Twice the Temptation

by Beverley Kendall

  “You remember Mr. Beaumont don’t you, Alex?” Catherine hurried the introduction, more than a little uneasy but not surprised with the sudden change in her brother-in-law’s countenance. “He and his sisters are in England on a visit.”

  Alex continued to eye Lucas narrowly as he took one step forward. He halted by an ivory topped table, his wide-legged stance intimidating and his expression unwelcoming. “What are you doing here?”

  Catherine inhaled a sharp breath. “Alex, Luc—Mr. Beaumont is my guest.”

  Alex regard snapped to her. “Your guest?” he asked, his tone incredulous.

  Lucas stepped forward to stand slightly in front of her. “Is she not permitted callers?” he asked coolly, as if staking a claim and daring her brother-in-law to countermand him.

  Alex’s form stiffened as he pinned Lucas with a feral look. “Good God, not even you could be this crass. Her bloody sister?”

  “Alex, what are you talking about? Lucas wants to marry me,” she said in hopes that once he understood that Lucas’s intentions were honorable, it would help to dissipate some of his anger.

  “Good God, Catherine, you barely know the man.”

  She became indignant at that. “I believe I know him well enough.” Lucas was a man who worked hard to earn a living, cared deeply for his siblings, and had enlisted in a war to fight to end slavery. Lucas Beaumont was a good man and she certainly knew him well enough to have fallen in love with him.

  “Will you tell her or shall I?” Alex posed the pointed question to Lucas, his voice low and threatening.

  Lucas stood motionless, his square jaw tight, fury blazing in his eyes. “You are deliberately misleading her as you very well know.”

  Misleading her? Bewildered, Catherine’s gaze parried between the two men. “Would someone care to tell me what is going on?”

  “While you and Mr. Beaumont were becoming acquainted, did he happen to mention that you’re now the second Rutherford sister to whom he’s proposed marriage? I don’t suppose he told you he asked your sister first.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Catherine let out a gasp and then quickly slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the cry of distress that trailed in its wake.

  No. This simply can’t be happening again. Not when her heart was truly engaged.

  In a desperate search, she scoured Lucas’s features for signs that what Alex had just stated wasn’t true. A blatant lie. But the look of unease and guilt on his face spoke volumes. And no denials spouted from his mouth.

  Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. She was realizing her greatest fear and the painful reality of it could almost not be endured. Tears flooded her eyes as she continued to stare at him, willing a denial from him. It never came.

  “It’s not what you are imagining,” he said instead.

  “Are you saying Alex is lying? Th-that you did not ask my sister to marry you?”

  Lucas reached for her but Catherine hastily stepped back. She couldn’t bear for him to touch her. Not now. Not now that she knew.

  For a beat, his hand remained suspended in the air before dropping helplessly to his side. “I asked her long before we met. It’s not like that between us. I never loved her—not the way I love you.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her brother-in-law bristle.

  Catherine briefly closed her eyes. This was sheer agony.

  Charlotte.

  He’d wanted Charlotte first.

  That fact would never escape her for she knew it would follow her to her grave. Second choice is what she’d been; runner-up in a competition she hadn’t even known she’d been entered. And her sister could have easily walked away with the prize that was his name and his affections. But Charlotte wouldn’t have wanted him because she only ever loved one man in the entirety of her life, and she was presently married to him.

  “Catherine.”

  At the sound of Alex’s voice, she turned to regard him. While she saw the sympathy in his gray eyes, she couldn’t forget he’d been only too eager to impart the news that would crush her hopes and plans for the future. A future she was to have with Lucas.

  “Haven’t you quite done enough?” she asked, barely able to get the words up her constricted throat to emerge choked past her lips.

  “Catherine—”

  “Yes, haven’t you done enough?” Lucas skewered him with a contemptuous look.

  Bloodlust burned in Alex’s eyes as his hands curled into fists.

  “Regardless of his motivation, at least he told me the truth. It’s clear you had no intentions of affording me that. I was never to learn I was merely to be a substitute for the sister you truly wanted if left to you.”

  The whole thing was its own form of insanity and based solely on the vindictiveness of a jealous husband. Pure and simple, this was punishment for daring to have ever desired his wife. “You have to know that I’ve never considered you a substitute for your sister or any woman for that matter. I love you. I want to—”

  A movement in the hall redirected his attention and halted his speech. A maid emerged from the library farther down the hall from where they were currently making spectacles of themselves if anyone cared to look. Although their voices had never risen above the level of seething fury just before it was set to erupt, tones could be discerned in the muffled echoes of their voices, and expressions could be seen.

  Ignoring the marquess, Lucas addressed Catherine. “I would prefer to say what I have to say to you in private. May we take this discussion somewhere else?”

  “Hasn’t Catherine made it clear, she doesn’t want to speak to you at all?”

  “Pray tell, what on earth is going on?”

  The topic of discussion, the cause of the dissension that now existed between he and Catherine, was almost at the bottom of the stairs before he took note of her.

