A Dangerous Temptation

by L. R. Olson

  Her eyes narrowed warily. “What do you mean?”

  I shook my head, realizing that she was growing suspicious, and if I wasn’t careful she might guess the awful truth. “I can’t say, just believe me. He doesn’t even care about your reputation, Penny! If he did he would have waited longer than three months for the wedding.”

  She blushed. “He said there was no reason to wait.”

  I sighed. Had I once been that naïve? Before Welch’s son had begun the process of my downfall? Before James had finished? “Penny, you know what people think of quick weddings…they think you’re with child!”

  “But we haven’t even kissed!”

  I drew back, startled. Yes, I was surprised, yet at the same time I was oddly relieved. I didn’t want to think of James and Penny kissing. It was wrong in some way. My relief gave way to confusion. They’d known each other five months, been engaged for three. He’d kissed me almost instantly, yet held back with his very own fiancé. Why? But even as I thought the question, I realized the answer. Because Penny was a lady, while I…I had been his whore.

  “What would I do?” She looked so young, so incredibly miserable. “I can’t stay here.”

  She was right. Where would she go? Perhaps she and I could run away, join the circus. Dress as men and become sailors. Both excellent plans, I thought sarcastically. “I have some money saved…”

  She smiled sadly. “No. I won’t do that to you. Besides, you’ll need it if you wish to escape our aunt and uncle in the north.”

  Did she not understand that James was so much worse? No, she didn’t. And I couldn’t explain why. “He’s an evil, evil man, Penny, and I will do whatever it takes to see you don’t marry him.”

  She shook her head and stood. I knew that look of resolution. There was no changing her mind. “I have a duty to our family.”

  Anger sent me surging to my feet. “You have a duty to yourself!”

  She sighed like a parent suffering her child’s tantrums. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  I stiffened, annoyed. “You’re right. I wouldn’t.”

  “Jules, please, I’m not—”

  “Penny,” Mother called out, standing on the back stoop and looking furious and relieved all at once. “There you are. Inside, now! Your guests await, and someone saw Whitfield riding this way!”

  Without a backward glance, Penny trudged toward the house looking anything but the happy bride. How could our parents force this marriage? They had loved us at one time, hadn’t they? We’d had a happy childhood, and had never felt pressured to marry. Never felt pressured to be anyone but ourselves. Who would have thought that the entire time they were planning our demise? That all along they were scheming at match-making. Is this truly what they wanted for us?

  I sank back onto the swing with a heavy heart. He’d arrived every month for exactly three days. I dreaded those weekend visits like nothing I’d ever dreaded before. We’d never once spoken of our time together. I made sure never to see him alone. When we did meet in the hall or at dinner, he’d merely stare coldly, as if daring me to mention what had happened. I wouldn’t, coward that I was. To out myself would not only be my utter ruination, but my family’s as well.

  How anyone could be so evil, I didn’t understand, couldn’t comprehend his lack of a conscience. And my sister was going to marry him. I took in a deep trembling breath. It was too late to tell the truth…wasn’t it? But what if telling the truth could save my sister? I glanced at the door where Penny and Mother had disappeared.

  He had three brothers in all, although only one had arrived. Poor Penny would be stuck with his family for eternity. I vaguely remembered Penny hinting months ago that she would match me with one of his siblings. Now, I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of that statement. I’d marry the devil before I’d marry anyone in his family. Yet, that’s exactly what I was doing to Penny…letting her marry the devil.

  Determined, I surged to my feet. I had to tell her the truth. I couldn’t let her marry him knowing that he wouldn’t be true to her. Knowing he would destroy her very innocence.

  “Good day, Julianna.”

  I froze. It was the first time in all those months that he had addressed me directly. Why now? Hatred and anxiety burned a brilliant path through my gut. What did he want? And I had no doubt he wanted something.

