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When Beatrice’s feet hit the water, she yelped. “It’s cold!”

Adam chuckled. “Come. The sooner we take a dip, the sooner it will be over.”

With a frustrated growl—for there was no other way to describe the sound she made—Beatrice let go of Adam’s hand and ran full speed into the lake. As soon as she was waist-deep, she sat, dipping her entire body up to her neck. Immediately, she turned and dashed back, holding her spectacles in place.

Dashed might have been the wrong word to describe her poor attempt at fleeing the lake. She waded through it, her skirts pulling her back, her feet barely finding purchase. Adam moved past her, diving into the lake and then out like a swan or some mythical creature, water cascading down his hair toward his mighty shoulders. “I hadn’t swum in the lake at night since I was a child!”

He had a childish gleam in his eyes and an adorable smile on his lips as he said so. Beatrice was suddenly mesmerized by the display of his charming exuberance, and she forgot about her heavy skirts.

She turned around and dipped herself in the water once more, swimming toward him.

“Don’t go farther!” he called as he moved to meet her halfway. “It gets quite deep.”

“I did it!” she exclaimed.

“You’re one brave lady,” Adam said with a grin.

He stood chest-deep, and yet Beatrice was almost completely submerged in water, save for her head and neck. Her teeth chattered, and her entire body was chilly as she spoke. “You were right. It was a worthy item to add to my list and cross off. A wise choice for a forfeit indeed.”

He smiled, and then his gaze dropped to her mouth, and despite the cold and rain, she felt her body heat. “Better than a liberty?”

Beatrice licked her stiff lips. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” Adam looked rather offended.

“Well…” Beatrice feigned thinking this through when there was nothing to think about. Being kissed by him was the best feeling she’d ever experienced, and even just the thought of it still warmed her from the inside. “I wouldn’t be cold or wet.”

Adam’s eyes dropped to her mouth again as he whispered, “You’re half-right there.”

Her eyes widened and snapped to his, as her breathing grew shallow. She didn’t even know what he meant, but that croaky tinge in his voice made her breathless.

“We should go back,” he said, and she frantically nodded, still not quite sure what just happened. He seemed completely unaffected, though, as he picked up her skirts and helped her walk toward the shore. Beatrice slipped on a rock and almost plummeted face-first into the icy water, but an iron firm arm grabbed her by the waist and slammed her back against his chest. Beatrice couldn’t help but remember the last time he’d done just that. It was when he saved her from the drunken gentlemen in Hades’ Hell.

He kept saving her.

And Beatrice could not imagine a space safer than her back pressed against his chest, his arm around her.

“Careful, now,” he murmured into her ear, as he bent down and swept her into his arms.

Very well, perhaps she spoke too soon.

He cradled her close to his chest, the water heavily flowing down their bodies and back into the lake. Beatrice boldly placed her head against his shoulder, rubbing her cheek against the transparent shirt. Her hair was in her face, her entire body was soaked with water and frigid with cold. She was in Hyde Park, after a dip in the Serpentine in the middle of the night! And yet she couldn’t recall a moment she’d felt safer than right now, in Adam’s arms.

He carefully deposited her onto steady ground, and as soon as Beatrice was standing, she turned away and let out a full-body sneeze. “Oh, my God, I am so sorry.”

Adam laughed as he strolled away and came back with his coat. He put it over her shoulders, and as sweet as the gesture was, it would do nothing for her now that she was completely soaking wet.

“And now I have no idea how I am going to go back with my heavy skirts.”

Adam smiled. “Isn’t that what I told you earlier?”

“Yes, and I am very apologetic for not heeding your warnings,” Beatrice grumbled. “But what do I do now?”

Adam shook his head but without words knelt beside her and started wringing her skirts. Beatrice tried to help him, but she was shaking, her fingers too stiff to be helpful in any way. Adam managed to squeeze out quite a generous amount of water from her skirts, then he stood and shuddered.

“P-perhaps you need the coat more,” Beatrice suggested, stuttering from the cold.

“No, you keep it. But how about a race to your townhouse?” he challenged with a grin.