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Evelinde urged Lady to the water's edge so thean absent hand along her mount's neck as she peered into the water

She had always found this spot soothing It here she brought all her troubles and cares Usually, the tinkle of the water and the mist in the air fro better She wasn't sure it would succeed very well this tih She suspected it would take a lot of water to wash this worry away

Grie boulder at the water's edge and removed her slippers She then bent and reached between her feet to catch the hes, and tucked it into the front of the loose belt she wore over her gown That accoe and daintily dipped one toe into the water, s at the cool rush of liquid over her flesh Evelinde stayed like that for onefrom her lips as the water closed around her feet and halfway up to her knees

Closing her eyes, she si the Devil of Donnachaidh Evelinde wanted a few moments of peace and calm; then she would consider her future

Her few moments didn't last, for the hem of her skirt unraveled and dropped around her feet in the water

Crying out, Evelinde tried to hop back out of the river but got her feet tangled in the wet hem of the skirt and stumbled sideways She threw herself forward at the lastto break her fall However, her hand ski on to the river bottom, then the boulder, rammed into her ribs and hip with a painful blow even as her head continued down, sla the side of her jaw into another stone

Evelinde gasped in pain and sucked in a ed She ca up what little bit had gone down her throat as she ignored the pain in her side and pushed herself to a sitting position in the water Placing one hand to her ribs, Evelinde felt the tender spot, relieved to find that, while it ached, she didn't think she'd broken anything Her hand then dropped to her sore hip as well, and she muttered a pained curse as exasperation overcame her

Was not this perfect? Evelinde had never been theas clumsy as this It seemed luck had abandoned her this day

Shaking her head, she dragged herself to her feet and staggered out of the river Herher balefully Evelinde supposed she must have splashed the ani but si

The water had been nice on her toes, but her goas now completely soaked and cold where it touched her skin, which was everywhere

Gris but soon gave that up She could hardly sit there holding the skirt away from her skin until it dried

Muttering under her breath, she set to work on her laces, and struggled to get out of the gown It was an almost ih when dry, it was a nightmare to re by the tiot it off

Dropping it on the ground with relief, she plopped herself back on the boulder again, but the heat she'd generated with her efforts soon faded, and Evelinde found herself once again shivering in her da to remove that and sit there naked While people rarely intruded on her favorite spot, they did on occasion, and she wasn't going to risk being caught in such a state

Evelinde wasn't foolish enough to sit there shivering either She needed to find a way to dry herself, her cheht catch a chill

Her gaze slid to her horse Lady had given up glaring at her and was once again at the riverside, partaking of the crystal-clear water Evelinde hesitated athe practicalities of the idea that was tickling the edges of her own, and moved to the mare

Cullen was the first to see her The sight made hihtened his thighs around hisautomatically to calm the anilen

"God's teeth What is she doing?" Fergus asked as he halted beside him

Cullen didn't even glance to the tall, burly redhead as his first He ht The wo her horse charging first one way, then the other and back That in itself was odd, but what had put the hush in Fergus's voice and co so in nothing but a transparent che the reins of her mount in her teeth Her hands were otherwise occupied They were upraised and holding what appeared to be a cape in the air so it billowed out behind her above her streaolden hair as she rode back and forth… back and forth… back and forth

"Who do you think she is?" Rory's question was the only way Cullen knew the other ht up as well

"I doona ken, but I could watch the lass all day," Tavis said, his voice sounding hungry "Though there are other things I'd rather be doing to her all day "

Cullen found himself irritated by that re hissmile, it took little effort for hiht And thehis way under women's skirts at every opportunity Were titles awarded by such an ability, Tavis would have been the king of Scotland

"I'd first be wanting to ken why she's doing what she is," Fergus said slowly "I've no desire to bed a wench who isna right in the head

"

"It isna her head I'd be taking to hed

"Aye," Gillie said, his voice sounding almost dreamy

Cullen turned a hard glare on his men "Ride on I'll catch up to ye "

There was a ed, then all five men took up their reins

"Ride around the meadow," Cullen instructed, when they started to move forward

There was another exchange of glances, but the men followed the tree line around the meadow

Cullen waited until they had disappeared froht, then turned back to the woman His eyes followed her back and forth several tied his mount forward

It hadn't appeared so fro at high speed on her beast, slowing only toher horse into a dead run toward the other side The , the aniame and threw herself into each run with an impressive burst of speed

Cullen rode up beside the mare, but the wo between the path ahead and the cloth in her upraised hands When she finally did glimpse him out of the corner of her eye, he wasn't at all prepared for her reaction

The lass's eyes widened, and her head jerked back with a start, unintentionally yanking on the reins she clenched in her teeth The mare suddenly jerked to a halt and reared The lass irab for the reins and the cloth she'd been holding swung around and slapped—heavy and wet—across Cullen's face It both stung and briefly blinded hi him jerk on his own reins in surprise, and suddenly his ownas well

Cullen found hith of wet cloth that did nothing to cushion his landing Pain sla the wind out of hied blade of agony that actually made him briefly lose consciousness

A tugging sensation woke hiht for one moment the blow to his head had blinded hi over his face The damp cloth, he recalled with relief He wasn't blind At least, he didn't think he was He wouldn't know for sure until he got the cloth off

Another tug caood deal h that his head was actually jerked off the ground, bending his neck at an uncole Afraid that, at this rate, he'd end up with a broken neck after the fall, Cullen decided he'd best help with the effort to untangle himself fro to grab for the clingingover hi else entirely Two sos… that were covered with a soft, damp cloth, were roundish in shape, soft yet firm at the same time, and had little pebble-like bu about blindly Absorbed as he was in sorting out all these details, he didn't at first hear the horrified gasps that were co from beyond the cloth over his head

"Sorry," Cullena wo his hands away, he shifted the recklessly at the stuff, eager to get it off

"Hold! Wait, sir, you will rip—" The warning ended on a groan as a rending sound cut through the air

Cullen paused briefly, but then continued to tug at theHe'd never been one to enjoy enclosed spaces and felt like he would surely set it off at once

"Let me—I can—If you would just—"

The words barely registered with Cullen They sounded like nothing nored the sound—it fell away, and he could breathe again Cullen closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath with relief

"Oh dear "

That soft, barely breathedbeside hi the daed material ide, dismayed eyes

Cullen debated offering yet another apology, but he'd already given one, and it was more than he normally offered in a year Before he'dthe cloth and turned alarmed eyes his way

"You are bleeding!"

"What?" he asked with surprise

"There is blood on own Youover him to examine his scalp The position put her upper body inches above his face, and Cullen started getting that closed-in feeling again until he was distracted by the breasts jiggling before his eyes

The chemise she as very thin and presently wet, he noted, which was no doubt whatat the beautiful, round orbs with fascination, shifting his eyes left and right and continuing to do so when she turned his head from side to side to search out the source of the blood

Apparently finding no injury that could have bloodied her gown, she muttered, "It must be the back of your head," and suddenly lifted his head, pulling it up off the ground, presumably so she could exaht shewhen he found his face buried in those breasts he'd been watching with such interest

"Aye, 'tis here Youwhen you fell," she announced with a combination of success and worry

Cullenhih they were, they were quite lovely, and if a o He felt soht cheek beside his rown hard She also suddenly stilled like prey sensing danger Not wishing to send her running with fear, he opened his mouth and tried to turn his head to speak a word or two of reassurance to calm her

"Cal words However, it was doubtful if she understood what he said since his words ca his open mouth Despite his intentions not to scare her, when he realized it was a nipple in hishis lips around it and flicking his tongue over the linen-covered bud

In the next h his head once round