Chapter 12
Atlas
Ihave never caught a woman flying toward me from a boat while simultaneously treading water.
And I certainly did not catch this one. Tackled might have been the appropriate word.
Thankfully, her wide skirt and layers of petticoats spread out over the top of the water, giving her some temporary buoyancy.
I managed to get my arms around her, which proved nearly impossible with the way she thrashed about.
I daresay, she was attempting to climb me like a ladder.
Her arms were around my head, my neck, and then my head again.
Why on earth had the woman jumped from the boat?
“Stop moving or we’ll both drown,” I ordered.
It seemed to snap her from her immediate panic. “I . . . I cannot swim.”
She was terrified and rightly so. She terrified me, too. “Hold on to my neck.” Immediately, Miss Lewis had me in a choke hold. “Not so tight,” I eeked out.
She loosened her grip, but her legs started thrashing against me again.
I reached for the last thread of my patience.
“If you stay still, I can get you back into the boat.” She was slight enough that I hoped I might throw her back inside.
With a quick turn of my head, I realized the depth of our plight.
When Miss Lewis had propelled herself from the boat, she had sent it careening in the opposite direction—away from us and away from the shore.
“Not the boat!” Miss Lewis cried between her chattering teeth. “I don’t trust it.” Her body shook violently. The water was cold, but I guessed it was from shock.
“Very well. No boat.” It would be wiser to head toward the bank anyway. “But you have to promise to do exactly what I say.” I was breathing hard already, and she would have to cooperate if we were going to make it. “For starters, hold still.”
She nodded and her body relaxed obediently, but not the way I had prepared for. Her soft cheek pressed itself against my own, as did the rest of her. This time her tight embrace was not the reason my breathing was inhibited.
I had been in a haze before and just after my accident thanks to Mary Anne, and the thought of losing even an ounce of control unnerved me.
Doing the best to maintain a clear head, regardless of the woman strapped to me, I held on to her waist with one arm and attempted to swim with the other.
I figured we had at least twenty feet and then I might be able to touch the bottom.
“Keep . . . your . . . legs . . . straight,” I said through spurts of air. “Start . . . kicking against . . . the water.”
Remarkably, she listened. Together, we began a slow, labored swim.
I had worked hard to regain my strength after my accident, but despite my training, I knew I was not as strong as before.
This became abundantly clear in my struggle to make any progress in the water.
I kicked hard and reached far with each stroke.
“Did you feel that against your leg?” Miss Lewis’s words choked. “There’s something in the water.”
Her panic was escalating again.
“It’s a fish, not a shark,” I said with a quick inhale. “It won’t . . . harm you.”
Miss Lewis shuddered against me.
After another minute, I gauged how far we had come. I hoped I would start to feel the bottom of the pond soon. I reached down with my foot and grazed a rock. A little farther and I began to push off one before touching another. Bless the heavens for long legs.
Miss Lewis squirmed again, and I guessed she had felt the same fish pass as I had.
“You were so much quicker before. Can you swim any faster?” Her breathing tickled the skin just below my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
It was easier to talk now that my body was not so taxed. “I wasn’t dragging a woman wearing ten yards of clothing then.”
She whimpered, but her next words came out a little stronger. “I trust you.”
“That might have been your first mistake,” I grumbled.
She sniffled—from cold or tears, I could not say. After a few more labored strokes, she said, “Are we going to drown?”
“Not likely.” Exhausted, I stopped swimming twenty paces from the shore. I was almost certain she could touch now.
Miss Lewis gasped. “You cannot stop yet! We are almost there.” She slapped my back repeatedly. “Focus, Lord Camden! We’re drowning!”
“Miss Lewis!” My sharp words were buried by her screams and sudden thrashing. I was not one to yell, but if she did not stop, we might actually be at risk for dying. “Miss Lewis! Stand up!”
“What?” She stilled.
“Stand up,” I commanded again, my voice a touch calmer.
She clung to my neck, but she drew her face back enough to meet my gaze. She was mere inches from me, and her brown eyes—not unlike those of a frightened doe—bored into my own.
I had the sudden irrational thought to kiss some sense into her and shock her into listening to me. Only the fact that she was a stranger to me kept me from acting on the impulsive idea. I felt a rustle by my legs as her feet touched the ground.
Hallelujah.
She stood, allowing me to get my own feet beneath me.
“Ha!” she cried. “I can stand!” Her bright smile lit up her entire face. But her mouth was too near my own, and it sent strange sensations through my middle.
I cleared my throat. “You can release me now.”
Her eyes widened in response. “I don’t think that’s wise.”
Surprised, I furrowed my brow. “And why not?”
Her panicked voice returned. “We aren’t to the land yet, obviously.”
I had been prepared to lecture Miss Lewis about how mad it had been for her to jump from the boat, but now I realized how futile such a conversation would be.
Her fears clearly had controlled her every action.
“How foolish of me.” I called on whatever gentlemanly qualities I possessed to maintain my patience a little longer.
