The Price of Temptation

by Harmony Williams

  He lifted his head, searching the room. “Do you have any more lights?”

  She hated to light candles when tallow lamps or rushlights would do, but today she swallowed the expense. The sooner he inspected her efforts, the sooner he would leave. She thrust the case onto a shelf and said, “One moment.”

  When she slipped into the storeroom to fetch a candle, Adam separated from the corner. He caught her by the arm, his touch far gentler than Reid’s. Gingerly, he ran his fingers over her flesh where Reid had manhandled her. Tears stung her eyes. She tried to swallow them, but the cherishing way he touched her made her chest ache.

  “Did he hurt you?” Adam spoke in the barest whisper.

  His warm touch seeped into her body, a balm to her wounded pride. She felt herself swaying toward him before she hardened herself. She couldn’t fall apart, couldn’t lean on Adam. Soon, he would no longer be in her life.

  She could rely on no one but herself.

  “I am unharmed. I need a candle.”

  He fetched one for her as she found the tinderbox. She lit it and carried it out into the main workroom, where she set it on the workbench next to where Reid bent over the box.

  “Thank you.” For a moment, he looked unguarded. Fascinated and enthused, the same man who had dreamed of traveling to Egypt to unearth his own antiquities. He scooted closer on the stool, using the light of the candle to examine the artifact she had made.

  Lily held her breath, bracing herself for the flaws he would undoubtedly find. She wasn’t perfect, and she didn’t have anything but his drawing of the object to use as a basis for the replica. By the time her lungs ached from lack of breath, he pronounced, “There are flaws.”

  She gritted her teeth.

  He looked up, his expression impassive as he gently laid the armband on the workbench next to the candle. “But I believe only an expert eye under good lighting would be able to see them. Eventually, Lord Granby will give it that thorough inspection, but perhaps not at first.”

  She released her pent-up breath in a whoosh, frowning as she met his gaze. “Then you’re saying this one is…”

  He nodded curtly. “Acceptable.”

  Her knees went weak with relief. At long last, she had done it. Giddy with the weight of the artifact removed from her shoulders, she nearly laughed.

  Until he unfolded from the stool, surrounding her, his expression forbidding. “I trust you are able to move to the next step?”

  She stumbled over her tongue. “I… Yes… Of course. But I’m not certain…”

  He cocked one eyebrow, never once removing his gaze from her. “Move quickly. I’ve waited too long as it is.”

  At his cutting tone, her lower lip wobbled. She swallowed hard. She wasn’t usually this emotional at a reprimand. “I’ll arrange to receive another invitation. I can’t control when Lord Granby has his next dinner party.”

  “But you can control whether or not you are invited.”

  She swallowed hard, thick phlegm caught in her throat. “Yes.” To an extent.

  He turned on his heel, barely sparing her another thought. “Then see to it. Let me know the moment you receive the invitation.”

  The moment the door shut behind him with a note of finality, Adam reentered the room. He laid his hands gently on her shoulders. She quivered beneath his touch.

  “You did it. As I knew you would.”

  Lily pressed her lips together and nodded, not trusting herself to speak. After a moment, she whispered, “It isn’t over yet.”

  …

  When Lily returned to the townhouse the next evening, she looked worn. Haunted, defeated. Adam’s chest clenched at the sight of her. He sat up in bed, setting aside the book he had been reading while awaiting her return.

  “That took longer than I expected.”

  She nodded. “Miss Granby was out. I elected to wait until she returned, then returned the book. She seemed…weary.”

  “So do you.”

  She heaved a sigh as she pulled at the placket front of her dress, making the bodice gape and leaving enough room to push it from her hips. As she stepped out, pulling it from the floor and tossing it over a chair in the corner, she confessed, “I think the day is wearing on me, that’s all. I’ve never been so tired.”

  Adam opened his arms, beckoning her to him. She stripped off her stockings and climbed into bed with her chemise still on. As she fitted herself against his side, he tucked his arm around her, holding her close. For a long time, she said nothing, burying her head in his shoulder and breathing deeply.

  “Did you secure an invitation?”

  She nodded, turning her face up to his. “The next dinner party is in ten days. We will receive our invitation within the week. I don’t want to think on it now.”

  Her eyes glimmered with emotion. No doubt his did, as well. Within the week, they would have the date of their imminent parting. He didn’t want to leave, but he’d found no way to prevent it thus far. And Lily…

  Did she want him to stay? It shredded his soul to think that he would abandon her again. This had never been his intention upon coming to London. He had come to make amends, to repay her for the hurt he’d caused. And now he seemed in danger of cutting even deeper.

  But when she kissed him, he was helpless to deny her. He never wanted to be parted from her.

  Leave London with me. The words lingered on the tip of his tongue, chased away by hers as she warmed to his touch. What if he asked and she refused? She was only like this, so pliant and vulnerable, while they were in bed. What if she decided she didn’t need him?

  He applied himself to the task of showing her how integral he was to her pleasure. Or rather, how integral they were to each other.

  Much later, after she was trembling with subsiding ripples of satisfaction, her naked body pressed to his, he gave voice to the words he didn’t want to consider.

