The Tempted

by Amanda Stevens

  He lifted his gaze to hers, and his eyes seemed to darken with emotion, with his own anger. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did I have to hire a private investigator to find out I have a daughter? You knew when you left here six years ago that you were pregnant. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because I didn’t find out for sure until I was in Memphis, and by then it was too late. You’d wasted no time in moving to New Orleans.”

  “Oh, and you couldn’t have called me? You couldn’t have come to see me? Give me a break, Tess.”

  She lifted her chin defiantly. “I made a deal with your father. I promised—”

  “To hell with my father,” he raged, then turned away, rubbing the back of his neck as if that would somehow help him regain a grip on his temper. He turned back to Tess, his expression almost rigid with the effort of his control. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked again.

  “I didn’t want to go to jail—”

  The control slipped. “Stop it, Tess. Just stop it. You’re still not telling me the truth.”

  “And neither are you.” She glanced around the kitchen. “You didn’t buy this place back so you could play the doting uncle. You bought it for Emily. When I find her, you plan to try to take her away from me, don’t you? But I warn you, Jared. I’ll fight you,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’ll fight you with everything I’ve got.”

  He looked at her as if she were a stranger to him. The anger seemed to melt away, and all that was left was a look of almost unbearable sadness. “I never wanted to take her away from you. I just wanted you to tell me the truth.”

  He walked across the room toward her, but Tess took a step back from him. Jared stared at her for the longest moment, then he said quietly, “For once in your life, why can’t you just trust me?”

  “This is why.” Her hands trembled as she held up the folder. “It’s all about winning to you. It’s all about beating Royce out of your father’s trust.”

  “That’s a low blow, Tess. I want to find Emily as much as you do. I’d give anything to be able to bring her home safe and sound.” His gaze on her hardened. “And while we’re throwing around accusations—how did you find out about my father’s trust?”

  “It’s all in here.” She held up the folder again.

  But Jared shook his head. “No, you knew about it before. I can see it in your face. How did you find out?”

  “It doesn’t matter how I found out,” Tess said coldly. “What matters to me is the lengths you were willing to go to to get what you wanted. You had me investigated, Jared. You violated my privacy. How do you think that makes me feel?”

  “Betrayed?” he shot back. “I know exactly how you feel.”

  “Did you know about Emily when I came to see you at your office that day?” she asked him.

  “No, not exactly. The day before you came, my secretary showed me a picture of Emily in the paper. I felt something. I don’t know how to explain it. It was like…a connection. I couldn’t stop looking at her picture. And then you came to see me the next day. You told me she was your daughter. I thought at first that explained why I was so drawn to her. Then I started thinking about it. Started wondering why she resembled me more than you. Not so much in looks. She’s the spitting image of you in a lot of ways…” He trailed off, his gaze, it seemed to Tess, softening as he glanced at her. “But she has my coloring. My eyes. She’s my daughter, isn’t she, Tess?”

  “You already know that.”

  “But I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you tell me what you should have told me a long time ago. Emily is my daughter.”

  “Yes,” Tess whispered.

  He pulled out a chair and sat down heavily at the table. “She’s my daughter, and I’ve never even seen her. I never got to hold her when she was a baby. I never got to rock her. To see her take her first step. Hear her say her first word. I missed out on so much, and now…” He closed his eyes. “What if it’s too late?”

  Her own anger melting away, Tess crossed the floor and knelt beside him. “I’m sorry, Jared. I didn’t want it to be this way. I didn’t. But I didn’t think I had any other choice.”

  “Why?”

  She drew a long, steadying breath. “Because if I’d stayed, I was afraid Royce would kill me.”

  She told him everything then. About Melanie showing up at her house in hysterics the night Royce had threatened her. About Tess’s mother warning her to stay away from the Spencers, including Jared. About her confrontation with Cressida the night of the party, and how Tess had known that she would never be accepted by the Spencers. She told him about overhearing Royce and Ariel, about Royce’s plan to set her up for stealing his mother’s bracelet, about his willingness to do whatever it took to gain control of that trust.

