Always the Hero by Alison Roberts

Author:Alison Roberts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-03-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

IT HAPPENED TOO FAST to feel any fear.

That reaction came seconds later, kicking in the moment Abby felt the grip of Tom’s arms as he caught her and stopped her fall. When she realised she was safe, in that powerful hold, hearing the fervent relief in the oath that escaped Tom’s lips, along with her name.

‘Abby...’

As if her safety was the most important thing here. The way he said her name touched something very deep but Abby could ignore it far more easily than that touch on her face a while back. It wasn’t her safety that mattered. And, anyway, she was relatively safe again now. More importantly, her impulsive action of climbing into the sinkhole hadn’t made things worse. What if she’d dislodged enough debris to send the whole lot crashing down to bury Jack?

Jack.

Abby pushed the fear aside. Wrenched herself out of Tom’s arms so that she could drop to her knees and put her face into that gap between the beams.

She could see him.

And he looked so small and vulnerable. Dirty and scared and all hunched up in a little ball. Somehow Abby choked back a sob and even managed to sound calm.

‘Hey, sweetheart...’

‘Mummy.’ Jack started to cry. ‘Can we go home now? I d-don’t like it down here.’

‘I know, darling. You just hold on tight. We’re going to get you out of there.’

‘Abby...’ The way Tom said her name this time was very different. A warning rather than a prayer of thanks. A warning that she was promising something they couldn’t deliver?

‘I can get through that gap,’ she told Tom. ‘I’m sure I can.’

‘And then what?’ Tom kept his voice low so that Jack couldn’t overhear. ‘Drop twenty feet and break your leg? So that we’ve got two people to try and dig out?’

‘You’re not using your rope. You can tie that around me.’

‘No. I won’t let you do this, Abby. It’s far too dangerous. We have no idea how stable any of this stuff is. We’ll radio for backup. Get some engineers and USAR guys here.’

‘And how long will that take?’

They both knew the answer to that. Too long.

‘You can’t stop me, Tom.’

‘Oh, I can, Abby.’ It was more than a warning now. More like a threat.

‘That’s my son down there,’ Abby hissed.

Tom just stared at her silently. He didn’t have to say it. It was his son down there, too.

As if nature was impatient with the stand-off, a rumble of sound echoed in the mine shaft and the ground shook. It wasn’t a big aftershock but it was enough to remind them all of how they came to be here in the first place. Of just how dangerous it was. That they all needed to get out of there as fast as possible and the clock was ticking loudly.

Abby had to bite her lip hard to stop herself crying out in fear. Jack screamed. Tom’s face was grimmer than she’d ever seen it. Even when he’d been lying in his hospital bed, telling her that their relationship was over.

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