Chapter Two
By the time Cane had the woman safely onshore, he tuned into the boy’s fearful screams. “Amelia! Ami! Open your eyes.”
Exhausted, but riding the adrenalin wave, Cane whipped around to deal with the lifeless girl who’d begun to turn blue and had stopped breathing.
Releasing the struggling woman, now safely on land, he moved quickly.
The boy was pummeling his sister’s chest, trying in the only way he knew how to get her to breathe.
“Ami. Come on. Please.” Cane forcefully nudged him away and took over. “Here, let me.”
Knowing CPR but unsure of how much energy he had left, he cleared the smaller girl’s airways and began the lifesaving measure of forcing air into her mouth and then pushing her chest in a rhythmic way.
Sensing the woman crowding in, he thanked God when she screamed at him over the raucous sounds of the storm. “Let me take a turn.”
In position, she took over and worked on the child whose bluish color had started to show a slight improvement.
Obviously, sharing her breath was taking its toll, and Cane took his turn again within a few minutes.
This time, he felt the change coming and was ready to turn the little girl to help her release the water from her lungs.
As she choked, coughing herself back to the living, her stress from the recent near drowning showed up in cries of fear, thrashing arms, and nightmarish panic.
Hugging her close, he rubbed her back and whispered so as not to frighten her. “It’s okay, darlin’. Cane’s got you now. Everything’s okay.”
Before he could say much more, her anxious brother pushed in to get to his sister, almost climbing into Cane’s arms as well. “Ami. It’s me, Josh. You’re okay now. It’s me. I’m here too.” Then he began to cry, deep, harsh sounds that no child should ever make.
Before they could settle down and deal with the kids’ emotions, Cane felt the woman beating on his arm to get his attention. “We have to leave here now. Look.”
A side glance left him no doubt that she understood their danger.
The rushing waters were rising swiftly. They only had minutes to clear their way upwards before they’d be pulled back into the muddy hell.
Standing became impossible. His legs weren’t willing to work anymore.
They’d taken quite a beating in the river from the debris and the strenuous swim.
Shoving Ami toward the woman, he screamed, “Take her and the boy. Go. Quick. I’ll follow.”
He saw her eyes shift down his body and knew the instant she’d figured out his dilemma.
Taking the rope from around her waist, she flung it his way.
“Tie this around yourself and haul ass.” Then she grabbed the girl and pushed the agile boy ahead of her along the still taut rope.
“Pull yourself to the jeep. Hurry. Go, quick like a bunny.”
Cane watched the slender body of the native American woman cradling the little girl against her body to shield her from the reaching branches. Admiration for her strength had him obeying her command. Haul ass he would. No fucking way did he want another swim that day.
By the time he’d crawled within the last few feet of the jeep, she came back for him. With his arm over her shoulder and hers around his waist, clutching his belt to help drag him along, they made it to the waiting children.
Both fell once they reached the jeep, she with tears of exhausted tension covering her striking features, and he with the filth of the river at home in every inch of his weary, shattered body.
Slumped beside each other, she finally flung her long, dripping braid towards her back and wiped the sweat from her brow. “You’re sure a big ‘un.”
“Used to be strong too. Now I’m as weak as a baby.”
“I know exactly what you mean. Don’t think I can move another inch.” She fell back in the soaked grass, her arms flung out.
He lay beside her for a few more seconds before making an effort to roll to his knees. “We have no choice… zero, nada.”
“Nag, nag.” A sideways grin lit her features. “In a minute.”
The chuckle took energy, but he couldn’t stop it. “Right. Okay.”
Seconds later, the boy, Josh, eased down beside them. “Ami is crying for mama. I don’t know what to do.”
***
Raven sat up wearily. “What happened to your folks… Josh – is it?”
“Yeah. Josh Williams. My daddy and mama were with us in the cabin. He tried to save her, but the river wouldn’t let him. Now Ami wants mama. But I don’t think she made it out of the water.”
“What makes you say that?”
Josh’s shattered look cleared for seconds as he thought back to earlier.
“When the river took the house, Mama tried to save our dog, Golden. She fell into the water and Mama went after her. Daddy tried to keep me and Ami safe, but when he saw Mama in the water, he jumped in to go after her. I never saw them again.”
Josh turned to Cane. “Mister here found us in time… right after we fell, he saved us.”
Cane, who’d sat up to listen, looked at the boy. “I’m Cane. Cane Masters.” Pointing to Raven, he added, “And this is…?”
“Raven Wire. Nice to meet you both.” Raven pulled herself to her feet. “I’ll go to Ami. She might respond better to a woman right now.”