  She told him about how panic had caused her to flee that night. How she’d wanted to run to him, but she’d been too afraid.

  And she told him about the accident, about seeing Melanie trapped in the wreckage, her plea to never let Royce find out about the baby.

  When she finished, she glanced up. Jared’s face was ravaged with emotion. “If you’d come to me, I would have protected you. I would have killed him, my own brother, before I would have let him hurt you. Or Emily. You could have trusted me. But the fact that you didn’t, that you still don’t—” He glanced at the folder in her hands. “What hope has there ever been for us? You condemned me a long time ago because of who I am.”

  The truth of his words were like a nail driven into her heart. “I’m sorry, Jared. I’m so sorry. I didn’t want it to be this way. If it had just been me, I would have come to you. But I couldn’t take a chance with my baby—”

  “You said you didn’t even know you were pregnant when you left town.”

  “I didn’t know for sure, but I suspected. And I couldn’t take a chance. I didn’t know what Royce would do. All I knew was that he was dangerous. And if I’d come forward with what I knew, if I’d told you the truth, I was afraid that Royce would somehow find a way to turn you against me.”

  “Then you didn’t know me very well,” Jared said grimly. “If you thought I would have ever taken his word over yours, if I would have ever chosen my family over you—”

  “I didn’t know. I couldn’t take that chance,” Tess said desperately. “Can’t you understand that?”

  “Oh, I understand,” Jared said quietly. “And if you keep saying those words long enough, maybe one of these days you might actually start to believe them.”

  He got up and walked toward the door.

  Tess rose. “Where are you going?”

  “To find Royce.”

  The look in his eyes made Tess’s blood go cold. She grabbed his arm. “Jared, don’t. Please. Not until you’ve calmed down.”

  “I’m calm, Tess. I’ve never been so calm. And I know exactly what I have to do.” He glanced down at her hand on his arm, then back up. “Let go.”

  “You can’t do this,” she pleaded.

  “You made your decision six years ago,” he said without emotion. “Now I’ve made mine.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  By the time Tess arrived home, she was emotionally and physically exhausted. Jared had gone to find Royce, and she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know where to find him, how to stop him. She didn’t even know what he planned to do.

  I should never have told him. I should have listened to Melanie and kept silent.

  Except that silence was no longer an option. Jared had found out about Emily on his own. With the help of a private detective, he’d put enough together to have very strong suspicions. Enough to take Tess to court to try to win custody.

  Would he really do that?

  She didn’t want to believe that Jared would hurt her that way, but deep down inside, a part of her couldn’t blame him. How would she feel if Emily had been kept from her all these years? How would she feel to find out, finally, that she had a daughter, when it might be too late to hold her, to love her, to
watch her grow up?

  She would feel just as Jared did—angry, hurt, betrayed. She’d want to lash out at someone, just as he did. But Royce Spencer was a very dangerous man. If Jared confronted him, threatened him, there was no telling what he might do.

  Tess let herself into the house and turned on lights as she walked out into the kitchen. She stared at the phone for a moment, wondering if she should call Cressida Spencer. Or Ariel. But what if that only served to warn Royce? What if he would be lying in wait when Jared found him?

  Tess hovered over the phone, and when it rang she jumped as if it were gunfire. She grabbed up the receiver. “Jared?”

  A pause. “No, I…Tess? It’s Willa Banks.”

  “Hello, Miss Willa.”

  “Are you all right? You sound upset.”

  Tess massaged her forehead with her fingertips. “It’s just been a long day.”

  “I understand. You’re upset about that little girl’s body that was found down south, aren’t you?”

  “How did you know about that?” Tess asked in surprise. “Has it already been on the news?”

  “I was at the sheriff’s station when you came in. And I saw Naomi leave. She looked so distraught. That poor child—” Willa’s voice broke. “It’s not right, all the suffering she’s been through. It’s not right.”

