The path led straight to the boathouse, and as Tess rounded the side, she saw that someone stood at the end of the dock. She started to call out, but then she realized the man wasn’t Jared. It was Royce, and he wasn’t alone. A woman stood facing him, and Tess saw in the moonlight that it was his wife. Had they slipped down here for a private moment? she wondered. They were newlyweds, after all, in spite of the fact that he’d been carrying on with Melanie.
Glancing around, Tess hoped to retrace her steps without being detected. She had no wish to intrude on their privacy. Besides, if she came face-to-face with Royce Spencer, the temptation to tell him exactly what she thought of him might prove too great.
“What the hell was so important that you had to drag me all the way down here?” he demanded. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s about to rain, Ariel.”
“I don’t care. I want to know why you’re so worried about Tess Granger. You said something earlier about taking care of her. I want to know what you meant.”
Tess froze. A moment ago, she’d wanted to retreat, but now she melted into the shadows of the boathouse, her heart hammering in her chest.
Like Jared, Royce was dressed in a tux. He was tall and slender, with the kind of handsome features women seemed drawn to. But there was something else about him, an attitude, an arrogant restlessness that gave Tess the impression he was constantly on the prowl for trouble. And that whatever trouble came his way, he could not only handle, but would probably get away with. And like all the Spencers, he exuded an air of self-confidence and good breeding.
In contrast, Ariel Spencer was slight, dark and nondescript, a woman easily overpowered by her husband. Tess wondered fleetingly if that was why Royce had married her.
He spoke softly, but there was an unpleasant edge to his voice. “She and Jared have been going at it hot and heavy all summer. They think they’ve been discreet, but I found out about them through…a friend. And it’s a good thing I did. I’ll be damned if I let some gold-digging little nothing mess up my plans.”
“Is that really why you’re so bothered?” The wind whipped Ariel’s long, dark hair across her face, and she peeled it back with an almost frantic movement of her hand.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ve seen the way you look at her. I can’t help wondering if the reason you’re so upset is because she’s seeing Jared instead of you.”
Royce gave a sharp bark of laughter. “You’re joking, right? You think I’d give someone like her a second look? She’s the housekeeper’s daughter, for God’s sake.”
“Don’t pretend you’re so discriminating.” Ariel’s voice oozed resentment.
Royce scowled down at her. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Blond hair, blue eyes, about so tall.” She measured several inches above her own head. “Sound familiar?”
“Not especially.”
“I saw you,” Ariel said through gritted teeth. “Earlier tonight, in this very spot. The two of you were arguing. Are you going to stand there and deny it?”
Tess hadn’t so much as moved a muscle. She stood in the shadows of the boathouse, a chill racing up and down her spine. Melanie had blond hair and blue eyes. And she’d been here earlier, dropping Tess off. Had she stayed and talked to Royce? But why would she, after the way he’d threatened her?
“You don’t know what you saw,” he said in disgust.
“You’re denying that you made plans to meet her here later?”
“Of course I’m denying it. It was just someone asking for directions.” He started to move past her, but Ariel grabbed his arm.
“I’m warning you, Royce. I won’t let you make a fool of me. If I find out you’re cheating on me, I’ll go straight to your father and tell him everything.”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort. You’ll keep your mouth shut, that’s what you’ll do.” The anger in his voice was sharpened now by something darker, more menacing.
Ariel flung her head back. “Why should I?”
His nostrils flared as he gazed down at her. “Because you have as much at stake here as I do. You go to my father, and I’ll go straight to the police in Oxford.”
Ariel gasped, her hand flying to her heart. “You wouldn’t!”
“Don’t test me, Ariel. I’ll do whatever I have to do to win. You should know that by now.” He made a slight movement toward her, and she stepped back quickly, as if she was afraid of him. “I held up my end of the bargain. I expect you to do the same. You’re a loving, dutiful wife. Start acting like it.”
Ariel’s voice trembled when she spoke. “Maybe I would if you’d be the kind of husband you promised to be.”
“Meaning?”
“Why can’t you look at me the way you look at Tess Granger?”
“Her again? You have a one-track mind. How many times do I have to tell you, my interest in Tess Granger is purely financial. If you’ve seen me looking at her, it’s because I’m trying to figure out how to keep her from getting her money-grubbing hands on that trust.”
Tess could still see him in the moonlight, and her blood ran cold at the look on his face, the hardness in his eyes. She had no idea what he was talking about, but she instantly remembered every single word her mother and Melanie had said about him. And in that moment, seeing his face, Tess believed them.
“But she can’t know about the trust,” Ariel said. “You told me that Jared doesn’t even know.”
“I don’t think she does know about it,” Royce said. “She’s just after Spencer money. Any Spencer money. Although who’s to say that some stupid little clerk in my father’s attorney’s office didn’t spill the beans to her? After all, that’s how I found out.”
“And the moment you did, you drove straight up to Oxford and persuaded me to marry you,” Ariel said bitterly. “You insisted we elope, when you knew how much I wanted a church wedding.”
“So what? When you heard my proposition, you were as eager as I was to tie the knot.”
