“Did you hear what I said?” he demanded.
“I—no,” Tess stammered.
He placed both hands on her arms. “You don’t look well. Do you need some water? Should I call someone?”
“No, I’m fine.” She glanced at his hands on her arms. “You can let go of me now. I’m not going to faint or anything.”
But Jared held on to her. He stared down at her, searching her distraught features, the shadows in her eyes. “Why did you do it? Why did you take my mother’s bracelet. To get back at her? At me?”
“You asked me the same question back then,” she said angrily, “when you came to see me at the sheriff’s station. You kept looking for some noble reason. I told you then why I did it. I did it because I wanted to. It was there and I took it.”
He frowned down at her. “I don’t believe that. There had to be a reason.”
“Even if there was, it wouldn’t matter now.” She made a helpless motion with her hands. “Six years is a long time. A lot’s changed.”
“You got married,” he said. “You had a baby.”
She moistened her lips. “Yes.”
“It must have happened very quickly. You said Emily is five years old. What did you do? Go straight from my bed to his?”
She lifted her chin and looked him straight in the eye. “Yes. That’s exactly what I did.”
That should have been the end of it, but Jared couldn’t bring himself to release her. Her haunted eyes tore at his resolve. “I don’t believe that. The Tess I knew wouldn’t have done that.”
“Maybe you didn’t know me as well as you thought you did,” she challenged.
“I know what we had was special. Incredible.” His grasp on her tightened. “Don’t you remember?”
“We were kids,” she said stubbornly. “Of course it was incredible.”
Anger flared inside him. “I’m not just talking about the sex. Although God knows, that was great, too. I’m talking about us.” He let her go, took a step away from her, then spun back. “Do you know why I wanted to see you down by the lake that night?”
She gave a helpless shrug. “Because you—”
“I wanted to ask you to marry me.”
It seemed impossible that her face could go so pale. She looked as if he’d just dealt her some horrible death blow. “I didn’t know.”
“But you knew how I felt,” he said harshly.
“Jared—”
“Jared?”
The voice spoke from the doorway, and both Jared and Tess jumped, then whirled toward the sound.
His mother stood in the doorway, and as she stepped into the office, Jared saw that Royce’s wife, Ariel, followed, as usual, behind her.
Neither of them had changed in the years Jared had been away. Cressida was still tall, slender, imperiously graceful, and Ariel was still hardly more than a shadow, a small, colorless woman who seemed content to trail along in the powerful wake of her husband and her mother-in-law. They were both expensively groomed. Cressida wore an elegant blue suit that perfectly matched her eyes. Ariel’s outfit was a similar style but in an odd green color that couldn’t have been less flattering.
As the two women crossed the room, Cressida’s curious gaze rested on Tess. “Hello,” she said cordially. “I’m Cressida Spencer, Jared’s mother. I don’t believe we’ve met.”
She extended a hand to Tess, and for a moment, Tess merely stared at her, as if she wasn’t quite sure what to do. She accepted Cressida’s handshake, but almost immediately pulled her hand away.
“Actually, Mother, you two have met. This is Tess Campbell. Her name used to be Granger.”
Cressida furrowed a delicate eyebrow, then recognition sprang to her blue eyes. Her features instantly hardened. “Joelle’s daughter?”
Tess looked as if she would have liked nothing more than to crawl into a hole and never come back out. “How are you, Mrs. Spencer?”
“I’m well, thank you.” Cressida’s demeanor went almost frigid as she glared at Tess, but years of practice had made her adept at social deportment. “How is your mother, Tess?”
“She’s well, thank you.”
“I’m not sure you’ve met my sister-in-law, Ariel,” Jared said.
“How do you do?” Ariel murmured shyly. She stuck out her hand, too, but it was she who seemed to withdraw her fingers quickly this time. “I’m looking for Royce,” she said to Jared. “Do you have any idea where he might be?”
“You tried his office, I presume?”
