Before she could move, rocks and pebbles from above pelted down on her. Dev was descending fast! Trying to move out of the way, Kulani cursed her hypothermic condition. Staggering to her feet, she pulled herself into the cave and jerked the nylon line away from the lip.
“Dev?”
“Almost there. I see it!”
His voice soothed her panic. Kulani felt the hours of strain and stress catching up to her. She sat against the cave wall, her head bowed against her knees, which she’d brought up against her chest in an effort to try and conserve her dwindling body heat. Shaking badly now, she knew she should get the knapsack off her shoulders. It was waterproof, thank goodness. There was a dry uniform inside it, along with blankets. She could become warm if she could just get herself to move. Gasping, she realized it was impossible—all she could do was sit there, trembling violently.
In the grayness of the coming dawn, Dev saw the mouth of the cave. He allowed the line to sing through his gloved hand. Landing on his feet, he heard the sound of his arrival echo back from the dark opening. Anxiously, he looked around as he straightened up. There! Kulani was sitting just inside the cave, her arms around her drawn-up knees, her head resting against them.
“Kulani?” There was a raw edge in his voice. Dev quickly unbuckled his harness and threw it aside. As he knelt down, his hands went instantly to Kulani’s shoulders.
“You’re shaking,” he whispered fiercely. “Damn…hypothermia…why didn’t you tell me?” He got up and rapidly shrugged out of his knapsack. Taking a penlight, he flashed it around the cave. It was larger than he’d expected. The rear of the cave was dry and protected from the ragged wind that continued to bluster up through the canyon.
“Hang on,” he pleaded with Kulani, “I’ll get some blankets out. I’ll get you warmed up.” Right now, his whole awareness was focused on her. She was dangerously close to losing consciousness. Her body temperature had plummeted in this grueling weather. He’d been able to handle the violent temperature change better because he wasn’t acclimated to the island as she was. His blood was thicker and therefore able to combat the temperature variance better.
Once he was in the rear of the cave, Dev ripped open the top of his knapsack and quickly spread out the four dry blankets. Moving to his feet, he had to bend over so his head wouldn’t hit the roof of the cave. As he approached Kulani, the gray light was strengthening. He saw a white dressing on her left hand. That must be where she’d injured herself earlier, he thought.
Jerking off his headset, Dev threw it aside. He knelt in front of Kulani. “Okay, sweetheart, you’re mine. Come on, I’m going to get you to the rear of the cave where it’s warmer.” He wrapped his fingers strongly around Kulani’s biceps and pulled her forward into his arms. She was shaking violently. He heard her teeth chattering nonstop. Quickly, Dev slipped the knapsack from her damp back and arms. Her every movement was sluggish and stiff, warning him of the depth of hypothermia she was experiencing.
“Come on,” he whispered harshly as he put his arm around her waist and helped her stand. “Just lean on me.”
Kulani had no options. Dev’s strength was wonderful. When her damp body came into contact with his, she moaned. Her head dropped forward on her chest. She could barely move. “I—feel like a baby—I can’t coordinate….”
“I know,” Dev grunted. Lowering her onto the blankets, he quickly removed the flak jacket with the help of the penlight. Going back for her knapsack, he retrieved four more dry blankets. Kneeling down beside her, he began to strip her out of the wet nylon suit. “Sorry, but this has gotta go….”
In protest, Kulani tried to stop him. She wore nothing beneath the suit! Absolutely nothing. Panic ate at her. She didn’t want Dev to see her naked, but she felt helpless…like a baby in his arms. Her arm flopped outward in uncoordinated protest as he turned her around and positioned her across the blankets. In the dim light, she saw the apology in his eyes. Care radiated from him like a beacon. Kulani had never experienced the rush of relief she felt now as he began to rapidly strip off the wet material from her shoulders. The sensation shocked her. Automatically, she tried to push his hand away before he could expose her breasts.
“No…”
“Dammit, Kulani,” he breathed near her ear, “just take it easy. You’re hypothermic. Your skin feels like ice. Don’t fight me….”
