Can't Tie Me Down! (Sinclair Sisters 1)

Chapter 11

Mairi was sound asleep when someone gently shook her awake. She batted at them to make them go away. It was too light in the room. “Pull the curtains,” she said.

“Rusty, wake up. The rescue effort has turned up.”

Keir? She buried her nose in his neck and inhaled. Definitely Keir, and this wasn’t her bed. She shifted, wincing as pain spiked from her behind. With it came the memory of the night before. And with that came the unwelcome realization that they were still on the cliff.

“I can’t believe I fell asleep,” she grumbled against his throat.

“I can’t believe we didn’t fall off the cliff while we were sleeping.”

He had a point. She opened her eyes and was instantly blinded by the sun glinting off the water.

“Mairi! Keir!” someone called out above them.

“That’s Donna,” Mairi said. She’d recognize Donna’s voice anywhere. None of her other sisters sounded that hysterical.

“Aye, we’re being rescued.” Keir brushed the hair back from her face and looked down at her. “Good morning, gorgeous.”

She looked up at him, and it was as though the world just faded away. Her stomach tightened. Her heart ached. She’d missed him so much. When he’d disappeared from her life, it had felt as though a part of her had been ripped away along with him. Even now, after all this time, the wound he’d left behind that night was still raw and open. All she’d managed to do was bandage over it, but nothing had healed. Nothing had changed. Why did she have to let him close to her again? Now she felt as though the bandage had been ripped off and the wound was exposed to the air. And it hurt again. Just when she’d thought the pain was gone for good.

She shook her head and dismissed her thoughts. Mentally rebandaging the wound, so she could pretend again that it wasn’t there. “We should call back to her.”

He nodded. “You ready? It’ll be louder if we both do it together.”

“What will we shout?”

He shrugged. “‘Help’ seems appropriate.”

“An oldy but a goody. On three?”

“One, two, three, help!” They roared together, waited a beat and then shouted it again. Repeatedly.

“Mairi!” Donna called, sounding a lot closer now. “How on earth did you get down there?”

Mairi looked up to see her sister peering over the bluff. Along with every one of her fake boyfriends and Sean. Having everyone stare at them made Mairi uncomfortably conscious of the fact she was sitting in Keir’s lap. As though Keir knew she was getting ready to bolt, his arms tightened around her.

“We fell,” Keir shouted. “Do you think someone could get us out of here?”

“What did he say?” an American boyfriend said. “Did they fall or were they pushed?”

Mairi groaned. If they got started, they could debate this for hours.

“Does it matter?” she shouted. “Somebody get us up from here.”

There was scrambling, and some of the faces disappeared. She could hear shouting. It didn’t sound organized.

“This is going to take forever,” Mairi said. “There isn’t a leader among them. I wish Agnes were here. She’d have them organized and us up the cliff by now.”

“Mairi,” Donna shouted, “are you hurt?”

“We’re fine. Nothing broken.”

“Get back from the edge, woman,” came a deep Scottish voice above them. “Do you want to end up down there with them?”

“What are you doing here?” Donna sounded a little hysterical.

“You called to tell me you weren’t coming in to work until you found your sister. Where the hell do you think I’d be?” There was a pause. “You lot, put down the felt-tip pens and