Ariel nodded. “Yes, but I’ll just go and see if he’s back.” She tucked a limp strand of brown hair behind one ear. “Will you excuse me?”
“Yes, run along, dear.” Cressida shooed her away with a crisp wave of her hand. “I need to have a word with Jared.”
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll just be a moment longer.” He turned to Tess, having no idea what he was going to say to her, but she beat him to the punch.
“I have to go. There’s a lot to do. Thank you…for your help.” She clutched the check in her hand. “It means a lot.”
Jared moved toward her, but this time he didn’t touch her. He stared down at her instead, as if he could hold her in place with his gaze. “Will you keep me informed? Let me know if there’s anything else I can do?”
“You’ve done more than enough,” she said, making no commitments. She glanced past him, her demeanor edgy. “Mrs. Spencer.” She let her gaze rest on Jared one last time, nodded slightly, then turned and strode from his office.
Fled, actually, was the word that came to Jared’s mind.
He stared after her for the longest moment until his mother said behind him, “What on earth was she doing here, Jared? I hope you battened down all your valuables.” When he didn’t respond, Cressida remarked scornfully, “Well, I can’t say the years have been kind to her. I guess her misdeeds have finally caught up with her. She looks terrible. Not that she ever was what I’d consider beautiful. Mildly attractive at best.”
Jared still said nothing. But he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze from the door through which Tess had just disappeared.
JARED HAD WANTED to marry her.
The words were like a litany inside Tess’s head.
She hurried through the secretary’s office, ignoring the startled look from the older woman seated behind a computer terminal. “Miss? May I help you?”
Tess didn’t answer, but rushed instead into the hallway. The long corridor was deserted, and she took a moment to catch her breath. Leaning back against the wall, she closed her eyes.
Jared had wanted to marry her.
Tess put a trembling hand to her mouth. Would that have made a difference? If she’d known Jared planned to propose to her that night, would she have stayed and fought the Spencers? Fought Royce?
Probably not, she conceded. If it had only been her life at stake, she might have. She might have mustered the courage to put her faith in Jared. To tell him exactly what his brother was up to and trust that he would be able to protect her and their unborn child.
But once his mother’s bracelet had been stolen, Tess had seen the doubt in his eyes. The suspicion. The sheriff had come to the emergency room after her and Melanie’s accident to arrest her. She’d been taken to the station for questioning, and she hadn’t seen Jared until much later, when she’d finally been released. He’d confronted her then, demanded the truth from her. He hadn’t wanted to believe her capable of such a crime, but when she hadn’t denied it, what else could he think?
And even if she’d told him the truth, a part of him would always have wondered.
And if she’d told him about Royce? Would he have had doubts about that as well?
It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. After the accident, Tess had known only too well what Royce was capable of. In order to protect herself and her baby, she’d let Jared think the worst of her so that he wouldn’t pursue her when she left town. And it had worked. He hadn’t followed her. In six years, he’d never once
tried to contact her.
The elevator doors slid open, and as she hurried across the hallway, she collided with someone getting off. The check and her purse went flying.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, scrambling to retrieve a tube of lipstick that had rolled from her bag.
“No, it was entirely my fault.” The man bent and scooped the check from the floor, along with several items from her purse. When he straightened and turned toward Tess, fear curled in her stomach.
Smiling, Royce Spencer gave her nothing more than a quick, apologetic glance, a casual perusal. “I think that’s everything.” He held out the items from her purse—car keys, wallet, an ink pen—and Tess reluctantly let him drop them into her purse. With a flourish, he palmed the check, faceup, like a waiter presenting the bill. “Also yours?”
Tess swallowed. “Yes, thank you.” With nervous fingers, she plucked the check from his hand, praying that, like Jared, he hadn’t recognized her, that he hadn’t seen her name on the bank draft or the signature at the bottom.
She moved toward the elevator, but he stepped in front of her, blocking her way. He was bigger than she remembered, even taller than Jared. And he’d put on weight. Gone was the lean, muscular physique that had made him seem dangerously predatory six years ago.
