A glimpse of her future before her death—a cruel joke, a twisted promise of what would never be…
An enormous sound shattered the monotony of the water around her and she felt something against her waist. Not the chill of the river, no, this was something else. Something warm. Something insistent. Something strong that refused to let her go.
Her cloak was pushed from her shoulders, left to drift off downstream, and finally, something dragged her to the surface.
Chapter Twenty
Her lungs were burning as the chill spread through her body.
She gulped down air desperately, blinking rapidly to clear the water from her eyes. It took a moment for her vision to focus on what was in front of her. But when she did…
When she did, she found her husband staring back at her. His eyes were written with panic, but as soon as she looked at him, something seemed to shift.
“Innes! My love, can ye hear me? Please… please stay with me,” he pleaded, his voice breaking.
She felt her throat hoarse and her mouth frozen, but she managed a small smile. “Is this Heaven? Are ye an angel?” she breathed.
“Oh! Thank God, Innes,” he cried.
He drew her into his arms, pulling her towards the bank, the current that had so cruelly buffeted her unable to touch him.
“I’m just a man,” he replied. “A man who’s sorry he was so stubborn as to make you feel that you had no choice but to come here and make things right.”
She touched his cheek, her eyes settling on him.
“Lachlan…”
“Innes, I’m here. Ye’re alive. I’ve got ye, lass.”
He had saved her. He had risked his life to save her…
She was shivering desperately as she clutched onto him. The cold deep in her bones brought her back to Earth. She was out of the water, at least. That river would not take her, as Isobel had so hoped. No, she would survive. Somehow, she would survive. Only to get back to her love.
“It’s over,” he said, once he had her on the bank, safe from the forces that had tried to tear her away from him. “It’s over, Innes, I swear to you.”
He pulled her into his arms, so close that it seemed he would never let her go.
“Careful,” she whispered. “Ye’ll catch yer death from the cold.”
“I dinnae care.”
She smiled, pressing her face into his neck, breathing him in, reminding herself that this was real, that he had truly come for her when she had needed it most. She had no idea how he had found her, but it didn’t matter.
What mattered was that he had saved her. Even when Isobel had stood before him and tried to take everything from her, he had saved her, diving into the river without a second thought to pull her from beneath the dangerous current.
Isobel. Had she fled? Innes’ heart dropped as she lifted her head, knowing that she would not be able to live in any kind of peace if that woman was still out there, so insistent on working against her.
“Isobel,” she choked out. “Where is she?”
“Keith has her,” Lachlan assured her, pulling back and nodding through the trees.
Keith stood with a now-bound Isobel. Her hands were lashed to the reins of his horse, and she seemed to be laying into him with a barely restrained fury.
“I am aLady,”she told him angrily. “You cannae just tie me up like some common bandit!”
“Then might I suggest you act like one,” Keith spat at her, and Innes had to bite back a giggle.
She could not imagine what it felt like for Isobel to have her plan shattered like this. She was a woman used to getting what she wanted, and this would no doubt be a first for her.