“The ground is quite unsteady with all these rocks. I, of course, will assist you to the bank.”
“Th-thank you,” she said, her teeth clattering again.
“You’re welcome. Might I suggest you at least remove your arms from my neck so we might walk?”
She immediately stepped back. Her hands fell to cling to my shirt, and I managed to turn her so that my own hand was securely around her waist. “See, nothing to it. You are out of danger.”
She shook her head, her wet hair flinging drops of water on my face. “I did not grow up near any lakes or ponds. It’s foreign to me.”
I still did not understand the depth of her fear, but I dared not say so.
Augusta burst into view, carrying a paddle. “Dash it all! What happened?”
“We fancied a swim.” My attempt at a joke fell flat, as there was absolutely no humor in the situation.
“I don’t believe it.” Augusta dropped the oar and hovered at the bank. When we reached her, Augusta stretched her hand out to take Miss Lewis’s. “I am so sorry, Miss Lewis. I cannot imagine Ruby dumped you. She is usually extremely well-behaved.”
Neither one of us said anything about Miss Lewis jumping of her own accord.
I lifted Miss Lewis at the same time she stepped up, her heavy skirts snagging on the brush at our sides.
Once she was free of the water and small branches, I climbed out.
My hand went to my chest to assure that the ruby ring I treasured was still safely beneath my shirt.
I sighed with relief when I felt the small lump.
Miss Lewis immediately put distance between us.
She straightened her drenched shoulders and adopted a composed expression quite unlike the terrified one she had borne when I had rescued her only moments before.
She primly adjusted her kid gloves and clasped her hands in front of her before she addressed me.
“Thank you for your assistance, Lord Camden.”
Her calm, matter-of-fact voice sounded as if I had just passed her the salt at the dinner table or happened to open her carriage door.
“My pleasure.” I didn’t mean for the words to come out like a question, but I didn’t understand the sudden shift in her behavior.
Most women would have succumbed to sobs by this point, but she had collected herself in mere seconds of being on land.
When she lifted her chin, still dripping with water, I realized it was her dratted pride that kept her emotions in check.
The realization nearly spurred a laugh, but I held it in for her sake.
She had been traumatized enough for one afternoon.
“Yes, thank you, Atlas,” Augusta said. “Mother would not have liked it if I had drowned my companion.”
Miss Lewis whirled toward me, losing a little of her composure. “Dear me, your meeting, Lord Camden. Will you miss it?”
Ah, yes. Dr. Newman. It had taken weeks to arrange the meeting and the train would be gone by the time I reached the station.
But how could I be angry? After all she had endured, she had remembered my plans and expressed her concern.
I wrung out the edges of my sleeves with my hand.
“I just remembered. My meeting was postponed.”
Or it would be once I sent Dr. Newman a missive.
“How fortunate.” Miss Lewis’s words were skeptical, and she eyed me with a disbelieving frown.
What was fortunate was that I had taken the time to meet with my guards about the estate’s security this morning and had happened to have walked this direction on my way back to the house.
“I must add my own thanks for aiding Miss Lewis,” Augusta said to me. “That was very good of you.”
“That reminds me. Why did I have to aid Miss Lewis? Where were you?”
Augusta sighed. “Before you get upset, I did not do this on purpose. Honest. I forgot that I had asked the stable master to wax my oars for me. I ran the entire way, but it seems I was not fast enough.”
I shook my head. I should have known that Augusta was behind this whole mess.
“No need to fret,” Miss Lewis said. “I am well enough now, as we can all see. Once I change, we can get back to your lessons.” She speared me with a knowing look. “I wouldn’t want anyone to think I am shirking my duties.”
And just like that, I was reduced from hero to impertinent acquaintance.
“We should make a run of it.” Augusta stepped anxiously toward Miss Lewis. “Heaven forbid my mother finds you in such a state.” My sister tucked her arm into Miss Lewis’s damp one and pulled her toward the path.
I reached for my boots and watched them go.
Miss Lewis looked back over her shoulder at me one last time, but I pretended not to notice. I needed no more reminders of her when I had plenty from the water to remember. Besides, she was clearly a proud, headstrong woman, and I did not want her to feel embarrassed for her fears. We all had them.
Some of us even had nightmares to go with them.
I slid on my boots and shook out my jacket.
The scene from the pond played in my mind at least three times before I reached the house.
I had become obsessive about my accident and my efforts to discover both my attackers and my rescuer, but for the first time, something else occupied my mind.
I wasn’t certain what to make of it. I would give Miss Lewis this: She certainly knew how to make an impression.
Our first few interactions had been quite memorable. I half feared what would happen next.
Regardless, I would be a gentleman and try to put Miss Lewis at ease.
For Augusta’s sake, I could be sociable if I tried.
I had agreed to give Miss Lewis a chance in our comfortable employ—although comfortable was negotiable after our little swim—and I would do as I promised if it killed me. I had my own second chance to earn.