“It is.”
Emmett steps out of the boathouse just as a gust of wind swings the door wide, slamming it against the frame.
Bram’s eyes flicker, and he half turns around.
I have to do something quick. “Like this?” I jump into the boat.
The shell starts to flip the moment my foot hits it.
Bram shouts and lunges for me, but he’s not quick enough.
By the time I register what is happening, I’m fully underwater.
Chapter Sixteen
I open my mouth and inhale a lungful of the Thames. My legs kick on instinct, but I don’t know which way is up, so I might be swimming deeper. The thought makes me panic. I whip my head around, but the darkness is so complete, I only disorient myself further.
My body coughs reflexively, and I suck in more sludge.
Then a beam of light breaks through the darkness. A strong pair of arms grabs me around the middle and hauls me to the surface.
Bram kicks at the boat with his strong legs, and I realize now that I was trapped under it.
I blink against the sudden light. My lungs are screaming. I roll to my side and vomit river water all over the dock. My eyes sting with the force of it. I suck in grateful breaths and try to slow the frantic beating of my heart.
Bram stands over me, looking concerned. He’s soaked to the bone. His hair is plastered to his forehead and his sweater clings to every curve of his torso. “Lady Ivy, are you all right?”
I try to respond, but only manage to wheeze in a shaky breath. Another wave of brown water comes pouring out of my mouth. I cough and cough, unable to catch my breath. Bram pounds me hardon the back a few times until my lungs expand enough to manage a gasp.
From the lawn, the music has stopped, and dozens of London’s high society players are staring at me, frozen with shock. The other girls and Viscountess Bolingbroke run down the dock to us.
“Give her space,” Bram commands, and their footsteps stop immediately.
He leans down closer, so near I can feel the heat of his breath against the shell of my ear. “Let’s get you out of here.”
I wipe my eyes, acutely aware of how pathetic I must look, and nod in silent agreement.
Bram hauls me to my feet, and Greer rushes toward me to hold me steady on the other side.
My dress is sticking to every part of me, made unbearably heavy by the water. My hair, so artfully styled this morning, half hangs sodden down my neck. My straw hat is gone completely, bobbing sadly down the river.
I want nothing more than to rip off my soaked gloves, but I can’t risk revealing my bandages.
“I’ll help,” Greer says over me to Bram. “Ivy and I are the best of friends, you know.”
I sputter again, and Bram claps me on the back. “Easy now, get it all out.”
I look up through a curtain of my wet hair at Greer, who has a smug look on her face. She knows as well as I do that ratting her out will only make me look bad. Throwing myself back in the river and floating to the nearest home county is tempting.
Together, Bram and Greer assist me into a carriage, Viscountess Bolingbroke nipping at their heels.
“I think it’d be best if I accompany her,” Bram says. The viscountess purses her lips but knows she cannot deny a prince.
“Lady Greer will go too, for propriety,” the viscountess replies.
Bram bows his head. “I insist upon it.”
He sighs and leans back against the walls of the carriage. “Thank you for giving me an excuse to get out of there. If I had to listen to one more person give their thoughts on which of you I should wed, I may have jumped into the Thames myself.”
