“Well, yes.” She laughed, hoping to lighten the mood. Instead, she ended up sounding too nervous, so she aimed at leveling her voice instead. “You’re you and I’m me. It would be an impossible match. Ridiculous even.”
His eyes, all seriousness, met hers. “I do believe you have offended me again.”
Oh dear.
“Forgive me, but surely you must agree. It is a silly idea Rowena has created. I mean, we hardly know each other at all. Certainly not well enough for either of us to consider an attachment of any sort and…” Good God, she had to find a way to stop babbling. “While I appreciate your hospitality and, er, your friendship, I do hope you know I have no designs on you in that way.”
He pulled her along with him. A bit of the tension in his face began to ease. “In what way?”
Flattening her mouth, she frowned at him while they skated back toward the opposite side of the lake. “Must you be deliberately obtuse?”
With a shrug, he allowed a quirk of his lips. “I find your discomfort amusing.”
She shook her head. “I don’t.”
“Not now, perhaps, but I dare say you found it enticing earlier.”
Her heartbeat quickened. “How do you mean?”
“When I helped you with your skates.” He drew her closer, enough for his breath to waft across her cheek when he spoke once more. “Don’t think I did not notice how well you responded to my touch or that I was not aware of how perfectly your wants and desires matched mine the other day in your parlor. We shared a moment there, you and I.”
“What moment?” Her voice was but a gasp of air. “I have no idea as to—”
“When all that remained between us was need—when you were struck by a deeper awareness—so deep you began to understand what it means to want and be wanted in return. I could see it in every facet of your expression—the secret ache for intimate caresses, the carnal desire brightening your eyes.”
She tugged on her arm and he set her free, allowing her to skate on her own before catching up to her again. Her breaths were coming fast and ragged, her fear of where all of this might lead overwhelming her senses.
“Why?” It was all she could think to ask as he came up beside her once more. “Why must you say these things?”
“Because I am tired of pretending there’s no sexual attraction between us, Josephine.”
Her name, spoken with thorough frustration, punctuated everything she felt. Slowing to a halt, she tried to make sense of what his motive might be for such unabashed honesty. Only one thing came to mind, and it was not in the least bit to her liking. “I will not be your mistress,” she said. “I will not allow you to force such a role upon me.”
He stared at her, bewildered. “I would never do so.”
“And yet you did your best to make me hand in my notice at work and later to make me stay at your home. You have tried to get your way with me since the moment we met, but there is nothing you can say or do to make me lower myself to such a…a…disrespectful position.”
“Josephine.” He spoke her name as if it meant everything, as if it encompassed all he might say. “Forgive me. I have behaved poorly. What I said was unforgivable. It will not happen again, I assure you. My only intention was to inform you of how I feel and to make you acknowledge you are not as immune to me as you like to pretend.”
She’d hurt his pride, that much was clear, but even so, she could not accept his reaction. There was no excuse for it. “I have obviously given you the same impression I gave Mr. Roth,” she said, her anger growing with each passing second. “You seem to think I’m the sort of woman who can be lured into bed, either by threatening to discharge me or by offering me a comfortable place to stay.”
Snowdon’s eyes darkened and his features grew tight. “Don’t ever compare me to that miscreant.”
Ignoring his warning, she continued. “I should have known you had an ulterior motive when you invited me to visit your home. What man does such a thing unless he has designs on the woman in question?” She shook her head, acknowledging her own stupidity. “I should have seen it. Perhaps I did, and I chose to overlook it, the prospect of company, warmth, and delicious food too tempting to ignore.” Turning away before he could answer, she started back toward the embankment.
“Josephine…” He came up beside her, denying her the chance to flee his company with dignity.
She quickened her pace. “I do not want more apologies or excuses. My only wish is to go home.”
“But—”
“My house might not be as comfortable as yours, but it is my home—a home I’ve fought to keep—and at least there I will have whatever remains of my reputation.”
“I wish you would stop speaking as though you’re a fallen woman when you are anything but.”
Skidding to a halt at the edge of the lake, Josephine steadied herself before facing him once again. “That is not what people will say if they see us together. If they discover I have moved into your house.”
“As my sister’s guest!”
