Harper couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. The little girl she’d met not two hours ago was missing. Her throat closed and her stomach rolled. That poor baby.

“We’ll find her,” Sebastian told Tania. He turned to Harper. “Walk around, move anything and everything. If you see anything sticking out, dig and yell for me. I’ll hear you over the storm.”

She nodded, her heart in her throat and rushed to work. Her mind stayed away from thinking of what it would mean if they didn’t find her. She moved broken tree limbs, branches, and shack pieces.

Every few moments she’d glance up and search out Sebastian. He was higher up, searching with other men, moving bigger pieces of debris.

Rain pelted hard on her head like tiny pebbles. Her hair was plastered onto her head and face. She had to keep her face tilted down to see through the downpour. Walking farther down the hillside, she got several yards away from the others.

Groups of people were higher up, going through the biggest piles. She continued down, moving pieces of metal roofing and wooden walls.

Her gaze strayed to what looked like a mattress poking from under pieces of metal between several bushes. The howling wind dragged her in the opposite direction, but she fought her way to the debris.

She struggled with the aluminum. Her fingers kept slipping, so she had to grab a sharp edge and ended up cutting her hand when she gripped to get it off the mattress.

She ignored the burning from the cut on her hand and shoved the old lumpy bed. It was heavy and when she saw there wasn’t much remaining, she was ready to move on, until something stopped her.

A small movement from the corner of her eye made her squint and search further into the mud. She pushed the rest of the mattress away and gasped at what she saw.

It was a child. A girl. The long hair that clung to her head in dirty, brown clumps told her so. The little girl was buried in mud so completely, her face blended in with the ground. Harper threw herself down and dug around the child to yank her out of the mud pile. The girl was unconscious and nothing she did got her eyes to open.

“Sebastian!” She screamed his name twice before he was crouching beside her.

“Here, let me have her.” He picked the little girl up into his arms, the rain came down hard enough to wash the mud off her face. “Kristy, wake up, baby girl.”

Seconds later, Tania came rushing over with multiple people. “Is she alive?”

“Yes. We need to get her to a doctor urgently,” Sebastian told her, immediately taking charge. “Where’s Robert?” Then he turned to Harper and explained. “Robert is the best driver in the village. He’ll be able to take Kristy to the closest hospital.”

She nodded. A man, who she assumed was Robert, showed up and took the child from Sebastian. Tania and the group of people that had been searching for the girl rushed away.

“They’re taking her to the local medical facility. Tania will call me from there to let us know what they find out.” He took her hand and she yanked it out of his grasp with a hiss of pain. “What’s wrong?” He glanced at her hand and saw the cut on her hand. “Let’s get you back to the house. I want to clean that so it doesn’t get infected.”

She hadn’t ever had anyone since her mother be this concerned for her. Though it was still raining hard, they were back at the house in no time. He got a warm shower going for her. The lights had gone out but the backup generator had kicked on.

After her shower, she put on panties and a robe.

Knock

Knock

“Come in,” she said, deciding to finish dressing after he bandaged her hand.

He brought in a first aid kit. The air swooshed out of her lungs when she saw him in a pair of pajama bottoms and no shirt. He had scars down his left arm, but it did nothing to detract from how fit and sexy he was.

“Let me see your hand,” he said, sitting on the bed next to her. He opened the kit and pulled out a bottle of peroxide and gauze.

Her gaze strayed to his chest, watching the tightness of his abs and the rise and fall of his pecs. Desire flooded her system. She licked her lips and cleared her throat. “It doesn’t hurt much anymore.”

He wiped her hand so gently, she was shocked at the care he was having with her. “It’s a serious cut. I’m sorry I took you out there.”

Her gaze snapped up to his. “Don’t do that. I wanted to help.”