  Brow knotted in concern, Charlotte approached the trio quickly. She was similarly garbed as her sister, wearing a high collar dress with tapered skirts. But where hers was very light gray in color, Catherine’s was a vivid purple. The sisters were identical down to the color of their hair, height, and figure, making it all too easy to confuse them. He had upon seeing Catherine in London for the first time. Now, he could safely say, he could tell them apart. Not so much by their appearance but because of the way they spoke and their manner toward him.

  After briefly scanning their faces, the marchioness abruptly asked, “What has happened? What is wrong?”

  “I simply told your sister the truth,” the marquess answered shortly and without fail, shot him another glare.

  The man should have minded his own damn business. The truth as he told it wasn’t exactly the truth. At least not the way it had been interpreted by Catherine.

  Charlotte’s expression instantly became uneasy as her gaze darted first to her husband and then to Lucas. She then took in Catherine’s pale face and blank expression before demanding furiously of her husband, “What precisely did you tell her?”

  “He told me that Lucas asked you to marry him.”

  Charlotte shot a quick glance around, her thoughts undoubtedly mirroring his. This was hardly the place.

  “Come, let us adjourn to the drawing room,” she said, ushering her sister along, her whole manner protective.

  Catherine, who’d never struck him as particularly docile or malleable—quite the opposite in fact—permitted herself to be led. Her initial shock and disbelief appeared to have worn off and now she looked numb.

  Lucas almost protested. This wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want her sister or—and especially—her brother-in-law present when they spoke. He needed to speak with her alone. But with no choice in the matter, Lucas followed the women.

  He walked with an eye to his back for that’s exactly where Cartwright trailed and where Lucas expected the man to stab him.

  Once they were all ensconced in the spacious room, the door firmly pushed closed, Charlotte rounded on her husband, her eyes flashing angrily and he
r lips pulled tight. “Alex, you had no right. You know perfectly well it wasn’t as I’m sure you made it appear. Surely the past year has shown you that you have nothing to fear of Lucas. And it was obvious enough to me how taken he was with Catherine when he last visited.”

  Lucas dearly hoped the marquess would listen to his wife as it was obvious he wasn’t about to listen to one word he said.

  “As much as I love you, my dear, my concern is for Catherine. I know you have no romantic feelings for him—” he ground the latter word out, treating it like a vile and bitter enunciation “—however, his true feelings for you I suspect aren’t as amiable as he’d like us all to believe.”

  Hell. He wished the damn man would shut his trap. He couldn’t have gotten things more wrong. But he could tell by the flash of emotion on Catherine’s face that she believed him.

  Charlotte pulled her sister tight to her side, her arm around her slender shoulder, sheltering and protective. “Katie, you mustn’t believe a word of what my husband is saying,” she soothed.

  To her husband, her eyes narrowed grew instantly hard and accusing. “Alex, you have no business in this therefore I’d appreciate it if you kept out of it.”

  Lucas silently seconded the motion, grateful for her support and defense of him. In this, Charlotte was the voice of reason because she knew what his true feelings for her were.

  He took that moment to reiterate his request. “I’d like to speak to Catherine privately—if I may?”

  “No.” The word struck the air like a whip from the marquess’s mouth.

  Lucas’s jaw clenched as he struggled to maintain an air of civility when he felt anything but that toward the man in whose house he stood.

  “But of course.” Charlotte’s reply easily annulled that of her husband’s. What it lacked in force and volume, it made up for in steely determination.

  Catherine didn’t say a word. But that she didn’t refuse him outright gave him hope.

  Shooting her husband a warning look, Charlotte regarded her sister, her blue eyes going soft with concern. “Katie, will you speak to him? I promise you, it’s not remotely as bad as it sounds.”

  Her husband made a sound in the back of his throat. Lucas wasn’t particularly a violent man but he sorely wanted to hit him.

  All eyes were on Catherine and Lucas didn’t take a breath as he waited for her reply. Several tortuous seconds later, she gave a curt nod.

  A relieved breath eased from his throat. Except for the look of gratitude he shot Charlotte before she and her husband took their leave, he scarcely took note of their departure, his attention focused on the woman he intended to make his wife.

  “Would you care to sit?” he asked, gesturing toward the sitting area.

  Arms crossed over her chest, Catherine shook her head. She looked everywhere else but at him. “Please just say what you will.”

  He hadn’t thought it would be easy but he felt as he’d been handed an impossible task, his failure almost a certainty.

  With the truth his only hope, he commenced. “Yes, I once asked your sister for her hand. At the time, I hadn’t known her all that long and she was new to New York as well as America. She claimed she was widowed and expecting a child. She was lovely and innocent and I can only say I felt the need to protect her. I cared for her but I didn’t love her. Not like a husband should love his wife. Thankfully, she was smart enough to refuse my offer as it wouldn’t have been a love match.”

  He watched for signs of any sort of reaction but except for a slight twitch of her lip, he saw none.

  “I would appreciate it if you would look at me.” He needed to look into her eyes when he said the last part.

  After a moment’s hesitation, she slowly turned toward him. Her eyes met his. She blinked and drew in a breath as if steeling herself against something she feared would cause her pain. Which would be him.

