Название: The Tempted
Автор: Amanda Stevens
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Зарубежные любовные романы
isbn: 9781474022873
isbn:
But what none of them had known at that moment, not even Tess, was that she was already irrevocably tied to the Spencers….
Shoving the memories aside, Tess finished the last of the dishes. She dried her hands on a dish towel, then went to kneel beside Melanie. “I need to talk to you.”
Melanie looked surprised by the urgency in Tess’s voice. “Of course. What is it?”
“I know where I can get the money I need.”
Melanie frowned. “Where?”
Tess bit her lip. “Jared’s back in Mississippi. I read in the paper that he’s been named president of the Spencer Hotels Corporation.” The article had featured a picture of Jared at a big charity event held at the New Orleans Spencer. He’d been accompanied by a beautiful redhead with a spectacular figure. His fiancé, the caption had said. Tess hadn’t wanted to look at that picture too closely, but somehow she hadn’t been able to tear her gaze from it. Jared was getting married. “I’m going to drive to Jackson tomorrow and see him,” she told Melanie.
Melanie gripped the arms of her wheelchair. “No!”
“It’s the only way, Mel. I have to do this for Emily.”
“Emily is precisely the reason why you can’t do this!” Melanie’s face had gone deathly white. “Have you forgotten why you left town that summer? Why you felt you had to marry Alan Campbell, a man you weren’t in love with? Have you forgotten what happened to me?”
“I haven’t forgotten anything.” Tess’s gaze dropped to Melanie’s wheelchair. “How could I?”
“You can’t tell him about Emily. You can’t!”
“I know all the reasons why I shouldn’t,” Tess said quietly. “I know what the dangers are. But what if we’re wrong about the kidnapping, Melanie? What if Royce had something to do with Emily’s disappearance, and I didn’t tell the police about him? What if he has her, and I’ve kept silent all this time?”
“Tess, listen to me,” Melanie said desperately. “You know that’s not possible. The police think that whoever kidnapped Sadie Cross ten years ago came back and abducted Emily. Royce had nothing to do with it. But if he finds out about her now, do you think he’d stand by and let that trust slip through his fingers? Even with Emily missing, if he thought you were still a threat to him, he’d come after you in a heartbeat and you know it. He might even come after me, too.”
Melanie’s pale, thin face hardened with hatred. “Look at me, Tess. Take a good long look. I’m in this wheelchair because I threatened Royce Spencer. He’s the one who forced us off the road that night and left us both for dead.”
“I know you’ve always thought that, but the police—”
“Wouldn’t even investigate. They never even went out to check Royce’s car. It was all swept under the rug, just like it would be now, if you threatened the Spencers. But you thought it was Royce, too, that night, Tess, or else you never would have left town. You would have stayed and fought the Spencers if you hadn’t been afraid for your life. And for your baby’s life.” Melanie cast a glance toward the kitchen door, then lowered her voice so that Joelle wouldn’t overhear them. “You burned your bridges by keeping silent, and that took extraordinary courage. Don’t get cold feet now. Think of everything you’ve done to protect your daughter.”
It was true. Tess had gone to great lengths to guard her secret, not the least of which had been changing Emily’s birth certificate. Alan Campbell had been a medical student before he’d gotten too sick to continue his studies, but he’d still had connections at the hospital in Memphis where he’d trained. He’d had one of his friends who worked in medical records change the entry of Emily’s birth from April to August, a full year after Tess had left Eden, as well as the date on all Tess’s medical records.
All she’d had to do then was apply for a corrected birth certificate from the state. And since Emily was small for her age, no one had questioned the four-month discrepancy in her development when Tess had returned to Eden two years later. No one knew Emily’s true birthday except for Tess, Joelle, Melanie and Emily’s pediatrician. And there was no way Royce could get his hands on those records.
“Please, please, think about what you’re doing,” Melanie begged. “You can’t tell Jared the truth. You can’t.” Only one other time had Tess seen the same level of terror in her friend’s eyes. “You can’t take the chance that Royce would find out. He’s still dangerous. He got away with attempted murder back then, and his family helped him. They’d help him now, too, if they had to. For God’s sake, don’t bring those people back into our lives.”
Tess glanced up at her friend. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have a choice. They have money and I don’t.”
“Yes,” Melanie said bitterly. “And what if Royce uses his money to make certain Emily stays missing forever? Have you considered that?”
Chapter Three
Secrets have a way of coming back to haunt you, Tess’s mother had warned her that summer. As Tess hovered nervously in Jared’s office doorway the next day, she felt almost sick with apprehension. The prospect of what she was about to do terrified her.
Melanie was right. The consequences of Tess’s actions today could be dire. The threat that had driven her from town—and from Jared’s arms—that summer still posed a grave danger. If he refused to help her, she could be risking everything for nothing. She could be putting her daughter in even more jeopardy.
But what choice did she have? What choice had she had six years ago?
Tess swallowed and took a fortifying breath, slowly, deeply, to calm herself, repeating the litany she’d chanted to herself all through the sleepless night. I’m doing this for Emily.
Across the room, Jared stood at the window, oblivious to her presence, and for a moment, the urge to slip away before he noticed her was almost overwhelming. But Tess hesitated, her gaze moving over him, drinking in the familiar lines of his body. The wide shoulders. The narrow waist and slim hips. He was just as tall as she’d remembered, his hair still dark.
In point of fact, Tess had forgotten nothing about Jared Spencer because she still dreamed about him. She still thought about him at night, after Emily had gone to sleep, when the TV was turned off and the house settled into deep silence. Sometimes lying in bed, unable to drift off, Tess would wonder about what might have been, but mostly she thought about what was never meant to be.
She and Jared had come from two very different worlds—his one of wealth and privilege, hers one of hard work and sacrifice. Still, it might have worked, they might have made it work, if it hadn’t been for a series of events that summer that had changed Tess’s life—and Melanie’s—forever. The night Melanie had showed up at Tess’s door had only been a portent.
But Jared had loved her once, Tess thought, her eyes misting. He’d once promised her there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her.
Would he feel that way now when he found out the truth…?
“Promise СКАЧАТЬ