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“You need to remain still. Get warmed up,” Jared told them.
Adam knew Jared referred to post-rescue collapse. They had to wait until their systems had warmed up completely so their hearts would stabilize.
Before he slid into the booth beside her, she lifted the biggest bluest eyes he’d ever seen to meet his gaze.
Adam knew those eyes.
Stunned, he took a step back. She appeared equally surprised to see him. Maybe in the urgency of the rescue, recognition hadn’t kicked in for either of them.
When Jared handed over a mug of microwaved cocoa, she eagerly took it. Adam wrapped his hand around the mug offered him, and settled in next to Cobie MacBride.
At one time, Cobie had been the only woman for him. She’d cured him of ever wanting to go through that again. Weird to think she didn’t even know about the feelings he’d had.
“Thank you for saving me.” She shook her head, stared into her cup. Her beautiful eyes had lost none of their grief from the tragedy that had left her brother dead, but some sort of wild terror swam in them now, as well.
“What happened?” Adam asked. “Why’d you jump?”
He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. He couldn’t stand it if she said she’d been trying to kill herself. But he wouldn’t believe it, either. She’d waved for them; she’d wanted their help. And if they hadn’t been there? Adam clamped down on those thoughts.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
Was this some sort of dream? Nightmare?
The past few minutes washed over her. She struggled to grasp what had happened. The men stared at her, confusion on their faces. Bewildered herself, she frowned. How did she explain without sounding...well...crazy?
“What do you mean, you didn’t have a choice?” Raw concern flashed in Adam’s eyes.
That surprised her.
It had been so long since she’d seen him, been this close to him, old feelings tumbled over every other thought. She’d missed him. Shaking off the tangle of emotions, she hung her head and sighed.
“I need a minute to think.” Gather her thoughts.
Almost equally as shocking as the events of the past few moments was the fact that Adam sat next to her, wrapped in his own wool blanket. He angled to look at her, his solid form a comforting presence compared with moments ago when another man had tried to kill her.
And if she was drawing comfort from his nearness, then that just proved how befuddled and exhausted she was. He’d pulled her from the depths, saved her life. She knew that. But it didn’t make up for the past.
Adding to her anxiety, tumultuous waves rocked the trawler, much like the turmoil that tossed her mind. She tugged the blanket closer, tighter.
Adam was here with Jared, Nate and Gary, his long-time caving buddies. They’d been Brad’s friends, as well.
Jared stepped from below deck into the small galley and lobbed them each a shirt and jeans. “Found some dry things.”
Cobie stared at the clothes. Too big. She looked up at Jared.
He shrugged. “Adam is the smallest. You’ll have to wear his clothes.”
Adam slid from the booth and stood. “What’s going on, Cobie?”
After that first punch-in-the-gut glance into Adam’s face, Cobie hadn’t wanted to look at him again. Hadn’t she been thinking about him—how she needed to forgive—right before she jumped? God had some sense of humor. She lifted her gaze to meet his multicolored eyes. She’d never been able to decide if they were blue or green the way they seemed to change. All the hours she’d spent thinking about his eyes. But that was ancient history.
Finally Cobie caught her breath. Found her words.
“We need to call the police. Someone tried to kill me.” Cobie pressed her face into her hands. “And Laura and Jen are on their way to the island. They should be there any minute. We’d planned to meet at the cabin to go caving. They were running late, so I went to the cave to scout it out. If they arrive and go looking for me, they could run right into the man who tried to kill me.”
“What?” the male voices asked in unison.
She dropped her hands and stared at them, forcing urgency into her voice. “A man tried to strangle me. I ran away. I got trapped when he followed. I had no choice. I had to face him or jump.”
Adam’s strong jaw dropped along with the blanket. “Call 9-1-1.”
“Coast Guard’s all there is out here.” Nate held up his cell. “And these don’t work here at all.”
“Then call the Coast Guard,” she said. “Someone in authority needs to know.”
Adam scraped the SAT phone from the counter. “I could call Ray. I told him we were mapping the cave and he said he might try to get some time off and join us.”
“Ray?” Cobie asked.
“Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigation. He’s an agent. Investigates crimes. Drugs. Poaching. Anything illegal that happens out here.”
Had she really almost been a victim? And now she would have to give a statement. Answer questions. Cobie’s mind ran back over what had happened. Concern for her friends made her tense. If only she hadn’t been such an idiot. The number where she could reach Laura was with the phone at the cabin.
Adam kept his gaze on her. “He’s probably close. We’ll ask him what to do. Tell him what happened.”
Shivering, Cobie slipped out of the booth. “Can we go ahead and make our way to the other side of the island? Maybe we can intercept Laura and Jen. In the meantime, I’m changing into dry clothes.”
“Why didn’t you travel with your friends?” Jared leaned against the counter. “Why come alone?”
Adam cocked a brow.
“I took a seaplane. The pilot passes over these parts delivering mail and packages and people. My friends are coming by boat from the opposite direction. They were delayed, and I couldn’t change my flight.”
“Why not wait for them to arrive before exploring the cave?” Adam asked. “Why go alone?”
She was a big girl, but saying so would make it sound otherwise. “It shouldn’t have been dangerous. There shouldn’t have been someone else there—much less a man who wanted to kill me. Besides, he could have found me alone at the cabin, too.”
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