  “When I first met you at Sir Franklin’s dinner party, I was surprised to learn Charlotte had an identical twin. That intrigued me and I wanted to know you. By the time I left England, I was smitten. I wish I could’ve stayed longer. I knew I would see you when I returned months later and I got my wish. That’s when my feelings for you became real. I wasn’t simply smitten, I was falling in love with you. Your absence from my life the past year only proved how deeply in love I was. The only manner in which Charlotte is involved in my feelings for you, is that had I not known her first, I may not have had the opportunity to spend the time I did with you last spring.”

  Her eyes flared with emotion at that but she banked it quickly. But he knew he had gotten to her. She may have wanted to be immune to him but she was not.

  He took a step toward her, bringing them well within an arm’s length. He wouldn’t permit her to keep him both at an emotional and physical distance. They would get through this, he was confident of that.

  This time, she didn’t retreat but she visibly tensed at his proximity. Her shoulders drew up and her line down her neck became more pronounced.

  “I never loved her. Not like that,” he said, his voice dropped low as he stared down into her beautiful eyes. “I won’t deny that I was initially attracted to her but then you are two beautiful women. Most men would be but it requires more than a beautiful face to win my love. You did that with your wit, charm, kindness, loyalty, and passion.”

  “You didn’t love her yet you asked for her hand?”

  “I told you, as far as I knew, she was widowed and expecting a child. I was a man of means and nearing his thirtieth year. I had never been in love and perhaps I feared I would never be. For a brief time, I thought your sister would fit the role of my wife.” He gave a helpless shrug.

  As much as Catherine wanted to believe him, she knew better. Everyone preferred Charlotte to her. It had been that way their entire lives. Too be fair, the truth of it was her twin was simply easier to love.

  Charlotte was sweet and generous, where she herself could at times be blunt and intractable. Where her sister didn’t possess a devious bone in her body, she herself had done things that could no doubt define the meaning of the word. Yes, they may be identical in appearance but that is where their similarities ended. Any gentleman seeking a wife would be a fool to choose her over her sister and Lucas Beaumont was not a fool in any shape or form.

  “I can’t accept your suit knowing that—well knowing what I do. I simply cannot.” How could he not understand that this revelation changed everything? And how would she ever know for certain that his feelings for her sister hadn’t been redirected to her once it’d become apparent Charlotte was in love with someone else?

  “Catherine.” His voice was coaxing.

  Shaking her head, Catherine inhaled a deep breath, retreating several steps to create some space between them. “Lucas, I can’t. Please don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”

  When he made a move toward her, his mouth set in a determined line, she held her hand up to forestall him. “I would appreciate it if you would leave. I don’t believe we have anything left to say to one another.”

  He pulled back, almost mid-stride and narrowed his gaze at her, accessing. “So that is it? There can be nothing between us because I met your sister first?”

  “Not because you met her first but because you felt enough for her to ask for her hand in marriage.” Catherine fairly snapped out her reply, her fragile composure disintegrating to ash.

  His mouth opened as if to speak but he abruptly closed it. A myriad of emotions flickered across his face: agitation, aggravation, hurt and anger. A look in his eyes and she could see he was all of those.

  For nearly a half minute, he did nothing but stare at her as if he felt he could change her mind by the sheer will of his own.

  Catherine traced the hard lines of his too-handsome features and the year-old yearning that had recently found relief since his reappearance in her life, started anew. Knowing they wouldn’t be together, that she would never again kiss those lips, be enfolded in his strong
arms cut through her like a jagged blade. The pain, first a pinprick, bloomed and expanded until it encompassed all of her. She blinked back tears and endeavored to maintain her composure. God let her hold herself together at least until he was gone.

  “Then I shall go.” His voice, hoarse and low, broke the cloying silence.

  Catherine struggled to stifle the sob that was welling in her throat and the pain spearing her chest.

  His gaze lingered on her one last time before he turned and walked to the door. He paused there, drew in an audible breath, straightened to his full height, his shoulders squared, and chin up. Seconds later, he was gone, the door left ajar.

  Gone.

  It took several seconds for the reality of what had just taken place to sink in. Catherine’s vision blurred as she walked backward until her mulberry plaid skirt brushed the sofa and the back of her knees made solid contact. Slowly, she sank down onto the sofa, her hands blindly seeking comfort in the plump cushions.

  A sob caught in her throat. She heard the faint creak of the door opening. Charlotte. It could only be her. Catherine couldn’t bear to look at her, as she wanted nothing more than to be alone.

  She didn’t lift her head when Charlotte sat down next to her and silently took both her cold, clammy hands in hers.

  “Dearest, if you never believe another word I ever say, I know Lucas loves you.”

  “No he loved you,” she sniffed.

  Charlotte let out a heavy sigh. “This is precisely the reason I did not tell you about the proposal. I knew all it would do was hurt you and muddy the waters.”

  “No, what it has done is made me aware of his true motives and you knew that would be hurtful.” Her sister’s first instinct was always to protect those she loved. Here was yet another case of that.

  “Do you truly think if I actually believed that, I would tell you otherwise?” Charlotte asked, gently weaving their fingers together. “More than anything in the world, I want you to be happy. I would not welcome Lucas into my home if I thought he had those sorts of feelings for me—if I thought he didn’t truly love you.”