Читать книгу Ever Tempted - Odessa Gillespie Black - Страница 9

Shelby stopped by the third row of trees in the front yard. Searching for anyone around us, she looked over my shoulder and down the drive. When she was sure we were out of the earshot of guests, she turned on me. “What the hell did you do?”

My hands in my suit pockets, I stared off at the sweeping gardens of the front grounds. “There are so many things; where should I start?”

“You could start with being in the bed with some naked woman while you were away? What the hell? You were supposed to be taking time to find yourself, not all the STDs you could get in two weeks or less.” Shelby’s livid gaze pierced me. She shoved a lock of golden hair over her ear, revealing more of a golden loop earring.

I turned to her. “You’ve only heard my thoughts or saw them. I’m not sure how your little tricks work exactly, but what you’ve seen or heard wasn’t the whole story.”

“I have exactly fifteen hours until you’re married. If I decide to let her go through with it. I saw you naked, in bed with another woman. That’s plenty enough for me. I thought you were different. Any good best friend would run straight to Allie and warn her of her pending marriage to a womanizer.” Shelby’s lips pursed into a perfect furious heart.

“It was right after my shift back. My mind was foggy, and my vision hadn’t returned to normal. I wasn’t all there. I walked into my room and thought Allie had found me. I ended up tackling some girl that in a haze looked exactly like Allie. Luckily, I figured it out before it was too late. I swear that’s the truth. Take your mental backhoe into my brain and dig a landfill if you’d like. That’s the only thing you’ll find.”

Shelby’s suspicious gaze faded as she walked over to a white rose bush bordering the drive. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s impossible for you to stay out of trouble. I thought your dead ex being out of the picture would lessen some of the drama around you. What’s worse is that’s not even why I wanted to talk.”

The change in Shelby’s voice got my attention. “What’s up?”

She turned and crossed her arms, her long leg revealed with the movement. “Besides you being a nimrod, there’s a problem with the pond.”

My insides chilled. “The pond?”

“While you were off roleplaying with your waitress, the pond sprang a leak. Flooding has never been an issue until these stupid stipulations of the water having to stay still to keep Grace’s soul inside the Amiante stone came into play. Now our buried ghost might not stay buried for long, if she’s not already out roaming around making a bitch of herself, as usual.” Shelby wrenched her hands and paced.

“What happened? How is the water moving?” A vice grip took hold of my heart. This couldn’t be happening. That pond never had water running to or from it.

“The storm we had last night was a doozy. I haven’t said anything to Allie yet. I didn’t want to ruin her day, and I wanted your help in dealing with the matter before we told her she couldn’t have a wedding. It appears the creek that supplies your waterfall bathing spot has redirected. Now it’s running into the pond from one end and out the other side.”

“Oh, God.” I swiped at my forehead where a rivulet of sweat trickled. Voices neared us, but a car cranked and pulled down the drive.

“Now you’re going to have to break it to Allie that not only have you sort of cheated on her, but the girl who ruined your first wedding a hundred years ago is more than likely about to become the wedding crasher of the century.” Shelby stopped and stared at the dark fourth floor.

“The positive spin you put on every situation is rivaled only by your ability to sympathize.” A low growl rumbled in my chest.

She shook her head and took a deep breath as she turned back to me. “Sorry. I tend to make light of things when I’m freaking out. How do we tell her?”

“I’m going to take a look at the pond. Keep her occupied until I figure something out.”

“Don’t keep her in the dark. You remember what happened last time.”

* * * *

At the back of the property, instead of slipping and sliding down the embankment until I found a foothold, I ambled down a set of new wooden steps built into the wall.

This is what the lumber was for, but Thomas could find no good way to let on that Allie had decided to build a direct path straight down to Grace’s watery grave. And where she wanted to flaunt a long overdue wedding.

This place should have been fenced off, not remodeled.

At the bottom of the steps, the pond was lit with lampposts at intervals. The bridge over the pond had been reconstructed and widened, and rows of chairs were placed at the edge of the pond.

Holy. Shit.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or yell in frustration.

This was definitely Annabeth Rollins at her smartass finest. She had planned to have the wedding over the bridge with hopes that Grace could see from the murky depths of the pond where her body and soul had been laid to unrest.

Now, the naked waitress was the least of our worries.

