Page 139 of Delicious Surrender

“So could you—you’ve been shot.”

“Just get these cuffs off me.”

A floodlight was shining into the inky darkness and Gage was preparing to dive in when one of the two divers yelled at the other. “I’ve got her!” He watched helplessly as they pulled her limp body from the water.

“God help me John, I need to get to her.”

A paramedic arrived and started asking him questions.

“I’m okay. It’s just a flesh wound.”

The man looked at him skeptically. “Are you sure—you’ve lost a lot of blood!”

“It’s not all mine, for Christ’s sake.” He pointed to the man whose body had shielded him, then almost crushed him. “It’s his.”

John held up his hand. Someone was talking in his earpiece. “Yes. Agreed. Go. MacLeod is okay. She is your priority.” He turned to Gage. “They’re airlifting her to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. They have a trauma unit. I told them to go.”

“Good, good.” Gage sank to the deck, overcome with exhaustion. His heart ached like someone had cut open his chest cavity and left him to bleed. She’d put herself at grave risk. For him. She had to come through this.

Four days later

If she was dead, why did her body hurt so much? Brynne felt like a rock lay on her chest. Breathing hurt like she swallowed shards of glass. Her eyes refused to open; there was no reason to try. The man she fell in love with was gone. He would never know how she felt or how he made her world better. He cracked the ice around her heart, and she would never be thesame.

Why was she so cold? She didn’t remember getting pulled from the water. Maybe she didn’t. Did she care? No. She didn’t care.

Something warmed her icy hand. It felt nice. The incessant beeping noises were annoying. She wished they would stop. Her delusions were getting more elaborate. She could smell his spicy citrus scent. Maybe this was Heaven, and he was there, too.

Don’t be an idiot, Brynne. You are imagining things.

Now she was hearing his voice. The fall must have damaged her brain.

God, she missed his grumpy, sexy excuse for a smile.

“Doc, if she’s breathing on her own, why hasn’t she woken up?”

“Mr. MacCallum, her body is on the mend, but her mind could be protecting her from the trauma she experienced. Give her time. You need to go home and rest. You still have a concussion and a healing wound.”

“No, I’m not leaving. I need to keep talking to her.”

John and Jared returned from the cafeteria with a sandwich and a bag of crisps for him. They arrived together the day before. As a couple. He was happy for them because John finally came out to his family and friends.

John put a hand on his shoulder. “Gage, you look like hell. You need a shower and a proper meal. We will stay and call you if there is any change.”

His body was crooked from sleeping in the recliner for a week. He rubbed his scruffy jaw and stared at Brynne’s pale face. He’d almost lost her to the cold North Atlantic, and it still made his pulse race. If the Coastguard diver hadn’t been right there, they might not have found her in time. The diver had just pulled the body of the crewman out of the water and saw exactly where she went in. When they pulled her out, he started praying to a god he barely believed in. And he had not stopped.

“I must be here when she wakes up. There is a lot to explain.”

Twenty-four hours later

“Brynne. God damn it, I am out of patience. When I am done with you, you won’t be able to sit down for a week. You can’t give up, for heaven’s sake. I need you.”

She stirred. “You need me?” she croaked. “Ow, my throat hurts.”

Gage made a sound of anguish from deep in his chest. “Oh, thank god. Bree, can you hear me? I’m here. You’re safe. Don’t you dare leave me again—my heart can’t take it.”

She struggled to smile, but that hurt, too. She tried to touch her parched lips, but her hand couldn’t reach. “Am I tied to your bed again?”

He groaned. “Not yet, but as soon as you’re better, that’s where you will be.”