The Tempted

by Amanda Stevens

  She closed her eyes as the power of his words swept over her. “I want you, too,” she whispered.

  He tunneled his fingers through her hair, holding her back a little so that he could gaze into her eyes. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to hear you say that?”

  “Yes. I do know. I do.”

  “Why did you leave me?” He pulled her back to him, smoothing his hand down her hair. “No, don’t answer that. It doesn’t matter.”

  But it did. Because the threat that had driven her from him that night still existed. And if she let him back into her life, he could be in danger, too.

  She drew away from him. “I should go.”

  “Why?” He stared down into her face.

  “Because if I stay here…”

  When she trailed off, Jared said, “You might lose control? Would that be so terrible?”

  “Yes, it would.” She took a step back from him, putting a physical distance between them. “I can’t do this, Jared. I can’t…let myself lose control. Not while Emily is still out there somewhere. I can’t.”

  She turned frantically toward the door, but then stopped in her tracks when the doorbell sounded. She stared at the foyer. If that was Royce—

  “Who could that be?” Jared muttered, walking past her to the door. He glanced out the window, then turned back to Tess, his expression grave. “It’s Abby Cross.”

  Tess’s hand flew to her throat. “Oh, no. Emily—”

  She shot by Jared and grabbed for the door, but he was already drawing it back. Abby’s expression seemed to say it all. She looked grim.

  Tess swayed, grabbing the edge of the door for support. “No. Please, no.” Jared put his arm around her, and Tess didn’t resist. She didn’t have the strength.

  “It’s not what you think,” Abby said quickly. Rain dripped from her dark hair as her gaze went from Tess to Jared. If she wondered why the two of them were alone out here, she didn’t ask. “Your mother told me I could find you here. We don’t know anything for certain yet, but I wanted to tell you myself before you heard anything on the news.”

  “What?” Tess said in anguish. “Just tell me.”

  “The body of a child was found in Grover County—”

  A loud roaring filled Tess’s ears, and as if from a distance, she heard Abby say, “We don’t think it’s Emily, Tess. In fact, we know it’s not—”

  But it was too late. Tess sagged against Jared, and his arm was the only thing that kept her from falling to the floor.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Tess, you didn’t need to come down here. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.” Sheriff Money sat back in his chair and regarded her with a sympathetic smile across the expanse of his desk.

  “Abby said you were expecting a phone call from the sheriff down in Grover County with some more information. I wanted to be here when you got the call.” Tess was still trembling. She hadn’t been able to stop shaking since she’d seen Abby Cross outside Jared’s door. The fact that Abby had told her over and over that they didn’t think the remains were Emily hadn’t helped. All Tess could think about was her little girl—

  As if sensing her emotions, Jared, standing behind her, rested his hands on her shoulders. His presence was more reassuring than Tess should allow it to be.

  Abby had accompanied them to the sheriff’s station, and she paced the office now, her gaze occasionally meeting Tess’s. A terrible understanding passed between them.

  “I just put another call in to him,” Sheriff Mooney said. “His secretary said he’d get right back to me.”

  No sooner had the words left his mouth than the phone rang, and Sheriff Mooney snatched it up. He listened for a moment, then said, “Yeah, put him on, Doreen.” A pause. “This is Sheriff Mooney. You got some information for me, Don?”

  The silence that followed was punctuated occasionally by “I see” and “I understand” and finally, before he ended the call, “Well, good luck to you. Tough business we’re in,” he said grimly. Hanging up the phone, he glanced up. “That was Sheriff Don Webber.”

  Tess tried to brace herself as she searched Sheriff Mooney’s face for some sign, some clue that would allay her worst nightmare. “What did he say?”

  “Here’s what he knows so far. Two days ago, a body was recovered in a densely wooden area in Grover County, which is down near the Louisiana border. It looks to be that of a child, but the remains are badly decomposed. In fact, there’s little more than bones to go on. They called in Dr. Barbara Wesley, a forensic anthropologist from the forensics lab at LSU, to help in the excavation and identification. Tess—” he leaned forward, his gaze meeting hers “—according to Dr. Wesley’s preliminary findings, there’s no way it can be Emily.”

