When the water lapped around the top of her legs, he stopped her. “Here. This will be perfect.”

She turned in his arms and grinned up at him. “Hmm, I like this. Maybe we should strip and go for a swim.”

“If we strip, we will never leave. Okay, I’m going back to the edge. Are you alright here by yourself?”

Sighing, she arched a brow. “I’m fine. It’s only to my thighs, and I’m pretty sure I can rest against this huge boulder if I get tired.” She paused as she reached her hand into the water. With a mischievous grin, she lifted her hand to splash him. “Go already, or the sun will go down.”

“I’ll get you for that,” he promised as he started making his way back to the bank. “And Chantel? Move away from the boulder. I need you to float, not sit on the rock like a mermaid.”

When he got to the edge, he turned around to face her. She was standing almost at the halfway point between the two banks, and the water was moving slowly around her, shifting the white dress back and forth as it floated on the surface.

He smiled to himself, knowing his vision would be perfect, but at the same time, he felt a niggling of fear because she was out there on her own.

“Is this far enough?” she called out.

He didn’t answer right away as he was starting to second-guess himself. He was about to go to her and bring her back in, when on a loud shout, she told him.

“Would you quit worrying? I know you’re worrying, Phillipe! I’ve been swimming for years, plus it’s only up to my thighs.”

Smiling at her smart little mouth and the constant reminder she kept giving him, he nodded slightly as if she could see him.

“Okay fine. Can you float?”

Nodding, she lowered herself into the water. “Yes, I can float.”

As she stretched out, he looked up to the sky and noticed that several clouds had started to shift in overhead. Damn it!

Wondering how much time they had before they lost the light, he picked up his sketchpad and started to draw. Her dress drifted all around her as she held out her arms to the sides of her body. He sketched her for a solid thirty minutes. He captured the outline of her hair, the yards of material, and the water. He figured he’d fill in the violin and other details tomorrow.

He couldn’t help adding her lips though. They were parted, and she looked peaceful as she lay there in the water. As he shaded from her hip down to her legs, he noticed her ankles had started to fall beneath the water. She was getting tired.

Smiling, he figured that she didn’t even realize it. Ha, and she thought she could float.

“Chantel,” he called out to her.

When he got no answer, he placed the charcoal on the sketchpad and called out again. He figured that the water was covering her ears or she had zoned out as she lay relaxed in the warm afternoon sun.

“Chantel!”

He was about to stand and go to her when a fat raindrop hit the page he was working on. Looking up to the sky, he saw the clouds were darkening and moving now at a more rapid pace. Placing the pad on the ground, he stood and made his way out into the water.

He didn’t know if he was imagining it, but it seemed like the current had picked up. Chantel was exactly where he had left her, but he knew he was right about the current because her dress was now shifting much more with the water that was streaming all around her.

When he got closer, he called her name again, feeling that the water was now to his waist. It had definitely risen in the last thirty minutes. All of a sudden, that slither of fear started to slide back in.

“Chantel!” he called more frantic than only seconds before.

This time, she turned her head toward him just as he reached her. She smiled, and he felt the weight lift from his heart as she moved to raise herself. That was when she faltered slightly.

The expression on her face shifted, turning to one of confusion. “Phillipe?” she questioned.

Moving quickly, he made it to her side and reached out to grip her shoulder, trying to help her get upright. He watched as she seemed to be pulling on her foot, straining to move it. She attempted to place her other foot on the bottom to stand herself up, but she failed. The water sloshed around her. As her foot was swept up, she was thrown on her back again.

What the hell is going on? He felt his heart start to pound in time with the speed of the now rapidly falling rain.

“Phillipe?” she called again.

This time, he could tell she was starting to panic.

Not knowing what to do, he moved around to where her head was resting above the water. As she continued to float, he reached out to grip her head with his hands.

“I’m right here.” He tried to reassure her as he looked around them. He was feeling anything but calm.

“My foot…the boulder. I don’t understand what happened.”

He looked down her body where her arms were lying beside her. Her one leg was floating, and the other was now fully submerged as the water still moved all around them.

“Stuck,” he told her, not believing the words coming out of his mouth. “You’re stuck.”

Feeling the rain hitting him on the back of his neck, he was shocked when she opened her mouth and smiled.

“It’s raining.”

He knew that she didn’t understand yet. She hadn’t put it all together the way he had, but as she lay there, letting the rain water hit her face, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

“Can you float here for a minute, Beauty? I want to see if I can get your leg free,” he whispered, hoping he sounded a hell of a lot calmer than he felt.

“Yes,” she responded. Almost as though it was an afterthought, she added, “I can’t touch the bottom anymore.”

He tried to control his shaking voice. “I know. Let me check out your leg, okay?”

“Okay.”

Moving to where her leg was pulling down under the water, he told himself it was as simple as getting down there and getting her free. As he looked over to where her head lay half in the water with the rain falling down around her, he closed his eyes and sent out a prayer, hoping that he would be able to fix it whatever he found beneath the surface.

When he opened his eyes, he took a deep breath and dove under the water. With the clouds covering the sun and the rain hitting the surface, seeing what he was looking for was a difficult fucking task. Finally, he zeroed in on the problem.

Her foot and dress was wedged between not one but two boulders under the surface. Fuck! This is not fucking good. Swimming over to it, he grabbed the material and yanked it hard, feeling her also try and pull at it from above. The fucker wouldn’t budge. Fuck!

Feeling his breath leaving him, he pushed himself from the bottom back up to the surface. When his head broke free, he took a gasping gulp of air and watched as she craned her head up toward him.

“Still stuck?” she asked softly.

Moving quickly up to the side of her head, he tried to calm his breathing as the rain now beat down on them. Reaching out, he stroked his hand over her hair, pushing the hopeless words from his mouth. “Yes, you’re still stuck.”

“It’s raining harder, Phillipe.”

This time, he knew that she realized what was going on.

“Yeah, it fucking is.” His voice cracked over the admission. He took a moment and reminded himself that panicking would not do either of them any good. “I’m going to try again in just a second. We’ll get you free. Don’t worry,” he said, trying to convince her as well as himself.

She nodded, but he could tell her mind was starting to wonder.

“The water…it’s getting faster,” she stated almost factually.

Biting his lip to keep in the curse he wanted to scream, he instead agreed. “Yes, it’s getting faster.” Before she could say anything else, he told her, “Now, you just keep floating, okay? I’m going to go back down and try again. We’ll get this.” He moved to her feet and reaffirmed his vow. “I will fucking get this.”

Chantel didn’t answer, but as he looked back to where she lay, she closed her eyes to the rain falling steadily down upon them. Quickly, he dove back down and took a hold of her calf. Pulling as hard as his body would let him, he tried to make her foot shift just a little, but nothing happened. His lungs were burning, her foot was still stuck, and nothing had changed. Absolutely fucking nothing changed.

As soon as he surfaced, on a rushed and ragged breath, he said, “I need to go and get help.”

He didn’t have a clue who he’d get. Penelope wasn’t physically able, and anyone else was several miles away.

“No!” she cried out. As her voice cracked, she reached out a hand. “No, don’t leave me here.”

Wading up to her head, he took her cool hands. “I can’t get you free on my own, Chantel. I need to go and get help.”

“I’m scared, Phillipe. I don’t want to be here alone.”

Her voice trembled, and he felt as though someone had impaled him with a hot poker.

“Don’t leave me here.”

That was when he made a decision. He made a promise that he knew would destroy them. “Okay. I won’t leave.”