“Last time you supported Martin’s rejection.”
He ruffled a hand through his hair. “Circumstances are different than they were. It all depends on your cousin.” Disapproval set his jaw.
“My cousin has done nothing wrong.” She wanted to stomp his toes. “I would prefer to row out with Peterson. Will you switch?”
His chin tipped down, and he finally met her gaze. His eyes flashed. “No.”
“You cannot tell me who to row with!”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not. Evelina is. Why him?”
“Because unlike some men, he looks like he knows how to make a woman happy.”
Was that a growl? He stepped forward, his tall, taut body as menacing as that gruff sound. “Happy how, Bell?”
She shouldn’t.
She really shouldn’t.
Do. Not. Do it. Beatrice. Bell.
She bounced her eyebrows up once and licked her lips. “In the only way that matters, Richard Clark.”
Absolutely no question about her meaning.
Fury ticked in his jaw.
“Now,” she said, “will you switch with me, or?—”
“Or.” He picked her up and swung her into a nearby boat.
“Don’t you dare!” She gripped the sides of the swaying vessel, her heart hammering in her chest.
He pushed her out into the water, then jumped aboard, and the boat tossed wildly for a moment. She was going to die, and she held her breath and slammed her eyes closed against the inevitable biting water.
But the boat calmed. It lurched forward, but with controlled precision. She ventured to open an eye.
Her nemesis sat across from her, rowing, each stroke testing the strength of the linen that hugged his bulging arms. Testing the strength of her own cursed fortitude.
Five
No way in hell would Beatrice go anywhere with Peterson. Certainly not onto a lake. She was spitting mad, but at least she was spitting mad with Richard and nothappywith some other nodcock.
Oh yes, he’d taken her meaning.
But had she ever taken a lover? That was the real question. He shouldn’t care. He did care. Some things just couldn’t be fought.
Her knuckles were white where she clutched the sides of the boat, her body a strung bow of tension.
“Calm down, hellcat. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
She hissed.
He laughed.
“It’s not funny! I do not like large bodies of water! Take me back to shore now.”
“You were going to go out with Peterson.”