Josh followed her to where Ami huddled on the ground near the Jeep’s back wheel. Raven sat next to the child and gently hauled her into her arms. There she brushed her matted mass of curly damp hair away from her dirty face and hugged her shivering body close.
“Honey, my name is Raven.”
At first Ami stiffened but once she heard Raven speak, she let her body relax. “Like the bird?” Amelia’s lowered voice sounded timid.
“Yep. Like that big black bird who can be a total nuisance sometimes. My grandmother used to take care of a raven that was injured, and the feathered tease drove her crazy. Fool liked to steal food and would mimic her when Grandmother gave him a talking to.”
Amelia sniffed, her tears fading. In a broken voice, she admitted, “I-I like birds.”
“Me too.” Raven brushed the sticky, muddy mess back from Amelia’s face. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry you’re upset about your mom and dad. I don’t blame you for being worried and scared. What you and Josh survived was terrifying.”
Ami pointed at Cane. “He saved us. But his hands hurt me bad.” She motioned to Cane now struggling to stand. With the help of the rock nearby, he was able to pull himself up.
“He didn’t mean to. Let me see.” She watched as the child lifted her t-shirt and showed her the bruises on her tummy and chest. “He had no choice. You do understand, right?”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Ami began to cry again, this time loud wails that Raven understood to be her way of releasing her panic… besides her fear of the unknown.
Raven shushed her, cradling the child while rocking back and forth like she remembered her grandmother doing for her.
Wanting to remove the child’s distress over the man who’d saved her life, she spoke clearly.
“Honey, the river fought hard to take you from him, remember? He had to keep you safe and there wasn’t time to be gentle.
” Amelia nodded but she still kept her face turned away from the man under discussion.
With intentions to ask him to deal with Ami’s anxiety, Raven’s eyes became focused on the man’s muscles as he used his strength to get upright. What a glorious specimen of a giant. His tough physique showed a body that obviously worked out a lot.
Leaning against the rock, he’d removed his T-shirt, wrung it out, shook it good, and laid it aside. Hands shaking, he released the shoulder-length brown hair held back by a band. The dirty, wet strands settled around his tanned face.
Her eyes widened when she saw the play of golden skin rippling from his exertion.
His nakedness revealed the darkening bruises, bleeding cuts, and multitude of abrasions he’d suffered from the flood.
Still ignoring them, he replaced his wet T-shirt and rebound his hair, his side glances making her think he did all this on purpose to give her time to settle the children.
If she hadn’t witnessed his bravery and gentleness with her own eyes, he might have intimidated her. Or at the very least, made her question his selfless acts to save the children. Safety for himself hadn’t seemed to matter to this protector. Didn’t he care about his own survival?
Suddenly the insanity of that question hit her hard. Did she care about her own? She’d jumped in without hesitation. But then, it was her training. Being an FBI agent qualified her to be selfless in such emergencies. Curiosity about him flared but had to be put aside for now.
First, she needed to get the kids out of their wet, muddy clothes and into something dry.
Setting the children aside, she rummaged in the back of her jeep.
Pulling down her backpack, she found clean t-shirts and gym pants that she’d bought for her nephews as gifts for their birthdays.
Passing out the new clothes, ignoring that they were big on Amelia, she made them change inside the jeep, out of the rain, and then quickly she turned her back and whipped off her own shirt, replacing it with a tight gym top that would work as a bra.
Then she covered herself with a blue button-down jean shirt and tied the ends at her waist. Ignoring her soaking shorts, she rummaged for the blanket she always carried in the back and put it in the back seat for the kids.
Finishing her ministrations just in time before he walked slowly towards them, shuffling carefully with a stiffening body, she gestured for him to come closer, welcoming him to her side.
“Amelia, honey, this man is Cane Masters. He saved your life. Yours and Josh’s.”
The child stole a peek at Cane. Her bottom lip quivered as a mutinous look settled on her face. “You hurt me, but I forgive you cause Raven said so.”
“Darlin’, I’m sorry. I promise never to do that again. Will you forgive me?” He crouched next to their open door, his hand caressing Ami’s arm with gentle strokes.
As his words flowed, Raven felt his voice’s deep vibration filter through her body, compelling every inch of skin to wake up and take notice. Christ in the woods, this charmer was a vision of pure sex… a very large vision.
When she watched his way with Ami, she had to admit he knew how to use that charm, that is until he looked her way.
That’s when she saw his smile fade, and his eyes empty out…
or rather, become distant. Like he acknowledged her presence, hers and the children, but had no more of a reaction to them than one might have for any strangers who meant nothing.
Familiar with this type of behavior in her job, she put it down to an event in his past. If she were a betting woman, she’d lay down every cent she owned that this man’s heart had suffered a harsh blow, leaving behind an empty vessel, living and breathing but not alive.