In the Garden of Temptation (32 page)

“
I say…what?” Lord Wimberly
sat up, shocked from the peace of sleep. He shook his head,
obviously trying to clear a lingering grogginess, and stared
bleary-eyed at the intruder.

“
Daniel, what are you doing
here?”

“
Adam?” Daniel squinted at
the earl. “I’ve been waiting to see you. Don’t you ever come in at
a decent hour?”

“
Well, see, the thing is…”
Adam chuckled. “No, I ‘spose not.”

“
Sounds as though you’ve had
a great deal to drink this evening as well.”

“
From the looks of my brandy
decanter, it would appear you have been doing some sampling of the
spirits yourself.”

“
I’m not drunk, Adam.” There
was no smile in Daniel’s voice.

The earl turned serious. “The implication
being I am? I’m in no mood for a lecture, my friend.”

“
That’s too bad, I’m afraid,
because that is exactly what you’re going to get.”

“
I see. What if I leave you
here to stew in your righteous indignation and I simply go off to
bed?”

“
I’ll follow you, I swear
it. Might as well take your medicine like a man. You deserve every
last word I’m about to lay on your head.”

The earl nodded in mock obedience. “Right,
I’ll just pour myself a glass of that brandy to swallow with your
sermon.”

“
You’re not going to have
any more of that, either. I want you to listen to what I have to
say with a clear head.”

Adam perched on the edge of his desk, his
ankles crossed and arms folded over his chest. He stared at his
friend through deceptively lazy eyes and lifted his brows.

“
I’m waiting,” he said
coolly.

“
At any other time I might
be intimidated by this show of irritation, but there’s more at
stake here than a spoiled gentleman’s overindulgence due to pique
and disappointment.”

“
Really?” Adam
drawled.

“
Have you taken a good look
at yourself lately?”

“
Last time I bothered, it
had been many years since I’d reached my majority. Don’t think I
have to answer to you or anybody else.”

“
Come on, Adam, you don’t
live in an isolated world without responsibility. You’re not
handling this thing very well.”

That was the first guarded reference to
Catherine.

“
You don’t know what the
hell you’re talking about,” Adam ground out. “You have no idea what
I’ve been through, and I’ll be damned if I’ll stand here and listen
to this sanctimonious rot. I’m going to bed, which is what I should
have done the moment I knew what you had in mind.”

He stood from the desk with every intention
of doing just that.

“
I’ve talked to
her.”

The earl went very still. “Who?” he asked
after a moment.

“
Lady
Bourgeault.”

“
She’s come to town?” His
voice was barely audible.

Daniel shook his head. “No. I paid a visit to
her home.”

“
Why would you go all that
way just to see my old mistress?”

“
Actually, I went to Bath to
be with my father and, since I was in the vicinity, I decided to
pay her a call.”

“
You still have not said
why.” The earl watched his friend, struggling with a growing sense
of distrust.

“
Charlotte Richards asked it
of me. She has been worried ever since Lady Bourgeault left the
city. Charlotte said something was wrong there. I wanted to see for
myself.”

“
And what is your
conclusion?” Adam asked grudgingly, although he could not
completely hide his curiosity.

Daniel leaned forward in his chair, his
expression one of deep concern. “She needs us, my friend. I don’t
know how we can manage it, but we have to help her.”

“
Oh no, not me. I have no
intention of going anywhere near that woman.” When the viscount did
not reply, Adam asked, “Do you know what she did?”

“
I know what you think she
did,” Daniel answered. “Maybe you were too quick to believe the
worst.”

“
You speak in riddles.”
Adam’s voice rose in frustration. “If you have something to tell
me, get on with it. I grow weary of the subject.”

“
You’d better hold your
tongue until I reach the end,” the viscount said. “This isn’t easy
for me, either.”

Adam hesitated briefly before moving to the
chair opposite his friend. He took the seat and ran his fingers
impatiently through his hair, but he did not speak.

Daniel cleared his throat. “As I mentioned, I
went to visit Lady Bourgeault to check on her. It’s an odd
household, but I can’t say anything out of the ordinary happened in
the beginning. The baron invited me to stay for the evening meal.
Catherine joined me at dinner, though she said her husband had been
called away. That did seem strange, but we had a convivial time
without him, and then we adjourned to the parlor.”

Here Daniel paused and, clearing his throat
once again, he looked uneasy.

Adam knew his own expression was not
encouraging. He watched his friend through hard, wary eyes and,
though alert to the heightened tension, he felt no obligation to
relieve it.

The viscount continued. “Catherine let it be
known that my advances would not be unwelcome, and in a matter of
moments we were in each other’s arms. I’m not going to make any
apologies, Adam. I was taken by surprise and I acted abominably. If
it had not become painfully clear that she was not into the spirit
of the thing, I would have taken her right there on the sofa as I
was undoubtedly meant to do.”

“
Why are you telling me
this?” Adam snarled through gritted teeth.

“
Because it is pertinent,
and I want to be honest with you. For one insane moment I forgot
honor and friendship and culpability. I wanted her and, truth is,
given the right conditions my feelings could be deeper. I tell you
this in fair warning, for if you won’t help her, I
will.”

Adam leapt from his chair, his fists clenched
at his side. “You fool! Have you no idea what she wants from you?
No man of pride would allow himself to be used in such a way.”

“
You surprise me,” Daniel
stated calmly. “I knew lady Bourgeault only superficially when she
resided in London yet, in the short time we spent together last
night, I realized I could trust her. As close as you were to her,
you still did not know what was in her heart.”

“
What is to know? She
deceived and lied to me. I thought she loved me—she did
not.”

