“Shawna, listen?—”
“No! I’ve got to get—clean!”
“Aye, aye, lass, we will?—”
“Now!”
His hold upon her eased. She wrenched free with a wild strength. She ran farther, farther…heedless of the chill of the night, barely aware of the rugged terrain beneath her feet.
“Shawna! Have you gone mad!”
He was directly behind her, but her strength and speed were indeed born of sheer madness. She ran until she reached the loch, and she didn’t stop there. She walked until the water came to her knees, then she plunged down into it.
CHAPTER 16
She was dragged back to the surface, gasping for air, staring furiously at David. He was soaked now, too, staring at her in amazement as they stood shoulder deep in the water.
“Are you trying to drown yourself?”
“Of course not! I’m trying to, I’m trying to…” She couldn’t speak suddenly. Her teeth were chattering.
“Let me go!” she demanded, struggling to free herself.
He wouldn’t let her go. He drew her hard against him, heedless of her wild struggling, until she became so exhausted that she just lay flat against him.
“I just want to cleanse myself of the dust, the cobwebs, the dead people!” she gasped.
“All right, all right!”
He eased his hold on her. She rubbed her arm with her fingers, then grew frantic again, stripping off her torn and dirtied robe and gown. She heard his words, soothing her, felt his fingers, moving in her hair.
Finally, Shawna felt as if she’d scrubbed herself enough. By then, she could barely stand, she was so exhausted. She lay still against him and began to shiver.
“We’ll freeze here,” he said softly, urging her forward.
“Aye!” she cried, pulling free from him to hurry from the water.
“Shawna!”
She ignored his voice, shivering and anxious to leave the loch. She staggered from the depths of the loch to the embankment, falling against the damp grasses there.
They would freeze. As she lay there exhausted, breathing hard, she realized just how cold the night was, and how wet she was.
Wet—and bare.
Only then did it occur to her that she couldn’t go walking back into the castle as naked as a newborn.
She was shaking violently when David drew up beside her, naked as she, but holding his rinsed clothing in his arms.
“My lady, if you run from me again, I swear I’ll find a leash—or put you in the dungeon in truth.”
“You said?—”
“Come on, quickly,” he told her.
“Where?”
“Well, back into the water for a moment.”