too. I might be able to help.’
Ben didn’t try to stop her and Katie plunged into the water after Nathaniel.
He still hadn’t surfaced and it seemed impossible to her that he could have held his breath for all that time.
Under the water Katie realised that she should have grabbed the mask so that she could see more clearly. She kicked her legs and dived as deep as she could but her lungs were already bursting for air and she could see nothing. The mysterious underwater world that had captivated them earlier had now formed a deadly trap.
Heart pounding, her chest aching, she was about to surface when she saw Nathaniel a few metres away, manoeuvring something wedged under a large boulder. She saw a white arm and a leg and realised with a flash of panic that the child had somehow become wedged under the rock. The burning in her chest was so intense that she had no choice but to surface and breathe. How Nathaniel could have stayed under for so long, she had no idea.
The group on the nearby boat still hadn’t noticed the absence of the toddler, their music and laughter drowning out everything around them.
Nathaniel surfaced next to her and dragged in a lungful of air. His dark hair was plastered to his head, his sodden lashes framing eyes blazing with determination. Almost immediately he dived under the water again.
A commotion from the other boat told her that the toddler’s absence had finally been discovered and there was a pounding of feet and shrieks as they realised what had happened. They hung over the side, yelling the little girl’s name and Katie felt hot tears scald her eyes, horrified by how quickly paradise had turned to hell.
She kept watching, hoping.
And then Nathaniel finally surfaced, the limp toddler in his arms.
‘Ben—’ The strain was visible as he swept his hand over his face to clear the water. ‘Take her. Get her on a flat surface.’
Ben reached down and took the child in his large hands, laying her on the floor of the boat, and Nathaniel immediately put his hands on the side of the boat and levered himself out of the water in a smooth, fluid motion.
Envying his athletic ability, Katie struggled back into the boat. Nathaniel was performing mouth-to-mouth and chest compressions with grim focus. He seemed oblivious to the screams and sobs coming from the occupants of the other boat. It was as if this was one challenge he was determined not to lose. ‘Come on, baby girl—’ he turned his head to listen to her chest ‘—breathe for me, sweetheart. Breathe …’
Moved by the tenderness in his voice, Katie dropped to her knees next to him. ‘Nathaniel—’
The toddler coughed and vomited weakly and Nathaniel immediately rolled her on her side into the recovery position, his hands gentle and confident.
‘That’s a good girl. You’ll be all right, now. You’re going to be fine ….’
Weak with relief, Katie looked at him expecting to see similar emotion reflected in his face but instead saw a man who was clearly traumatised.
Underneath the bronzed good looks, his face was ashen.
Realising just how much the rescue must have taken out of him, she put her hand on his arm.
‘You did it,’ she croaked, wondering if he realised what he’d achieved. ‘Nathaniel, you saved her. You were so brave. And determined. If it hadn’t been for you—’ Unashamed to discover that she was crying, Katie was about to say something else when the little girl wriggled weakly onto all fours, still choking and coughing.
‘Want Mummy …’
Nathaniel rubbed the child’s back gently, his strong hands soothing as he comforted the toddler. ‘You’re going to be fine, angel.’ But there were dark shadows in his eyes that Katie didn’t understand.
Shouldn’t he be celebrating?
There were shouts from the water and lots of splashing as two of the adults from the other boat swam the short distance towards Nathaniel’s boat. ‘Nina? Is she alive?’
In a single decisive movement, Nathaniel rose and vanished into the saloon.
By the time the couple boarded the boat there was no sign of him.
‘Oh, thank God, thank God …’ The couple scooped up the toddler and thanked Ben profusely.
He accepted their thanks calmly, suggested they take the child to be checked by the doctor who worked on the island and pointed out that the little girl should have been wearing a life jacket.
Katie wanted to yell that they were thanking the wrong person but she understood that Nathaniel hadn’t wanted to be recognised and the couple were too relieved to have their child safe to show too much interest in the identity of the rescuer.
She sat, numb, as Ben skilfully moved the two boats alongside so that the rapidly recovering toddler could be transferred with the minimum of fuss.
Now that it was over, Katie found that she was shaking and shivering like a leaf in a storm. She grabbed a dry towel from the deck and wrapped it around herself but the shivering wouldn’t stop. The sun shone high overhead, and yet she felt cold. Really cold.
If she felt like this, how was Nathaniel feeling?
Nathaniel leaned over the toilet, retching violently. The horror of it gripped him like a physical force. He’d taken refuge in the cabin, not because of the risk of being recognised, but because he’d been afraid he was going to humiliate himself right there in the middle of the boat.
Water. A drowning child. Sick panic.
Wasn’t it ever going to go away?
Lifting his head, he looked in the mirror. Staring back at him was a face so deathly pale he would have made a corpse look healthy. And as for his eyes—he gave a humourless laugh—if the eyes were windows to the soul, then he was definitely in trouble.
Not wanting to see what was through those windows, he closed his eyes, but immediately saw the child flailing, helpless in the water. Drowning, her lungs screaming for air as she sank in her watery grave.
Nathaniel turned on the taps and tried to splash his face but his hands were shaking so badly most of the water landed on the floor. His stomach churned like the ocean in a storm and his body felt shaky and weak.
Alpha Man? He gave a bitter laugh at the evidence of his own weakness.
Under his feet, he felt the shift of the deck and realised the boat was moving.
Ben, he thought gratefully. Thank goodness for Ben.
He needed to get the hell off the water.
CHAPTER SIX
KATIE lay in the hammock, her book unopened. Beneath her, a kaleidoscope of sea life darted through clear, turquoise water but her brain was too preoccupied to enjoy her idyllic surroundings.
The moment the boat had approached the island, Nathaniel had jumped into the sea and waded the last few metres
