He shrugged. “Money worries are just one of demons that keep me up at night. When I inherited the title a few months ago, the books were in shambles and the estate was insolvent. But I’m going to turn it around,” he said firmly.

“I’m sure you will.” Sophie wished she had a penny for every time Papa had proclaimed he’d devised a plan to save them all.

Reese ran his fingers over the light stubble along his jaw. “So, you want to marry Singleton for his fortune.”

“It’s not a matter of wanting to. I must.”

“I thought you had an older sister. Why is it solely up to you to make an advantageous match?”

“Mary was ill as a child, and her health is quite delicate. She’s spent very little time in society.” Sophie squared her shoulders and blew out a long breath. “I’m the only hope my family has left. I can’t ignore my duty to help them … even if I might wish to.”

“I see,” he said, his voice so devoid of emotion that he seemed a ghost of the man who’d been chasing her in the lake only moments before.

She needed him to know what he meant to her—even if she was still trying to figure it out herself. Deliberately, she shrugged off the quilt and let it fall onto the pier behind her. Her thin, transparent shift provided no cover from Reese’s hot, hungry gaze.

“I want you to know I’ve never done anything like this before,” she said. “I’ve never gone swimming in my underclothes in the middle of the night and I’ve certainly never spent the night with a man. I’ve been taking chances with you, Reese. A dangerous thing, to be sure.”

He swallowed and looked at her, earnest. “I would never hurt you.”

“Not intentionally,” she said, knowing it was true. But she was already hurting. It was the agonizing pain of wanting something with all her soul and having that prize dangled in front of her, just beyond her fingertips. Knowing she would never, ever possess it.

“I wish I was free to follow my heart,” she said. “I’m sorry that I’m not.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” he said firmly. “I knew from the start that you were promised to another, and in spite of that, you were kind enough to help me.”

“But?” she asked, sensing he wished to say more.

“But now I’m tortured in a different way, Sophie.” His expression was naked with longing. “I want to touch you.”

His confession made her whole body thrum with desire. How easy it would be to lean into him and press her lips to his. God, she wanted to—and yet, she didn’t dare.