The impatience in his tone struck her full force. Her body simply wouldn’t follow the commands of her mind, which seemed to be shorting out. Her fingers relaxed over his hand, which held the material just above her breasts.
“I’m okay!” she muttered in slurred tones.
He grinned tightly as he unsheathed the material from her breasts. “Sure you are. You’re past the point of being able to shiver. You’ve got a failing level of consciousness and you can’t even control your muscle movements.” Dev made sure he kept his gaze on the job at hand and not on her exposed breasts. Sure, he’d wanted to see her naked—but not like this. Feeling badly for her, he continued stripping the suit off her. Reaching over, he grabbed the first blanket and brought it around her, covering her shoulders and breasts. There. She couldn’t take umbrage with him now. Moving to her legs, he tugged off the last of the chilled, wet material. Kulani had remarkable legs and dainty feet. Wrapping her lower body in a second blanket, Dev took the other two and placed them around her as she lay in a fetal position on her right side.
Sitting down beside her, he scooped her back into his arms. He heard her mew of protest. “Just be patient,” he rasped as her head rested against his jaw. Placing his hand on the outermost blanket, Dev began to rub her shoulders and back with fierce, rapid motions designed to draw the heat that was held deep in her organs back out to the external surfaces of her body.
Kulani moaned as she surrendered to his superior strength. Her mind was mush. She couldn’t think two thoughts coherently. His hands were firm and brisk against her skin as he created a warming friction across her icy flesh.
“That’s it,” Dev coaxed against her ear, “just give in and let me help you. Damn, but you’re a stubborn woman.”
Kulani sighed. She lay curled up within his embrace, her knees pressed against his massive thigh. Dev Hunter was hard. Hard as the lava wall she had fought all night long. When his hand moved to her arms and he began the same brisk ministrations, she felt slightly better. Her back already glowed with returning warmth.
“Sleep…” she murmured. “I want to sleep, Dev….”
“Go ahead,” he grunted as he moved his hand in small, circular motions down her hip and thigh. “I’ll hold you and keep you safe, sweetheart. Go ahead and sleep. When you wake up, you’ll be warm again….”
Sunlight streamed in brightly and momentarily blinded Kulani. Blinking, her mind slushy, she lay there feeling marvelously warm and safe. It was only moments later, as she felt her sleepiness dissolving, that she realized Dev was stretched out beside her and she was lying fully against him beneath the blankets, her head in the crook of his shoulder and her left arm wrapped around his torso. As she lifted her gaze, she saw his naked shoulder. And then Kulani realized with alarm that her hips flowed against his, and her leg was tangled intimately between his.
Shocking awareness plunged through her. She was naked, too. She could feel the scratchy quality of the lightweight but warming blankets against her bare skin. Was Dev completely naked? Kulani wasn’t sure. Her heart was pounding—not with dread, but with anticipation. As she slowly eased herself from the shelter of his embrace, she felt Dev suddenly tense. Instantly, his dark green eyes opened. His pupils were large and black, filled with drowsiness for just a moment before he became fully awake.
His arm around her waist tensed and Kulani was trapped. There was no barrier between their naked forms. Panic ate at her. How easy it would be to simply fall back into his arms, against his warm, hard body, and love him. But Kulani knew this was not the time or place. Her panic increased because she couldn’t trust herself, her response, if D
ev asked her to come back into his arms.
“Everything’s all right,” she told him in a husky tone. “I just woke up. I’ve got to get up.”
Dev gazed at her drowsy features. Her braided hair had come loose in tiny tendrils that needed taming. Her ebony eyes were huge and burned with life once more. Smiling lopsidedly, he said, “And I suppose you want me to let you go?”
She smiled a little uncertainly. “Please?” Hunter removed his arm from around her waist, and Kulani immediately felt bereft of the powerful care and sense of safety he always bestowed upon her.
“I was having one hell of a dream about you and me,” he teased as he watched her move into a sitting position, the blankets pressed to her breasts for modesty’s sake. “Want to hear about it?”