“
Ah…but there you are wrong,
Adam. She loves you even now. She has suffered dearly because of
the baron’s scheming. It shocked her as much as it did you. He
brought many men home, dangling them in front of her, hoping she
might find one to her liking. You were the first one she chose—and
the last.”

“
Why should I believe
that?”

“
Because it is true. In
fact, she came to you untouched.”

“
A virgin?” Adam asked
incredulously.

“
She didn’t put it that way,
but yes, a virgin.”

“
How could a woman married
seven years remain untouched? Impossible, especially a woman with
Catherine’s beauty. I can’t believe he does not desire her unless
he’s a sodomite.”

“
He desires her, all right,
from what I can gather, but he has this phobia Lady Bourgeault
refers to as his affliction. Seems he is repulsed by contact with
human flesh. He can’t tolerate being touched. He married her hoping
her beauty would circumvent his difficulty, but it didn’t turn out
that way. That’s when he resorted to finding his wife a lover for
procreation purposes—without her knowledge, naturally. She swears
she would never have cooperated had she known.”

Two very striking memories assaulted Adam
simultaneously as he listened to the viscount, two curious
circumstances long forgotten. The first one involved the baron
donning gloves to shake hands. At the time Bourgeault had said he
disliked casual contact and, though it had seemed peculiar, beyond
the moment the earl had not given it much thought.

The second situation had been more
troublesome. Catherine had bled after making love with Adam that
first time, and he had feared having hurt her. If she’d been a
virgin, there was little doubt she had suffered some discomfort.
Though he knew he should be feeling remorse for hurting her, his
first reaction to her chastity was a purely male exaltation at the
knowledge she had been his and his alone. Selfish and egotistical,
he knew, but for the life of him he could not stifle the surge of
elation that enveloped him. He turned a hopeful gaze on the
viscount.

“
Let’s suppose I accept
everything you have told me. That does not explain why she would
throw herself on a man to whom she knows I am close.”

Daniel looked smug. “There is a simple answer
to that, my friend. The baron now has the power to coerce his wife
into doing his will. Catherine gave birth to a daughter about ten
weeks ago—beautiful child, black curly hair, big blue eyes—looks
much like her father.”

Adam stared at the viscount, mouth agape.
When he could speak, he asked, “You’ve seen the baby?”

“
Yes. You’re a father, no
doubt about it. But I’m worried. Bourgeault has threatened to take
the infant from his wife if she does not make an effort to produce
another child, hopefully male. He’s so desperate for an heir, he
told her to lie with the gardener if that is what it
takes.”

“
By God, I’ll kill him, the
filthy bastard!”

“
Settle down, Adam. You
won’t accomplish anything if you lose control. We have to put our
heads together and devise a plan to free her from that
madman.”

Adam drew in a deep, calming breath, his
nostrils pinching with the effort as he took several agitated turns
around the room. He came to a halt in front of Daniel.

“
I’m about as composed as
I’m going to get, so tell me what you propose we do.”

“
I see one clear
possibility, but it will mean enduring the worst kind of scandal.
Are you up to the challenge?”

“
Yes, yes.” Adam nodded
impatiently. “Tell me.”

“
Seems to me that Catherine
is entitled to a divorce on the grounds her marriage was never
consummated.”

A speculative light entered the earl’s eyes,
and the hint of a grin touched his mouth. He took his seat again
and leaned the back of his head against the cushions, lost in
thought.

“
It could be hard to prove,”
he said at last.

“
Perhaps,” Daniel agreed.
“You will have to publicly pronounce Lady Bourgeault chaste when
she came to you.”

“
But I didn’t realize. How
could I be unaware of such a thing?”

The viscount shrugged. “It happens, I’m told.
It was the last thing you expected, and she didn’t want you to
guess. It doesn’t matter. We know the truth and that’s what is
important. I don’t think it will be difficult to find witnesses who
will testify as to the baron’s aversion.” He paused. “It can go
another way, though.”

“
How so?”

“
Given the choice of airing
his very personal concerns in public, the baron may decide it would
be better to seek a divorce on the grounds of his wife’s
infidelity. It might be wise to give him that option to save face.
Either way your affair with the baroness cannot be hidden, and if
you are able to free her from her husband your ultimate goal will
be achieved.”

Adam nodded slowly. “Another point—what of
Catherine’s family? Will they be supportive or will they disown
her? I think I ought to approach them before I do anything
else.”

“
It would be appropriate,
but I don’t envy you the task.”

“
Daniel, I wish you to be
honest with me.” Adam leaned forward in his chair, now feeling
uncertain. “Will she welcome my intervention? Are you certain she
still cares for me?”

“
There is no doubt, dear
boy. She loves you absolutely. If you do not trust me on this,
speak to Charlotte Richards.”

“
Then why did she send me
away?” Adam asked.

“
She thought it for your own
good. She was made to feel she would be a burden, and you would
fare better without her.”

“
Who would feed her such
tripe? Bourgeault?”

There came a long silence as Daniel
doubtlessly considered how best to answer. “I really wish I didn’t
have to tell you this,” he said. “In fact, I had contemplated not
saying anything, but I think you deserve to know it all. The baron
enlisted the aid of your mother.”

The earl’s eyebrows snapped together.
“Explain yourself.”

“
Bourgeault did not feel he
could make his wife listen to him. Catherine had decided to leave
with you, and the baron was about to watch all his carefully laid
plans crumble at his feet. When you think about it, it took a bit
of dexterity to make everything come together. But in the end the
baron still required some cooperation from Lady Bourgeault if he
was to succeed. The one intangible he could not control was the sex
of the infant. I take it he was livid when your daughter was
born.”

“
Of course,” Adam stated
darkly. “Where does my mother fit into all of this?”