  Relief surged like a shot of pure adrenaline through Tess’s bloodstream. Jared’s grasp on her shoulders tightened, and without thinking, she put one of her hands up to his. “Are they sure?”

  Sheriff Mooney’s expression remained austere, as if talking about the death of a child, any child, took something out of him. “Like I said, the remains were badly decomposed. The body’s been there for a while. Dr. Wesley says anywhere from five to ten years.”

  A gasp sounded from behind her, and Tess glanced around. Naomi Cross stood in the doorway of the sheriff’s office, her hand at her heart, her face a ghastly white.

  “Sadie,” she said on a whisper.

  “POOR NAOMI,” Tess murmured as she and Jared left the sheriff’s station. “I feel so badly for her. She’s helped me so much since Emily’s disappearance. I wish there was something I could do for her.”

  Jared opened the car door for Tess, and then he went around and got behind the wheel.

  “I know you feel badly for Naomi, but they don’t know that the remains are Sadie’s. It’ll take the forensic anthropologist several days at least to make a final determination. If she ever can.”

  Tess shuddered. “I know. All I could think about in there was thank God it wasn’t Emily. Thank God she could still be alive. And then I saw Naomi’s face. I saw that terrible look in her eyes, and I knew what she was going through. It doesn’t get any easier. Not in a year or five years or even ten. You never give up the hope that your child might still be found alive.”

  Tess turned to stare out the window, but Jared knew she wasn’t watching the passing scenery. She was seeing herself in Naomi Cross’s eyes. She was seeing herself ten years from now.

  The death of a child was a horrible thing, something a parent would never get over, Jared thought. But a missing child left a vacuum, an emptiness that could never be resolved, that could never be accepted. A missing child was like a great gaping wound that never completely healed. It might get better in time, but the slightest stress could rip it open without warning.

  “I’ll drive you home,” he said to Tess. “You can pick up the Explorer tomorrow.”

  “No.” She turned to face him. “I don’t want to go home. I can’t be there right now.” She rubbed her arms with her hands. “I can’t be there without her.”

  “We’ll go back to the lake house then.”

  Tess said nothing. She turned back to the window, searching the landscape, Jared thought, for some sign, some hope that Emily was still alive.

  But once they got to the house, she stood just inside the door, as if she didn’t have a clue how she’d gotten there.

  “You’re trembling,” Jared murmured. “You need to get out of those wet clothes.”

  “I’m okay,” she protested.

  “It’s been a rough day,” he said softly. “Let me take care of you.”

  She nodded almost absently, and Jared took her hand, leading her through the master bedroom into the bathroom. Reaching inside the massive shower stall, he turned on the water. Within seconds, the room grew steamy.

  He started toward the door. “I’ll give you some privacy—”

  She caught his arm. “No, don’t leave me.” When he hesitated she hugged her a
rms tightly around her. “I don’t want to be alone, Jared. I keep thinking about Naomi. I keeping think how I would feel if I thought Emily…if it was her…” She trailed off, shivering violently. “Would you just hold me?”

  Jared pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. He smoothed his hand down her hair. “It’ll be all right, Tess. It will.”

  “I’m so scared, Jared. I feel so alone.”

  “Shush. You’re not alone. I’m here.”

  “Just hold me,” she whispered raggedly. “Don’t let me go.”

  “I won’t. Ever.” He plowed his fingers through her hair, lifting her face to his. She tilted her head back, and as her eyes fluttered closed, Jared brushed his lips against hers. It was meant to be a gentle kiss, a soothing kiss, but her lips parted, and the desperation and fear of the last few hours took over.

  Jared deepened the kiss, groaning softly as she responded, as she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him to her.