Ariel wrapped her arms around her middle, as if she suddenly felt chilled in the damp air. “Maybe I was eager because I was in love with you.”
“That’s your problem. Love was never part of the bargain.”
“How can you be so cold?”
“Oh, come on. Don’t go all self-righteous on me. Your hands aren’t exactly clean in all this. DUI is a serious offense. One of those kids in the other car damn near died. You’d be in jail right now if it wasn’t for me.”
“That’s not true. Daddy never would have let it come to that.”
“It’s all ‘Daddy’ can do to keep himself out of the gutter these days. Which is exactly why you had no problem accepting my proposition.”
Ariel raised her hand to slap him, but Royce caught her wrist, bending her hand back until she cried out. Almost against her will, Tess started forward, but Royce released Ariel and moved away from her. “Don’t ever try that again.”
“What would you do—kill me?” she taunted.
His laugh was low and sinister. “I don’t think you want to find that out.”
Tess hadn’t imagined the edge in his voice, the warning in his stance. This was the same Royce Spencer who had threatened Melanie. The same Royce Spencer who, although Tess still didn’t understand why, had it in for her.
She’d heard somewhere, in one of her psychology classes perhaps, that people with sociopathic tendencies were often perceived as good-looking and personable. Charming, even. That’s how they conned their victims into trusting them. Was Royce Spencer a sociopath?
Tess closed her eyes. No wonder Melanie had been so terrified of him that night. No wonder his own wife seemed afraid of him now. Royce Spencer was a very dangerous man.
“It was the way you were raised,” Ariel said in a strangely subdued voice. “That’s why you’re like this. How can any father pit his sons against one another the way he has?”
“Not that I have to defend him to you, but everything he did taught
us a valuable lesson, unlike the lessons your old man taught you. We learned at any early age that the losers of this world get nothing. Jared’s always been a master at playing the good son. He’s always had the old man eating out of his hand, but he’s made one fatal mistake. He’s underestimated me. They both have. I’ve got something Jared will never have. The killer instinct. The willingness to do whatever it takes to win. And that trust is the ultimate contest.”
“The son who presents Davis Spencer with the first grandchild gets control of fifty million dollars,” Ariel said, still in that restrained tone. “Which is where I come in.”
“That’s right. By the time I get Tess Granger out of the picture, you’d better be pregnant.”
“What are you going to do to her?”
He hesitated, then shrugged. “I guess I can tell you. I may need you to back me up.” He glanced at his watch. “Sometime tonight, before everyone leaves, Mother will discover that her diamond bracelet is missing. When she sounds the alarm, someone from the caterer’s staff will reluctantly come forward and swear she saw Tess take it. The old man will be livid. He’ll call the police, and off to jail our little Tess goes. If Jared tries to intervene, so much the better. Let’s see how he fares in the old man’s eyes when he tries to defend a thief.”
“You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?” Ariel said.
“I don’t like to pat myself on the back, but by the time I’m through with Tess Granger, nobody will believe her, not even Jared. And better yet, she could be facing a five-to-ten-year prison sentence.”
“And you’ll see that she gets it, too, won’t you?” Ariel rubbed her arms with her hands. “I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes.”
Royce laughed again.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Ariel asked softly. “If they’ve been seeing each other all summer, it’s possible she could already be pregnant.”
Royce was facing Tess now, and she could have sworn he looked directly at her in the shadows. Then his expression turned dark. “Well, in that case, I’d have to find a more permanent solution, wouldn’t I? One that would take care of the kid, too.”
Hardly daring to even breathe, Tess waited as they spoke for several more minutes. Then Royce headed back up the path toward the house, and Ariel lingered on the dock, gazing down into the water.
Raising her head, Ariel stared at the spot where Royce had disappeared into the woods, and in the moonlight, her face appeared oddly serene. She waited a moment, then hurried up the path behind him.
Tess’s legs almost buckled. She leaned heavily against the wall of the boathouse, contemplating everything she’d just heard. Because of some trust, Royce Spencer was going to try to frame her.
She put her hands to her face, trying to make sense of it all. Why was she such a threat to Royce Spencer? What could she possibly have to do with a trust set up by his father?
Something Ariel said came back to her. “The son who presents Davis Spencer with the first grandchild gets control of fifty million dollars.”
Her hand crept to her stomach. What if she really was pregnant? What if at this very moment she was carrying Jared’s child? The first Spencer grandchild?
The idea of a pregnancy had terrified Tess earlier. She’d worried all day about how Jared would react, what her mother would say, what everyone in town would think. Now all she cared about was what Royce Spencer would do to her. And to the baby.
And with that thought, a fierce protective instinct, like nothing Tess had ever experienced before, rose inside her. She wouldn’t let anyone harm her baby. Not Royce Spencer. Not anyone.
She glanced around frantically in the darkness. But what should she do? What could she do? Run to Jared? Would he believe her? Would he be able to help her?
But what if the bracelet was discovered missing before she got to Jared? What if she was taken to jail before she had a chance to explain? Would he believe anything she said after that?
For now, there was only one thing she could do. The only way she could protect herself was to get away from here as quickly as possible.
It was drizzling by the time she started up the path, and she pulled her windbreaker tightly around her as she ran through the wet darkness.
