The only problem was, the current was carrying her at a surprisingly fast pace toward the old, jagged breakwater. Natalie saw that a portion of the rock embankment seemed to have fallen during the night. The waves surging fast and furious through the opening in the wall appeared to be what was causing the unusually strong current.
She remained calm, even as she swooped toward the wall, unable to control her movement except to keep her head above the churning water. She suspected the worst that would happen was a cut or a bruise as her body struck the rocks, but then she’d be able to push off the solid barrier and break free of the current.
Her concern grew, however, when she felt the fierceness of the flowing undertow as she flew toward the black, slick rocks. They looked sharper the closer she got. An alarm went off in her brain for the first time when another current seemed to join the one that held her prisoner from another direction, increasing the force of the surging water.
A wave of water splashed into her face, making her sputter for air. She should never have swum alone. Hadn’t she known since she was a child that it was dangerous to do so?
Distantly, she thought she heard someone calling her name, but the water was rushing around her now. Only frothing water and the black rocks set against a bizarrely benign-looking blue sky existed in her vision. She tried to lift her legs in preparation to catapult off the rocks, but the current held them as if in a vise. Terror pierced her consciousness. Water filled her mouth and she barely had the wherewithal to spit it out as she braced for the crush of the rocks.
Suddenly hands wrapped around her ribs. For a split second, her motion in the strong current eased and then came to a halt. Water still rushed around her body, but the hands held her in place.
“Liam,” she sputtered, glancing wildly to the left and seeing him, his head wet and his face rigid with strain. For a frightening second, the current took hold again. She sensed him recoil, and knew he’d hit the rocks, and then they were shooting through the water in the opposite direction of the crumbling breakwater.
“I was just…an undertow caught me…thought I’d…” She paused, coughing when they came to a stop. He still held her while Natalie treaded water feebly, trying to catch her breath. Liam had sprung them out of the undertow, she realized, by allowing his feet to crash against the breakwater and kicking, propelling himself and grabbing Natalie out of the powerful current.
After a moment, her breathing became more regular.
“I’m okay,” she muttered, taking in Liam’s expression fully for the first time. His face was fixed and anxious. “Thank you so much. I thought I could push off the rocks, but the current was so strong. I wasn’t sure I could lift my legs and…”
“Shh,” he hushed, his hands shifting on her back and wa
ist. “Don’t talk right now. Are you okay? Can you swim, or do you need me to carry you?”
“No. I’m okay. I can swim.”
“Show me,” he said, releasing her.
He treaded water as he watched her, his anxiety so palpable she never thought to argue with him. She began to swim to shore. Every time she turned her head to breathe, she saw him swimming next to her, his face above water. His blue eyes remained pinned to her, so luminous and fierce in the morning sunlight, it made Natalie feel as if she was being accompanied by a sea-dwelling sentinel sent to guard her.
Her legs felt a little rubbery from fear once they reached the beach, but other than that, she was fortunate enough to be left unscathed. They sat on a large rock together for nearly a minute, neither of them speaking as Natalie’s breath calmed.
“Thank you, Liam.”
“Don’t thank me,” he replied gruffly. “I had no idea that breakwater was unsafe. You could have drowned.”
“But I didn’t.” She reached out and touched his upper arm in reassurance. “I think part of the breakwater crumbled last night during the storm. The waves are especially rough today. The combination must have caused the undertow.”
“Yeah,” Liam said soberly, his narrowed gaze on the black breakwater. “And to think…I was going to let Brendan and Jenny swim out there.”
“You wouldn’t have let them swim alone. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have gone out on my own.”
“Let’s get you inside,” he said, tight-lipped. He stood and helped her rise. Her hand still felt a little shaky, but Liam’s hold was steady and warm.
Once they were inside, he handed her an enormous robe and a fluffy towel and urged her toward the guest bath.
“Take a hot shower. You’re trembling. It must be shock.”
“I’m fine, really,” she insisted. Still, she followed Liam’s instructions. He looked so worried, she didn’t have the heart to argue.
In the shower a few minutes later, she had to admit he might have been right about the shock. It wasn’t a chill making her shake. The memory of the strong undertow pulling her seemed more frightening in recollection than it had when she’d been so preoccupied with keeping herself afloat.
By the time she got out of the hot shower, she felt much steadier. She grinned when she inspected the robe Liam had given her. It was made of dark blue cotton, and still had the tags attached. Natalie wondered if his mother had given it to him as a gift. Whoever had provided it wouldn’t have had a lover’s sensitivity and must not have recognized that Liam wasn’t the type to wear robes and slippers.
Liam was clearly most comfortable in his own skin.
A lover’s sensitivity.
The phrase came back to her as she brushed her teeth. Is that what she possessed toward Liam? A lover’s sensitivity?