Читать книгу Bachelor Father - Vicki Thompson Lewis - Страница 11

PROLOGUE

I’M GOING TO DIE. The rapids pulled her under again. Through the churning bubbles Katherine saw a tree root. She grabbed at it, but fists of water punched her away. Fighting to the surface, she gulped in more water than air. Then the current took over again and slammed her against a submerged rock. She ignored the pain and tried to get a grip on the mossy, slippery surface.

No luck. The water closed over her head. Air. She needed air. But she was so tired. So very...no, damn it! Flailing her arms, she broke the surface again and choked as she tried to breathe.

“Here!”

Rescue! The possibility ran through her like an electric charge. Nearly blinded by the water pouring from her hair into her eyes, she struggled to turn in the direction of the voice. There...just ahead...a branch being held over the tumbling water!

“Grab it!” yelled the man.

She had one chance at this, she thought. One chance at life. As the river swept her toward the branch, she offered up a quick prayer and reached for the branch with both scraped hands. Contact!

But the river wouldn’t let go. It tugged and pulled, trying to work her loose from her salvation.

“Wrap your arms around it! I’ll bring you in!”

Following his orders took faith. She had to loosen her handhold to wrap her arms around the branch, and she was sure she’d be swept downstream in the process of getting a better grip.

But she wasn’t. Inch by painful inch he worked her toward shore, until at last he could touch her hand. Once his fingers circled her wrist, she knew he’d saved her. Dizzy with gratitude, Katherine glanced up at the man who had just become the most important person in her life.

* * *

HE COULD HAVE MISSED HER, Zeke thought with a shiver. Headed back to camp with the string of trout he planned to cook for dinner, he could just as easily have cut through the trees instead of following the river. But an uneasy feeling he’d learned not to ignore had made him skirt the banks and check the rapids.

She’d scared the hell out of him. Adrenaline pumped through his system after he hauled her out of the water and she flopped facedown on a bed of wild grass.

He crouched beside her, his heart racing. “Was anyone with you?”

She gasped a few times. “No.”

He swore. Although he didn’t have to worry about looking for a drowning victim downstream, he wanted to shake this idiotic woman for traipsing around in the wilderness by herself. She’d almost paid the ultimate price.

But he’d saved her, and now he had to deal with the consequences of that. He’d deliberately left his cell phone at the ranger station, figuring he was off duty. Dusk was nearly upon them.

He leaned close to her. “Do you have a camp nearby?”

“No.” Her breathing was steadier, but she didn’t move from where she’d landed. “Lost my pack...in the water.”

Zeke recognized a New York accent. Lord deliver him from greenhorns who thought Yellowstone was a slightly more rugged version of Disneyland. He sighed. “Then I guess you’ll be spending the night with me.”