Kulani reached for her pack and drew out the second nylon suit. “Do I want to, Hunter?”
He raised up just enough to place his hand beneath his head. Right now, Kulani looked delicious. “If I were in your shoes, yes, I would.”
“Turn over so I can get dressed.”
Dev nodded and reluctantly obeyed. Outside the cave, there was a thin piece of blue sky sandwiched between dark, rain-swollen clouds. “Looks like our tropical storm is still with us,” he growled unhappily. His ears caught the sound of the blankets falling away from her as she stood up. The rustle of nylon came next. The temptation to turn over and appreciate her nakedness nearly overwhelmed him. Dev resisted—barely.
Kulani glanced out the opening as she balanced herself on one foot. The rear of the cave did not allow her to straighten to her full height. She gripped the rocky wall for support as she pulled her pants on. “Cappy said it would be two days.”
“Too bad,” Dev said, scowling. The cave was warm and dry and he was apprehensive about Kulani facing the elements again. “That was a close call you had last night. Why didn’t you tell me you were going hypothermic?”
Kulani knelt on the pile of soft blankets and pulled up the skintight outfit. “What good would it have done? You couldn’t have helped me while we were descending. I just had to gut it out. You can turn around now.” She sat down and pulled on the thick, warm socks. Her stomach growled and Kulani rummaged through her knapsack and found an MRE—a meal ready to eat. She was famished. But one look at Dev as he slowly rolled over and sat up, and she forgot her physical hunger. The dark brown blanket fell away to expose his darkly haired and powerful chest. He wasn’t wearing anything. She had slept on that chest. Feeling heat rush up her neck and into her face, she gave him a lame look. “Are you hungry?”
Hunter grinned wolfishly. “Depends on what you had in mind.”
Kulani rolled her eyes. And then she burst into laughter. This man had saved her life last night. Reaching over, she trailed her fingers down his large, muscled arm and caught his rough, swollen fingers, careful not to squeeze them. “For food, so get that look out of your eyes, Hunter. You’re about as obvious as a Mac truck, do you know that?” She sobered. “And I owe you for saving my life. Thank you.”
He saw the seriousness in her dark eyes. Just the way she tenderly caressed his arm and held his fingers in her own was more of a gift than he ever thought she’d give him. He’d stolen two kisses from her. Experience had taught him not to take another. If she wanted to kiss him, she had to initiate it this time. Humor lurked at the corners of his mouth. “So, how are you going to repay me, Ms. Dawson?”
Chortling, Kulani eased her fingers from his. She sat down very near him, her legs crossed and her knee brushing his blanket-clad thigh. “Ohh, I’ve got a feeling that in that steel trap mind of yours, Hunter, you’ve got a wish list of how I might thank you.”
His grin widened into a devastating smile. Reaching for his knapsack, he said primly, “Well, Ms. Dawson, I’ll let you think of a way to thank me. Fair enough?”
With a shake of her head, Kulani busied herself making the MRE edible. She took out a magnesium heating tab and it sparked to life. Setting a small aluminum pan that she filled with water over the white-hot flame, she said, “In all seriousness, I was pretty much out of it. Did I give you a hard time after you dropped into the cave and realized what was happening?”
Dev pulled out his clean black uniform. “Yeah, you were a little hellion under the circumstances. You tried to give me a black eye, but I ducked real fast.”
“Oh, I did not!” Kulani watched the water come to a boil. There was enough water in the pan for two MREs, so she said, “Choose your poison. I’ll put water in your meal, too.” Holding her hand toward him, she saw him study it intently.
Dev saw the multitude of cuts and lacerations on her fingers and across her palm. Her fingertips were just as badly swollen as his. Drawing one of the packaged meals from the knapsack, he opened it and handed it to her.
“Don’t look,” he warned her as he swiftly got to his feet.
Kulani choked and quickly looked away, but not before catching a glimpse. Dev Hunter was completely naked. He had a beautiful, sculpted body that only climbing mountains could give a man. “Geez, Dev, a few seconds warning would have been nice,” Kulani muttered as she concentrated on pouring water into the MREs.
