What William had suggested really was totally out of the question — unconscionable and absurd. Yet, not only did his proposition appear to be the best option, she truly did desire him.
Her chances, or desire, for marriage were absolutely zero. So, it wasn’t as if she were saving herself for marriage or any other man…especially now that she had met him.
As fate would so have it, at the ripe age of 25, she had met the only man she ever yearned to be with and probably already loved, if she was honest in her musings.
If she stayed with him now, she would have an opportunity to be with him, at least for a time. It would also be a time in her life free of worry, a time for excitement and adventure. She could be with the man of her dreams. When it was over, she could go home to the store and Mandy, taking her memories with her.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the store would be theirs. Making a deal with Worthington was the sensible course of action. She was a grown woman who could and would decide her own destiny.
Perhaps she was, in fact, using Worthington more than he would be using her.
Can I really do this?
“I just do not know,” she said, opening her eyes to find him watching her closely.
“I understand this is a very difficult decision, but perhaps you should think on it with a clear head and not decide on an impulse. Why not let me escort you back to the hotel and you can think on this after a good night’s sleep? What is one more day after all?”
He was Lucifer, surely he was.
“Let me stay here for a while and think about it.”
“Of course,” he said standing and donning his hat. “However, you not need to run away from me Victoria, I am a patient man and I would never force you.”
“You could give me the store and forget that we ever met.”
His lids dropped sensually over his smoky eyes. “That, sweetheart is something I cannot do.” He picked up his walking stick and strolled out of the train station.
***
“She did just like you said she would, a few hours later, she got up and went back to the hotel.” Jack Little, his private investigator said.
“Did they give her the larger room and take care of the other gifts I sent?” William asked, quelling the unfamiliar pang of guilt that edged into his mind.
Little nodded. “Of course.”
“Very good. Very good work.”
After Little took his leave, William leaned back in his chair in contemplation. Anticipating Victoria would run, he had prepared for his persuasive discussion with her. Unfortunately, to have her run from him disturbed him quite deeply and much more than he ever anticipated.
His regret was compounded by finding her sleeping with the visage of a child in the train station after Little informed him where she had gone.
Obviously she needed time to see the benefits of his offer. Surely she would see that the life he had mapped out for her was far superior to what she would have suffered by herself in that little cow-town in Texas. Of course, she was far better off with him. He would give her anything her heart desired. She was the luckiest woman in San Francisco, even if she could not appreciate it.
Did she view being with him as such a terrible burden? In her eyes, was he so unpleasant? Surely he was not so horrid compared to the men she had already rejected in Fort Worth. Going down her current path she was going to have to accept an offer from someone. And he could not conceive her being with any man other than him.
When he had proposed his offer to her he had seen fear, pain, pride and temptation all reflected in the depths of her beautiful sapphire eyes.
What he saw in her eyes compelled him to let her go. Yet, he could not. He had never wanted anything as much as he wanted her. Having her had become an obsession. And it wasn’t just because he needed to get his hands on the shares.
He would get what he wanted. She would belong to him — just like everything else he had ever decided to acquire. If he did not press her too much, in a few days she would see the obvious and only solution.
Of course, in return he would take care of her. As his most prized possession she would have everything. There were endless ways to spoil Miss Victoria Riley. He would see to her every whim and fulfill even her smallest desires. She would have things that she didn’t even know existed. And nothing he had ever acquired would be more valuable than Victoria Riley.
He was going to obtain possession of his family shares and simultaneously would acquire the beautiful Miss Riley.
He would not fall prey to lingering qualms. Worthingtons did not get what they wanted by being soft hearted.
CHAPTER 10
It was inconceivable that the new room she was given at the Palace Hotel could be superior to the previous chamber. However, the new room was more spacious, more beautiful and more opulent then the one she had occupied before.
It was a two-room suite complete with a resplendent sitting room, a lavishly decorated bedroom detailed in emerald velvet, gold trimmed fabrics and a modern creamy tiled bathroom off of the bedroom. The heavy mahogany furnishings were detailed with intricate carvings and brass and crystal handles.
The chamber was also overflowing with gifts of chocolate, flowers and many other baubles designed to please and tempt a woman. This morning, however, Victoria’s thoughts were clear and unfettered by emotions and she would not be swayed by his overtures. It was common sense and objective consideration that would ultimately drive her decision.
The night before, induced by weariness and emotional fury, she ran to the train station like a coward. Instead of facing the problem and his proposal with maturity she had acted like a child running away in the night.
By following her to the train station and treating her with respect and gentleness, William had left her feeling foolish for her frenetic flight to the train station.
Now, after a night of rejuvenating slumber she was spirited and ready to face whatever this day brought. She had to seriously and meticulously think through her options and make the correct decision. It had to be a decision arrived at without emotion.
