In the Garden of Temptation (27 page)

Edna Fielding stepped across the threshold,
her curious glance plainly taking in her surroundings. When she
spotted her master Baron Bourgeault glowering at her from a
distance of only a few feet, her expression turned to panic.

“
Oh! Oh!” seemed to be all
she could manage.

She lurched backward in an attempt to retreat
and brought the heel of her foot down on the toe of the unfortunate
butler. Ames hid his pain in a muffled grunt. He reached out to
steady the maid but not quickly enough to prevent her from toppling
to the floor as she staggered away from him. He was rewarded for
his efforts by losing his own balance and landing in a heap next to
Edna on the marbled entry.

“
Bah!” Lord Bourgeault
tossed his arms up and stalked to the entrance but not before
throwing the earl a look full of meaning. “Hear what I say,
Ashworth. Don’t stand in my way or you will have cause to regret
it.” He left without bothering to close the door.

Adam stared at the two servants as they lay
on the floor in limb-tangled chaos, and a sense of the ridiculous
took hold of him. Probably he needed to release the suppressed
tension that had him in its grip but, whatever it was, he began to
howl with mirth. He backed up to the staircase and, grabbing hold
of the banister, lowered himself to the bottom step where he
continued to roar uncontrollably until tears gushed from between
his swollen lids.

In the meantime Ames had managed to regain
his feet, and he offered a hand to poor Edna. “I’m glad I could
provide you with a good laugh, my lord,” he stated as he
straightened his coat.

“
Ames, I’m sorry. I couldn’t
help myself.” Catching sight of the butler’s frosty expression, the
earl burst loose with another guffaw.

“
Indeed, my lord, so I
gather.” And with that Ames turned with what remained of his pride
and disappeared down the hall.

Adam dabbed at damp eyes with his fingertips
and chortled again despite himself. Oddly, the laughter held no
amusement. In fact, he felt more like weeping in despair.

“
My lord?”

“
What? Oh, I forgot. Miss
Fielding, isn’t it?” The earl stood up as his attention came back
to the maid.

“
Yes, my lord,” she answered
timidly.

“
Did your lady send you?” he
asked, swallowing down a dichotomy of feeling that threatened to
overwhelm him.

“
She did. She said she
needed to talk to you at your place as soon as possible. She said I
should come straight to the door and ask for you. I didn’t expect
to see Lord Bourgeault though,” she whimpered.

“
I wouldn’t worry. I suspect
he hardly noticed you.”

“
But he looked so
angry.”

“
He was angry all right, but
it had nothing to do with you.” Despite his laughter of moments
earlier, he now had to force a smile as he looked at her
encouragingly. “You’ll have to excuse me. Thank you for bringing
the message.”

He turned then and took the stairs two at a
time, the little maid already forgotten.

*****

Catherine paced back and forth across the
worn carpet, too nervous to sit. She wanted the earl to come, but
at the same time she dreaded his arrival. If only she had been able
to leave home before she had been forced to confront the countess.
Now she had no choice but to face reality. So much nicer to remain
blissfully ignorant.

Of course, she had only herself to blame. She
should never have allowed herself to think beyond the present.
Adam’s words had been so persuasive, seductive really. How could
she resist the temptation to hope? The countess had certainly
wasted no time giving her the bald truth. Catherine Bourgeault was
not good enough for the Earl of Ashworth, not nearly, and she never
would be.

In all fairness she found it difficult to
blame Lady Ashworth for feeling as she did. Adam was her son and
she wanted the best for him. Catherine did have a problem
visualizing the dowager countess in a maternal fashion, though, for
a less motherly female was hard to imagine. But the woman’s
ruthlessness regarding the baby, though unsurprising given the
aristocracy’s attitude toward illegitimacy, still struck her as
unnatural. It was her beloved son’s child after all.

Catherine went still when she heard a key
slip the lock, her heart fluttering against her ribs like a frail
bird in a cage. She held her breath as the door swung open and Adam
entered the apartment. He looked at her across the space that
divided them. For several moments neither spoke, and Catherine
sensed a hesitation that wasn’t there before.

“
I missed you,” he said at
last.

She smiled tentatively. “And I, you.”

“
I came as soon as I
received your message.”

“
Thank you.” She could think
of nothing else to say.

“
Was it urgent?” he asked in
a puzzled voice. “Your maid indicated that you wanted to see me as
soon as possible. She had a terrible fright,” he continued, not
waiting for her answer. “Your husband was in my foyer when she
arrived, and she was so alarmed she nearly harmed herself in an
effort to get away.”

Catherine blanched. “Edgar came to see
you?”

“
He did. I take it you were
unaware of his visit.” He watched her closely.

“
I had no idea he intended
to see you. What did he want?”

Adam pushed the door into place, and she had
the distinct impression he was stalling. He walked to where she
stood by the window and took her chilled hand in his.

“
Catherine, I told you I
believed he knew about us. He came today to warn me
off.”

“
What did you tell
him?”

“
Not much, really. He did
most of the talking.”

Still he watched her, searching her features
as though he were looking for something that bothered him.

“
Where does this leave us
now?” she asked, for the probing expression in his eyes made her
nervous.

“
I don’t know, but he put
forth an accusation that has troubled me.”

Uh oh…
“What did he say?”

Adam clenched his teeth and a muscle in his
cheek jumped. He swallowed. “According to him you and he have been
trying to have a child without much success. He felt the problem
might be his and thus decided to provide a surrogate in his stead.
He assures me that he contrived this scheme with your complete
knowledge and cooperation.”

Now she understood. This was where it all had
been leading from the very start. Edgar would not be satisfied with
merely separating her from the earl. He wanted to rend her
relationship with Adam irrevocably. He wanted to cause a rift that
left no ambiguities for future contact. In short, he wanted it
ended.