  I was forced to take in a deep, calming breath before I turned to face him. Although he’d ridden the mile from town on horseback, for I could see the grooms leading his mount away, he didn’t look ruffled. It was as if the dust wouldn’t dare settle upon his lofty shoulders. And as much as I hated him, I could admit, to myself, that he was as handsome as ever. How I despised the man. Hated his arrogant smirk, his stunning face and perfectly muscled body. The disgust that flared through me left me shaking.

  “How can you marry her?” I blurted out.

  He glanced dispassionately toward the house. “She’s quite beautiful, pure, innocent and meek. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but most men appreciate those qualities in a wife.”

  I wanted to slap him. To curl my hands and punch him in his perfect nose. Yes, she was pure but she wouldn’t be once she married him. “You won’t be true to her! You’ll ruin her!”

  As you have ruined me.

  The unspoken words hung suspended between us.

  His gaze returned to me, the amusement in his dark eyes stunning and horrifying. This was all just a game to him…toying with our emotions. No matter how hard I tried to appeal to the humanity within him, he would never relent. “As long as I’m discreet, I don’t see the problem.”

  Unable to help myself, I did the one thing I’d been wanting to do for three months. I slapped him. Hard.

  ****

  James

  I didn’t even flinch.

  I’d certainly been hit harder in my life and by men twice my size. She jerked her hand back, cradling it to her chest. She hated me with a passion that flashed through her brilliant blue eyes, that vibrated from her being. Eyes that had been full of laughter and flirtation only three months ago. Until I’d ruined her. But I’d known it would happen, hadn’t I? I’d known I’d destroy that happiness. I hadn’t cared. I’d wanted her.

  Slowly, I pulled my riding gloves from my hands. “You get one pass, my dear. Touch me again and you will regret it.”

  She continued to glare at me but I didn’t miss the tremble that ran through her body. I frightened her. Good. “And if I tell my family what you did?”

  I quirked a brow. “What I did? Please, do. Just make sure to tell them the truth…how you threw yourself at me. Jealous of your sister’s attention. Wanting to ruin her good fortune.”

  She blanched. “They won’t believe that! And I hardly see you as my sister’s good fortune.”

  “Won’t they believe?” I smoothed down my jacket as I prepared to enter the house and meet our doting guests. I didn’t wear the common garb I’d worn when I had first arrived to this perfect little town. My coat and trousers were of the highest quality.

  Those months ago I’d been playing a part, keeping my true identity a secret so that I might uncover the facts about my future bride with no one knowing any better. Instead of focusing on Penny, I’d become obsessed with Jules. I’d used these last three months to get over that obsession. So why the hell was I lingering in the damn garden when I should have been inside?

  “It’s not as if you haven’t been in trouble before.” I smiled. “Oh yes, I know all about your past, my dear.”

  “Because I told you!” she seethed.

  The anger only brought a flush to her cheeks that made her look all the more beautiful. My body instantly heated, desire surging dangerously close to the forefront. I hated that she could influence me so. For three months I’d been coming here, wooing my fiancé. And those three months had been hell, my dormant body flaring to life every time I caught a glimpse of Jules. I couldn’t shake the memory of our one time together. The memory of her satin skin, her fresh sce
nt, her lush lips…

  “You’d truly take what happened to me in London and twist it for your benefit?”

  I laughed. “You’d be surprised at what I’d do to get what I want.”

  She was silent for a moment, stewing in her anger, while I continued to stand there watching her when I should have been inside. Hell, I wanted to shake sense into her. Wanted to hurt her deeply. I wanted to…damn it all, I wanted to shove her up against the tree and lift her skirts. I’d thought by staying away from her my interest would wane, but my desire for Julianna had merely increased to the point of desperation.

  “Did Welch put you up to this?” she asked.

  I snorted in disgust. The idiot was much too stupid to think of manipulation. “No one puts me up to anything.”

  “It’s sinful,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself and looking small, vulnerable. “What we did…”

  Damn it all, I would not be ashamed. “Fucked?”

  “You can’t sleep with me and then my sister. It’s not right!”