“Just a minute.” He’d been holding the elevator open with one hand, but now he let the doors slide closed. “Do I know you?”
Before Tess could answer, recognition flickered in his dark eyes, followed swiftly by suspicion, and then, oddly enough, amusement. “Tess? Tess Granger?”
“It’s Tess Campbell now.”
“My God,” he said. “I almost didn’t recognize you.” His brown gaze, more intense this time, moved over her, making Tess shiver with dread.
She tried to move around him and press the elevator button, but again he blocked her way.
“Hold on. I can’t let you just run off. It’s been…how long?” He was elegantly dressed in a gray suit and silk tie, but the years had not been all that kind to him. He was only twenty-eight, two years younger than Jared, but he looked older. The weight gain was most prominent in his face, the fullness and slightly sagging jawline adding at least a decade. He was still a handsome man, more traditionally handsome than Jared perhaps, but the hardness in his eyes, the secret knowledge that Tess possessed, made his features seem almost reptilian.
“How’s your mother?” he asked in a smooth, liquid voice. He was playing it light, charming. He had no idea that she knew he’d been the one to set her up. That he’d been willing to take even more drastic measures if she hadn’t accepted his father’s offer to leave town. But it wasn’t just the threat of prison that had driven Tess from Eden. That had made her refuse Jared’s offer of help. It was the accident that had put Melanie in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
“We missed her out at the lake house after she resigned,” Royce was saying. “Of course, it was impossible for her to stay on after…that unfortunate incident.” His smiled turned contemplative. “You know, Tess, I never did get a chance to talk to you after that night, but I always wanted you to know that I understood why you did it. It would have been tempting for anyone in your position.”
White-hot anger rolled over Tess, and she had to turn away quickly before he saw the rage in her eyes.
“I was always glad that the family didn’t press charges. After you agreed to leave town to avoid any…unpleasantness, there didn’t seem to be a reason to.”
“Yes,” Tess said, turning to face him. “I didn’t want there to be any unpleasantness.”
If he noticed the bitterness in her voice, he decided to ignore it. “At any rate, we sold the lake house not long after that. Without Joelle around to take care of things, the place started falling apart. But you know what they say, good help is hard to find.”
“Yes, that’s what they say. If you’ll excuse me—” Tess tried once again to move around him, but he wasn’t ready to let her go. Like a cat toying with a mouse, he hadn’t yet had his fun.
“So what brings you here?” His voice remained friendly and he kept right on smiling, but Tess wasn’t fooled.
She slipped the check into her purse, buying herself some time until a suitable excuse popped into her head. “Actually, it’s funny that you should mention the lake house because that’s exactly why I’m here. I’m living back in Eden now, and I own a cleaning service.” She extracted a card from her purse and handed it to him. “I wondered if your family had anyone looking after the house. Of course, I didn’t realize you’d sold it.”
“Your mother didn’t tell you?” The amusement was back in his eyes as he gazed down at the card. “Eden’s Maid Brigade. Catchy.” He glanced up. “Even if we still owned the place, you might be a hard sale to my mother, everything considered.”
Tess thought about the coldness in Cressida Spencer’s eyes, and she had to suppress a shudder. “Yes,” she said, clearing her throat. “You’re probably right about that. But I didn’t think there was any harm in asking.”
He shook his head. “A maid service, huh? Like mother, like daughter.”
It’s good, honest work, Tess wanted to tell him, but now was not the time to get into a discussion of morals. Certainly not with Royce Spencer. She shrugged. “It’s a living.”
“Well, I’m afraid I can’t help you out. We don’t own any property in Eden anymore.”
“I understand.” She forced a smile, but her muscles felt rigid, unnatural. “Well, I won’t keep you…”
The elevator doors finally opened again, and a man got out. He said something to Royce, and while Royce’s attention was diverted, Tess darted inside the car. But Royce’s right arm shot out to retract the doors.