She pulled out Mandy’s telegram and read it several times savoring again the joyful undertone that edged and gave life to the printed words. What was it worth to bring her sister such delight and relief from hardship?
Victoria folded her virtue, her shame and fear into Mandy’s telegram and put it away. Her decision was made.
It was obvious what she would do. She would accept his terms, not just because of Mandy, or to have the store, but because she wanted to. Unabashed freedom rushed through her, clearing away her remaining shame and trepidation.
Because she wanted him. And that was a very convenient benefit.
William had coldly listed her options and pulled apart her life for consideration in logical pieces. As much as she abhorred admitting it, he was correct in his deliberations. Then he persuaded her with his charm.
In her heart, the decision was made before she ran away to the train station, not just because of his cold logic, but because he gave her the option for an adventurous and memorable experience that she longed for. That was why she returned to the hotel.
But I better find him and tell him before my shame, virtue and fear stop me.
Checking the clock, she was surprised to find that is was already after 7:00 p.m. There was a slight chance she could still catch William at the bank, as he did often work there quite late. Discussing this with him at the bank before she could retreat from her decision would make this exchange less personal and a less emotional business transaction.
Heart pounding with nervous anticipation she left the hotel dodging carriages and pedestrians. She moved with a swift sure gait to the bank to outpace the evening shadows of dusk already giving way to darkness. Victoria shivered and pulled her cloak closer against the thick cool fog that was rapidly rolling in from the Pacific.
It was time to meet her date with destiny and the devil.
And she would have to make her
own magic.
*****
Tossing aside his pen, William leaned back in the leather chair and slid his gaze along the intricate molding that framed the ceiling. Finally, he had finished the last of his work for what had been a long day made longer by distracting thoughts of Victoria Riley.
She had most inconveniently gone from being a problem to be solved to an obsession.
Even though he had anticipated that she might run, he had been gravely troubled when Jack Little informed him of her harrowed flight to the train station. Yet, what else could he expect from a wholesome, good-hearted country girl after his epicurean and Lucullan proposition?
To his immense satisfaction, she had listened to his reasonable arguments regarding her circumstances and possible solutions and had returned to the hotel. Miss Riley might be naive but she was not a fool. He held the high cards and would play them if he had to. However, he preferred her to have a willing compromise to her dilemma regarding the store and her future.
Satisfaction that his plan and persuasion was successful in returning her to the hotel and under his control again swelled inside of him. Of course, there was no guarantee that she would fall easily into the rest of his requests. However, whether she realized it or not the fact that she returned to the hotel meant that she was ultimately going to do what he wanted. If she truly intended to deny him, she would have left on that train. All he had to do now was to remain patient. Like anything worth acquiring, she had proven to be a fascinating challenge.
In the meantime, his need and desire for her had reached almost ridiculous and embarrassing levels for a man in his late 30’s!
If he saw her again, he would seduce her, of that, he was certain. He would not give into the temptation to seek her out until she had made up her own mind because he wanted her to come to him on her own.
Instead, tonight he would find relief in his paramour Lotus Blossom. Lotus would take care of this raging need for Victoria.
Lotus Blossom was his exclusive Madame, who ran her own “business” with an army of Asian prostitutes and lived in a large house on the fringes of China Town. It was a perfect situation for a man who wanted no tangles, or attachments, or bastards, or diseases.
He had met Lotus six years ago. She had solicited him as he emerged from his office after a late evening of work. Something about her gentle and regal manner as she tried to compel him to her bed captivated him immediately.
Ever since that day, they had forged an arrangement that pleased them both. He took care of her, and she took care of him and no other men.
Now he really needed her to take care of him.
As he said goodnight to the guard who locked the office behind him and headed down the marble steps to the waiting carriage, a nagging guilt tugged at him, one that had troubled him off and on all day.
Victoria Riley deserved more than he was offering. To him, having her in his bed was a matter of a small revenge and lust. She, on the other hand, was paying the ultimate price. A girl like her was meant for marriage and children; not for his nefarious craving.
She was so wholesome and good, not part of his world, the world of greed, money and power. Who would she be once she was corrupted by his lasciviousness and touched by his brutally affluent world?
What would her life be like when it was over between them?
Damn! Was he getting soft in the head? Where were these sensitive notions of righteousness coming from? He was a Worthington. He would have what he wanted, just as he always did. She would belong to him.
Besides, she would suffer no hardships at his hands…quite the contrary….he would touch her only with pleasure. With what he would give her she would have an opulent and pampered life beyond her most colorful imagination.
Moving at a snail’s pace, William looked out of the carriage window to the busy street to find an overturned carriage that was causing the delay. The stoppage added to his frustration over his continued consuming thoughts of Victoria,
It didn’t matter how long it took him to get to Lotus’ house. Tonight he would slake this unbridled and unusually intense Victoria-Riley-driven-lust. Lotus Blossom was all he needed to get Victoria Riley out of his system.
