Read Online Capturing A Highland Knight by F.S. Hyman - Free Book Online

upon it. 
                  Annabelle walked to the water’s edge.  She saw a frog leap into the water.  That must have been the splash she had heard.  She smiled and took a deep breath.  She looked behind her to make sure no one had followed her, and then she quickly stripped down to her shift and removed her shoes and stockings.  She plodded into the loch, shivering a little at the coolness of the water.  When she got waist deep, she plunged her head under the water.  The cool water felt good against her skin.
                  Plunging under again, she began to swim toward the middle of the loch.  When she thought she was midway, she stopped and trod water.  She looked around her.  It was so peaceful.  It reminded her of a small loch she and Angus used to go to as children.  It was there that he had taught her to swim.  They had found it quite by accident.
                  She and Angus had been about fifteen when they had gone into the woods to hunt.  Annabelle’s father did not like for her to go hunting, but he half-heartedly tried to stop her.  She always wondered if he had wished she was born a boy.  He very rarely curbed her boyish tendencies, but he drew the line at the clothing she wore.  She had once put on an old pair of Angus’ trews to go hunting.  When he saw her, he was enraged and almost forbade her from going if she did not put on proper attire.
                  Annabelle smiled at the memory.  She and Angus left after she changed and was following a deer through the woods when they stumbled upon the hidden loch.
                  “Did ye ken this was here, Angus?” she exclaimed running up to the water.
                  “Nay,” he answered trailing behind her.
                  “’Tis beautiful,” she whispered, the deer forgotten.
                  “Aye, ‘tis.”
                  “Teach me to swim, Angus!”
                  Angus had looked at her as if she had gone insane.
                  “Nay!  Yer Da would have me hide if he kenned it!” he said.
                  “Why would he?  Ye’re just teaching me to swim,” she said as she stripped down to her shift.
                  Angus looked her up and down, but she did not notice his regard.  She had no idea that her shift would become transparent when she went into the water.
                  “Because it would be inappropriate,” he answered.
                  Annabelle looked at him confused.  Then she noticed the look in his eyes and comprehension dawned on her.
                  “Oh,” she whispered.
                  “Aye, oh,” Angus chuckled.
                  She had put her gown back on and they left.  But the next day, she convinced Angus to go back to the loch.  She had layered herself with three shifts so that the material would not be transparent.  And they had continued to go every day after that until she had mastered the art of swimming.
                  She looked around her again and wondered if this had been the loch that they had stumbled upon so long ago.  The thought intrigued her.  Had she been to Dunkirk before and just had not known it?  Had she lived not far from the MacDougals?  That would explain how Derek was able to find her.
                  Annabelle swam back to the shore and pulled herself out.  She looked around to make sure no one had come up unawares, and then she pulled off her wet shift and put on her gown.  The texture of the gown felt unfamiliar against her skin, but she was loathed to go back to the keep in wet clothes.
                  She began to run because she had promised to help with the noon