She frowned a little. “Ye said there was nothing to worry about.”
“Aye, there isnae.” His mouth pulled. “Still, better to be cautious.”
He shifted toward the bank, careful with the soft ground under him. He paused and cleared his throat.
“Can ye turn around?”
Her breath caught, but she said nothing. For a minute, the world around her seemed to go completely still.
“I daenae mind getting out of here naked,” he added lightly, as if they were speaking of the weather. “I am only askin’ for yer sake.”
A small laugh tried to escape, and she stifled it. “Fine.”
She turned around, closed her eyes tight, and opened them again. Behind her, the water lapped at his legs, a sound like cloth pulled through hands. Pebbles clicked, and there was the soft grunt of a man lifting his weight. She heard fabric, then a breath, then the careful scrape of a boot across stone.
“All right,” he said. “Ye can turn back.”
She did.
He stood a few paces away from the water, still shirtless, pale trousers clinging low to his hips. Lake water ran in thin lines along his skin and dripped from his hair. He had slung a cloak across a low branch. His eye found her and held, as calm as possible.
Her knees felt weak for a heartbeat. She widened her stance a bit so he would not see it.
“I daenae even ken what I am doing here,” she blurted after a tense pause. “I should go.”
“And here I was thinking we might take another stroll,” he said.
She set her mouth. “A stroll.”
“Aye.” A hint of a smile touched his face, quickly gone. “Unless ye have somewhere else ye would rather be.”
She huffed, mostly at herself. “At this hour?”
“Folks find places at all hours,” he said. “I would prefer ye find them where I can see ye.”
“Ye’re being controlling,” she said.
“I like to think I am only being careful,” he countered.
“‘Tis a fine word forcontrolling.”
He chuckled. “Ye can call it whatever makes ye feel better.”
“That makes me feel worse,” she said, but the corner of her mouth quirked up.
Alex bent to wring water from the hem of his trousers and winced at the cold. “Ye came out without a guard.”
“I spoke to the men at the inner gate,” she said. “They didnae seem alarmed. One even spoke to me about a squirrel.”
“That squirrel has a reputation,” he said. “Daenae underestimate him.”
She gave him a look. “Are ye trying to be funny?”
“I am trying to keep ye annoyed enough that ye forget to be embarrassed.”
She snorted. “I am nae the one who was found naked in the lake, am I?” she said, and hated that he heard her smile.
“But ye are the one who had to find me. That should trigger some things.”