Naturally, she could deny the baron’s words.
She could see by the look on Adam’s face he hoped—no—expected her
to do just that. He would believe her, she knew. But this was the
perfect excuse and Edgar had known it all along. If she agreed with
her husband there would be no lingering over what to do. Catherine
understood instinctively that Adam would detest the deception and
abandon the effort.

She hesitated for a fraction too long, and
Adam’s brows drew together in a deep frown. “Catherine…?”

She opened her mouth then closed it again.
She could not bring herself to admit that her husband was right,
and yet this might be her only opportunity to truly set the earl
free. Instead she settled on a half-truth.

“
It only began that way…”
she trailed off, the lie robbing her of speech. She could not bear
for him to think she had not cared at all.

It didn’t matter, for the repulsion that
transformed Adam’s features said everything. He looked appalled.
Tossing her hand from him, he backed away as though he had come in
contact with something wicked.

“
You used me?” He barked the
question.

“
It wasn’t like
that.”

She wished desperately that she could
renounce her statement, but she was in too deep. She must see this
through to the bitter end for his sake.

“
Then what was it like?
Answer me! Explain to me how all these weeks you could profess to
love me when you were simply doing your husband’s bidding. You are
a damned fine actress, I’ll give you that.”

“
Men do it all the time,”
she said feebly, hoping somehow to explain the
unexplainable.

“
What is it they do,
Catherine?” he bit out.

“
They choose a woman for her
appropriateness for bearing progeny. The aristocracy has a penchant
for it.”

“
I see, some men do it so
all men do it? Well, there are no absolutes in life, darling, and I
can tell you for a fact I don’t do it. If I’d wanted a wife to bear
me children, I’d have married a long time ago. I wanted something
more.” He stared at her accusingly. “I thought I’d found
it.”

“
Adam, I think it’s best
this way.” She held out her hands to him in supplication. “I’m not
right for you. You can do so much better.”

“
How can you say this to me?
I didn’t care about the right or wrong of it. I would have given up
everything for you.”

And that, of course, was why she must send
him away. It was too much for him to sacrifice.

“
I wanted to marry you,” he
said, his voice hoarse with emotion.

“
I know,” she whispered
brokenly.

She was undone and her resolve, a tenuous
thing at best, was stretched to the breaking point. Even now she
could tell him the truth and he would believe her. The temptation
to do so was unbearable.

He swung from her and crossed the apartment,
but he turned at the door. “It need not have been so much trouble,
you know. With that face and body you’re a fancy piece, no doubt
about it. I’d have been happy to oblige you without all the lies.”
He turned then and slammed from the room.

A parting shot meant to
wound, and if words were fatal, she would have perished on the
spot. Catherine went lightheaded as she felt the blood drain from
her face. She would never forgive Edgar—
never
.

She glanced around the tiny apartment,
recently her haven and now her hell, and her eyes filled with
tears. Until today she had managed to keep the baron out, but no
longer. He permeated every aspect of her life, tainting her with
his poison. She hated him—for the first time, she truly hated
him.

A nervous quivering began deep in her body
and moved with a purpose to the surface of her skin. She reached
out to grab the bedpost in an effort to steady herself, but her
knees gave way and she slipped to the floor. Too weak to move, she
lay there as a great wave of grief overwhelmed her. And then she
wept in earnest, wrenching sobs of total despair.

Midnight came and went before she found the
strength to leave for home.

*****

Charlotte Richards entered Catherine’s
bedchamber, her manner brisk. “You haven’t been seen on the town in
two days, and I’m here to see why you’ve been hiding.” She stopped
abruptly as she caught sight of her friend’s face. “My dear, are
you quite all right? You look terrible.”

Catherine’s eyes were nearly swollen shut
from hours spent crying. Though rarely given to tears, she had been
unable to stem the unending flow. She smiled at Charlotte
sadly.

“
I’m glad you’ve come,
Charlotte. It gives me a chance to say good-by.”

“
Good-by? What are you
talking about?”

“
Edgar has decided it is
time for us to go home. We leave in the morning.”

“
Tomorrow? But you can’t.
Everybody’s coming back to town next week. There will be wonderful
parties. You’ll be expected everywhere. You were quite a success,
you know.”

“
Be that as it may, I won’t
be here.”

Lady Richards moved in a rustle of skirts to
the chaise where Catherine sat, plopping down beside her
friend.

“
Now then, something’s
wrong—confide in me,” she demanded.

Catherine shook her head. “It’s nothing,
really. I have to go home and I don’t want to.”

“
What of Lord
Ashworth?”

Catherine’s gaze dropped to her hands resting
in her lap.

“
It’s over,” she stated
grimly.

“
What happened?”

“
Edgar happened. Oh,
Charlotte, please don’t make me talk about it. I cry until I think
I can’t possibly produce another tear, and then I cry some more.
It’s been the most horrible two days of my life.”

“
You poor dear.” Charlotte
patted Catherine’s hand. “You really cared for Adam, didn’t
you?”

“
I love him and I always
will.” She gulped as the tears threatened to erupt once
more.

“
There is no hope?”
Charlotte asked.

“
None, and I wouldn’t change
it if I could.”

“
Why not?”

“
I’m married, Charlotte.
There is no future for Lord Ashworth and me. He needs to forget and
move on with his life.”

Lady Richards nodded at this obvious truth.
“I will miss you. I’ve come to think of you as my very best
friend,” she said, her expression full of regret. “Do you think you
will ever come back?”

“
I have no way of knowing.
Maybe as a widow.” Catherine shrugged.