Laird Scott scrambled to the window and then stumbled back.
“That bastard has come,” he growled.
Adair is here?
Hope soared in Emily’s chest.
He is here,her heart sang.
But Adair’s appearance had a different effect on her uncle. It threw him into a panic. He became so frantically eager to get away from the doom that Adair’s arrival promised.
“Drive faster,” he barked at the driver, hitting the roof frantically.
“Me Laird, we are at the loch. It isnae safe to cross it. The season is warming—the ice willnae hold.”
A familiar sensation hit Emily at the warning, and she began to struggle against her bonds. The rope fell off easily, and she moved to tackle Elize’s, thankful for her uncle’s momentary distraction.
“It will hold,” he insisted. “Take us across the loch, away from these bastards, or I will sack ye with no reference for yer future employer.”
Emily prayed that the driver would choose his life over whatever payment her uncle promised him.
Alas, the driver seemed to fear offending him more than he feared death.
In the next moment, the horses stepped onto the ice, and she heard it crack.
Gathering her sister in her arms, she closed her eyes and did her best to swallow her scream of terror, even as she felt the carriage go under and heard the horse shriek in distress.
It was just her luck that when she was the closest to happiness, she was here, drowning. No thanks to the madman who sat across from her.
19
It was said that he whom the gods wanted to destroy, he first went mad.
It was clear Malcolm Scott had gone mad.
Pity, he was determined to destroy Emily and Elize along with him.
Adair meant to ensure that it did not happen. After nearly an hour of riding ferociously as if his life depended on it, he could finally see their carriage. The relief that hit him was dizzying, but he pushed forward, aiming to reach them as fast as he could.
Malcolm had clearly lost his mind the moment he learned Emily and Elize’s identities, and he couldn’t be trusted not to hurt them. Adair dreaded what the madman might do.
Pushing the negative thoughts out of his mind, he pressed on. He pitied his stallion, but knowing Emily was in danger had hisblood boiling with anger. As he drew closer, he realized that the carriage was hurtling across the frozen loch.
“Nay!” A raw scream tore from his throat.
Malcolm should know better. The weather had been warmer over the past few days, and Adair could already see signs of the ice melting. It would not be able to hold the weight of the carriage as well as its occupants.
They were going to drown.
Adair’s mind flashed to the accident that had killed his father twelve years ago as he watched the carriage slip and lurch across the ice. He tugged on his reins, pushing his horse faster. He had to get to Emily. Nothing else mattered.
Nothing else would matter if he lost her.
With each inch he covered, tragedy unfolded. The ice cracked, and the horses reared back in distress, before falling into the water.
Right before the water covered the carriage, he saw Emily through the window. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she clung to her sister.
He could not fathom just how scared she must have been, drowning for the second time because of the same man. Heruncle.
