She gently reached out her hand, and her fingers fluttered nervously into his. “It would be nice to believe that, Jordan. It is not that simple.”
Jordan stared at her. She was not a simpleton. She had logic in her actions. Something had to have happened to her beyond the shipwreck to make her fear the water. He needed to find out what that was so he could help her learn that she had nothing to fear from him or from their abilities.
He closed his hand tightly, enclosing her hand firmly in his. A jolt of pleasure stole his breath. “Indeed it is.” He truly was blessed to be the first one to find his mate, no matter the obstacles to obtaining her for good.
“Step in. You can sit in front of me and keep your eyes shut the entire way. Nothing will happen to harm you.” If they did capsize, her instincts would kick in, and he would ensure she made it to shore.
She gathered up her skirts and stepped into the boat, sitting as far away from Hudson as she could.
Chapter Six
Jordan clutched the edge of the boat and pushed off the beach. His bare feet hit the water, and his stomach muscles tightened. He reached for any sign of trouble in the water deeper out at sea. The water lapped calmly through his veins. Good. The Isle was a three-quarter-of-an-hour row from Blood Cove across a deep section of water. On occasion, seals and other water life swam close to the boat. With Celeste skittish and Hudson erratic, the last thing he needed was a frisky seal trying to bump the boat.
He jumped into the boat, rocking the vessel from side to side, and sat on the center bench. Hudson still lay where Jordan had placed him at the back. Celeste hunched on the front seat, facing Jordan, her arms wrapped tightly about her torso and her eyes closed. He pulled on the oars, and the boat slipped farther into the sea.
Without opening her eyes, Celeste shifted slightly on her seat. “Just before you emerged on the beach, Hudson had tripped on a half cask and toppled me into the water.”
“I’m sorry I hadn’t gotten to you sooner. I was dealing with Hudson’s footmen.”
She nodded, and loose pieces of her golden hair caught in the breeze about her face. “When I landed in the water, I wished my hands free from the rope that bound me. The water spiraled up and cut the ropes for me. It was terrifying, yet beautiful.”
His brow pulled tight. She couldn’t have spoken the language of the elements. Though maybe she had but not realized it with all the stress she was under. “Ah, I would not have expected you to have had that kind of ability. Not so soon anyway, but yes, you have a special affinity with the sea. I will teach you more about that.”
“Pfft. The sea. No.”
“Why do you deny it?”
“Ever since I was a child, I have had a fear of the sea. My nurses would place me in the water when we went to Brighton, but I would scream and cry when the water splashed me. The water pricked my skin.”
Interesting. “How did the sea water feel today when you fell in it?”
“Different yet the same. Like hundreds of pinpricks that tickled at the same time.”
“Better, then.”
“I suppose so. But the cutting of my ropes, still… That is… Well, what is that?”
“Water is ice and snow. It is mist. It is rain. And everything in between. I am relishing the future and teaching you what I know.”
Celeste opened her emerald eyes and stared directly at him.
He smiled. She had the fortitude to face her fear.
Then her eyes widened, and she sucked in a startled breath.
Jordan turned his head, and a large dark object rushed at him, slamming into his head. A piercing pain flipped him back, and he hit water. All went black.
The large rock anchor jerked back and forth in Hudson’s hands. Jordan had pitched over the edge of the boat from the force of the anchor’s blow, and the oars slipped into the sea with him. Celeste glanced back toward the cove they’d left only moments before. She could not see the land. Bubbles burst up from where Jordan had pitched into the sea. Hudson had tried to kill him.
Her throat tightened, and she stared past Hudson to the isle to which they traveled. A distant jagged silhouette poked out from the waving sea on the horizon. She was trapped. Surrounded by the sea she had feared all her life. Her mouth dried, and her shoulders shook.
The anchor dropped from Hudson’s hands and settled with a loud crack on the boat’s wooden floor. As he stared at her, his eyes became black pools, and wavy orange lines grew on his skin like spider legs around them. The wind swirled about the boat and the sea waves with it. Hudson’s neat fair hair tousled into disarray. “All will be well. I will get us back to shore, and we will go home. You have nothing to fret about.” His eyes narrowed, and then he gazed to the sky.