Page 121 of Rogue of My Heart

Christian grasped and scrambled, but he wasn’t fast enough to maintain his grip on Marie’s hand as she plunged into what seemed like a hole in the ground. She screamed sharply, but a hollow splash quickly drowned out the sound.

“Marie!” Christian started forward, but wheeled back when another crack sounded and the ground under him tilted. He leapt to the side in time to avoid tumbling into the spring as another section of the ground collapsed.

In a flash, he realized what had happened. The spring didn’t simply disappear into the ground before entering the springhouse. Someone had built a deep channel to direct the water and covered it with floorboards of some sort. Only, the construction had been done so long ago that grass had grown up over the boards. If enough time had passed since that had happened, it was as like as not that the boards had rotted. So when Marie put her full weight on them, they gave out, plunging her into the stream.

All of those thoughts happened in a split second. Christian twisted as soon as he hit solid ground beside the collapsed section of boards and grass, scrambling to the dank chasm that had been uncovered.

“Marie!” he shouted louder, desperate to find any trace of her. There was no telling how deep the spring was at that point or what sort of debris might be trapping Marie underwater.

“Kilrea, is that you?” Ned’s voice boomed inside the springhouse.

Christian barely registered his question. “Marie’s fallen into the spring,” he called out, tearing away whatever boards he could get his hands on in an effort to reach her. The boards were so rotted that they crumbled in his hands rather than giving him splinters.

Banging sounded from inside the springhouse, but Christian hardly heard it.

“Christian!” Marie’s watery, strangled cry came from somewhere far below.

“I’ve got you, Marie,” he called to her, doubling his efforts to move boards and rend the earth to reach her.

“Christian, I can’t hold on,” Marie cried back. The fear in her voice had the hair on the back of Christian’s neck standing up.

“I’ve got you,” he repeated, though his heart trembled with uncertainty.

He tried to think fast, tried to remember what he knew of the springhouse and what he’d seen just minutes before. If Marie let go of whatever she was holding onto, would she sail right underneath the structure and come out the other side, or were there gratings or other obstructions that would trap her underwater?

A loud crack split the air, and a moment later, Ned and Lady Aoife dashed around the corner of the springhouse. Ned leapt right over the gaping hole left by the broken boards and dropped to a crouch on the other side.

“What happened? Did she fall through?” Ned asked.

Christian nodded, giving Ned only a cursory look. “The boards gave out,” he said, pulling more away.

“Can I help?” Lady Aoife asked, moving forward and heading toward a section of the grass that Christian expected hid more unstable boards.

“Stand back, love,” Ned warned her sharply, then bent to tear at the old boards with Christian.

“I’m slipping,” Marie gasped below them. “It’s all wet and slippery, and—oh!”

Christian tore aside just the right board and spotted her in the nick of time. He lunged for her, closing a hand around her wrist and pulling for all he was worth.

A moment later, Ned managed to grab hold of Marie’s other wrist. Between the two of them, they yanked her free of the cold spring water, the mud, and the dark. Ned let go once Marie’s head and shoulders were above ground, and Christian tugged her the rest of the way out of the hole and into his arms. The two of them tumbled back onto the grass together. Marie’s skirts were sodden and thick with mud, and she shook violently as Christian closed his arms around her.

“It’s all right,” Christian panted, stroking his hands over her back, arms, shoulders, and finally her face, both to make certain she was truly all right and to comfort her. “I’ve got you. Nothing is going to hurt you now.”

“Christian.”

His name was the only word she was able to get out before he kissed her. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so ardent with Ned and the woman who was technically still his fiancée looking on, but he couldn’t help himself. He kissed Marie with all the passion and relief he could manage, sighing and stroking every part of her that he could as the pure joy of having her alive washed over him. He was so overcome that he rolled her to her back and covered her, continuing to kiss her lips, her cheek, her neck and any part of her he could, even though she was muddy and musty.

“Marie, I love you,” he said between kisses. “I love you, I love you, I love you. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

Marie laughed wildly, but didn’t manage to form whatever wicked thoughts she had into words before he captured his mouth in another kiss.

It was only after Christian had nearly exhausted himself with relief that he became aware of Ned and Lady Aoife standing together, only a few yards away. The impropriety of their situation hit him then, and he shifted off of Marie, struggling to stand. He offered Marie his hand and helped her to stand as well.

“Are you well, Lady Marie?” Ned asked, a curious look on his face. The man’s mouth twitched, almost as if he were trying not to smile.

“I….” Marie ran a hand through her wet, mud-streaked hair, then patted her arms and body, as if trying to determine the answer. “Miraculously, I think I’m well after all that,” she said with a weak laugh.

A moment later, her face pinched with guilt.