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Her eyes went wide, and she perked up, beaming with relief when she saw Benedict sprinting across the bank of the stream. He kicked his boots off as he ran, undid his cravat, and removed his jacket without so much as taking a breath.

“I’m coming!”

“Benedict!” she cried out and waved to him. “Benedict!”

He dove into the water headfirst, head bobbing up as his arms began to flail and his legs began to kick. He was so powerful, so assured in his movements. The way he effortlessly glided through the water, it was as if he was swimming in a placid pond.

Selina exhaled with relief when he reached her. Her heart soared because this was just like a fairytale—the hero coming to save the princess. Surely, he would be just as relieved, overcome with joy that she was not hurt and that she was safe.

No such luck.

The look on his face when he reached her was the stuff of nightmares. Fury was writ large on his expression. A glare that spoke to how angry he was with her. No sense that he was glad for her safety. He certainly didn’t smile or laugh when he pulled himself onto the submerged trunk.

So angry was he that Selina considered diving into the water with the puppy in her arms and taking her chances with the current.

“B-Benedict,” she stammered. “This is not what it looks like.”

“We will talk about it later. Now, can you swim? Are you hurt?”

She swallowed. “I am fine. But the puppy…” She indicated the little creature in her arms. “I cannot swim with it in my arms.”

Benedict groaned as he took the puppy. Then he snatched her arms and wrapped them around his neck. “Hold on,” he commanded. “And try not to make this any more difficult than it needs to be.”

They dove back into the water, Selina on Benedict’s back as he kicked his way to the shore, somehow managing to keep the puppy’s head above the water at the same time.

Selina was glad for the rescue. But it was going to come at a cost, she knew. One that she may come to regret before the day was through.

Chapter Seventeen

“Here, let me—” Benedict pulled Selina onto dry land and then set about making sure she was not injured. The puppy shook violently from the cold, but he ignored it as his hands began to pat her down.

“I am perfectly fine,” Selina insisted as she tried to swat his hands away. “Embarrassed, but ultimately unharmed.”

“Will you just—” Benedict bit his tongue because he needed to make sure that she was indeed uninjured.

Those last few minutes when he swam through the choppy waters to save her, as his mind raced with worry over what might occur if he was too late, were harder to fathom than he could have imagined.

He cared about this woman. Dammit, it had broken him to think that she might be hurt… or worse. Foreign emotions surged through him, and for now, Benedict decided it was just worry.

“Yes…” he mused as he made sure she was not cut or bruised, as he held a hand to her chest, as he checked her pulse and looked into her eyes. “It seems that you are indeed fine.”

She rolled her eyes and smirked sheepishly. “I told you so.”

Now was the moment of truth. Would Benedict pull her into a hug and thank the Lord that she was fine? Would he laugh this off, ignore his anger, be glad that nothing untoward had happened? Or would the predictable happen?

As this was Benedict, it was predictably the latter.

“What were you thinking?!” he snapped. “Have you lost your mind?!”

He tried not to let the anger overtake him. Oh, how he did. But he felt anger. He felt relief. He felt guilt and rage and worry and a whole host of emotions that were so overwhelming that he thought he might drown in them.

“You could have been killed!” he continued, throwing his free hand in the air wildly, caring not for how demented he must have looked. He was shivering from the cold, but heat surged through his body as his anger grew. “You would have been, was I not here to save you! What were you thinking?!”

The puppy nuzzled his legs, which cut off the stream of expletives. But he did not care. He rose to his feet and stood over Selina, his eyes wide with rage, his body trembling, his temper flaring further. He had so much to say, and he knew there was nothing that could stop him.

“Is this because of last night?” he bellowed. “Because of what I said? Do you not think that immature, Selina? To run off like this! To put yourself in danger! And for what? To teach me a lesson? Although what lesson, I wish I knew!”

He glared at her, expecting her to respond with fire. But strangely, she said nothing.