The pain in watching Chloe leave blasted away as the icy grip of fear and realization clutched his chest.
No. Dios, no!
He shook his head, his mouth bone-dry with horror as he spun and ran into the house to grab the keys to his Land Rover—the fear of God instilled in him.
Chapter 11
It took everything in her power for Chloe not to beg the driver to turn around.
Tears streamed down her face, blurring her view as much as the rain pounding the windows of the car.
Why was she leaving him? Was she completely insane? Surely being with Andrés, even if he didn’t love her, was better than going home to Seattle and completely cutting him from her life?
She moved her hand over her belly, feeling the small weight of their child nestled there, so innocent and unaware. And being taken farther away from its father with every passing moment.
When she’d made the decision to leave, she’d been hopeful Andrés would force her to stay again. Or would finally break down and admit that he loved her. But he hadn’t. He’d actually let her leave. Her heart clenched and she wondered again if she was making a mistake.
“Dios mío,” the driver muttered.
Chloe glanced up when the Rolls-Royce slowed. “What’s wrong, Felipe?”
“Esto no es bueno, Señora.” The driver shook his head. “The rain, it comes too fast and the road is going to flood.”
Her pulse quickened as she scrubbed the tears from her eyes and tried to focus for the first time out the window. The streets had become a wave of brown from the rain and the deteriorating land around them.
The need to turn around consumed her. Not just for their safety but because suddenly she knew, with every fiber of her being, that leaving Andrés had been the wrong decision.
Maybe living with a man who didn’t know how to love would be hard, but living without him would be agony. And still, the conversation in the foyer from the other night gave her hope. He didn’t believe himself worthy of love, but he was wrong. Heaven help her, she would prove it to him.
But first they had to turn around and drive back up the hill to the villa.
“Can you turn around? Return us to Andrés’ villa?” she asked quickly, the first seeds of fear burrowing themselves in her chest.
“I tried, but it does not look good,” Felipe muttered. “We must get out of the car, Señora Montero, and try to get to higher ground.”
“Is that wise?”
“It is our only hope now.”
Her heart almost stopped when the gravity of their situation hit. She’d seen news reports about people and cars getting swept up in flash floods, led to their death. But the idea of getting out of the Rolls-Royce and trying to cross the street—which had become several inches of rapidly flowing water—had her almost frozen with terror.
“Now, Señora!” Felipe screamed, pushing open his door and stepping out into the water.
Chloe grabbed the handle of her door and thrust it open. The roar of the water greeted her as the rain ruthlessly pelted against her face.
“Señora!” Filipe yelled, trying to move around the car to her, but the rushing water kept pushing him back. “No. I can’t get to your side. ¡Corra! Run toward the hillside, Señora!”
The water continued to rise. Chloe knew with each second that passed, the more dangerous it would be. Oh God, if anything happened to her baby…
Thrusting aside the almost debilitating fear, she took a deep breath, said a quick prayer, and then pushed herself out the door.
Andrés pressed the accelerator to the ground, plowing through the water that rushed down the dirt road. He dragged in uneven breaths, his chest tight with terror. His heart slammed against his ribcage; his pulse pounded with adrenaline.
Flash flooding wasn’t uncommon in Spain around this time of year, and especially around the area he lived, where there were more dirt roads than paved ones.
If he had been thinking straight he would’ve realized there was a storm coming and the risks that could follow. He would have forced Chloe to stay at least until the danger passed. But he wasn’t thinking straight. He’d been so tormented with the pain of her leaving that he’d been blind to anything beyond watching her drive away.
What if something happened to her? To the baby? Dios, he would never forgive himself for driving away the woman he—
Andrés tightened his fingers around the steering wheel, blinking in shock at the thoughts running through his head. No. Could it even be possible?
But whether he’d thought himself capable of it or not, he knew now without a doubt that he was in love with Chloe. Whether he deserved her or not, he loved her.
The sudden awareness of his feelings just hastened his need to find her. Forging through the water on the road, which was deeper now, Andrés steered the car around a corner. And that’s when he saw the car.
The Rolls-Royce had turned sideways in the street, blocking any traffic that might come along. He spotted Filipe on one side of the road, climbing up the hillside. But where was Chloe?
His gaze raked over the road until he just barely spotted her head peeking out of the car.
“Chloe!” he screamed, even though she couldn’t hear him. He steered the car up and onto the side of the hill, just enough to keep it grounded, and then put the brake on.
He reached for the handle on his door just as Chloe flung herself into the swiftly moving water.
“No.” Andrés jumped out of the Land Rover, calling her name over the roar of the rain and water.
Chloe finally seemed to hear him, because her head jerked up and relief swept across her face. He saw his name on her lips, her eyes wide. And then she stumbled, falling into the quickly moving flood.
Panic and terror ripped through Andrés, twisting his heart and tightening his chest. He plowed after her, screaming her name, helpless to stop the flood that carried her down the road.
Her head disappeared under water. His life flashed before his eyes, because Chloe gave his life breath. She was his heart and soul, and dammit, he would not lose her. He moved faster through the water than could have ever seemed possible. He gave a strangled moan of relief as her head broke from the surface and she managed to grab onto a tree on the side of the road.
It gave him just the break he needed to catch up to her. He caught her around the waist, and lifted her drenched body from the water and up into his arms.
She clung to him, arms limp around his neck, her body shaking with sobs.
“Señor!” Filipe screamed and tossed a rope toward them.
Andrés caught the other end, recognizing it as the rope he’d kept in an emergency box in the back of his Land Rover. Filipe had tied it to one end of the vehicle and Andrés gratefully used it to haul himself and Chloe back to safety against the downward rush of floodwater.
Minutes later they were back in the Land Rover, driving back to his villa. He thanked God that they were alive, also praying it wasn’t too late to convince Chloe what she meant to him.
Chloe tightened the blanket around her body and stared into the crackling fire. Even after a hot bath, her body still shook from the cold water and at how close to death she’d been.
Her hand traveled to her stomach and another wave of fear hit her. Was the baby okay? When she’d fallen in the water, it had been complete turmoil. Like being on a horrific waterslide where she couldn’t break the surface to catch her breath, while being pounded by rocks and land.
“How are you feeling?”
Chloe gasped and turned around, having not heard Andrés enter the room. Her heart lurched into her throat, pounding at the sight of him. He moved slowly across the room, so devastatingly handsome with his hands thrust into the pockets of his jeans and his somber gaze moving over her.
Tears pricked at the back of her eyes and she blinked rapidly to dispel them. It was ridiculous how much she loved this man. How could she ever have thought she could leave him? All she wanted right now was to run into his arms and beg to be held.
“I’m all right,” she finally answered.
“I’ve spoken with the doctor. She says most likely the baby is fine but to rest until she can do an ultrasound once the roads are clear.”
His words helped to ease the fear a bit and she swallowed hard as he came to sit beside her chair. She glanced up at him through her lashes, emotion thick in her throat. “You saved my life. I don’t even know how I can possibly thank you.”
“You could stay with me.”
Her eyes flooded with tears, but she dipped her head so he wouldn’t see them. She loved him too much to be away from him, and her child needed a father. She knew he could be wonderfully attentive and giving, and she had no doubt he would adore his child.
“Of course,” she whispered.
Andrés moved to his knees in front of her and caught her chin, lifting her head until their gazes collided. “Don’t stay because you feel obligated to, Chloe.”