Just as I started to call Grace from out of the darkness, if she was in fact out there stalking us, Allie’s voice stopped me.

“What do you think?” Her voice brimmed with excitement. “I know you lost a lot here, but I wanted to right the wrongs done to you so long ago.”

With her hand resting lightly on the handrail, she was three steps from the bottom.

“Here? You were going to do this here?” I wanted to hug her and throttle her at the same time.

“It holds sentimental value for us.” Her bright eyes shined in the lamplight.

My mouth hung open.

Her grin fading, Allie leaned on the railing and ran her finger in a quick swirl. She didn’t make eye contact with me. “It is where we met each other for the first time, this time around.”

“You. Are. Crazy.”

“Nope. Just in love and a little vindictive.” She skipped down the last few steps and landed with a happy plop.

“Fate doesn’t exactly like us, and you’re trying to piss it off further.” Something broke sticks in the woods. Allie wouldn’t hear it, but my animal instincts couldn’t have missed them.

“It doesn’t have to be out here if you hate it.” Her mouth worked into the cutest pout.

“No. that’s… That’s not what I’m worried about right now. I’m just…” I paused. I wanted to laugh and kiss her at the same time. She had balls. “Look. We have a problem. You might not want to get married after we talk.”

“There’s nothing that could change that.” She gazed thoughtfully at me, through me. “You don’t want to get married tomorrow. I see it in your eyes.”

“No. I don’t want to get married tomorrow.” I took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “But not because of anything you’ve done or a lack of total devotion to you on my part.”

Allie stepped back from me. Hurt darkened her face. “What is it, then?”

I slipped my hands into my coat pockets, then took them back out. I wanted to scoop her up and take her far away from here, but I had to face our ghosts, or ghost in this case, head on. “It rained here last night.”

Allie rolled her eyes and ambled toward me. “Surely, you don’t want to talk about the weather?”

“The creek that goes to the waterfall redirected and has moved to the pond on the backside. You can’t see it from here, but I can.” I waited for my words to sink in.

Her hand stopped at the bottom of my tie, and her eyes slowly widened. “Grace.”

“She might be free. I can’t go on with the wedding with a possibility of her roaming the estate.” I stepped into arm’s reach of Allie, but once again feared to touch her with such a high probability Grace was near. Putting Allie in danger was out of the question.

Allie dropped her hands to her sides. She looked to the pond. Devastation darkened Allie’s face, and the rims of her eyes teared up. “No. This isn’t happening.”

“Come on.” I took her hand and led her back up the steps. “We’ll get through this. I promise.”

Allie’s blank stare didn’t leave the pond until we got to the first landing on the new steps. From there, she robotically followed me to the house without a word.

* * * *

For the remainder of the evening, Allie played her host role perfectly, but the guests didn’t know her the way I did. As she carried on hollow conversations and gave meaningless hugs and handshakes, her shoulders had fallen from the sure young lady I’d seen when I arrived tonight to sagging with the weight of her dead sister’s lifeless body on her shoulders once again.

Before the evening came to a close, she announced that due to circumstances beyond our control, the wedding would have to be postponed indefinitely.

After giving the audience a little bow, Allie turned to me but didn’t make eye contact. “I need a few minutes of fresh air.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Allie pressed me back with her hand. “Alone. Please.”

Thomas came from a group of caterers and stepped up beside me as we watched Allie stalk toward the house. “Why in the world would you postpone the wedding?”

“As usual, Grace.” I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “I never can quite get away from her. If I don’t soon get her out of our lives, I’ll lose Allie.”

Thomas nodded to a passing guest, then leaned in to me. “You don’t know her as well as you think you do. The whole time you were gone, the only thing she could talk about was how much she missed you and something about strangling you because turnabout was fair play.”

I gave a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah, I can see how she’d want to strangle me. I would if I were her.”

Who wouldn’t want to strangle the person who’d killed them two weeks ago? I’d thought Allie had been possessed by Grace and that the only way I could rid her of the possession was to kill her, then kill myself.

We’d start over the way we always had.

Thank God for Kaitlyn and Shelby’s CPR skills.

“I thought you had Grace under control enough to be happy at least for the rest of this life.” Thomas kept his voice low so the guests wouldn’t hear.

