An Invitation to Sin (34 page)

Chapter 8

Gavin squinted at the golden sunlight that poured through the tall windows of his bedroom. Glancing at the empty space next to him, he recalled images of the beautiful woman who had been there during the night. Unsure when Charlotte had left his bed, he lamented the fact that she was gone already. He knew she had to return to her own room, but still it would have been nice to kiss her good morning.

Bloody hell! He bolted upright and rubbed his eyes. What the hell had he been thinking? To bed a woman like Charlotte Wilton? There would be the devil to pay now. He knew the consequences of such an act and now he would have to face them.

Charlotte had taken him by surprise, coming to his room in her nightgown the way she had. She had thrilled him, knowing that she had wanted him just as much as he had wanted her. And Christ, but hadn’t he been tortured more than a red-blooded male could bear during the portrait sittings the last two weeks? Who could blame him for succumbing to temptation when it came walking in his door, looking like a luscious goddess in the moonlight?

And it
had
been amazing with her. He had sensed that it would be from that first session in the art studio. She had not balked at removing her clothes or stiffened when he had held her so intimately in their required pose. He loved that about her. The naturalness of her desires and feelings. And she had been unabashed and unashamed in sharing them with him last night. Smiling at the memory, he stretched and recalled the taste of Charlotte’s sweet lips.

After he had bathed and dressed, he left his room in search of her. The poor girl was probably frantic with worry over what they had done last night. He knew she would need reassurance that he didn’t think any less of her. Hell, he thought more of her, if such a feat were possible! For hadn’t he done nothing else but fantasize about making love to her night after night? No, the decent thing to do was to find her and tell her he would put everything to rights. He had taken her innocence and now he would have to marry her.

Or he could get out of it somehow. The idea danced around his head, a slight temptation.

He could leave Spain immediately. It wasn’t likely he would see her again. He didn’t
have
to marry her. But a girl like Charlotte … No. He couldn’t do it. He liked her too much. Respected her even. She was witty and sensitive and intelligent. They got on well together. Gavin could not do something so low as to disappear on her by playing the cad.

He had been raised to be a gentleman and to behave accordingly.

She must be feeling a little ashamed and fearful about what to do next. He imagined she would be quite pleased with him and grateful for his offer. He was heir to an earldom after all, and as his wife, Charlotte would be a countess.

Marriage was not something he thought he would enter into for a few more years yet. He only had a year of university left, so they could plan a wedding for next summer. Perhaps his father would be pleased by Gavin’s desire to settle down with a proper and lovely girl and forgo the pressure for him to finish school. And just what would his dear old father think of the news? Surely he couldn’t disapprove of marriage?

“
Buenas tardes, mi amigo!
” Pedro Bautista-Martín called to him.

“Good afternoon to you too.” Gavin smiled in return.

“You are up rather late today.”

“The portrait is finished and I thought I would sleep in for a change. Have you seen Miss Wilton about?”

Pedro seemed surprised by his question. “I just said good-bye to her.”

“Has she gone down to the beach?” Gavin asked, wondering why Charlotte had not waited for him. The beach would be a perfect spot to propose to her.

“No.” Pedro shook his head, an odd expression on his face. “She went down to the port. She and her aunt are sailing to Italy.”

Gavin felt as if all the air had been sucked out of his lungs. “What do you mean?”

“Miss Wilton and her aunt have left the villa. We all wished them bon voyage. My mother went to see them off.”

Stunned, Gavin stared in amazement at his friend, his blood racing.
Charlotte left? Without a word to me? Why would she do such a thing?

“Did you not know she was going?”

Gavin shook his head slowly. He had definitely not known. If he had known he would have stopped her. Or gone with her.

“I thought you two had grown rather close of late …”

He had thought so too. Quite close. Apparently, Charlotte thought something else entirely.

Moving on wooden legs, Gavin walked out to the veranda and stared at the Mediterranean Sea. She had gone. After giving herself to him last night she had disappeared without a word. She wanted nothing more to do with him. He had the oddest sensation that his heart had just been ripped from his chest.

Never in his life had he thought seriously about marrying before. Yet with Charlotte he had. He was on his way to ask her to be his wife. And she was gone.
She’d left him.
Fled the country! He did not even know where she was going. It suddenly dawned on him as well that he had no idea at all where she lived. He had no way to contact her.

Astounded by this bit of reality, he sat on a chair and stared at the sea glittering in the afternoon sunlight. She was out there … on a ship …

She’d left him.

His mind was not functioning properly. Surely he had misheard his friend and Charlotte had only gone out with her aunt for a while.

Pedro followed him onto the veranda and sat in the chair beside him. “You are in love with her?”

