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PROLOGUE
Edward
I KNOW I SHOULDN’TSTARE. That I should keep on walking and pretend I haven’t seen. But I can’t tear my eyes away.
I also can’t believe what I’m seeing.
Summer Evans, my gran’s new foster child, is taking a swim. I get that it’s hot, the summer heatwave unusually oppressive, but a swim...in the loch? I’ve been visiting the castle every year of my life—twenty years and counting—and not once have I considered dipping my toes, let alone diving in headfirst.
I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve met enough of Gran’s foster children to expect the unexpected. But this...
She can’t be that much younger than me, yet her actions set her a world apart and I’m entranced. My fear that I might have to dive in and rescue her abating as she gracefully cuts through the water, her easy stroke belying the weight of her clothing. Not that there’s much of that either. Just a simple white T-shirt and denim shorts, her trainers abandoned at the end of the rickety wooden dock.
I head to the water’s edge, watch the sun play over the ripples she creates and have the wildest urge to join her.
But wildness isn’t in me...
And then she turns and bright blue eyes collide with mine, their flecks of gold glinting up at me as they widen, her gasp drowned out by the water splashing around her.
Now she might need rescuing...
My heart jerks in my chest, failing to settle as her expression lifts, her movements calm and she cracks the widest of grins.
‘You must be Edward?’
Her voice rings out across the loch, her accent hard to identify. It’s not quite Scottish, not quite English. A mashing together of sorts.
‘That’s me.’ I clear my throat, which feels strangely tight. ‘Gran sent me to tell you dinner will be ready in half an hour.’
She cocks her head to the side as she treads water. ‘Half an hour. Got it.’
I shift from one foot to the other, feel the weight of her stare, and can’t seem to find the inclination to leave. I’ve done my duty—now I should go. Instead, I find myself asking. ‘Do you have a towel I can fetch...?’ Because she can’t seriously mean to walk back into the house, clothes all wet. ‘Or fresh clothes?’
She laughs. ‘Does it look like I came prepared?’
She’s got you there...
‘Not particularly.’ Her spontaneity is as enthralling as it is alien to me. ‘But I’m not sure you want to be traipsing back through the castle leaving puddles in your wake.’
She closes the distance between us and I take a step back.
‘Don’t worry...the sun will dry me off soon enough.’
She reaches for the rungs of the makeshift ladder at the dock’s edge and I realise she’s about to get out...with her top so see-through she might as well be naked.
I spin on my heel, tug my sweater from around my shoulders, eager to give her something, anything, to stop me seeing more than I should. ‘You’re welcome to use this.’
I offer it up without turning, my brain working overtime as it persists in painting a picture I don’t want to see—of her clothes clinging to her every curve, her smile bright, her eyes full of spark...
I blame my intense reaction on my life of late. All work and no play...it’s a saying for a reason. I’ve had my head down for so long I’ve forgotten that life exists outside of my university dorm. Coming here is meant to be a break from it all, a chance to let off steam—something this Summer looks to be quite proficient at.
I’m accosted by a fierce pang of envy, cut short by her sudden laughter that urges me to turn—though I won’t, not until she’s covered up.
‘You’re quite the gentleman.’ The jumper slips from my hand into hers.
‘I try.’ I swallow, my ears attuned to the water dripping over the wooden boards, and I imagine her shaking out her short blonde hair, wringing out her sodden shirt. The slightest droplet catches on my arm and goosebumps prickle beneath the path it takes down my arm.
‘You going to stand there for ever?’
