No Surrender by McKenna Lindsay

Author:McKenna, Lindsay [McKenna, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Suspense, Fiction
ISBN: 9781460314951
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-04-15T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Miraculously, they landed upright, sliding along the smooth, grainy surface of the beach. Clay was the first out of the raft, pulling it high up on the shore with the aid of the nylon rope.

He watched as Aly shakily climbed out of the raft. She held her left arm against her torso, and he knew she was in plenty of pain from the dislocation. Tugging the raft completely out of the grasp of the heavy waves, Clay wrapped the nylon rope around a large black rock sticking up out of the sand, using it as an anchor point.

Clay looked up as she approached. “Aly?” He hadn’t realized the full impact on her of their bid to paddle ashore until just then. Her eyes were dark with exhaustion, shadows beneath them. And that beautiful mouth was compressed into a single line of suffering.

“Yes?”

He rose to his feet. Sliding his hand around her good arm to steady her, Clay guided her toward a large, sandy bluff that stood to the left of the landing area. “First things first. I want you to sit down before you fall down. As soon as I can get Dan comfortable, I’ll take care of you.”

The sand was packed hard from the continuous rain, but Aly stumbled, nevertheless. Clay’s hand tightened on her arm to prevent her from falling. Tiredness was lapping at her, and she wasn’t thinking clearly. “I—I think I’m in shock, Clay.”

He gave her a tight smile, motioning for her to sit down. “I know you are.”

Giving him a confused look, Aly rasped, “Why aren’t you?”

Her hair was in utter disarray around her face, curled and stiffened by the saltwater. But to Clay, she looked beautiful. Leaning down, he cupped her cheek. “I had a crash before, remember? Maybe that experience prepared me this time. I don’t know. Stay here.”

As badly as she wanted to contribute to the team effort, Aly was simply too fatigued. She sat watching as Clay briskly went about the business of setting up camp. The tarp over the large, oval raft would provide them with protection against all kinds of weather. And each raft was equipped with an array of items, from ten gallons of fresh water stored in quart plastic bottles to enough dehydrated food for two weeks, a radio, a first-aid kit and other essentials.

Aly studied the turbulent gray clouds, dark with threatening rain. The wind was warm, and her stiff, salty-smelling flight suit was nearly dry. This was Baja, and it was September. Aly wondered how hot it would get when the storm finally passed them.

Clay was satisfied with his hour’s worth of effort. Dan was resting peacefully, although still unconscious, beneath the protective tarp on the raft. He’d placed two blankets over him, to keep him warm. Setting up the radio to send out the Mayday signal was his last major chore before he could attend to Aly.

Every once in a while, Clay would look up to check on her. She had lain down, curling on her side, using her right arm as a pillow for her head.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.