“What?” Gavin stiffened at the question. “Oh, no. No.” He liked her immensely. She was beautiful and intelligent and caring. But in love with her? Definitely not. He was not in love with Charlotte.
Was he?

“I would not have thought this of her.” Pedro shook his head in disbelief. “That she would not have told you she was leaving. Was she angry with you over something?”

“Of course not.” Unless she was angry about spending the night in his bed, but given how eager and willing she had been, he seriously doubted it.
She’d left him.
No woman had ever left
him
before.

“Women!” Pedro exclaimed. “Who can understand them? Forget about her, my good friend. There is still much to enjoy here and we have a few weeks to go before you return home.”

He should take Pedro’s advice and enjoy the rest of the summer. Gavin should feel nothing but relief!
She’d left him.
He was off the hook for marrying Charlotte. This development should make him happy. Once again he was a man free to enjoy the delights of pretty women. More than likely he would never set eyes on Charlotte Wilton again. Yet he felt nothing but great disappointment at that prospect. And devastated by her careless defection. He should try to forget her now and join Pedro for a good time, enjoying the rest of a carefree summer.

Yet he had no desire to do that. None at all.

Strangely enough, what he really wanted to do was put all this behind him. He wanted to do something different, something worthwhile. He wanted to start over. He wanted to return home and apologize to his father.

Chapter 9

Four Months Later
English Countryside

“Charlotte!” the young boy cried from his perch on the limb of the oak tree. “Charlotte! Watch me!”

Charlotte saw her younger brother and called out to him, “Addison Forsythe! Don’t you dare jump off that branch! It’s entirely too high. You’ll get hurt!”

“Ah, don’t be a stick in the mud, Charlotte! Let him jump!” Allen Forsythe piped up. “Let him jump!”

“Come on, Char!” Andrew Forsythe pleaded, his baby hands pressed together. “We want to see him go!”

She put her hands on her hips in exasperation and stared at her three brothers, their pugnacious little faces set in determination. Adam, her only younger brother who was not vexing her at the moment, ignored the lot of them. Sprawled on the blanket under the shade of the tree, Adam had his nose in a book. The oldest of the quartet of Forsythe brothers at eleven, Adam was studious and quiet and generally considered himself superior to his younger siblings.

“No. It’s too dangerous,” Charlotte exclaimed. She looked up at the one in the tree. The sunlight sprinkled through the autumn-tinted leaves and colored his brown hair with a red hue. “Climb down a few branches at least, Addison!”

“Well, that’s no fun!” snorted Andrew, the youngest at five. His round freckled face filled with scorn at her proclamation.

“Let him jump, please!” Allen tugged on her arm.

“I promised Mother I would not let you run wild if I took you on this picnic. So I will not bring you home with a broken leg or worse, Addison,” she called up to him.

“Oh, just jump already, Addison!” Adam called from his position on the blanket, not even glancing up from his book.

“You are not helping me at—Oh!” Before Charlotte could finish the words, her nine-year-old brother came crashing down on the ground beside her amid a flurry of gold and red leaves and broken twigs. “Addison! I told you not to do that!”

He could not hear her reprimands over the shouts of glee from the younger boys.

“That was brilliant!” Andrew cheered, exceedingly delighted with his brother’s forbidden descent from the tree.

The wild whoops and hollers even made Adam look away from his beloved book.

Charlotte grabbed Addison’s arm, helping him to his feet. “Are you hurt at all?” Her mother certainly would blame her if he were.

Addison, beaming with pride, brushed some dirt from the seat of his trousers. “Course not!”

“Then let’s go back to the house,” she ordered all of them. “It’s getting late anyway and we want to be home before Alec gets there.”

“Oh, yes! Let’s hurry!” Andrew jumped up and down. “I want to see Alec!”

Charlotte knew that mentioning their eldest brother’s imminent visit from university would elicit their compliance in heading back to the house. Her stepbrother’s rare homecoming had left the younger boys excited, for they looked upon Alec as an all-powerful hero. And indeed, he was tall, handsome, athletic and excelled at everything he put his hand to. The product of her stepfather and his first wife, Alec was only a year older than Charlotte, with dark hair and deep brown eyes. They had always got on well together and she had been looking forward to his homecoming as well. She had not seen Alec herself since his Christmas holiday last year, because she had been away all summer.

Summer.
She tried to block what happened then out of her mind. It was too painful to bring up those memories. And regrets. Aunt Louisa had been terribly wrong about that. Charlotte regretted many things she had done that summer. Regretted one thing in particular.

As much as she tried to forget, it haunted her daily. Gavin Ellsworth haunted her thoughts, her dreams, her every waking moment. The aching loneliness in her heart had not healed and she feared it never would.

“Oh, let’s hurry, Charlotte!” cried Allen, dancing a little jig around her.