  “I know.”

  “She had another child, you know. There were two babies. I worked at the hospital back then. I was there that night. So many people died in that awful storm. There was so much confusion.”

  “It was terrible,” Tess murmured, wanting desperately to get off the phone.

  “It’s not right that she lost both of them. When Sadie disappeared, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t understand it. How could both of her babies be taken away from her?”

  “Miss Willa, I’m sure Naomi appreciates your concern.”

  “She’s such a dear person,” Willa said. “So deserving.”

  “Yes, I know.” Tess hesitated. “Was there a reason for your call, Miss Willa?”

  “I’m sorry for rambling on like that. I just get so upset sometimes.”

  “I understand.”

  “I wanted to let you know that I came by a little while ago with a batch of brownies for you. You weren’t home so I left them on the back porch. I thought I’d better call you before some animal got into them.”

  “Thank you, Miss Willa, but you really shouldn’t have gone to the trouble.”

  “Oh, it was no trouble at all. I love to bake. I made those especially for you. Double fudge, no walnuts. Just the way you like them.”

  Tess frowned at the phone. How did Miss Willa know about her favorite brownie recipe?

  “Well, I’ll let you go. You try to get a good night’s rest,” Willa said. “And don’t forget about those brownies.”

  “I won’t. And thanks again.” Tess hung up and walked over to the back door, opening it to peer outside. The box of brownies had been placed on a lawn chair, and when Tess picked them up, the container was still warm. She must have just missed Willa.

  She brought the box back into the kitchen and sat it on the counter. It was after ten o’clock at night. Willa lived all the way over on the other side of Mount Ida, near the lake. Why would she have driven all that way at this time of night to deliver a box of brownies?

  “Double fudge, no walnuts. Just the way you like them.”

  “Oatmeal raisin. They’re your favorite, aren’t they?”

  Tess’s heart started to pound as she gazed at the box. How did Willa Banks know that oatmeal raisin cookies were her favorite? How did she know that Tess preferred brownies without walnuts?

  Oatmeal raisin cookies were Emily’s favorite, too. She didn’t like nuts in brownies, either.

  Tess put her hand to her mouth as something Melanie said came back to her. “…she’s not playing with a full deck, Tess. I don’t think she should be allowed anywhere near those children…”

  A terrible suspicion, a horrible fear rose inside Tess, and she felt weak, sick. She reached for the phone.

  After five rings, Melanie finally picked up. “Hello?” She sounded breathless, impatient.

  “Melanie, it’s me. Do you really think Willa Banks could be dangerous?” Tess said in a rush.

  “What?”

  Tess took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “You said you didn’t think she should be allowed near the children. Do you think she’s dangerous?”

  Melanie hesitated. “What’s this about, Tess?”

  Tess closed her eyes. “Please! Just tell me. Was she working the day Emily disappeared?”

  She heard Melanie’s quick intake of breath. “Tess? Are you asking what I think you’re ask—”

  “Did you see her on the playground that day? Was she anywhere near Emily?”

  “God, Tess, I don’t know. I don’t remember. The police came to the school several times and interviewed all of us. They must know—” She broke off, drawing in another sharp breath. “She was there! I saw her when I left to go back inside. She was standing near the doorway, watching the playground—”

  “I’ll talk to you later,” Tess said quickly.

  “Tess, what are you going to do—”

  She hung up the phone, gazing around the kitchen as if in some familiar corner, in some deep recess, she would find a clue to Emily’s whereabouts.

  She picked up the phone again to call Willa, then put it down. She picked it up again to call the police, then put it down.

  What she was thinking was crazy. Willa Banks hadn’t taken Emily. Why would she?

  “…she’s not playing with a full deck…”

  “She shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near those children…”

  “Dear God,” Tess whispered. She grabbed her keys from the counter and tore out the back door.

