‘All right then.’ The woman moved away from the door for a moment, before returning with a mug of tea. ‘But drink this first. You look like you need something.’
‘Thank you.’ She gulped the liquid down gratefully, feeling a deep sense of relief as a group of fishermen started to gather behind her with lanterns.
‘Now then, miss.’ The man at the head gave her a terse nod. ‘Let’s go.’
* * *
Robert was the last man out of the lifeboat, relishing the feeling of wet sand beneath his feet as he threw off his cork life jacket and staggered back up the beach. It had been one of the worst rescues they’d ever attempted, the currents even more treacherous than he’d anticipated, but amazingly they’d succeeded without any losses. That fact alone made him feel buoyant despite the freezing conditions. The dangerous part was behind them. Now they just had to get the hell out of there.
He looked up at the cliffs with a fresh sense of dread. He’d left instructions for carts to follow and collect them once the storm had abated, but it would be slow going at night, and the horses wouldn’t be able to get down the cliff path, which meant that the exhausted men would have to climb up and on to the exposed clifftop. He didn’t relish the thought of telling them so, but it was the only way. They had to wait for another rescue now.
Before he did anything else though, he had to find Ianthe and make sure she was safe. No—more than that—he wanted, needed to pull her into his arms again and kiss her with even more thoroughness than before. Her willingness to help that evening, not to mention the way she’d kept up without so much as a murmur of complaint, had shown yet another side to her character. She’d surprised him again. She seemed to surprise him every day. Somehow he felt as though just seeing her again would give him the strength to get back up the cliff side.
He re-joined the others and came to an abrupt halt. ‘Where’s my wife?’
‘She went for help,’ one of the women answered, though she seemed reluctant to look him in the eye.
‘What?’ He felt a thud like a fist punching him hard in the chest.
‘I warned her not to.’
‘You let her go on her own?’
‘I tried to tell her.’
He let loose a volley of oaths, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. Was she mad? Did he really have to warn her not to go climbing cliffs in the dark? He felt sick to his stomach, picturing everything that might have happened to her. If she’d fallen then he’d never forgive himself.
‘Which way?’
‘She took the path.’
He sprinted towards it, panic giving him a fresh burst of energy, relieved that she’d at least had the sense not to branch off on her own. With any luck, he’d catch up with her before she got too far.
He heard a noise and halted abruptly, eyes narrowing towards a cluster of yellow dots glowing through the darkness, getting bigger and brighter as they bobbed closer towards him. He felt the knot of panic in his chest start to ease. If they were lanterns then they must belong to a rescue party, which meant that there was a good chance that Ianthe was with them, that she’d found help after all, that she was alive...
‘Robert!’
He heard her voice before he saw her, a small figure hurtling out of the darkness and into his arms, flinging herself against him almost before he had a chance to make her out.
‘Are you all right?’ She squeezed him tightly, as if trying to make sure he was really there. ‘I’ve been so worried!’
‘You’ve been worried?’ He jerked away, seized with a sudden fury, wrenching her arms away and holding them tightly at her sides. ‘You?’
‘What?’ She looked surprised by his reaction.
He glowered at her, so full of conflicting emotions that he couldn’t speak, stunned by the intensity of his feelings. She was alive. Which meant that he could breathe again, that his heart could beat again—that same heart he’d thought didn’t function like other men’s, that he’d assumed was incapable of love. He felt as though it had just stopped and restarted.
Not that he was going to let her off the hook so easily. She’d just scared the life out of him, even more so than the rescue had done. Fighting the storm hadn’t frightened him half as much as the thought of losing her, but the realisation that had struck him the moment he’d seen her again had been almost as terrifying. He hadn’t just been worried. He’d been frantic, distraught even. And now he was beyond furious, beyond rational thought, because now he recognised the feeling for what it was. He was in love with his wife and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
Chapter Sixteen
Ianthe awoke to darkness. She didn’t know how long she’d slept, but the storm outside seemed to have quietened slightly, the fierce howl dulled to a murmur, though judging by the pitter-patter of rain on the slate roof it was still a long way from over.
She vaguely remembered the long trudge back up the cliff side, their weary and bedraggled group splintering apart as they finally reached the cottages. Nancy had led her away, giving her a bowl of soup to eat and a nightgown to sleep in, before she’d crawled wearily into bed, unable to keep her eyes open a moment longer. Then something had woken her, not a touch or a noise, but a nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right... Where was Robert?
She forced her eyelids open, looking around the cottage in the flickering firelight, but the one big room seemed deserted. Was she alone then? Robert had kept a vice-like grip on her arm the whole way back up the cliff side, though he hadn’t said a word, his brows set in a heavy black line as he’d simply handed her over to Nancy. Seeing his expression, she hadn’t argued, though she’d wondered what had been wrong. What could possibly have made him so angry? The rescue had been a success and everyone was safe. What was there to be angry about? He ought to be celebrating, not acting as if she’d somehow caused the whole shipwreck!
The door opened suddenly, letting in a gust of cold air as a tall figure paused on the threshold to remove its overcoat.