Scandalous Secrets. Michelle Douglas

a fish out of water?

      ‘Oh... Oh...’

      ‘You get used to it if you swim,’ he told her. Dammit, his voice wasn’t even quavering. Was the man immune?

      ‘This is like those winter plunge ceremonies in the Antarctic,’ she stammered and tried to tug herself up to the ledge.

      ‘Penny?’

      ‘Mmm?’ She couldn’t get a handhold.

      ‘There’s a ledge over there that makes it easy to get out, but if you can bear it then try swimming. The cold eases and there’s something I want to show you.’

      Every nerve ending in her body was screaming for her to get out. But something else was cutting in, overriding the cold of the water.

      Matt’s arm was around her waist. He’d stripped to his boxers. His body was big and tanned and strong and he was holding her against him.

      Was it her imagination or was she warm where she was touching him?

      The initial shock was wearing off now—a little. She could breathe again, enough to take in her surroundings.

      The pool was magnificent. At one end was a waterfall, not high, maybe head height, but enough to send white water tumbling down over rocks to the pool below. The pool itself was clear and deep, but not so deep that she couldn’t see the sandy bottom. Now that she had her breath back she could see tiny slivers of darting fish.

      The canopy of trees had parted a little over the pool, so dappled sunlight was playing on the water. Moss covered the surrounding rocks, and beyond the moss the horses had started grazing. They were obviously appreciating the lush grass in the slice of land where the moss ended and the ferns began.

      The scene was idyllic. Enough to make her forget the ice?

      Or maybe that was because Matt was beside her. Holding her.

      What was a little ice compared to Matt?

      ‘Sh...show me,’ she managed through chattering teeth and he grinned.

      ‘Swim first,’ he told her. ‘Half a dozen fast laps to warm up. Can you do that?’

      ‘Of course. Bossy.’

      ‘I’m not bossy, I’m wise,’ he told her. ‘Swim or you’ll have to get out. Believe me.’

      So she swam. The pool was the length of the pool her parents had in their current mansion. She’d spent a lot of time in that pool since the night Brett and Felicity had made their announcement. Swimming was a way she could block out the world.

      But she had no intention of blocking the world now, for Matt swam beside her, matching her stroke for stroke. Maybe he wasn’t too sure of her ability, she thought. Maybe he thought she might drown if he didn’t stick close enough to save her.

      Saved by Matt... It was a silly thought but it did something to her insides. The water was still icy but she was warming up, and half of that warming process was Matt. Matt’s body inches from hers. Matt’s presence. Matt...

      They turned in unison and then turned again. Four lengths, five...and then six. She reached the end and grasped the ledge. Matt’s arm came around her and held again.

      He couldn’t think she was drowning now. He was holding her because...?

      ‘Game for the next bit?’ he asked and she thought: With your arm around me I’m game for anything.

      ‘I...yes.’ Her teeth weren’t chattering any more. She couldn’t say she was warm but the iciness had dropped a notch. The water felt amazing. You could drink this water, she thought, and took a tentative mouthful and it tasted wonderful.

      ‘If the bauxite mine ever fails I can put a bottling factory here and make a mint,’ Matt said smugly.

      ‘Don’t you dare.’

      ‘Don’t worry, I won’t,’ he told her and he smiled at her again. That smile... It was a caress all by itself.

      But he was a man on a mission. He had something to show her.

      ‘The waterfall,’ he told her. ‘We’re going behind it.’

      ‘We are?’

      ‘You can’t see anything from out here,’ he told her. ‘But if you aim to the left of centre, put your head down, hold your breath for thirty seconds and swim right through, you’ll find there’s a cave.’

      ‘Really?’ She stared at the innocent-looking waterfall. ‘There’s no way I can be trapped?’

      He grinned at her note of suspicion. ‘You guessed it. You’ll find forty-seven skeletons in there, the remains of every single maiden I’ve ever enticed into my secret lair.’

      And she thought suddenly: How do I know he’s not telling the truth? She’d known him for less than three weeks.

      She’d been a fool for Brett. How could she trust her judgement now?

      Except this was Matt. And Matt was smiling just a little, teasing.

      ‘I know you’re lying,’ she told him and he raised a quizzical brow.

      ‘How?’

      ‘Because you couldn’t possibly have persuaded forty-seven maidens to jump into this ice.’ And she turned towards the waterfall and swam.

      It was a weird feeling, to think of swimming through the wall. Instinct told her to reach the tumbling water and stop. She did for a moment, pausing to tread water, feeling the spray of the falls splash on her face.

      But Matt was beside her. She could scarcely see him through the mist but he touched her shoulder. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘Straight ahead. Put your head down and swim. It’s narrow—you’ll feel rocks on either side—but you’ll be through in seconds.’

      ‘I...is it dark in there?’

      ‘I promise it’s not,’ he told her. ‘It’s safe as houses.’

      ‘Really?’

      ‘Well, not a centrally heated house,’ he admitted. ‘But it’s worth it. Penny, trust me?’

      Did she trust him? She stared at him for a long moment. His face was blurred behind the mist of the waterfall but she could still see him. He’d ceased smiling. He was waiting for her to come to a decision—and suddenly it was about more than the trust required to swim through a waterfall.

      It was about total trust.

      It was about taking a step that felt momentous.

      He put out a hand and touched her face, making the rivulets of water stream across his hand rather than across her eyes. Her vision cleared and she saw him as he was.

      A loner. A man of strength and courage. Matt.

      And something shifted inside her. Something she couldn’t name. Something that had never been touched before.

      She put out her hand and touched his face back.

      ‘I trust you,’ she whispered and he smiled but it was a different kind of smile. It was a smile that said he was in the same unchartered territory as she was.

      ‘Then let’s go,’ he told her. ‘Come on, Penelope Hindmarsh-Firth. Let’s do it.’

      And he put his hands on her shoulders and twisted her around so she was facing the waterfall and gave her a slight push forward.

      ‘Through you go,’ he told her. ‘And know that I’m with you all the way.’

      * * *

      Okay, it was scary. The first bit did involve trust. The wash of tumbling water as she swam through was almost enough to push her under, and then she felt the rocks on either side.

      Matt had said to swim through. Just keep on going.

      She