Logan was tempted to ask her if she’d ever gone swimming in a fast-moving burn in boots and a riding habit. Instead, he held his tongue. She was less likely to panic if she didn’t stop to consider the real danger she was in.
He was forced to admit she looked very far from panicking. Logan couldn’t imagine how the indolent life of an English aristocrat could have produced a lady of such nerve, but there was no question she was as steady as the massive tree trunk under her feet.
Brice was watching her creep along the trunk, shaking his head. “Ach, the wee thing’s mad, innit she? Brave, though,” he added, with unmistakable admiration.
“Aye. She’s brave. Bloody foolish, too.” Logan tossed his coat to the ground and dropped onto his arse on the bank to tug off his boots and stockings. Then he picked his way over loose branches and protruding roots to the end of the fallen tree trunk resting on the side of the muddy bank.
“Don’t come after me, Mr. Blair,” Lady Juliana ordered. “The trunk is a bit tippy, you see, with only the mud on either bank to support it.”
Logan swallowed. “Tippy?”
“Yes. Your weight may throw it to one side or the other, and I’ll lose my balance.”
Logan opened his mouth to argue, but he could feel the cold, slimy mud seeping through his toes even now, and he knew she was right. There wasn’t a thing he could do aside from wait, and prepare to jump in after her if she did fall into the burn.
None of them spoke while she crept along the tree trunk. When she at last made it to within reaching distance of the lamb, Logan let loose the breath he’d been holding. “I beg your pardon,mo bhean uasal, but how do you plan to snatch up the lamb without both of you tumbling over the side?”
“I have a plan.”
Logan wasn’t at all surprised to hear it. Despite his growing anxiety, he couldn’t help the small smile that rose to his lips. “Of course, you do. Do you care to share it with us, lass?”
She didn’t answer, but in the next moment she crouched down and braced her hands on the trunk in front of her.
“Juliana!” Logan leapt forward, certain she’d lose her balance and fall, but Brice restrained him with a hand on his shoulder.
“She’s all right. Stay where ye are.”
Shewasall right. She’d reached down with her hands to steady herself, dropped to her bottom, then flung her legs onto either side of the trunk so she was straddling it. Once she was steady, she reached out her arms and gathered the lamb against her chest.
“Don’t cry.” She ran a gentle hand over the lamb’s head. “Yes, I know you’re frightened, but you’re all right now, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”
There was no question of her turning around with such a squirming, bleating bundle in her arms, so as cool as you please she began to shimmy her way back across the trunk with her back to them. It wasn’t at all ladylike, as her skirts were hiked up to her knees, but Lady Juliana, who was still cooing soothingly to the lamb, didn’t seem to notice.
Logan and the Robertson brothers watched her in silence, their mouths open, identical expressions of amazement on their faces. None of them said a word until Dougal, overcome with admiration, breathed, “I think I’m in love with that lass.”
“Aye. Me too.” Callum gave a vigorous nod. “She’s a verra fine lass.”
“Yer both eejits.” Brice cocked his head, watching as Lady Juliana scooted her way toward them. “Not but what sheisa fine lass. Tenderhearted, too, the way she went after the poor wee creature. A tender heart’s a fine thing in a lass, don’t ye think so, Logan?”
Logan didn’t reply. His whole attention was fixed on Lady Juliana. She’d made it far enough so he could reach out and grab her without too much effort. He was debating whether it was wiser to do that or just let her come along on her own when the lamb, seeing itself within leaping distance of the safety of the bank struggled free of her arms and jumped over her shoulder, wailing and bleating like a banshee.
The sudden movement upset Lady Juliana’s balance, and with a little cry of dismay she lost her grip on the slippery bark, and tumbled into the burn with a splash.
The Robertson brothers let out a startled shout. Dougal and Callum both leapt forward, but Logan was already there. He jumped in after her, caught hold of one of her arms, and pulled her back to the surface. She was gasping with shock and cold, and Logan didn’t waste any time. He wrapped one arm around her back, the other under her knees, hauled her against his chest, and struggled against the rushing water until he fell onto the bank, with Lady Juliana still in his arms.
“Give ’er here before ye both drown.” Brice was there, holding out his arms for her.
Logan was strangely reluctant to let her go, but before he could protest that he had her, Brice grasped her under her arms and dragged her further up the bank to safety. Dougal and Callum each took Logan by an arm and yanked him out after her. He crawled up the bank, his chest heaving with effort.
Lady Juliana lay on her back with her eyes open. She was alert, but her breathing was labored, and her face pale. Logan hung over her, the Robertson brothers at his back, and waited with growing alarm for her to say something.
It was a while before she did, but at last she fixed her gaze on Logan, opened her mouth, and asked, “Is the lamb all right?”
Logan stared down at her, unsure whether to laugh or shout at her until her ears bled. In the end, he did neither. Instead he staggered to his feet, plucked up the lamb, who was shivering on the bank a few feet away, and laid her gently on Lady Juliana’s chest.
* * * *
Logan had never before seen any of the Robertson brothers move as fast as they did when Lady Juliana entered their farmhouse.