  “This must be the last night.”

  She said nothing, but moisture leaked from her eyes and onto his bare skin.

  “You say that every night.”

  So he did. He had been so desperate not to fall in love with her again, afraid of hurting her again. Now, he feared he was cutting himself even deeper. The last time they’d parted, he’d had a purpose. He’d needed a plan, a way to repay her. This time, he would have no such solace.

  He would have nothing but loss and these memories.

  “This time, I mean it. It will be better for us both.”

  She said nothing. Perhaps she didn’t hear the lie.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Lily fussed with the high neckline of her dowdy gown, peering at her reflection in the small shaving mirror. She had sold Mama’s vanity mirror at long last to pay for the materials to forge the armband. She looked wan and pale, her mouth drawn tight even when she tried to turn up the corners in a smile.

  I can’t go through with this.

  “I can. I must.”

  She wished Adam were here, ached for him. Every other time she had readied herself for a fraudulent outing, he had been nearby to bolster her courage. She crammed the spectacles onto her nose, hoping to don the competence of her persona. It never came.

  As much as she missed Adam, she had best grow accustomed to his absence. Ten days ago, she hadn’t thought him serious when he’d told her that night would be their last together. Yet, the next night when she’d slipped into his room, he hadn’t been there. She’d lain in bed waiting for him, but he’d come up to bed only long enough to leave a note on the pillow with three short words: I love you. Since then, she hadn’t tried to return to his bed.

  Still, she could use his humor and his confidence now. Every time she shut her eyes, she pictured the evening turning toward disaster. No matter the outcome of the theft, the evening couldn’t end happily. Once she turned over the stolen armband to Reid, Adam would
leave her. Again.

  She swallowed hard. How had the last month flown by so fast?

  Busying herself to keep from worrying about the inevitable, she checked the bag containing her tools. The false bottom flipped up at her touch to reveal the forged armband. She replaced it, laying her tools atop the seam. She was ready to play the role of scholar.

  The thought made her queasy. She pressed a hand to her stomach, waiting for the feeling to subside. Worry had been making her violently ill this week.

  Still unsettled, she stepped into the corridor alone. Tentatively, she made her way down the stairs, lingering over each one. Every step felt like a battle.

  What reason did she have for doing this? Mama, Willa, and Sophie.

  What if she was caught in the act? Surely Reid cannot fault my family for that…

  Did she dare do this when Willa had been so vehement in her censure?

  “I must.”

  Since overhearing the conversation between her and Adam, Willa hadn’t said a word to her. It wasn’t unlike her younger sister to throw tantrums, but she shouted, she railed, she hurled heavy objects. She didn’t utterly ignore her sister. The weight of Willa’s disapproval was smothering.

  Is there another way?

  No. Willa didn’t know the facts. The fact, plain and simple, was that Lily wasn’t doing this for her own pleasure. She wasn’t doing this to recover her dowry. She was doing this because Reid had offered no other recourse.

  The front door came into view. Adam waited in front of it, his arms clasped behind him. She had barely seen him in the past week, aside from their continued lessons in knife fighting. During those, he was so detached, she might as well have hired a tutor. He was a master at manipulation, at shielding his true self from view. Did he ache to stay with her?

  She’d fancied that he did, but perhaps she’d misjudged him.

  As she reached him, Adam held up a sealed letter. “This arrived for you. It’s Chatterley’s handwriting.”

  Her hands shook as she found the erasing knife to lift the wax seal. As she unfolded the letter, it was simple, crosshatched over what appeared to be a letter to a friend. She swallowed as she read the words.

  “He wants to meet tonight at midnight. At the shop.” She crumpled the letter. “He wants the item immediately.”

  Adam nodded, sullen. “We knew he would. Now is your chance. You’d best retrieve it.”

  If she did, her sister might never forgive her. But if she didn’t…

  I must.

  …

  Keep him talking.

  Once again, Adam played second fiddle to Lily as she engaged the other scholars at Lord Granby’s dinner party in conversation. From across the room, he drank her in. Her eyes sparkled behind her spectacles as she discussed the finer points of the gems used in Egyptian antiquities and the methods that might have been used to cut them. In this, she was in her element, playing the part in a far more confident way than she had last time, even if she cast frequent glances toward the door.

  Patience.

  They had agreed before arriving that the best time to replace the armband would be after the item had been passed around following dinner. They had an hour or more of idle conversation yet to make.

  As Lily returned her attention to the conversation, she looked radiant. Animated. At least, until the host offered her a glass of sherry. She took one sniff and turned a bit green around the gills, clenching it in her hand as her cheeks drained of color. She hadn’t noticed Adam relocate the case with her tools.

  They had agreed to wait until after Lord Granby’s collection had been circulated, but Lily had been adamant on performing the theft herself. If they were caught, he didn’t want her to pay the price. He didn’t want her to mourn him, either, when he left. Better they part angry, to spare her any heartbreak.

  Adam’s heart was already shattered irreparably. He didn’t expect to find peace without her. And if he wasn’t to have peace, he might as well risk hanging. One moment stretched into another as he watched his wife, committing the image to memory. I’m sorry. While she distracted the host, he hefted her case and slipped out of the room.

