Eternal Hope” yelled.

      She dropped her hands and fisted them on her hips, all notions of niceness evolving into determination. Negativity bred like disease if it wasn’t nipped in the bud. She’d been forced to learn that quickly. Believing rescue was possible had undoubtedly saved her life more times than she cared to remember.

      “Sir, if you don’t mind, you need to step back and keep your thoughts to yourself. They’re not helping.”

      He glared. “Yeah? Well, you’re supposed to be in charge. You told my family when we got here two days ago this place was the best park in the damn Cove. Now look at us.”

      Anger simmered in her stomach. What the hell was wrong with this guy? Angela glared. “Are you serious?”

      He took a step toward her, and his wife clamped her hand to his forearm. “Frank, don’t.”

      He shook her off and kept coming. “Yes, I’m serious. You think I’m in any mood to freaking joke?”

      Angela tensed as her hackles rose. “We are in the middle of a natural disaster, sir. If you can’t understand that, then—”

      “Then what?” He stood just feet away, his hands fisted on his hips and his face contorted with fury.

      “Then you need to stand out of the way and let the other men and women help me do what little we can until the rescue crews come back.” She turned away from him and fixed her gaze on the men and women looking at her with encouragement and interest. They couldn’t see she trembled. She couldn’t show him a glimmer of weakness. If she ignored him, he’d disappear.

      She cleared her throat. “Behind me is a stockroom full of soda, water, ice cream and other things. I need a handful of volunteers to help me tear enough of the roof back so I can climb inside. If we work as a team, everyone will at least have something to drink.”

      At first no one moved. They continued to stare at her in dazed confusion and Angela wondered what she was supposed to do next. Then the crowd of people parted.

      Her heart skipped as she met the same hazel eyes she’d last seen moving away from her when Chris Forrester dived back into the water. That was over two hours before.

      He was alive. Her stomach knotted and her smile grew wide. “You.”

      He winked and lifted his hand to his head in a salute. “At your service.”

      “Again.”

      He held out his hand. “Chris Forrester.”

      Angela grasped his hand as guilty heat, because she already knew his name, seared her cheeks. “Angela Taylor...and thank you.”

      He kept hold of her hand and continued to stare, his gaze wandering languidly over her face as though they were alone, rather than surrounded by hundreds of panicked holidaymakers. The nonsensical notion to kiss him leaped into her mind and she laughed.

      “Well, we can’t stand around here all day.” She slowly pulled her trembling hand from his. “I assume you’re the man to help me rip off a roof.”

      He blinked and his smile reappeared like a breaking sun. “Absolutely.”

      He moved to stand beside her. His damp T-shirt clung to his biceps and stretched taut across his shoulders. Angela snatched her gaze toward the expectant crowd, unease rolling through her stomach. Unease because of her reaction to him. Unease that somehow or another this man had caught her interest...attracted her.

      She clapped her hands. “Okay, anyone else?”

      One by one, more men joined them until there were eight or nine of them working side by side to find a way to get the stockroom roof peeled off. Angela risked a final look in Chris’s direction. He had his back to her, gesturing toward the roof, clearly taking control of his new mission.

      She turned away. Was she seriously ogling the man when he was trying to get food and drink for everyone? Embarrassment swept through her.

      She’d concentrate on where she was needed...even if the temptation to stay near Chris burned hot inside her.

      She weaved her way back among the crowds, offering words of encouragement and reassurance to the elderly and young alike. Parents seemed calmer, cradling their children in their laps as they sat on the flat concrete roof. The area was sometimes used for barbecues and a place to sit at small bistro tables. Not today. Today, it was the only safe haven in an island of danger.

      Angela looked to the sky. It was a sheet of clear blue above them. Yesterday the temperatures rose to the low nineties. People wouldn’t be cold for long. The midday heat would be the next challenge.

      * * *

      WITH SEVERAL OF the roof tiles smashed and cleared, Chris gripped the edge of the underlay. “On my count. One, two, three.”

      He and the four men on either side of him heaved the heavy black material toward them. Their combined strength and adrenaline made easy work of what would normally have been a tough job. Chris smiled. It was like peeling back the lid of a sardine can. They’d made a four-by-four-foot hole.

      “Well, just look at that.”

      The man next to him clapped Chris on the shoulder. “It’s the equivalent of a damn candy store window to a group of sugar-hungry kids.”

      Chris laughed. “I’ll get the lady in charge. We’d better not just throw ourselves down there. No matter how much I’d like to.”

      He levered himself up and looked around for Angela. He didn’t have to look far. Even with her hair wet and dirty from the floodwater, there was no mistaking her among the crowd. Chris guessed her to be five feet five or six and with her clothes still damp and clinging to every curve of her body, there was no mistaking the woman had the figure of a catwalk model.

      Letting out a low, appreciative whistle between clenched teeth, Chris shook his head and cupped his hands around his mouth.

      “Miss Taylor? I need you.” I need you? What the hell did I say that for?

      She turned. The way she stared and the soft quirk of her eyebrow made Chris feel like an infatuated teenager. He laughed. “I mean...you’re needed over here.”

      She grinned and echoed his salute СКАЧАТЬ