  “Please, please,” she murmured when Jared broke the kiss. Her fingers were on the buttons of his shirt, and he shrugged out of it, tossing it into a corner. The rest of their clothes followed in kind, and then they were back in each other’s arms, drawing comfort from the warmth of their bodies, losing themselves in the oblivion of passion.

  If she was using him to forget, Jared understood. He didn’t care. Maybe they were using each other. Maybe they were the only two people in the world who could understand what the other was feeling at that moment.

  They moved into the shower and stood under the piercing cascade. The water was hot, bracing, healing. Jared stood behind her, running his hands down her arms, her waist, her hips. She arched against him, reaching up to cup the back of his neck and pull him toward her for a long, breathtaking kiss.

  Her skin felt warm and sensuous beneath the water, her lips demanding and needy, and yet, somehow, innocent. Jared remembered the first time they’d been together, her innocence then, and her shy anticipation, her willingness to trust him in the most intimate way a woman could trust a man. He wanted that same trust now. He wanted to take care of her always. He wanted to never let her down.

  She’d stocked the bathroom with expensive shampoos and French-milled soap from Lawson’s Department Store, and Jared lathered his hands, smoothing them over her, touching her everywhere until she trembled beneath the water and turned in his arms.

  He lifted her, kissing her long and deep while their bodies, at long last, became one again.

  “YOU’RE AWFULLY QUIET.”

  They were in Jared’s bed, nestled against the soft Egyptian cotton sheets Tess had also purchased for him at Lawson’s. She lay on her back, gazing at the ceiling.

  “Tess?”

  She turned her head on the pillow and gazed at him. He lay on his side, propped on his elbow, bare to his waist where the sheet didn’t cover him.

  Her stomach quivered with awareness, and she glanced away.

  “Are you giving me the silent treatment because you’re upset?” he asked softly, but there was an edge to his voice that Tess couldn’t quite define.

  She shook her head on the pillow. “I don’t mean to be giving you the silent treatment. I just don’t know what to say. But I’m not upset.”

  “Having regrets?”

  Her voice softened. “No. I needed that to happen. I needed…to be held. Thank you for being there for me.”

  He smiled. “My pleasure.”

  He said it in a way that made Tess blush. “I feel a little strange,” she admitted.

  “Strange how?”

  “Like all this—” she lifted a hand, then let it fall back to the bed “—isn’t quite real.”

  “Like we’ve gone back in time?”

  She turned to face him. “Yes, exactly. Do you feel it, too?”

  “I feel as if I’ve just been marking time for the last six years.”

  “Jared—”

  “Don’t say it, Tess.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “Don’t say it was a mistake. Don’t say it can’t happen again. Don’t say it’s over.”

  Her eyes filled with tears at his tenderness. “There’s so much about me you don’t know. Things I’ve kept…hidden.”

  His gaze on her deepened. “It’s time for the truth to come out, Tess. You know that, don’t you?”

  She opened her mouth to protest, but he placed a fingertip over her lips. “But for now, all I want to do is hold you in my arms.”

  JARED WAS GONE when Tess awakened. It was dark in the bedroom except for a thin sliver of light from the bathroom. Tess sat up, pulling the sheet around her as she glanced at her watch in the light. It was only a little after nine. Still early, but her mother might be worried if she’d tried to reach Tess at home or at work.

  The phone service hadn’t yet been turned on at the lake house, and Tess wasn’t sure where she’d left her cell phone. She climbed out of bed and went in search of her clothes. Jared had hung them up at some point, and even though they were still a little damp, Tess pulled them on, struggling a little with the jeans.

  She went out into the hallway, crossed the foyer, and walked into the living room. Light shone from beneath the kitchen door, and Tess smelled coffee. She opened the door and glanced inside. The kitchen, with its glass-fronted cabinets, hardwood floors and stainless-steel appliances gleamed from her efforts. With the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting on the air, the room seemed almost homey, a quality she would never have ascribed to it six years ago.

  Jared’s briefcase lay open on the table, and he’d left a stack of papers and a cup of coffee nearby. He couldn’t have been gone long. The coffee still steamed.

