the blood drain from his face. He stood, took Emma from Marti, and set her on the floor outside the bathroom, where he kept an eye on Marti.
Jack used the washcloth to apply pressure to Emma’s hand and stopped the bleeding. The cut was deep, and Emma had lost a lot of blood. Now the bleeding stopped, it looked better.
Emma started to wake up. He took off her wet dress and bathing suit. Cameron grabbed a dry towel and used it to dry her off and warm her.
“There’s a T-shirt in the top drawer. Grab one for her. Get her warm.” Marti stood under the hot water, trying to get warm herself. She could barely move her arms. In the end, Sam grabbed another washcloth and used it to wash the blood off her chest. Quite intimate, since all she wore was a bikini top.
Cameron wanted to skin Sam alive for touching Marti, even if it was only to help her.
His daughter needed his help. She was the only thing keeping him from going to Marti. She looked ready to pass out. He had no idea how she was still awake. Her legs still shook. Dark circles under her eyes marred her translucent skin.
Sam grabbed a towel and turned off the water. He helped Marti up and over the ledge and onto the floor. She stood swaying while he dried her with care. He walked her into the bedroom and waited while she took out another T-shirt and pair of sweatpants.
She stood with her back to Sam and the others and took off her bikini top, pulling the T-shirt on over her head. She tried to undo her wet shorts, but couldn’t get her numb fingers to work. Worse, the material was plastered to her skin.
She glanced over her shoulder and found Sam ready to catch her if she fell. “It’s your lucky day. I can’t get these off. My hands are shaking and numb. The button won’t go through the swollen material easily.”
Giving her a cocky grin, he moved closer and drawled, “No problem, darlin’. Come here.”
When he stood close, she whispered, “I don’t have anything on under these shorts.”
“It is my lucky day,” he teased back. He put his body between her and Jack and Cameron. Unable to see anything, they were busy with Emma anyway. He undid the button and zipper. Before he pulled them off, he caught her eye and tried to make her smile by saying, “Promise not to tell my wife? I have a gun, and she just might use it on me.”
Just what she needed to ease the tension and let out her held breath. She thought it funny he joked just this morning, wondering if Elizabeth would mind him having an affair with her. And here he was undressing her.
“I won’t tell her, I promise. She won’t let me eat in her restaurant again. That would be a tragedy in my book.”
“Mine too.”
He pulled her shorts off and helped her step into the sweatpants. He tied them off at the waist without another word. Quick and easy.
Cameron’s eyes bore into his back the whole time, but he didn’t so much as turn around to acknowledge him. Let him sweat and be angry. He’d brought Shelly into his daughter’s life and look what happened. The woman couldn’t be trusted with a child. Cameron would be better off taking the baby away from her than letting her raise it, or Emma.
“What happened?” Sam watched Marti carefully. Exhausted, she slumped and sat on the edge of the bed. He tried to dry her thick hair with a towel. She looked angry as a wet cat.
“You were there. Shelly left her alone. She gave her one of the big poles and”—she smiled slightly—“Emma caught a fish. It pulled her right over the rail. The line cut her hand because her reflex was to hold on rather than let go. When I got to her in the water, she was bleeding and I thought every shark in the area was going to come hunting. I tried to hold her out of the water. Near impossible without a life vest of my own.”
Marti trembled and the fear washed through her again. “If I’d have missed the rope, I don’t know what would have happened. She couldn’t stay in the water, and I was running out of energy.”
She stood, the fear in her replaced with cold fury, and headed for the door. “I’m going to kill her.”