  I braced my shoulder against the tree, and reached for the rope of the swing where she and Penny had been seated only moments ago. Seeing them together looking so serious, so sisterly, almost made me feel guilty. Almost. “Why not? It’s been done many times before. Hell, in France I once slept with sisters…at the same time.”

  She stomped her foot, her face flushing with outrage. “You are disgusting! And I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  I laughed. “That will be a bit hard considering I’m marrying into the family, sister.”

  “Rot in hell, James.” Practically shaking with fury, she spun on her heel and stomped back toward the house, but not before I noticed the tears glistening in her blue eyes. Eyes that only three months ago had looked at me with adoration.

  I found little satisfaction in seeing her tears. Damn her, this was Julianna’s fault, yet she tried to turn the tables and make herself the victim. She had set out to seduce me, to trap me into marriage. I had been completely honest about my intentions. She hadn’t. My face still tingled from that slap, a lingering reminder. I clung to that pain, used it to dredge up my anger.

  “What was that about?” Rafe asked as he paused next to me. “I came searching for my brother and hear the bride’s sister telling you to rot in hell? Not that I’m surprised. I’m only surprised she didn’t say it sooner.”

  The grin my brother wore was more than annoying.

  “Shut up, Rafe.”

  I hated the witch with a passion I’d never felt before. Hated that she had used me. Hated that she had toyed with my affection. But mostly I hated that when she was nearby my body burst to life, betraying me. I wanted her as much as I had wanted her those months ago. Maybe even more. Hell, she had won after all. The realization left me furious.

  “What did you do?” Rafe asked. “Tell her she looked fat? Tell her the gown she wore was ugly?” He sighed, shaking his head. “You’re as bad as Oliver, you have no finesse when it comes to women.”

  “I did nothing,” I muttered.

  But the words sounded hollow even to my own ears. I wouldn’t feel guilty about wanting to sleep with another. I hadn’t been engaged to Penny…yet. Besides, married men had mistresses all the time. It was common knowledge, common practice. Damn Jules for making me even contemplate feeling bad.

  A cool breeze shifted through the trees, but it did little to temper the stifling summer heat. I desperately needed to be home, back on my moors where the air was cool, where the rain and clouds covered the mocking sun.

  “You did nothing? Jamie, I saw her slap you.”

  I started toward the door, hoping to leave him behind. I should have known better as he easily fell into step beside me. Music drifted from the open windows. Penny’s parents had spared no expense, wanting to impress their friends and neighbors. Idiots, worried about impressing instead of their dwindling fortune. Typical members of the ton.

  “Believe me, Rafe, you don’t want to know.”

  “Oh I think I do.”

  I paused and looked at him. He wore that mulish expression he so often wore when dealing with me. He wouldn’t relent. I knew my brother well. As much as he drove me mad, he’d always been the one to stand by my side. We were close, he, having been born only ten months after me. I suddenly found myself needing to tell someone, anyone what had happened. “Three months ago I slept with her.”

  He frowned. “Penny?”

  It was a beautiful day. I should have been inside celebrating my upcoming wedding. Instead, I was once again thinking of Jules. “If only it were that simple, but no.”

  “The sister?” Rafe’s eyes went wide, his mouth dropping open in shock. “Good God, please tell me you’re jesting.”

  I could feel the heat of embarrassment rising up my neck. Hell, I never blushed. “I wish.”

  He burst out laughing, the bastard. “This is rich! Too bloody rich! After all the times you’ve lectured me about decorum? About the family name?”

  My hands curled as I resisted the urge to hit him. “Shut up, Rafe.”

  “Seriously, I’d expect something like this from me…but you?”

  I started toward the door. I had about thirty minutes to bathe and dress. “It was a lapse in good judgement. I had no idea they were sisters. Hell, the woman practically threw herself on me. Might have been planning the seduction even before I’d arrived. Showed up at the house I was renting and started undressing. What the hell was I supposed to do?”

