Two Nights with His Bride by Kat Latham Page A

boulder.“That way. Paddle!”
    “No way, dude! We can totally take that thing.” Jared dug his paddle in so the boat stopped mid-turn.
    “Oh my God!” The current carried them faster and faster toward the boulder, and Ruby’s panic ramped up Nancy’s.
    “Paddle around it, Jared!” Wyatt yelled.
    “No! We’re going over it!”
    “Pad—” Nancy’s shout was cut off as they slammed into the wave sideways. It flipped themstraight over. She tumbled out of the raft head-first, the first slap of the frigid water making the breath whoosh from her lungs. She hit the water hard.
    But she hit the rock even harder.
    Her helmet took a direct hit. Pain exploded in her head. The current spun her around, and she had no idea which way was up. Terror made her kick and stroke desperately for the surface, but something had caughther vest and pulled her down, down, down.
    Noooo.
    She struggled harder, flailing her arms behind her, trying to find whatever she was caught on. Something hard hit her leg, and agony shot through it as it went dead. Her lungs burned, her chest collapsing inward with the need for air. Her body lost strength and the fight seeped from her.
    The thing holding her vest yanked her downward and allshe was aware of was her hair floating around her face and the sense of flying toward a bright light.
    Heaven. Who would’ve thought it?
    She broke the surface of the water with a desperate gasp and stared in shock at Wyatt’s face, only an inch from hers. Not Heaven. Daylight. She’d been dragged upward, not down. She hadn’t been caught on something below the surface. Wyatt had caught her and triedto pull her up, and she’d fought him, thinking he was tugging her farther under.
    She dragged in lungfuls of air, coughing and gagging as the river current swept them along. Wyatt’s arms wrapped around her and he was saying something. She shook her head, unable to hear anything but the roar of the water around her. He leaned closer, his mouth next to her ear.
    “You okay?” he shouted.
    Her headjerked in a nod, but the movement made stars dance in front of her eyes. He crushed her to himself, his helmet tapping hers. She wrapped her arms around him. “Don’t let me go.”
    “Never.” He breathed hard. His legs brushed Nancy’s and the throbbing in her dead leg made it difficult to move, the soft contact sending pinpricks of agony through her leg, as if it were just waking after being cut offfrom its blood supply. He kept his arm wrapped around her as he kicked toward the raft.
    “You saved me.” She didn’t have the breath to say it loudly enough for him to hear, but it didn’t matter. He’d grabbed her instead of the raft and saved her life. “Is everyone else okay?”
    He glanced around. “One, two, three…yeah. All alive and swimming.” He shouted and gestured toward one of the girls, whofloated past so quickly Nancy couldn’t identify her. “Swim toward the raft!”
    She couldn’t see Jared anywhere, and panic crept up her chest again. The ache in her head grew worse as she desperately scanned the water.
    “He’s fine,” Wyatt bit out. “He swam past me to get to the raft while I was searching for you.”
    “Oh.” A chill went through her whole body as Wyatt’s words sank in. She couldn’twrap her mind around what he was telling her. “He…he didn’t look for me?”
    Wyatt’s only answer was a hardening of his jaw as he kicked harder toward the slow-moving current at the edge of the river.
    “Oh.” Her brain seized on that word since it seemed to start all the phrases going through her head right now.
    Oh God.
    Oh shit.
    Jared had not only cavalierly caused their accident but then he’dsaved himself instead of helping her. The thought was so sickening she almost wanted to go back under.
    She tried to blink away the stinging tears. “I…I can’t believe…”
    “Bunny!” A splash behind her was the only warning she got before she was wrenched from Wyatt’s arms so hard she