She shoved her nose into the air. Tried to. She couldn’t get a good angle with her arms spread to both sides of the boat. “He would have taken me inside instead. He knows what a woman wants.”
“How many innuendos are you going to throw at me? A more important question—have you taken the man into your bed?”
“Mr. Clark!” She snapped upright, crossing her arms over her chest. “How could you ask that?”
“Because you’ve been implying it. Have you?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Perhaps not, but I’d still like to know.” His entire body seemed to be waiting for an answer, though he wasn’t quite sure what he’d do with the information.
“A woman of my age and standing can take a lover if she pleases. As long as she’s quiet and careful about it.”
An evasion. He snorted.
“I do not care what you think.”
“I never thought you did.” He grinned.
“What? Why that”—she circled a finger at his face—“wily expression?”
He lifted the oars, dipped them into the water again, pulled, and watched as her gaze grew hazy, fixated on his arms. “You’re not scared anymore.”
She blinked and looked around, took a few steadying breaths and relaxed, her shoulders lowering, and her lips softening.
“You’re welcome,” he said.
Irritation blazed once more, bright in her eyes. “Oh yes, thank you for abducting me.”
“Come now, Beatrice, you’re safe with me. I swear it.”
“I’d rather hear a dog bark than listen to a man swear to protect me.”
“You know… you’re the only beautiful woman I have trouble charming.”
“Was thatanotherattempt at charming me?”
“Did it work?”
“It never will.” A pause as she purposefully set her gaze away from him, looking out across the lake. “Why would you want to charm me?”
“You’re the sort of woman a man likes to please.”
“You’d rather please a cow, no doubt.”
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“If it’s true…” Her voice trailed off as her shoulders tightened, threatened to cover her ears.
“It’s not.” Far enough into the lake now, the ground had dropped deep below them. He pulled one oar out of the water and set one in, using it to turn them in a slow circle until his back was to the broad center of the lake. “I apologized once, but now I will venture a clarification. I said it only because I was scared.”
Why not tell her. So much else he couldn’t tell her. This meeting, this renewal of acquaintanceship had brought back all the emotions he’d long fought to bury deep. He probably couldn’t make her look beyond their shared past or how he’d hurt her cousin, and he couldn’t tell her the one thing that might win her forgiveness for that. But he could try.
Not because he could have her. He never could. But he might be able to earn back her good regard.
He settled the oars in the water and rushed them forward with a backward stroke. “I was scared of seeing you again. And sometimes fear comes out ugly. Sometimes it comes out like a swiping claw. Or a hiss.” He grinned. “Hellcat.”
Her eyes narrowed.