CHAPTER 11
Victoria watched in dismay as William tucked his Derby under his arm and folded into the waiting black Brougham carriage embossed with a gold “W” on the side. Vexed to have missed him only by seconds, she lifted her skirt and accelerated her pace in an attempt to catch up with him as his carriage slowly moved out into the congested street. With the slow pace his driver was forced to maintain, she could eventually close the distance if she hurried.
Her toe touched an uneven stone on the roadside nearly sending her sprawling. Cursing silently, she eyed her scuffed shoe with dismay and resumed walking at a more reasonable pace.
She need not kill herself to reach him.
On the other hand, while chasing a man down the street to tell him she would be his mistress was completely insane, not to mention wanton and sinful to the extreme, it was oddly liberating.
She followed the progress of his carriage until she saw him pull up to a beautiful house several blocks up the hill. An instant later William stepped out and bounded up the steps and disappeared inside of the red door. Was that his home?
By the time Victoria got up the hill, several minutes had passed. Her feet ached and her legs were wobbly from the effort of hiking up the steep hill.
Outside the house were two men lounging against William’s carriage. Their posture indicated that they not only were waiting, but also fully expected to be there for a while.
The two burly men, leaning against William’s Brougham regarded her with raised brows as she approached the house.
“Good evening gentlemen.” Victoria greeted the two men as she moved up the steps tucking her unruly hair back up under her hat.
“Good even’in ma’am,” the men mumbled warily as they keenly contemplated her presence there.
With a trembling, gloved hand Victoria picked up the heavy knocker and let it fall three times. The red door opened a moment later revealing a young, beautiful, smiling Chinese woman.
“Can I help you?” she asked with a heavy accent. She was scantily dressed in a red silk night-robe with a gold dragon embroidered down one side.
Victoria blushed. Who was this woman? And why was she answering the door in a robe?
“I . . . I am looking for Mr. Worthington,” Victoria said, noticing with incredulous embarrassment that one slim leg and a bare foot were peaking out of the opening of the woman’s robe. She should leave. This could not possibly be his home. Perhaps she was mistaken about which house William had entered. This woman did not dress or behave as a servant would.
“Ah, Will, yes, he here, but . . . he busy. You friend?” the woman asked softly in broken English.
“Well, yes, I suppose I am,” she answered. “But I can come back another time.”
“No, I think Will not like friend to wait outside. You special friend, I think. Come in.” The woman opened the door wider, stepping back to allow Victoria space to enter.
Victoria hesitated cautiously peering inside.
What business could William possibly have here?
Of course she had seen many Chinese laborers in San Francisco. She had greatly admired their exotic eyes and quiet, diligent mannerisms as they went about working their laundries and pulling carts about the city.
Of course, it made sense William was involved in some sort of business that would employ Chinese workers. Perhaps this was a laundry?
“It all right, come in, my name Li,” the girl said kindly.
To leave now would be rude.
Smiling as she cautiously stepped inside, a mixture of perfumes assaulted her. “My name is Victoria Riley.”
The house was beautiful, filled with oriental furnishings and art.
“Don’t be afraid, it alright. I get special tea for you . . . . sit in chair,” Li said kindly indicating a large,
red velvet, cushioned chair. “You like special tea?”
“Thank you.” Victoria smiled. “I would really love some of your special tea.”
Victoria nervously waited while Li went to make tea.
A few minutes later, Li returned smiling with a cup of very dark green tea. “You will like special tea.”
Victoria cupped her hands around the comforting warmth of the cup. “Thank you,”
Green tea was always so bitter, Victoria thought as she took another sip, wishing she had a bit of cream to put into it.
Li continued to smile and hover apparently unsure of what to do about an uninvited guest. Her dark, slanted eyes and warm complexion was so vividly and exotically beautiful. “I take you to see show, yes?”
“A show? Yes, I do like shows very much, I don’t get to see them much,” Victoria responded. “But I don’t really expect to be waiting very long. William will be available soon won’t he? Please do not go to any trouble.”
“Do not worry, show not long,” Li answered. “You wait for Will, you watch show. Will like that I think. Make you ready.”
“Well, if you really think so, as long as the show doesn’t last long,” Victoria responded doubtfully.
“No, no, show not ling,” Li assured her.
“Thank you, Li.” Victoria sipped the contents in the cup and stood up to follow Li down a long hallway.
What did Li think she needed to be ready for? Where was William anyway? Better question was what was he doing here?
This was a very strange place to do business, but then what did she understand about such things? William was likely involved in all sorts of businesses that she scarce knew or understood anything about.
She should probably leave because he might not like her intrusion into his business dealings. Besides, there was something distinctively odd about this house.
It was, however, too late to do anything about her current predicament without hurting Li’s feelings.
She would watch one show to avoid being rude, then if William were still not available, she would leave.
The Letter Page 8