Page 5 of The Commoner Who Stole Her Heart
“Dinnae get yer hopes up, Liam,” Mary said sternly, her lips bowed down in exasperation. “Uir master may let her choose, but he wi’ ne’er permit her tae choose a footman o’er a husband ‘o noble birth. Noo get that right oot ‘o yer head.”
Shunting his eyes away from hers, Liam swallowed hard. “I will try, Mum.”
Reaching across the table, Mary took his hand in hers. “Yer love and dedication dae make me proud ‘o ye, Liam. Ye be a guid lad. Ye be turnin’ heads all o’er the house, ye ken.”
Liam tried to smile. “I expect I did not notice.”
“Aye. All the lasses be watchin’ ye, hopin’ ye wi’ notice them, and wishin’ ye wi’ offer to court them. Handsome lad ye be, strong and able.”
Trying to imagine himself courting one of the household’s wenches, and he did realize many of them were quite pretty, Liam could not do it. Not a one of them could compare to Miss Miller in good looks or replace her in his heart. He merely said, “Perhaps. If Miss Miller marries and leaves this house, then I will consider it.”
“All I can ask, lad.”
After Mary left to return to her duties, Liam finished eating, though he had no appetite. Miserable, he knew there would be no getting over Miss Miller once she married and went away with her new husband.
I am sorry, Mum. Should that happen, my life will be over. I cannot live without her.
Chapter 3
After supper, during which neither she nor Freddie spoke much, Thea left the house to walk to the lake. Though full darkness had fallen, she had little difficulty in finding her way. The small lake had been her favorite place and her solace since she was a little girl. She loved the sound of the small waves lapping the shore, the tiny splashes of the trout leaping up to snack on bugs over its surface, its utter peacefulness, and its tranquility.
Stepping out onto the long dock where Freddie tied his rowboat he used when he went fishing, Thea gazed up at the stars. Near tears, she said, “If you can hear me, Mother, Father, I miss you both so much.”
The authorities never caught the robber or robbers who waylaid her parents as they traveled home from London. The highwaymen even killed the coachman and the two footmen accompanying them, thus there were no witnesses to the crime. Thea often wondered if the little jewelry and money the robbers received were worth the lives of five people. “Was it worth your soul?” she asked the inky sky and glittering stars. “Because surely you will go to hell for what you have done.”
Leaning against the post at the end of the dock, Thea wept, grieving for her Mother and Father. Perhaps it was because of her quarrel with Freddie that she felt so depressed and weepy, as well as missing her parents, that made her cry. She had never been one to shed tears as so many other women were wont to do, and even remained stoic and dry-eyed when she fell from her horse and broke her arm several years ago.
Only the death of her parents brought the tears now. “I miss you,” she sobbed, hanging onto the post with both arms, salty tears coursing down her face and wetting her gown. “I miss you so much.”
Her heart aching, Thea heard the post creak, yet paid it no heed under the force of her sobs. An instant later, it gave way. With all her weight against it, she plunged, along with the wood, headlong into the cold water of the lake. Gasping for breath, her face broke the water’s surface. Frantic, she tried to grab hold of the post, but in her thrashing, it danced just beyond her reach.
Unable to swim, Thea sank under the water, struggling and panicking. Bubbles burst from her nose, the lake filled her mouth, choking her. Trying to kick upwards, she fought against the dead weight of her clothes. Like her mouth, they filled with the water and dragged her downward, as heavy as stones. Still flailing, Thea struck the thick mud and muck of the lake’s bottom, drowning, unable to see, unable to breathe.
I am dying.
Panic seized her mind. Sucking in air to scream, she only inhaled water, choking, gasping and coughing. Fighting to breathe, she barely felt the hands grab and lift her, forcing her upwards to the surface of the lake. Her head burst into the night air as she spluttered, wheezing as a strong hand hit her hard between her shoulder blades. The water she had inhaled was forced from her lungs, enabling her to breathe past her coughs and chokes.
Blinded by her hair, Thea felt herself dragged to the lake’s edge, then picked up and carried to higher ground. Her chest on fire, she breathed raggedly as her rescuer set her carefully down on a bench.
“Miss Miller?”
The voice in her ear was deep, masculine and more than familiar.Liam!Swiping her hair from her face with a hand that shook, Thea peered through the water that still dripped down her face. She tried to speak, but a fit of coughing caused her to bend over, holding her chest against the terrible pain.
“Do not try to talk,” he told her. “Just breathe. Just breathe.”
Obeying him, Thea focused on drawing in one careful breath after another, the hot burning receding a fraction. She shivered, goose pimples erupting all over her skin as the cool night air chilled her wet body to the bone. When she felt she could speak, she turned her face up to him.
“Thank you,” she whispered past her raw throat. “You saved my life.”
“I saw what happened, Miss Miller,” he said. “But I was back that way, it took me a moment to get to you.”
“You were there for me.”
“Can you walk?” Liam looked her up and down. “I must get you inside and warm.”
Thea nodded and did not mind at all when Liam slid his arm around her waist to help her to stand, and then to slowly make her way back to the house. Lights gleamed in windows all over the huge structure, even in her own that faced the lake. Despite her near death by drowning, Thea liked having him so close to her and enjoyed his powerful strength holding her up. She craved to lean into him, resting her head on his shoulder, but dared not. If he did not feel the same way toward her as she did Liam, she knew she would feel horribly embarrassed.
Still supporting her, Liam opened the main door into the house. “Easy there, Miss Miller,” he said his rich voice in her ear. “There you go.”
