The concern in his voice was almost touching. “Spending hours on a raft has a way of tiring a lady out.”
A light chuckle. “Food will arrive shortly. You should eat.”
“I’m not hungry. You eat.”
“Food means energy.”
“Eating also takes energy.”Speaking too.But somehow Harriet didn’t mind it so much. With her eyes shut, she could blot out today’s difficulties just for a moment and imagine they were a normal man and woman in a normal conversation, everything else melting into the distance.
“Harriet, this misunderstanding you have of me—”
Her snort interrupted him—so much for normal conversation. “There’s no misunderstanding.”
A soft sigh. “You’ve yet to tell me why you find me so disagreeable.”
“Do I? I thought I’d made it abundantly clear.”
“You mentioned Cromby, but he is not a reason.”
“Neither is being beautiful, intelligent, and unattached.”
A lengthy silence stretched between them before his voice once again filled the room. “What will convince you that I’m an honorable man?”
“A courtship might have convinced me.”
“If it’s any consolation, if I had the power, I would go back in time and do things differently.”
Don’t get sucked in by words or that whispered tone, Harriet.
“It’s no consolation at all.”
“I seem to have offended you in some way,” he said softly, almost cautiously. “Can you tell me exactly what I did?”
Her eyes snapped open. Quite frankly, she should answer that question. Should confront the biggest thorn in her flesh. She rose to her elbows and met his gaze head on. “Are you not friends with Cromby?”
“So, itisCromby who offended you? I said before that I am not friends with him.”
She let a question fill her eyes.And you expect me to believe that?
“What exactly did he do to offend you?”
How to answer? She hadn’t ever told anyone what had happened. That Cromby had cornered her one evening, pushed her up against a wall, and tried to steal a kiss from her that she was not willing to give.
On the surface, it was not unlike what Leeds had done back in her chamber. Only nothing about that situation, or the kiss Leeds had snatched, had felt so slimy. Plus, she’d met his challenge by returning the kiss. She’d had plans of her own for that moment.
With Cromby... the entire affair had been different. She could still feel the slobber of his mouth on her cheek after she’d evaded a full-on assault.
Harriet had barely gotten away that night. Gah! She didn’t want to remember it.
She’d been so distressed but was too afraid to breathe a word of his harassment, scared she’d be forced into a marriage with that odious man. She’d also clearly seen Cromby later that night, almost right after that incident, laughing with Leeds.
“What if I said heforciblykissed me?” Harriet asked, studying his face for his reaction.
Leeds shot upright. A dangerous, almost lethal, glint entered his eyes. Even his voice lowered to a menacing whisper. “He didwhat?”
A shiver shot down her spine. Harriet couldn’t look away. “You heard me. The experience was vulgar enough; please don’t make me repeat it.”
“When was this?” he breathed, and Harriet’s gaze dropped to the sudden rise and fall of his chest, as though he was holding back something, something fierce.
