Part 12 (2/2)

The water was a shock to my body and my heart hesitated to beat and my lungs tried to regain the ability to breath. My skirts billowed about me in the frigid water. I had trouble coordinating the movements of my body in order to keep my head afloat. I knew that the pond was not deep and that I could easily stand up, but the shock of the cold water on my system made my muscles slow to respond to the directions of my brain. I coughed and took in a fair amount water into my mouth, which tasted of fish and seaweed. My skirts became tangled about my legs as I tried to stand up and get out of the pond.

I finally forced my muscles into obedience and my feet touched the squishy muddy bottom of the pond. My lungs ached from the cold and the ingestion of water that had occurred as I struggled to right myself in the freezing water. I stood frozen in the water, gasping for air, and willed my body to put one foot in front of the other to walk towards the sh.o.r.e. My mind was hazy and my body was slow to respond. I no longer perceived the cold.

My eyes struggled to focus and the first thing that I saw was Devon riding like a madman towards the pond. There was a look of sheer terror on his face. He brought Stanley to a stop next to Biscuit and in one movement, he dismounted the horse and dove into the pond after me. His arms were around me, uprooting me from the mud bottom of the pond and he lifted me up, carrying me to the sh.o.r.e.

My breathing was ragged and I felt the water in my hair beginning to freeze into strings of ice against my back and chest. It felt oddly crunchy beneath my frozen fingers.

”What happened, la.s.s?” Devon demanded, s.h.i.+vering as he held me to his wet body. His s.h.i.+rt was freezing beneath my cheek, but I had not the energy to move myself away from the frozen linen. His hands frantically searched my body for injury and his eyes were wild with fear.

My lips moved to answer him, but were silenced by the chattering of my teeth. I could not answer his question.

”We have tae get ye back tae the keep. Hold on, sweetheart,” he commanded setting his mouth in a hard line, gathering me against him as he mounted Stanley and kicked him into a sprint towards the Castle.

I felt Devon's muscles quivering from the cold beneath me and I knew that he too was freezing from the shock of the frigid water. The rhythmic movement of Stanley's hooves beating the frozen Earth lulled me into a sleeplike state, allowing me to almost forget about the chattering of my teeth. I no longer felt the cold. I was numb.

”Doona go tae sleep, Kate!” Devon barked, shaking my shoulder. His fingers were like ice against my skin. I blinked a couple of times, driving the sleep from my brain, knowing that he was right. If I allowed myself to go to sleep, I might die. I began trying to move my fingers and toes, and found this movement to be painful. I forced myself to continue the movement, keeping my mind busy with the task so as not to fall asleep.

We arrived at the castle and Devon bounded off of Stanley with me in his arms, leaving the horse standing in front of the castle reins dangling in the breeze. Devon pushed open the door to the keep with his shoulder and we were met by the wide eyes of a young maid who had been caught off guard by our hasty entrance.

”I need hot water. Send a bath up to my chamber immediately. My wife has had an accident,” he bellowed at the maid. ”It would be wise of ye tae hurry,” he added with an air of threat in his voice. He took the stairs up to our chamber two at a time, carrying me in his arms as if I weighed nothing at all.

We burst through the door and Devon sat me down in front of the dismal fire, which had nearly gone out from lack of wood. He grabbed kindling from the small pile next to the fireplace and stoked the fire, blowing on the coals to ignite the flames. I stood frozen, watching him, unable to move, dripping the remnants of the pond onto the flagstone floor. The kindling took fire and Devon grabbed two large pieces of wood and settled them atop the beginnings of a roaring fire.

Having started the fire to his satisfaction, he turned to me. ”Take off yer clothes,” he said. It was an order. ”We need tae get ye warmed up or ye'll die from the cold.”

I was in such a state of shock that I couldn't move. My teeth chattered and my muscles quivered uncontrollably from the cold that had settled into my bones.

”Help,” I whispered, turning around to expose the laces of my gown. I knew that my fingers were not up to the task of unlacing the gown, in fact, I couldn't even feel my fingers.

Devon struggled with the laces of the gown, his own fingers half frozen, and pulled it from my body, dropping the sopping ma.s.s of cloth onto the floor. I was now clad only in my thin chemise and I looked down to see the thin fabric clinging to my body, highlighting the fact that my nipples were standing at attention from the cold.

”Ye'll need tae take that off too,” Devon said, tossing one of his clean linen s.h.i.+rts to land on the overstuffed chair beside me. ”I'll turn around,” he said, and turned towards the fire. I watched him without moving as he now turned his attentions to himself and removed his dripping clothes. He had to be freezing too, but his focus had been to take care of my needs first.

He pulled his linen s.h.i.+rt up over his head and tossed it onto the floor and then stepped out of his soggy kilt, adding it to the pile of wet clothes. I watched as the now roaring fire cast shadows on his well muscled back and b.u.t.tocks. He let the fire warm his body and I knew that he knew that I was watching him, but he did not turn to look at me.

I turned my back to him and the fire and peeled the sodden chemise up over my head, and then let it fall from my hand to the floor. I took Devon's s.h.i.+rt from the arm of the chair and pulled it over my head, feeling warmer already. Devon walked over to the armoire and pulled on a new kilt, but left his chest bare.

There was a knock on the door and a fluttering of maids arrived bringing a tub, which was followed with a brigade of buckets filled with steaming water.