  He was doing this for her benefit.

  …

  Whether due to anxiety or some mishap in the kitchen, the meal didn’t sit well with Lily. She pressed her hand to her stomach, trying to smile and make polite conversation with her dinner partner. The thick, cloying smell of roast beef still filled the air, turning her stomach. She fiddled with her wineglass but didn’t drink.

  The host scraped back his chair as he stood, a jovial look on his face. “Gentlemen, Mrs. Darling. Shall we adjourn to the study?”

  Thank heavens! Lily lurched to her feet, steadied by her dinner partner.

  “Are you feeling quite all right, Mrs. Darling?”

  She mustered as genuine a smile as she was able, under the circumstances. “Perhaps I overindulged with dinner. Thank you for your concern.”

  He glanced at her still-full wineglass, frowning, but didn’t say a word. Since he was next to her and Adam was across the room, she accepted his arm as he escorted her down the corridor. The entire length, her mind was whirling. Despite sitting next to him all evening, she couldn’t recall his name nor the particulars of his interest in antiquities. Her heart drummed an executioner’s beat in her chest as the impending heist approached. What if she was caught?

  Remain calm.

  If she drew the slightest attention to herself tonight, this endeavor might be forfeit. Butterflies winged in her stomach. She kept her smile by force of will, searching for Adam. She needed him to anchor her, needed his confidence and faith in her. Never once had he made her feel as though she was incapable of succeeding in this or anything else. Her sinuses ached with the threat of tears, but she breathed deep until the feeling passed. When she reached the study, she thanked her escort and separated from him.

  A ring of armchairs carefully calculated to allow only the number present and no additions surrounded an oval table upon which a collection of closed boxes had been set. The cases were carved with ornate, fragile designs of long-dead fantastical scenes. Laid out between them were waiting tumblers of amber. The men waited for her to sit. Lily folded her hands on her lap, hoping to camouflage their trembling.

  When Adam chose the seat next to her, she fought the urge to lean closer. Lord Granby opened a long, narrow case to reveal a neat row of cheroots. With a chorus of, “Do you mind?” the gentlemen passed around the box. She shook her head, even though she wasn’t certain her stomach would take well to the stink of smoke. Once the men were puffing away, aided in lighting their cheroots by the footman who toured the circle, Lord Granby raised a hand.

  “Geoffrey, would you pass out the collection? Be gentle with it, mind.”

  The footman bowed. “Yes, milord.”

  Lily’s knee bounced with her nervousness. Stop that. She quelled the tremor. A restless energy rose in her, relentless. “I require my case.”

  “Here you are, darling.” Adam pressed the case into her hand, his warm eyes catching hers and holding them a moment. His fingers wrapped over hers as he folded her fingers over the handle.

  He cocked one eyebrow, his message plain. Can you do this?

  She took a breath and nodded once. “Thank you.”

  With reluctance, he drew his hand away, giving her a sidelong glance as if wishing to bestow some other sign of affection. Perhaps she was imagining it. Yes, she must be. After all, he’d shown her no such inclination in the past week.

  Clearing her throat, she turned her attention to the host. “I’d like your leave to examine a few of the jewels, if I may. You have an extraordinary collection, my lord.”

  Lord Granby beamed, motioning with his hands for Geoffrey to serve her the first box. “By all means.”

  The artifact stowed inside was not the one s
he had forged. She and Adam had agreed that it would look too suspicious for her to pay it close attention. As she removed her spectacles and replaced them with her jeweler’s monocle, she battled another bout of nerves. The wings in her stomach felt more like sparrows than butterflies.

  She focused on an amethyst in the gold bracelet, naming its characteristics. Medium color, good transparency with minimal clouding. In the right setting, perhaps a pendant or a brooch with a spray of smaller, colorless gems, she would sell a piece with these qualities for sixty or seventy pounds.

  But you aren’t selling it, nor assessing it. Biting her tongue, Lily replaced the bracelet in its box and let the footman carry it to another guest.

  She inspected the next piece to settle onto her lap, then the next. Some held no gems at all, though she used her monocle to examine the metal more closely. The pottery she passed along without looking closer. When the armband Reid desired was passed to her, she resolved to pay it no more or less attention than the other pieces in the collection. She held her breath, counting in her head until she reached an appropriate time to send the item on its way.

  However, as she lifted the piece in her hand, it felt familiar. She used the monocle to examine the gem. Her breath left her lungs in an audible whoosh as she recognized the slightest crack marring the pattern of the lapis lazuli.

  “Is something amiss?”

  The light chatter of the men as they puffed on their cheroots seemed to fade away. She drew several stares. Apparently, she had acquired a reputation for finding serious faults with antiquities. She feigned a smile and gestured for the footman to retrieve the armband.

  “Of course not.”

  Blood roared in her ears. The edges of her vision faded.

  Adam touched her knee, an anchor in the moment. He leaned closer, his breath ruffling a strand of loose hair on her neck. “Act as if nothing is amiss. We’ll make our excuses soon. It’s done.”

  He needn’t tell her. She had recognized her forgery the moment it had rested in her hand.