“The pond we buried her in was supposed to stay completely stagnant. Any moving water around the Amiante stone that housed Grace’s soul would free her. The storm you guys had last night redirected that creek and overflowed the pond.” I nodded to a smiling guest as they passed me to leave. “I haven’t seen Grace yet, but I can’t take chances of her hurting Allie. If we are married with Grace anywhere near us, she’ll be sure to find a way to maim or disfigure Allie.”

“I thought she was supposed to leave you alone after the new moon commenced?”

“Me too. This is uncharted territory for me, so I’m taking no chances.”

Thomas patted my back. “It’ll all work out, I’m sure.”

“I hope so. I’m going to find Allie. I don’t want her alone with the threat of Grace riddling the property with her psychotic pranks.” I nodded a good evening to Thomas and slipped inside to search for Allie’s thoughts, my handy way of finding her when she was nearby but not in sight.

* * * *

On the balcony of the second floor, a pair of silver stilettos lay off to the side. For a second, my heart almost slammed a hole in my rib cage. I pictured her standing on a ledge, ready to give up, but she was leaning on the cement wall overlooking the east side of the grounds.

Relieved, I stood in the doorway for a few moments.

Her long hair flowed in the summer breeze. She’d freed it of its elegant up-do, and now I had to try to not think impure thoughts.

With the emotional seesaw slingshotting my thoughts all over the place, I was quite proud of my composure thus far. Virtually no urge to cat out at all.

The last time I’d seen her on a second floor overlooking the property, she’d been in a thin white night gown with her hair flowing in the wind. I’d almost climbed the stone wall to gather her into some sort of erotic embrace I was sure to get myself killed over. I didn’t exercise near the control I did today. That had been over a hundred years ago.

Taking a deep breath, I clutched a little box. I’d found time to sneak away while Allie was attending to the needs of her guests to retrieve her original rings. She’d been so down when I told her about the pond that I thought the prospect of wearing them might raise her spirits, and I’d decided how I’d tell Allie about the hotel incident in the same swoop.

“A penny for your thoughts?” she asked sadly.

I jumped. I would have to work on my stalking skills.

“You know, in 1879, a penny was worth a lot more.” Squeezing the box, I recalled exactly how many pennies had been involved in its purchase. I walked to the cool cement wall that overlooked the grounds and leaned against it with my side. I opened my hand in front of Allie.

With tear-rimmed eyes, she touched the faded blue velvet.

“I saved every penny I made for months, and with a loan from your parents, I bought our wedding rings. These are the set we were to exchange the day of the wedding. Your family wanted me to let you wear yours to the grave, but I couldn’t allow it. They didn’t know you weren’t in that pine box.” I stared into the sky.

Guys don’t cry, Pop always said.

I let the light breeze dry the moisture building in my eyes. “If what that lunatic told me about our curse was true, I wanted the rings to be available to you in a later life, if we could beat her. I wanted to believe you were floating around out there somewhere waiting for me.”

She slid the top off the ring box and stared at the twinkling diamond and our matching wedding bands in silent awe. The wind blew her hair and the breeze brought the light scent of her perfume to me.

“We have a love story even Shakespeare can’t top,” she said sadly. “I just hope it doesn’t turn into a tragedy.”

“I’ll do my best not to let it, but please remember, I’m not one of Shakespeare’s heroes. I’m far from perfect. I have something to tell you that’s going to upset you. I would have proposed to you just now and slid that ring back on your finger where it belongs, but in our past experiences, you have a pretty good throwing arm. Especially when I’ve done something to upset you. Even now, you’ll probably throw them as far as you can when I’m done talking.” I took a deep, shaky breath and gripped the balcony railing. “I’m going to tell you what I’ve done to hurt you, then if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I’d like you to wear the ring.”

Allie’s face went blank. She looked past me into the distance beyond the grounds.

I couldn’t read her.

Either her mind had stopped producing thoughts, or she was so scared to hear what I had to say she was blank.

She put the lid back on the box and stepped closer to my side. “Maybe I don’t want to hear more bad news. I’d like one normal day with you.”

“The last time you told me you didn’t want me to tell you what I’d done, I listened and you almost hated me when you learned the truth. I’m not going to do that again.” I turned her to face me. “You have to know.”

“Not tonight.” She shook her head. “I need some recovery time.”

