“You’re sure of that? Have you looked into the water lately?”
She smiled. “Snakes do not scare me. Only people can truly hurt you.”
Isaac felt a strong stab of guilt. She hadn’t asked a single question about why he and Abe had abducted her. She could have, and probably should have, let him bleed to death.
“You’re staring at me oddly,” Nicole said.
“What’s going to happen when we do get back to civilization?”
Nicole felt a surge of joy shoot through her. Cl
ay, she thought. She would leave the mill in someone else’s hands and return to Clay’s house. She’d be there with him and the twins, as they were once, except now Bianca would have no power to come between them.
Her thoughts returned to Isaac. “I don’t guess you want to return to your home. Maybe you’d like to work for me at the mill. I’m sure we could use another man.”
Isaac’s face changed from one color to another. “How can you offer me a job after what I’ve done to you?” he whispered.
“You saved my life.”
“But I brought you here! You would never have been in this situation if it hadn’t been for me.”
“That’s not true, and you know it,” she said. “If you’d refused to go with Abe, he would have taken someone else or come alone. Then what would have happened to me?” She put her hand on his arm. “I owe you a lot. The least I can do is offer you a job.”
He stared at her silently for several minutes. “You’re a lady, a real lady. I think my life is going to be better since meeting you.”
She laughed, and he watched the sunlight play on her hair. “And you, kind sir, would do well in any court in the world. Your gallantry is excessive.”
He grinned back at her, happier than he ever had been in his life.
Suddenly, Nicole jumped. “What was that?”
Isaac sat still and listened. “Get me the knife,” he whispered. “And you hide. Slip into the scum at the edge of the water. No one will ever find you there. Whatever you do, don’t come out until it’s safe.”
Nicole gave him her sweetest smile. She had no intention of abandoning him, wounded as he was, to the mercies of whoever approached so quietly. And she certainly had no intention of burying herself in the scum of the water. She handed Isaac the knife. Then, when she went to help him stand, he pushed her away.
“Go!” he commanded.
Nicole slipped behind the willow trees at the edge of the island, then slowly made her way toward the quiet footsteps. She saw Travis first, his broad, thick form unmistakable. Instantly, her eyes blurred with tears. Hastily, she wiped them away and watched Travis as he walked away from her.
She felt Clay’s presence behind her rather than heard him. She whirled about, her hair flying. She stood as still as if she were made of stone.
Silently, he opened his arms to her.
She leaped into them, burying her face in his neck, her body pressed hard against his. She felt his face against her cheek, and she knew his eyes were also wet.
Still holding her aloft, he turned her chin so she looked at him. He studied her face, devouring it. “You’re well?” he whispered.
She nodded, her eyes on his. There was something wrong, deeply wrong. She sensed it.
He clutched her close again. “I thought I was going to go crazy,” he said. “I couldn’t bear it again.”
“You won’t have to,” she smiled, relaxing against his body, enjoying the warmth and strength of him. “My own naiveté got me into this. I won’t be so careless again.”
“Next time you won’t be given a choice,” he said fiercely.
“Clay, what do you mean by next time?” She tried to push away from him.
He pushed her head to one side and began to kiss her. As soon as his lips touched hers, Nicole stopped thinking. It had been so very long since they’d been together.