“You’re pretty when you blush, you know that?” he teased as he shoved first one foot and then the other into his clean, dry suit. He saw her jerk her face away from him.
“You’re impossible!” she said as she set down the pan.
“But you like me anyway?” he bantered as he turned toward her and sat down only inches away. Outside, thunder rumbled warningly. Dev noticed the sun and blue sky had been chased away. The cave darkened slightly as the thunderstorm moved across the width of the valley.
Chapter Nine
After their fortifying meal, Dev got up and moved behind Kulani, his thighs spread wide to encompass her sitting form. “Let me look at your injury,” he murmured as he placed his arms around her and gently captured her right hand. For an instant Kulani resisted, but then, to his delight, she leaned back against him.
“Good, you’re finally learning you can trust me,” he joked as he picked up a nearby first aid kit and opened it. The desire to be needed filled him with a powerful warmth throughout his chest. His heart hammered briefly at the realization.
Kulani felt mildly drowsy after eating the hearty meal. She nestled contentedly against his strong body. “I shouldn’t trust you at all.”
“No,” Dev murmured as he leaned over her, his arms moving around her proud shoulders, “you shouldn’t, but you have a good heart and you’ll give a bastard like me a second chance, I know.” And then he risked everything by saying, “Besides, you said up on top that you needed me.”
A mirthless smile raced across her lips. Kulani was too exhausted to fight Dev’s concern. Besides, she craved his attentiveness and wanted his closeness, whether she admitted it to him or not. “You’re so arrogant, Hunter.” She saw the uncertainty in his eyes as she looked up at him. “Yes,” she whispered softly, “I do need you. And I’m glad you’re here for me. I couldn’t have gone this far without you.” And she couldn’t have.
Chortling, he examined her fingers closely. “Yes, and you like me for it, don’t you?” He scowled as he saw the raw condition of her fingertips. Kulani had cut her fingernails very short, but he saw the nails were chipped here and there from trying to find purchase on that unforgiving lava wall.
There were many bruises on her hand as well, revealing how many times she’d missed the piton and smashed the hammer into her hand, instead. It hurt him to think how much pain that had caused her. She was so damned brave under the circumstances.
With a slight shrug, Kulani said, “You’re like a bad cold. Can’t get rid of it or you.” He was so arrogant and sure of her feelings for him. She felt a little afraid of admitting much because of his boldness.
“Now, you don’t mean that, do you?” He grinned as he opened a jar of ointment. “This is calendula. My brother Ty knows a homeopath in Sedona, Arizona, and she told him what to carry for first aid situa
tions.” Taking a bit of it and spreading it on a sterile gauze pad, he added, “This is great for healing cuts and lacerations in half the time. And,” he whispered, his mouth less than an inch from her delicate ear, “this won’t hurt at all….”
Just being cared for by Dev sent warm waves of emotion through Kulani as he applied the ointment to her fingers. He was right, there was no stinging sensation. How tender he was as he took each of her aching fingers and gently covered all the tiny cuts she’d gotten thus far from the climb.
There wasn’t anything weak about Dev. Kulani closed her eyes and absorbed him, the marvelous heat of his body. “You should have been a nurse, not a merc,” she whispered with a sigh.
“Is that a compliment?” Dev asked. Susan had never allowed him to minister to her like this. Kulani’s vulnerability, her total trust in him, made his heart soar as never before. She honestly did need him. What an incredible gift she was giving him, he realized.
One corner of her mouth lifted. “You know it is.”
“So,” Dev said lightly as he turned his attention to her left hand, where she’d haphazardly wrapped a dressing around her wrist, “tell me about your dreams, beautiful and ancient Hawaiian goddess or princess, or whoever you really are….”
Dev’s voice was deep and lulling. Her heart mushroomed with an incredible hunger and joy until those feelings filled her chest. Without opening her eyes, Kulani relaxed in his arms, his body her sole support. There was nothing sexual in his ministrations. She relished his nurturance, sensed his need to somehow sustain her through her recovery from her bout of hypothermia.
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