  TESS KNEW EXACTLY where Willa lived. She’d taken her home once from the volunteer center when Willa needed a ride. It was out of Tess’s way, but she’d never been that anxious to get home to an empty house, and besides, she’d felt she owed it to Willa after all she’d done to help in the search for Emily.

  Now, to think that she may have been the one to take Emily—it made Tess’s skin crawl. It made her sick to think that she’d been so close to Willa and hadn’t suspected a thing.

  Don’t jump to conclusions, Tess warned herself as she pulled to the side of road. For all she knew, Willa could be perfectly innocent, but something deep inside Tess told her that she wasn’t wrong.

  Set back from the main road, Willa’s house was surrounded by woods, and from her upstairs windows, she’d have a view of the lake, some quarter of a mile or so to the west. Tess parked her car a hundred yards from the house, and took to the woods. She didn’t want Willa to see her coming and panic.

  The trees still dripped from the earlier rainstorm, and by the time Tess emerged at the back of Willa’s house, her clothes were damp from the wet leaves. She stood for a moment, gazing up at the house. The lights were all out, except for a faint glow from one of the downstairs windows.

  As Tess started across the yard, she fervently hoped Willa didn’t have a dog. Or a gun.

  A few yards from the house, she paused and glanced up. It was a dark night, but the moon was just rising over the treetops, and Tess could make out the outline of windows. One of the upstairs windows had burglar bars. Strange, because none of the downstairs windows were so equipped. Why would Willa have burglar bars at an upstairs window?

  The answer almost made Tess’s knees buckle. Because she wasn’t trying to keep someone out. She was trying to keep someone in.

  Tess’s heart pounded so hard against her chest she actually felt faint. She stared up at the window, trying to peer through the darkness. And then, as if she had willed it, she saw a movement. A tiny silhouette appeared briefly at the window, and then was gone.

  Emily!

  JARED PULLED into Tess’s driveway behind a dark blue van and got out. He started running toward the po
rch, but a woman’s voice called to him from the van. “She’s not home! I’ve already checked.”

  He retraced his footsteps to the driveway. The woman he’d seen with Tess at the volunteer center sat behind the wheel of the van. He walked slowly toward her. “You’re Melanie, aren’t you? Tess’s friend?”

  She nodded. “And you’re Jared, of course. Jared Spencer.” She said his name with no small amount of scorn, but then, after everything Tess had told him earlier, he could hardly blame her. “Why are you looking for Tess?”

  “I need to see her. We’ve got some things to straighten out.”

  “She doesn’t need to see you,” Melanie said bitterly. “The best thing you can do is just leave her alone.”

  “I can’t,” Jared said. “I can’t leave her alone. We have a daughter together.”

  Melanie gasped. Even in the darkness, Jared thought he saw her face pale. “She told you?”

  “It doesn’t matter how I found out. The important thing is that I know. And I’m going to do everything in my power to find Emily and bring her back home. And then I’m going to make sure my brother pays for what he did to Tess. And to you.”

  Melanie’s eyes filled with unexpected tears. “You don’t know what you’re up against.”

  “Oh yes I do,” Jared said. “Royce is the one who doesn’t know.”

  Suddenly, all the bitterness seemed to drain out of her, and she put her head against the back of the seat, closing her eyes. “It’s too late for me. Nothing will give me back my legs. Not revenge. Not justice. But you can still help Tess.” She opened her eyes and stared at Jared. “I think she may be in real trouble.”

  TESS GAZED at the window, but the silhouette didn’t reappear. She started to call out, but something held her back. Don’t tip off Willa. Don’t do anything to endanger Emily.

  But Tess had to get her daughter out of there. She would not leave here without her, no matter what she had to do.

  She tried the back entrance and found it locked.

  Running around to the front, Tess flew up the porch steps and started pounding on the door. When no one answered, she banged even harder. After a few moments, the porch light came on, and Willa, dressed for bed, pulled back the door.