  A prickle of alarm stole up Tess’s spine as she walked over to the table. The top sheet looked to be a report Jared had generated regarding proposed expansion to the Biloxi Spencer.

  She left the papers where she’d found them, and looked around uneasily. “Jared?”

  Her gaze moved back to the papers, to the cup of coffee. He’d obviously been working. What had drawn him away so quickly?

  She glanced at the open briefcase. More papers inside. A stack of folders. The top one with her name on it.

  Tess froze.

  Why would Jared have a folder in his briefcase with her name on it?

  Taking another quick perusal of the room, she lifted the file from the briefcase and opened it.

  The first page was a letter from the same private-detective firm Tess had hired to search for Emily. Scanning the contents, she grew even more agitated. She sat down at the table and read the letter carefully. Jared had hired the firm to probe into her background. They’d been to Memphis, talked to people she’d gone to college with, interviewed nurses and doctors at the hospital where Alan had worked and where Tess had given birth to Emily.

  Pausing for a moment in her reading, Tess thumbed through the documents attached to the letter. A copy of Emily’s birth certificate. A copy of Alan’s death certificate. Notes from the many interviews the investigator had conducted with Tess’s acquaintances, including Alan’s mother, who admitted she’d been opposed to her son’s marriage to Tess. Who categorically denied that Emily was her grandchild. A notation on the side confirmed Alan’s AIDS-related death.

  Her heart pounding, Tess turned back to the letter.

  It is our conclusion, based on numerous interviews conducted with Alan Campbell’s friends, relatives and business associates, that he did not, in fact, father the aforementioned child. Also, according to at least two witnesses who worked at the hospital at the time Tess Campbell was admitted, the month she gave birth was April, not August. It is our opinion that hospital records were altered some time after Mrs. Campbell’s baby was born and should you wish us to continue, we’ll pursue evidence to that end.

  However, we believe we’ve garnered sufficient information and testimony at this time to petition the court for a paternity test should you want to seek custody. Please advise if you wish us to continue. Yours truly…

  Tess’
s hands were shaking by the time she finished the letter. Jared knew about Emily. He knew. But for how long? The letter was dated a week ago. Why hadn’t he said anything?

  Quickly, Tess paged through the report, searching for some clue as to why Jared might have kept silent. There were several other documents inside the folder, and Tess riffled through them too. Near the bottom was a blue-backed legal document that she recognized immediately as a copy of Davis Spencer’s will, along with another lengthy document that explained the terms of the trust. The trust that awarded fifty million dollars to the first Spencer grandchild. The legal terms and fine print all blurred before Tess’s eyes, and she felt almost sick with what she’d just learned, with her suspicions.

  Jared wanted that money for himself.

  That was why he’d been so eager to come back into Tess’s life, why he’d been so willing to help her find Emily. He didn’t care about Tess. He didn’t care about Emily. All he wanted was the money. All he wanted was to win.

  The back door opened and Jared stepped inside. He was dressed in jeans and a cotton pullover shirt. And he was barefoot. He didn’t look like a man capable of such a deception at that moment. He didn’t even look like a Spencer. But appearances were deceiving. According to what Tess had just read, he was as ruthless and single-minded as the rest of his family. Tess had been a fool for ever thinking he was different.

  He glanced at her in surprise. “I thought you were sleeping.”

  She said nothing.

  “Damnedest thing,” he said, scratching his head. “I heard a car pull up outside. But when I went out to investigate, it pulled away.”

  Tess remained silent, and Jared frowned. “Are you okay?” Then his gaze dropped to the open folder in her hands. He closed his eyes briefly.

  “How long have you known?” she asked coldly.

  “Let me explain—”

  “How long?” she all but screamed.

  Surprise flickered across his face at her outburst. “A few days.”

  She got up and faced him, anger rolling through her like a tidal wave. “Why, Jared? For God’s sake, why didn’t you tell me you knew?”