  I left out the fact that I had fully intended to have her even before she’d appeared at my cottage. But really, what woman, what virgin, slept with a man after only having known him for a couple weeks? She’d been planning, scheming…there was no other explanation. I’d been duped before by a bitch of a woman, I would not fall prey again. Never again.

  Rafe’s brows rose. “Really? I wouldn’t have thought it of her. She seems too…respectable.”

  If only. Rafe obviously hadn’t heard about her time in London with Welch’s son. Damn it all, I’d had a plan. A perfectly reasonable plan and Jules with her lying and scheming had blown that plan to bits. “Not in the least.”

  Not once had I stayed overnight on this estate. Preferring instead to reside at an inn near town. I knew I’d never be able to sleep under the same roof as Jules. But it had nothing to do with my burning hatred and everything to do with wanting her so desperately.

  I couldn’t even bring myself to kiss Penny, for it only reminded me of my time with her sister. Jules had bewitched and cursed me. I’d thought the fact that they were sisters wouldn’t matter. It did. Penny might have resembled her sister at times, but she had none of Julianna’s fire and passion. Still, the younger woman was cheerful, polite, and doted on society. I’d been determined to make our engagement work.

  Two nights until I would be married. Two nights and I would be free of Julianna. I’d sent my luggage to the house. I would stay here until the wedding. It would be the first and last time I would reside under the same roof as Julianna.

  “Do not let what happened in your past influence your future,” Rafe said like some blasted sage. “Not all women are the same, Jamie.”

  We reached the back stoop. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

  He shrugged, but his gaze was much too astute. “I’m merely stating a fact.”

  I shook my head and brushed Rafe’s comment aside. How the hell had I thought I could marry Penny? Seeing the woman day after day would only remind me of Jules. It would never end, but be a constant source of torture. Still, I couldn’t call off now, could I?

  “Blast the woman to hell,” I muttered, tearing open the kitchen door.

  I should have put a stop to this nonsense long ago, found a new fiancé. But I’d been so determined to forget Jules, to shake off the hold she had on me, that I’d been desperate to marry Penny and prove my strength.

  The kitchen was full of servants preparing for the wedding, only reminding me of how cl
ose I was to becoming shackled to Julianna’s sister.

  “Hell, Jamie,” Rafe said quietly. “Tell me you’re not marrying Penny just to punish her sister.”

  “Don’t be an idiot,” I muttered, wishing I’d sounded more convincing.

  I ignored the wide-eyed stares of the maids as I stomped through the kitchen, rattling the pans that hung from beams above.

  “Ladies,” Rafe grinned, snatching a biscuit from a tray and causing the staff to blush. Even the cook giggled like a young debutante.

  I’d been like Rafe once, a long, long time ago. Charming, carefree. And for a brief moment when I’d first met Jules I’d thought perhaps I’d found that happy lad once more. We moved up the back stairs. I needed a moment alone and the only way I could bloody be alone was in my own room. I couldn’t deny that Jules had made me feel more relaxed than I’d felt in a long while. Which had made her deception all the more unbearable.

  “You will keep this to yourself, do you understand?” I said as we reached the second floor.

  Rafe’s lips twisted into a sneer. “Of course. Wouldn’t dare disrespect the Earl of Whitfield.” We paused outside a door. “Your room, my lord.”

  With an exaggerated bow, he turned and left. Wonderful, now Rafe was angry. I frowned, watching him go. I knew at times I was more a demanding lord than big brother, but someone had to keep them all in line. If I was cold, heartless, it had always been for their own good.

  I gripped the doorknob and tore open the door. The room was large and well decorated in a rich silver and gray. No doubt they’d bought new furniture to impress me. Spending money they didn’t have. As if I bloody cared about décor. If more people focused less upon impressing their neighbors, the debtor’s prisons would be empty. It was why I’d managed to retain such wealth, because I didn’t bloody give a shite about impressing anyone.

  Stepping into the room, I closed the door behind me. Finally alone, only then could I breathe with some normalcy. But when I closed my eyes it was Julianna’s fine features that crossed my mind.