“First thing tomorrow.” I put my forehead on hers and slipped the rings back into my pocket. Maybe she’d be more willing to wear them if the proposal wasn’t centered on Grace as our whole lives seemed to always be.

Allie leaned back and narrowed her gaze.

“Wait. Did you practice with another woman while you were away?” she asked, a new fire in her eyes.

“No. I would never do that.” I wanted to tell her now, but she’d asked for no bad news.

“Good.” Allie picked up her shoes and turned back to me. “Walk me to my room.”

She’d never sounded so much like Annabeth, her original soul, the stronger version of Allie’s self, as she did just then. I didn’t know if she’d ever be susceptible to my telling her that, with her insecurities about other women and all, but it was endearing.

They were the same person.

Just layered.

Annabeth would have made me tell her, then thrown something at me in rebuttal. This version of Annabeth was spent. I couldn’t blame her. A hundred years of not knowing who she was, why she was so lonely and couldn’t love anyone else had probably exhausted her.

With Allie barefoot and her head on my arm, I led her toward her suite of rooms, the first doors on the left at the top of the sweeping staircase.

We were both quiet until she came to a mindless halt. Her gaze seemed to stop on the wooden carvings of the staircase. “Would it be too much to ask for you to hold me while I sleep?”

My legs turned to Jello. I would have to practice at predicting her moods and what she might expect from me. Note to self.

She begged me with her eyes. “I’m scared. I hate that I am, but I am. The dreams Grace gave me were always so awful. I don’t want to be alone. Please don’t make me be alone.”

“I’ll hold you for as long as I can.” Sooo not a good idea, but in the wake of everything that had happened since I’d returned, she wasn’t asking much. It wasn’t her fault a heartless, soulless ghoul had haunted her every waking second.

In other circumstances, her triumphant smirk would have broken through. After my revelation, she looked thinner, and circles had formed under her eyes.

Just before we started up, Shelby and Kaitlyn walked in from the grand entrance of the house. Kaitlyn had been taking her earrings out when she spotted us. Her blue evening dress was much more reserved than Shelby’s, as always.

Kaitlyn smiled and squeezed my arm.

They hugged Allie and murmured reassuring words as they conveyed thoughts only I could hear.

Shelby said, “Keep her safe. She doesn’t look so good.”

Allie stared straight ahead.

Kaitlyn’s eyes widened as she glanced at me. “I’m worried about her.”

I nodded. “Me too. She’s going to hate me before this is all over.”

Kaitlyn shook her head. “We’ll keep watch from the living room until we decide to turn in for the night. Then we’ll be right beside her in case you need to go eat.”

“Yeah, there’s this new show about a motel…” Shelby looked at me.

I choked.

“It’s about a boy and his mom. Chill.” She snickered.

Allie’s limp hand fell from mine, and in robotic motions she started up the stairs.

“If I’d ever had a sister, I’m sure she would have been just like you. And she wouldn’t have lived very long,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Just reminding you of what you missed.” Shelby’s voice was sing-song.

I huffed and followed Allie upstairs. She went through her nightly rituals with me waiting in a wingback chair close to her bed. I must’ve shifted my weight nine or ten times. Tried to find something in the room other than her to stare at. Tucked and untucked my shirt. Anything to get my mind off how beautiful she was and how inappropriate it was to feel so strongly attracted at a time like this. This was not the time to let the stupid animal rear his ugly fur.

In mindless strokes, she sat at the vanity and brushed her hair. When the water turned off in the bathroom, she ambled to the bed without making eye contact with me. Climbing under the covers, she scooted to the middle and faced away from me.

I took an unsteady breath. This was not how I imagined my first night holding her would play out. Sinking into the feather mattress, I slid close to Allie.

Normally, she would have melted against me, but she was rigid.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath. Pressing my body against her and draping my arm over her side, I tried to get comfortable but not too comfortable. It was only then that I could feel her body quivering. Letting out little whimpers, she turned her face into her pillow.

That was the instant cold shower I needed.

There was nothing I could say to lessen her pain, so I was silent.

A few minutes later, her frustration wilted, and she sank back against me. “I hate her for ruining every tender moment we could have.”

Stroking her arm, I buried my face in her hair. In case the scent became too provocative, I pulled away. “I’ll never stop trying to make you happy. I will see to it that she is destroyed and that you get your happily ever after.”

