Page 5 of Storm Warning

Below her, the rope ladder tumbled down the cliff, leaving her feet dangling.

Now a stranger held her life in his hands.

2

Adrenaline spiked through Hawk Beckett.

Lying flat to anchor his body, he gripped both her hands. In one momentous heave, he dragged her with him from the edge and hauled the woman up to safety from where she hung over a furious sea. He’d pulled her from the brink of death.

The angry ocean had boiled below her, stirring the driftwood into a soupy, deadly mess. For a minute there, he thought they were both done for. That she might pull him down with her and he’d drop right alongside her because no way would he release her hands.

He stared up at the thick green canopy and thanked his lucky stars. No. Not luck. He didn’t believe in luck. But the trajectory he’d been on, he wasn’t sure God wanted anything more to do with him. Sea spray coated his face, thanks to the gusting wind.

Lying next to him on a cluster of sword ferns, she gasped for breath. He climbed to his knees but didn’t stand. Instead, he peered down at her, assessing.

How had she ended up on that beach?

Hazel, no wait, gray-blue eyes blinked up at him. He couldn’t pin down the color, but her gaze held him. And just like that, he lost his train of thought. A small bark escaped from somewhere on her person, surprising him. He scrambled to his feet and offered his hand. She took it and stood, appearing to cradle the small creature she protected. Her rain hood had blown off, and she tugged it back on, but he’d glimpsed her long, auburn-brown hair. A smattering of freckles across her nose.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I think so. Thanks for your help.” She unzipped her jacket and dug around in another compartment before pulling out a small pooch. Then held and comforted the barking ball of fur.

Two people hurried through the woods toward them, shouting over the wind.

“Remi! Remi!” A tall, blue-haired woman shouted from a distance. She looked stocky in her heavy raincoat as she weaved her way along a narrow trail that hedged the cliff.

Remi? He took another look at the woman he’d pulled from certain death. Must be Remi Grant—the Cedar Trails Lodge manager he’d planned to find and meet while here.

Holding the small dog against her with one hand, Remi swiped rain and sea spray from her face with the other. Then she looked at him, gratitude in her gaze. “I can’t thank you enough. You saved our lives. You know that?”

While he believed that she was grateful, he hadn’t missed the wariness that lingered in her eyes. Interesting. Saving her life wasn’t reason enough to trust him. He understood that sentiment since he’d come to this wilderness coast, running from his own demons.

“You’re welcome.” A better response would have been to tell her that beach wasn’t the safest place right now. But he’d come across as harsh and insensitive. Besides, he suspectedshe knew that. Or if she hadn’t known that before, she knew it now.

“Paco!” Breathing hard, a mix of relief and fear twisted up in her demeanor, a plump older woman cut her way through the underbrush, making a beeline for her baby. “Did you find my Paco?”

Blue-Hair came up behind her. Remi handed Paco off to the plump woman. “Here you go, Mrs. Daley. He’s perfectly fine, just a little wet and cold is all.”

And scared, but Hawk suspected Remi wanted to comfort the woman rather than add more stress.

Mrs. Daley pulled Paco to her and squeezed so hard that Hawk thought she might end his life by accident, but then she held Paco up to her face and let him lick the moisture off her nose and mouth. When the dog was satisfied, she tucked him under her arm and looked at Remi again. “I’m so sorry this happened. I can’t believe—”

A gust of wind rattled the treetops and cut her off. All eyes looked up at the canopy. Then Hawk glanced out at the dark Pacific ... boiling out in the depths, waves building momentum as they chased the coast. They needed to get out of the weather.

“It’s okay.” Remi touched Mrs. Daley’s arm. “You should get inside. We’ll catch up later.”

Blue-Hair hugged Remi to her, pure relief in her eyes. “You made it. Thank goodness for Jo’s ladder.”

“Yeah, thank goodness for Jo’s ladder.” Remi eyed Hawk. A look passed between them. They shared a secret about that ladder. No mention of his assistance, but he wasn’t looking for recognition.

She avoided looking at the ground and the auger-style anchors to which the rope ladder had been affixed. The marine rope wasn’t old or worn out, and the quick assessment, impression, he’d gotten was that it had been intentionallyshredded. The cuts looked recent. But he kept it to himself for now.

Blue-Hair glanced around as if searching for the rope, her green contacts shifting in her eyes.

“Let’s get inside out of the weather,” Remi said. “The wind and rain are picking up.” Remi looked at him, raising her voice over the wind. “I didn’t get your name.”

“Hawk Beckett. You must be Remi Grant.”

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