cracking her head with such violence that she lay still,
her eyes shut, the pain crashing over her unbearably.
CHAPTER FIVE
She lay crumpled against the side of the yacht for a
moment or two, waiting for the pain to subside. Dimly,
she heard Marc shouting anxiously, “Kate, Kate, are you
badly hurt?”
She got herself up on one knee, staggering as pain
shot through her head, and he bellowed at her to stay
down.
“I can manage, but if you go overboard in this sea I
shall not be able to do a thing about it!”
They fought their way doggedly, the coast shim-
mering through mountains of spray, but the wind was
driving them off all the time.
They rounded a sheer cliff and Kate gasped in horror
as she saw black rocks rising up, their jagged points like
broken teeth above the water. Marc was desperately
trying to avoid them, but the wind was too strong.
A grinding crash, the sound of splintering wood, and
Kate again felt herself thrown about like a rag doll. This
time icy water engulfed her. Panic made her strike out
furiously, arms flailing. The cold water seemed to be
dragging at her, pulling her downwards.
Then Marc swam up at her side, grabbing her by the
throat from behind, turning her on to her back in a deft
rolling movement.
“Keep quite still,” he ordered. “Relax. Let yourself
flop, but trust me ...”
Panic was choking her as she felt herself, helpless,