Soldier's Pregnancy Protocol by Beth Cornelison - Black Ops Rescues 01 - Soldier's Pregnancy Protocol

Author:Beth Cornelison - Black Ops Rescues 01 - Soldier's Pregnancy Protocol [Cornelison, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780373277797
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Erin’s breath snagged in her throat as she watched Alec sink into the icy stream. A frozen heartbeat later, he broke the surface and swiped the frigid water from his face. He let fly a curse that voiced the agonizing discomfort of the wintry stream.

Panic squeezed her chest. “Oh, God!”

This was her fault. Her fault. Self-recrimination echoed through her brain as she watched Alec scramble to find his footing. He dragged his pack from his back and heaved it onto the far bank. With his wet clothes plastered to him, he slogged through the water and staggered out. He dropped to his knees, then started peeling off layers of soaked clothing.

Her stomach knotting with guilt, Erin picked her way across the rest of the rocks and rushed to his side.

“Alec! Oh, God, Alec, I’m so sorry!” she moaned as she helped him strip off his wet shirts.

“F-fire. Gotta build-d a f-fire.” He shivered so hard in the cold air that his teeth chattered.

“Right. A fire.” She jumped up to find whatever dry wood she could scrounge. She dumped the sticks and stray limbs in a haphazard pile and looked at Alec’s soaked pack. Chances were slim any matches in his pack were still dry.

She scrambled back to help him tug his wet jeans and thermal underwear down his hips. When she noticed how much trouble he had unlacing his boots, she took over the job for him. After she yanked the boots off his feet, she finished pulling the jeans down his legs. By now the skin of his legs had grown pale with bluish tones that scared the hell out of her. “Are there any matches or a lighter in my pack?”

Shivering hard, he glanced up at her. She fully expected to find wrath and blame in his eyes, but the helplessness and obvious suffering she saw instead frightened her far more.

“Y-yes-s-s.” His lips were white, and his face a raw-looking red.

Her heart lurched, and bile rose in her throat. She blinked back the sting of useless, self-indulgent tears and rallied her composure, focused herself on one goal. Warming Alec. Saving his life.

Stripping off the coat he’d given her that morning, she wrapped it around him. Once she’d pulled off his wet socks, she removed her own shoes to give him her bulky socks, as well. After chafing as much heat as she could into his fingers and cheeks, she wrapped his hands with one of her shirts and his head with another. He looked like a pitiful excuse for a mummy, but it was the best she had until she retrieved the second pack.

“I’ll be right back.” She couldn’t be sure if the bobbing of his head was a nod of understanding or another shudder, but she didn’t linger to decide. With as much haste as she dared, Erin retraced her steps across the large rocks to the other side of the stream, grabbed up the backpack and returned. Her own hands numb with cold, she dug in the pack in search of the promised matches.

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