After they gathered their picnic items, Charlotte ordered the older three to carry the baskets and things and she grabbed Andrew’s chubby hand firmly in hers. They set off across the field while the autumn sun sank low in the sky. As they rounded a hedge they spied a carriage coming up the drive.

“It’s Alec!” Excited shrieks pierced the air and the boys broke into a run.

Charlotte held fast to Andrew’s hand, although he tried desperately to break free. The carriage disappeared from view as it drove to the front of the house. The three older boys raced ahead. By the time Charlotte reached the back entrance, she was exhausted and felt as if her arm were pulled from the socket. She released her impatient charge and Andrew went careening down the hallway in a mad hurry to find his big brother.

Removing her hat, she sighed and followed after the sound of her brothers’ wild cries. She always knew exactly where they were simply from the amount of noise they made, and today was no different. She knew her brothers were in the front hallway. As she neared, she could distinguish amid the noise her mother’s sweet voice and Alec’s laughter. Her pace increased as she turned the corner.

“Charlotte!” Alec cried when he saw her. He broke loose from his little brothers, raced to her side, swept her up in a bear hug, and swung her around. He finally set her down and took a look at her. “You haven’t changed a bit, Char. You’re as pretty as ever!”

Smiling broadly, she said, “You, on the other hand, look much older!”

“Did you send those little monkeys to attack me?” He laughed and pointed to Andrew, Adam, Addison, and Allen.

“Of course I did!” She gave him a wink.

“Let’s not stand here in the hallway any longer,” her mother, Elizabeth Forsythe, suggested. “Shall we go into the drawing room? We can’t have our guest standing here all day. I fear we’ve kept you here too long as it is, Lord Langdon.”

Charlotte glanced over at her mother and froze at the sight of her standing beside a handsome gentleman; tall, blond, and muscular. Her mind spun and she became slightly dizzy, clutching Alec’s arm for support.

“I’m sorry”—Alec tugged her forward—“I should have introduced you.”

Charlotte moved on leaden feet, her heart racing so rapidly in her chest, she thought it might very well explode.

With an easy manner and blithely unaware of his sister’s reluctance, Alec introduced Charlotte to the man who had turned her life upside down. “This is Gavin Ellsworth, Lord Langdon, a new friend of mine from Cambridge. Gavin, may I present my sister, Charlotte Wilton.”

Charlotte stared into the depths of hazel eyes that were far too familiar. She recognized every fleck of gold and brown.

Gavin’s brows raised and he looked at her with surprise, holding out his hand. “I am pleased to meet you, Miss Wilton.”

She nodded, unable to form a coherent word, and took his hand in hers. The spark that shot through her veins when they touched almost knocked her to the ground.

“Alec, you neglected to mention that your sister was such a beauty.”

She closed her eyes at the sound of his voice and he released her hand. She suddenly felt very cold.

Charlotte heard her brother laugh and say something about Gavin keeping his distance from his only sister. Her elegant mother then ushered them all from the hallway and obediently she followed her family into the drawing room and sank gratefully upon a damask chair. She was vaguely aware that little Andrew had climbed onto her lap. She heard the words that were being spoken, but she could not take anything in except that Gavin Ellsworth was there in her home.
He’s here!
Somehow he had become friends with her brother.

And he had pretended not to know her.

He was as shocked as she was. She could see it in his eyes. But he acted as if they had just met for the first time. As if what had happened between them in Spain had never happened at all.

A lump formed in her throat. She did not partake of the tea and cakes and biscuits that were served, although Andrew ate more than enough for her and left the crumbs on her lap as evidence. She did not enter into the conversation among her mother, Alec, and Gavin, nor did she object to the shouts and interruptions from the boys, who were tumbling about on the floor. It took all her energy to keep from bursting into tears.

“Charlotte, are you feeling well?” Alec asked.

She blinked and looked up at the sound of her name.

“She does look rather pale,” her mother said, her voice tinged with worry. “Perhaps she was out with the boys too long this afternoon.”

“Addison scared her by jumping out of a tree!” Andrew tattled on his brother with no remorse, his mouth filled with shortbread biscuit.

Charlotte leapt at the excuse. “I … I do have a dreadful headache. Would you mind if I went to my room to rest for a bit?”

“Not at all, darling,” said her mother.

“Excuse me,” she whispered. She felt Gavin’s eyes on her as she shooed Andrew from her lap and fled the drawing room as decorously as she could manage.

When she reached the safety of her pretty floral bedroom, she flung herself onto her four-poster bed and buried her sobs in the pillows. Wishing she were anywhere but in her home, she could no longer hold back the tears. Hot and stinging, the tears poured down her cheeks while great sobs wracked her body.

It was the first time she cried over Gavin Ellsworth.