“What if she never goes away? You’ll spend your life fighting with her. That’s what she wants. All your attention on her.” Allie went rigid and stared toward the long ray of moonlight falling into the room. “I’m jealous. It’s dumb to admit. But I am. I hate her. She gets to remember. She gets to spend more time with you. She knows what it feels like to hold you, to make love to you. It’s not fair.”

So that’s what this was about. Grace had raped me, but Allie still saw that as Grace being closer to me than she had ever been allowed to be. Grace having the upper hand.

“Come here.” My voice was low.

She rolled to face me. Her gorgeous eyelashes were still damp with tears, and her long tresses spread across the pillow. Her legs touched mine, sending heat up my thighs. I inhaled sharply, but repressed impure thoughts.

“She may have had my body, but you have my soul.” I kissed her eyes, then her flushed cheeks.

I also wouldn’t allow myself to touch her too much. It would be deceptive to pretend I hadn’t somewhat wronged her.

She was still, her eyes wide and hopeful. Her fingers traced my lips, and with their touch, my normally irreversible shuddering began.

No.

I wouldn’t allow him out.

Allie wrapped one leg around mine and pulled her body closer to me so our stomachs touched. Allie’s full, pink lips trembled. As if she’d acquired mind-reading skills while I was away, she said, “I know you. You feel guilty about something. You’ve got that look. I don’t care what you did. I just want to be the only thing you think about. I don’t want to share you with anyone.”

“There’ll never be anyone else,” I said.

With the twinkle I remembered from a hundred years ago alive in her eyes, she whispered, “I want all of you.”

My sanity and control tottered on the edge. Principles and standards forgotten, I scooped Allie against me. A hundred years of pent-up frustration landed on her lips.

She wriggled closer and her lips went to my neck. Her hand shoved my shirt up. A bolt of lightning shot through me when her fingers grazed the taut skin at my waistline. I growled and rolled onto my back. In seconds, she had me pinned, straddling me.

Moonlight sparkled through her hair and glistened down her arms as her hands splayed out on my chest. She shoved my dress shirt open and stared down at the skin she’d bared.

“Don’t tell me no.” Her voice was low and sure.

There’s a certain spot on the back of a cat’s neck a human can grip to cause paralysis. The vision of her shirt sliding over her head and landing on the bed felt just as if she had caught me by my soul and hurled me into oblivion.

Her touch was liquid silk, her eyes wild fire.

Allie gripped handfuls of my shirt and snatched it off me.

My breath turned to molten lava in my chest, burning and hard to dispel. Heat traveled down my chest and stopped deep in the pit of my stomach, producing a craving unlike any I’d ever felt. Even shifting wasn’t as distressing.

I thought only one thing would relieve the ache, until a flash of Allie lying in the flower bed beside her dead sister, twisted with wide-eyed vacancy thrashed me back to reality. With a gentle grip, I captured Allie’s wandering hands.

The light in Allie’s eyes dimmed.

“I can’t. Not yet. The fantasies I used to practice with were nowhere near close to feeling like this.”

Her gaze dropped.

I pulled her hands together and placed them flat on my chest. “Don’t hate me. I have to stop. There’s only one thing I want more in this life than to ravish you for hours. Your safety. I promise I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”

She sighed. “I’ll play nice if you promise not to leave me here alone.”

My brow jerked up. “How do you propose I keep my hands off you a whole night?”

“Well, considering I really don’t want you to, maybe if you stay, I can take advantage of you while you’re sleeping.” Playfully, she flopped on the bed beside me.

“One thing I know you’re going to have to do is put that top back on.” My gaze deceived my intentions by landing on the top of her milky white breasts. I groaned.

“If I must.” She pulled the pajama shirt back over her head, propped her elbow on the pillow and her head on her hand to stare at me. “You owe me big.”

All the things my hormone overloaded brain thought to say were inappropriate, so I just said, “Yes. I know.”

After a short, agonizing conversation about what she wanted me to do to her when we were married and me trying to shut her up to ease my male suffering, she finally stopped fighting exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep. Once I was sure she was out completely, I put the sheet, blanket, and two pillows between us. Like that would help. It was a wasted attempt, considering my dreams were filled with her and me in some of the most sensual situations I could hope to find myself.

Needless to say, it was a night of fitful sleep.