Cautiously, she took his hand and put one foot into the boat, then the other. All her senses were on high alert. Neither she, nor her husband, could be trusted near bodies of water. ‘I do not want to get wet. You must promise not to push me in.’
He gave her a roguish grin that set her heart thumping. ‘You pushed me into a river and I did not even know how to swim.’
She had been ten years of age at the time. Frederica might have felt bad if Samuel’s younger self had not got his revenge the next day by flinging a pile of elephant droppings at her. They had been a pair of rapscallions.
Lifting her nose in the air, she sniffed, trying not to remember the pungent smell. ‘Promise me.’
He gave her another raffish grin that put her on her guard. ‘I promise that I will not push you into the loch. We will have a nice little sail to the castle.’
Frederica had barely sat down when Samuel shifted his weight back and forth, causing her to lose her balance and teeter from side to side. Before she fell into the cold water, Samuel placed his hands around her to steady her. One hand covering the puckered scar at her waist. A small price to pay to have him by her side. Even if he meant to dump her into a cold lake.
She kissed his cheek. ‘I hope this is not going to be a repeat of the punting lesson.’
Frederica felt his lips grin against her own as he lightly kissed her. Then he pressed his mouth harder against hers to deepen the kiss and she felt it all the way to her toes.
All too soon he lifted his lips from hers. ‘I still maintain that my directions were very clear.’
‘And yet, I ended up covered in bruises.’
‘You were going to hit the tree in the river and I told younotto hit the tree.’
She laughed merrily and he helped her sit down on the seat in the small boat. She pushed open her parasol in front of her,accidentallyknocking Samuel’s oar out of his hand, and into the freezing water.
Frederica placed a gloved hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, dear! How clumsy of me.’
Samuel pulled the oar out of the cold dark blue water, his sleeve wet to the shoulder. ‘If that is the worst thing that you do to me on this trip, I shall consider myself lucky.’
Feigning innocence, she twirled her parasol. ‘Youarethe luckiest man alive. You marriedme.’
The smoulder he gave her caused her pulse to race and heat to pool in her belly. ‘Luckier than I knew.’
Samuel began to row the boat towards a small island with a castle. According to Samuel, it was six hundred years old. She could well believe it. The narrow structure was three stories tall and made from grey weathered stones. Green moss grew up the walls, and a large stone staircase led to the front door. It was truly magnificent, like something out of a fairy tale or a Mrs Radcliffe novel. ButThe Romance of the Foresthad nothing on her own love story, and she was living her very own happy ending.
Frederica dipped her free hand in the icy water and let it slide through her fingers. ‘I am glad Mama didn’t sell your Scottish castle after all.’
‘So am I,’ Samuel said soulfully. ‘I shall finally have you to myself. There will be no carriages. No friends stopping by at all hours to visit. No relatives inviting us to never-ending dinner parties. No mother-in-law in the same house only a door or two away. No father-in-law giving me a herd of pigs as a wedding gift, or plenty of practical advice on the use of their dung.’
She giggled, making her shoulders shake. ‘I thought that was a very conservative choice for Papa. I was expecting an alligator.’
‘You come from a family of alligators,’ he retorted. ‘Each and every one of your brothers and sisters threatened me.’
Frederica could not help but beam at him. ‘With their teeth?’
Samuel continued to row. ‘No, Wick threatened to throttle me with his bare hands if I did not treat you right.’
She spun her parasol, laughing. Her eldest brother was quite handy with his fists. ‘Well, your past treatment of me was not the best. He did see you push me out of the hayloft.’
‘You were eleven and you had put a snake in my bed. I am sure Helen helped. Besides, you are interrupting. No Matthew trying to get me to invest in steam locomotives and railroads.’
Her second brother was a businessman who never seemed to take a day off. ‘It is fine that you did not. I already own five percent of the stock in his company and I will share a portion of the proceeds with you when I make my fortune.’
Samuel huffed, lifting his eyebrows. ‘No Mantheria, giving me lessons via correspondence on how to be a duke.’
Frederica continued to twirl her parasol. Her eldest sister was married to the Duke of Glastonbury, who was in poor health. She ran his estates with the exactness and efficiency of a good housekeeper/steward. ‘I hope you kept all of her notes and study them regularly.’
‘No Helen writing me letter after letter from Greece trying to convince me to take you on a wedding trip to South America, with herself as your companion.’
Her younger sister and her snakes. She missed them both. Helen was one of a kind. ‘I hear that there are lots of very interesting reptiles there. I am sure she would love it. But I do not know if we will be able to get her to leave.’