Blind with fear and panic, she didn’t see the shadow on the trail in front of her until it was too late. A scream rose to her throat.
Melanie put out her hands and caught Tess’s arms. “Tess? What are you doing out here?”
“Oh my God, Melanie.” Tess was shaking so badly she could hardly speak. “Thank God, it’s you. I thought you were Royce—”
“Royce?” Melanie glanced anxiously over Tess’s shoulder. “You saw him? He’s down here?”
“He was earlier, but he went back up to the house.” She clutched Melanie’s arms. “You have to help me. I have to get out of here.”
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“He’s trying to set me up. He wants to get rid of me. Melanie, please. You have to help me get out of here.”
Her desperation must have gotten through, because Melanie grabbed her arm. “Come on. I left my car up on the road.”
Tess allowed Melanie to pull her along the wet path to the road. Only then, when they were safely inside, did she turn to her friend. In the dash lights, Melanie looked as frightened and shaken as Tess felt.
“Melanie, why were you down by the lake? Tell me you didn’t come back here to see Royce. He’s dangerous!”
Melanie’s lips thinned into a grim line as she started the car and pulled onto the road. “I know that. I found that out the hard way, remember?”
“But I’m not sure you realize just how dangerous he is.” Haltingly, Tess told her friend about the conversation she’d overheard. When she finished, she was trembling again. “He’s going to convince everyone that I stole that bracelet. He’s going to make sure I get sent to prison. He said five to ten years—”
“And he would do it, too,” Melanie muttered, watching the road almost fiercely. “What if you really are pregnant? What if tries to…to—”
“Kill me?”
Melanie winced. “Surely he wouldn’t go that far.”
Tess put her hands on her stomach. “I have to see Jared. He’ll help me—”
“Are you crazy?” Melanie gave her a quick, frightened glance. “He’s not going to take your side in this, Tess. He probably won’t even believe you.”
“But if I tell him what I heard, he’ll have to believe me,” she said urgently. The rhythm of the windshield wipers seemed to keep pace with her heartbeat. “How could I have known about the trust if I hadn’t overheard Royce talking about it?”
Melanie scowled at the road. “Think about it for a minute. You said Royce found out through a clerk in his father’s attorney’s office. If you tell Jared what you know, Royce will just pay that clerk to swear he told you about that trust weeks ago. Royce will make it seem as if you knew about it all along. That’s why you went after Jared, because you wanted the money. Think about it, Tess. It all ties together too perfectly. You’ve never liked the Spencers, and Jared knows that. The two of you have even fought about it. When he starts putting it all together, he’ll come to the conclusion Royce wants him to.”
Tess shivered uncontrollably. “But if I’m pregnant, I have to tell him. I can’t keep it from him.”
“You have to! For God’s sake, Tess—” Melanie broke off, glancing in her rearview mirror.
“What’s the matter?” Tess asked anxiously, twisting around in her seat to glance at the road behind them.
A car was coming up behind them, traveling too fast on the wet pavement. The headlights flashed in the rearview mirror, and Melanie squinted at the glare.
Tess swung back around, instinctively gripping the seat. They were approaching a curve, and the car started around them. “What is he doing?” Melanie cried. “He’s going to kill us all!”
The road was narrow, and the car, beside them now, began crowding Melanie to
the shoulder. As they rounded the curve, the car bumped against them, and Melanie lost control of the wheel. Both she and Tess screamed as the car flew off the road and careened down a steep embankment.
For what seemed like an eternity, the car plunged down the hillside at a dizzying speed, bouncing over rocks and tree stumps, veering wildly first one way, then the other.
A tree loomed before them, and Tess threw up her arm to shield her face. The car smashed against the trunk, and flipped. When all had quieted, Tess found herself upside down and disoriented, certain that she’d suffered some horrible injury. But strangely enough, she felt no pain. She glanced over at Melanie, and her heart almost stopped. The driver’s side had taken the brunt of the crash. Melanie was trapped in a mass of twisted metal.
“Melanie! Oh, God,” Tess whispered, struggling with her seat belt. She managed to climb out the shattered window, and she staggered around the car.
Falling to her knees, she tried to find a way to free her friend, but the door was smashed inward so badly, Tess couldn’t budge it. “Melanie? Please, please be alive!”
Miraculously, Melanie’s eyes fluttered open. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth as she stared up at Tess.
“Did you see the car?” she said on a gasping breath. “It was Royce.”
Tess was so horrified and so frightened, she didn’t know what to say. “Hang on, Melanie. I’m going for help.”
“No! Don’t leave me!” she begged. “What if he comes back?”
“I have to call an ambulance—”
“Promise me.” Melanie’s blue eyes pleaded with Tess. She looked so fragile and so tragic lying in the mangled wreckage.
Tess swallowed her tears. “Anything.”
“Whatever happens, don’t let Royce find out about the baby.”
Chapter Five
“Tess?” Her skin was like ice beneath his hands. Jared felt her tremble, and for one wild moment, he thought about dragging her into his arms, holding her so close she would never be able to leave him again.
But, of course, he couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do it. Not after what she’d done.
The Tempted Page 6