He turned quickly, stepping into the car with Tess. “I’ll ride down a couple of floors with you.”
As the doors slid together, Tess saw Ariel Spencer come hurrying toward the elevators, her pale face taut, her demeanor agitated. Whether she meant to call out or not, Tess never knew because the doors closed in Ariel’s face.
Trapped in an elevator with Royce Spencer was a nightmare come true for Tess. She felt almost sick as the car began to descend.
She stared straight ahead, not even glancing at his reflection in the mirrored walls, but she could feel his gaze on her. The hair at the back of her neck rose in fear.
“What have you been doing to yourself, Tess?” he asked softly. “You don’t look well.”
The quality of his voice, that barest hint of danger, made panic bubble inside her. She kept her gaze on the wall in front of her. “Thanks for your concern, but I’m fine.”
“I hope so.” He reached across her and pushed the button for a lower floor. His arm grazed hers, and it was all Tess could do not to flinch. “Well,” he said, “it’s really been great seeing you. Give my regards to your mother. And to that friend of yours. What was her name? Melanie? A great-looking girl. Damn shame what happened to her that night. You were a lot more fortunate.”
Tess’s heart began to beat in slow, painful strokes as memories assaulted her. Memories of the terror in Melanie’s eyes, the bruises on her arms. “Royce said if I told anyone, he’d kill me. And I believe him. You don’t know how dangerous he is—”
“Well, in that case, I’d just have to find a more permanent solution, wouldn’t I? One that would get rid of the kid, too.”
Royce cocked his head as he gazed down at Tess now. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look a little pale.”
“I’m fine,” Tess managed to answer. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in one of the mirrors. Her eyes were wide, haunted, a little too bright, and there was fear in her expression, in the way she held herself stiffly, in the way her features seemed frozen in place. It took every ounce of her strength to subdue the terror.
The car stopped, and as the doors opened Royce said, “You be sure and tell Melanie that Royce Spencer says hello, hear? Tell her I haven’t forgotten her.”
He got out, and the doo
rs slowly began to close between them. But at the last minute, he stopped them again. “Oh, and Tess? I almost forgot. I hope you find your little girl.”
“YOU NEVER ANSWERED my question,” Cressida said coolly. “What was Tess Granger doing in your office? I’m surprised she didn’t end up in prison after she left Eden.”
Jared whirled, suddenly furious with his mother’s needling. “All that business happened six years ago,” he snapped. “You don’t know the kind of person Tess is today any more than I do.”
Cressida gave him a piercing look. “A leopard can’t change its spots, as they say.”
“That may be true,” Jared agreed. “But I’ve never been completely convinced that Tess was guilty.”
His mother stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “For God’s sake, Jared, my bracelet was found in her purse. A witness saw her put it there. And on top of that, she left town after your father agreed not to press charges. What more proof do you need?”
She was right, Jared thought. The evidence against Tess had been overwhelming, not the least of which was her own admission of guilt. But even then, he hadn’t been able to believe it. To accept it. He couldn’t have been that wrong about her.
But apparently he had been.
Jared moved to the window and glanced out. Nine stories below, a woman hurried across the street, so preoccupied she glanced neither left nor right for on-coming traffic. Horn blaring, a car screeched to a halt only a few inches from her. The woman threw up her hands defensively, and as she spun toward the car, Jared caught a brief glance of her face. It was Tess.
His heart jumped at the close call, and he unconsciously put out a hand toward the window, as if to help her.
Why was she so hell-bent on getting away that she’d almost gotten herself run over? Was her agitation because of her daughter? Or could it be that whatever she’d been running from six years ago was still driving her away?
For years, Jared had fantasized about seeing Tess again, letting her know exactly what he thought of her. But the moment he’d recognized her, the moment he’d glimpsed the pain in her eyes and the despair in her face, the last six years simply disappeared. His anger and bitterness at her betrayal seemed trivial in comparison to a missing child.
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