Devon pulled me against his chest in front of the fire and I could feel the warmth spreading back though my body. He kissed my wet hair and murmured something that I couldn't understand in Gaelic. I spread my fingers on his chest and melted into his body. He felt so good. My cheek rested on the warm skin of his bare chest and I drunk in his heady masculine smell. My senses tingled with the antic.i.p.ation of a hot bath, knowing that it would restore the heat of my body and stop the chattering of my teeth. When the bath was finally full, the last maid shut the door behind her, leaving Devon and I in silence.

”Well, get in! What are ye waiting for, la.s.s? I'll turn around,” he said, releasing my suddenly and turning to face the fire.

He didn't have to ask me twice. I thought that it was funny that Devon was making an effort to protect my modesty by turning away from me. I would have stripped naked and walked with my head held high in front of the entire McClain Clan if that's what it took to reach this tub of steaming hot water. I pulled his s.h.i.+rt up and over my head and lowered myself into the steaming water. It burned my frozen toes and fingers, but if felt heavenly. I groaned as I lowered myself into the water. I heard Devon chuckle.

”That good, it is?” he said, still facing the fire, gooseb.u.mps still evident on his skin.

”Mmmmhmm,” I mumbled as I closed my eyes and laid my head back on the rim of the tub, enjoying the bliss of feeling the warmth return to my limbs. I closed my fingers into fists and then opened them again, trying to stop the stinging in my fingers, returning blood to the farthest reaches of my body.

Devon turned around and moved the overstuffed chair, repositioning it so that he could soak in the warmth of the fire and talk to me at the same time. His hair was still wet, but beginning to dry from the heat of the fire, subsequently curling at the ends.

I suddenly felt guilty for not sharing the bath with him. ”I'd invite you in, but there's not enough room,” I said guiltily. ”I'll hurry and get out so that you can warm up too.”

”Nae, I'm fine, la.s.s. Enjoy it,” he said. ”It's my fault that ye ended up in that pond in the first place.”

”How could you possibly think that that was your fault?” I said, sitting upright and starting at him over my knees.

”I should have never told ye tae ride ahead. I kent ye werena ready, but I didna want ye tae be troubled with the business with the Camerons, and I thought ye'd be alright and...” he trailed off, running his hand through his almost dry hair in frustration.

”I was doing fine, thank you very much. Biscuit wanted to go left and I wanted her to go right, and well, she tossed me off into the pond,” I explained. ”It had nothing to do with you.” I added for good measure.

”Maybe so, maybe no, but it is my job tae keep ye safe, and I failed,” he said matter-of-factly. ”My heart just about stopped when I saw ye go a.s.s over tea kettle into that loch.”

”I'm fine,” I a.s.sured him. ”Maybe I'm just not meant to ride a horse.”

He laughed, firelight glinting off his handsome face. ”Maybe no, but I'm still planning tae teach ye.”

We sat for a few minutes in silence, lost in our own thoughts, enjoying the feeling of warmth returning to our bodies. I was disappointed by how quickly the heat dissipated from the water of my bath. The water was now only luke warm, and I felt the chill beginning to rise again within my body.

”Could you please hand me the towel?” I asked Devon who was lost in thought, head supported by his fist, starting into the flames of the fire.

He tossed it in my direction and looked back into the fire, affording me with privacy while I rose from the tub and toweled off. I pulled his clean linen s.h.i.+rt back over my head and walked over to where he sat on the large overstuffed chair next to the fire.

He was so handsome with his hair unbound and his chest bare, even though he was brooding and berating himself for not preventing my unexpected swim in the lake. I wanted to touch him. I needed to touch him and to let him know that I was alright. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my cheek to the hot skin of his shoulder. He felt so good, so warm and solid beneath me.

”Thank you for saving me,” I whispered.

”The thought of losing ye is more than I can bear, Kate,” he confessed, still looking into the fire. ”I doona ken how I will leave ye tomorrow when all I can think about is the accidents that might befall ye while I'm no here tae protect ye.”

”I'll be very careful,” I promised, enjoying the warmth of his skin on my face as I hugged him to me and I spread my hands across the muscles of his waist.

”Ye'd better be,” he said. ”That's an order.”

I bit my lip and looked up at him. I was not used to taking orders from a man, in fact I had risked my life jumping into the sea to avoid being tethered to a man's orders. I was surprised to find that I liked that Devon was telling me what to do, trying his best to insure my safety. His concern made me feel cherished, wanted.

”When ye do that, it drives me mad,” he said huskily.

I released my lower lip from the grips of my teeth and continued to look up into his eyes. He was so beautiful, so masculine and strong. I felt a burning growing deliciously deep in my belly, between my thighs as I looked up at him.

”And tae see ye in my s.h.i.+rt, knowing that ye've nothing on underneath...” he trailed off, looking at me intently, eyes a flame with desire. ”Seeing ye like this makes it awful difficult tae keep my word about letting ye choose when tae allow me tae take ye tae bed.”

His hand reached down and caressed my cheek, drawing me closer to him for a tender kiss. I loved the feeling of his day's growth of stubble beneath my fingers, and his masculine smell stimulated my senses, causing me to tingle all the way down to my toes.

He pulled away slightly, lips hovering millimeters from mine, noses touching. He then claimed me with a hungry kiss, staking claim to my lips and demanding that I meet his fervor. I kissed him back with equal hunger, wanting him, needing his touch. My fingers danced over his warm skin, pulling him closer to me.

He growled low in his throat in response to my touch. ”I want ye sae badly, Kate,” he whispered, trailing his fingers lightly down my neck and across the tops of my b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

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