Page 131 of He Loves Me Knot

His fingers tightened on hers. Leaning down, he kissed her forehead, then her lips with gentle pressure. “My life was nothing short of boring before you came into it, Lydia Winnick.”

Then he tilted his head toward the car, his heart wreathed in a turmoil he didn’t dare display. “And yes, we’re going to drive through the damned river.” He held her hand as they started back. “The water is just at my knees. We should be fine. In theory.”

“In theory?”

He grimaced. “Unless we drive into an area of the river that’s deeper than I can see. Then the engine will flood. And with the water moving like this, it could push the car out to the sea.”

She grasped his hand tighter. “What?” She looked warily back at the rapid flow. “Um, maybe I shouldn’t ask but are there any creatures I should be worried about out here?”

He gave her a rueful smile. “Crocodiles. Snakes. But I doubt we’ll encounter them.”

She squealed, then yanked him back toward solid ground.

Elle and Quinn were quiet as they got into the car, and Liddy didn’t meet Elle’s gaze. Muttering a silent prayer, her fingers tightened around the seat belt as Callum put the car into first gear and crept toward the river.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Elle breathed.

Quinn scooted closer to her sister and held her hand. “It’s fine. Callum wouldn’t do this if the water was too deep.”

“But you can’t just drive a car through a river.” Elle stared out the window as they pushed slowly into the water.

“Happens all the time here,” Callum said dryly.

The front two wheels were in. Liddy looked out the side mirror as the back tires left what was once the road.

Slow.

Steady.

Her heart rate surged. She breathed out slowly, focusing on the path forward as Callum kept going. Not that there was an actual path.

Keep going.

He rolled the window down and stuck his head out. She didn’t have to ask what he saw. The water level was rising up the side of the car.

Dangerously high.

Elle looked horrified. “Oh my God. What happens if the water goes too high?”

“The engine floods,” Quinn said, squeezing her knee comfortingly.

“And then?”

“Then we push the car to higher ground and wait for a tow,” Callum said in a matter-of-fact way, as though he hadn’t just told Liddy the other potentially hazardous possibility.

A phone rang and Liddy glanced back to see Elle take hers out. “It’s Kat.” Then Elle’s face looked stricken. “Oh man, she’s going to kill me. We were supposed to be going to The Four Seasons today.”

“You don’t have to answer it,” Liddy said. “She’ll be fine.”

Elle gave a strangled laugh. “Who are you, and what have you done with my sister? The Liddy I know respects andlovesschedules.”

“Schedules be damned. We have a wedding dress to rescue.”

They were in the middle of the river now, and Liddy held her breath. Of all the men in the world, she wouldn’t have expected her boss—who looked so good in a business suit and managed his team of twenty-five so professionally—to also be someone she had complete confidence in during an adventure like this.

But I do.

All four wheels seemed to lift off.

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