Page 8 of A Highland Duke to Claim Her Heart

Something I can incorporate into my own designs.

Ewan’s heart kicked in his chest, as it always did when he was confronted by an impressive feat of engineering.

A short detour will not hurt…

With a small, guilty smile, he turned the horse right and headed down the path that would lead to the water channel and the rain-fed loch from which it fed.

At last, he rounded a corner, and the loch came into view.

What caught his eye was not the loch itself, glittering and serene in the afternoon sunlight, nor the newly dug water channel descending toward the village below. It was the woman standing alone at the water’s edge.

The woman was tall and striking-looking, her back very straight and her figure lean and athletic. He had never seen her before, of that he was certain. He would have remembered her. She had auburn hair with copper undertones, which gleamed in the afternoon light.

This hair was pinned up, but he could see that it was starting to fall out of its pins. Locks were curling around her shoulders, which were bare of a pelisse. The pelisse lay on the rocks behind her, as did her shoes and stockings.

Ewan’s heart tightened in his chest, although he wasn’t exactly certain why. The woman was in her bare feet. And she was walking quite determinedly toward the edge of the loch, her feet sinking into the cool, dark mud around the edge.

Now Ewan’s heart leapt, but this time, the feeling was easier to identify.

It was fear.

She was clearly planning to step into the loch, perhaps even to swim. And while the loch might look still and harmless from the outside, it was famous for its steep drop-off just a few meters in, when the bottom dropped out into a deep stone basin. The locals knew to avoid this loch for that reason.

Which meant this woman was not a local. And she was about to put herself in danger.

Without thinking, Ewan urged his horse forward, digging his heels into her sides. At the same time, he let out a yell and raised one arm high.

He wasn’t sure if it was his yell, or the horse’s whinny, or the sound of her hoofbeats against the ground, but the woman looked up right at the same moment that she stepped into the loch.

For one moment, her eyes met Ewan’s, and Ewan felt as if all the air had been knocked out of him. Those eyes, they were… fierce. Even from a distance he could feel the intensity of them, the intelligence and determination.

And then the woman slipped on the mossy rocks beneath her. His stomach jolted as she fell forward—it was his fault! He had distracted her!—and disappeared under the water.

He shouted again, fear shooting through him like a bullet. He was only a hundred yards away, but the horse was not going fast enough. He had to get to her, he had to rescue her before she drowned.

But she had vanished. He could not see a single inch of her, not even a hand reaching up out of the water.

His horse clattered across the rocks. The loch was feet away now.

He reined in the horse sharply and jumped down. Without removing his boots or his jacket, Ewan ran forward and dove into the water, before the ripples had even faded.

Chapter 4

The cold water hit her like a slap across the face. Her limbs immediately felt stiff, and all the air seemed to freeze inside of her lungs.

That was the next thing she registered: She could not breathe.

The water was all around her, soaking through her clothes, weighing her down, pulling her further under. Her eyes were open, but it was all darkness. She had no idea which way was up, which was down. All she knew was that she was being sucked deeper into the loch, that the water was claiming her, making every inch of her feel as heavy as the anchor of a ship.

She wanted to scream. To cry out for help. But she couldn’t open her mouth, couldn’t risk the rush of water that would come in and drown her.

Fear was making it hard to think. That and the lack of oxygen. She thrashed this way and that, reaching for the surface but she met only more water.

And then something solid touched her.

She screamed, and it came out as bubbles.

Seconds later, she felt something grab her hard around the upper arm and haul her to the surface, and she was greeted by the cool, life-giving rush of air.