A Taste of Temptation (30 page)

With labored breath and eyes and throat stinging from the swell of smoke, Olivia looked over at Andrew. Moonlight shone in from the bare window and bathed him in soft light. He was dressed in nothing but his half-buttoned trousers, his bare feet planted next to the charred remains of the draperies. His rumpled hair fell across the scowl etched in his forehead, but to her, he’d never looked more handsome.

And she’d never been more certain that she loved him with all her heart.

He coughed again and in a raspy voice said, “You shouldn’t have stayed.” Concern was etched in every line of his face. “You should have gotten everyone out of the house.”

I couldn’t leave you. You’re my husband and I love you.

“When I saw that nothing but the draperies were burning I knew there was no immediate danger to anyone. I knew we could put out the fire,” she said, wishing she could say so much more, but knowing now wasn’t the time to profess her love.

“You are too brave for your own good.” His compliment pleased her, but rather than remark on it she said, “Do you think whoever did this is still in the house?”

Andrew shook his head. “Only a fool would remain in a house after he set it on fire. Whomever you saw leaving your room just tried to kill us.”

“No, it couldn’t have been the man I saw. There wasn’t time for him to have made it downstairs and set the fire. We were at the door seconds after I saw him.” Andrew’s expression remained dark. “The fire didn’t start by itself. There’s a half-burned candle on the floor.

Someone lit the candle and opened the window so the breeze would blow the draperies into the flame. There’s no way this could have been an accident.”

“I agree. Whoever lit the candle probably left the house by going out the window, but it couldn’t have been the man I saw.” She stepped closer to Andrew. “I know you’re going to think I’m crazy but I think—I think what I saw in my room was a ghost.”

He coughed again and cleared his throat. “Olivia, this is not the time to start that.”

“No, let me finish, Andrew. I think the spirit awakened me and wanted me to follow him to the door so I would smell the smoke. I think he wanted to warn me so no one would be injured.”

Andrew’s eyes searched hers again. “Olivia, that’s preposterous. I have lived in this house for over ten years. If there was a ghost in this house, surely I would have seen him by now.”

“Perhaps you have never seen the ghost because you don’t believe. Nothing else explains how the man I saw disappeared so quickly.”

“I don’t even know that you saw anyone.”

“I’m not lying,” she said indignantly.

“I’m not accusing you of that, but maybe you were dreaming you saw a man, or maybe you just saw a shadow.”

“No. I saw him as clearly as I saw him on our wedding night. It was the same ghost—ah—same man.”

“Why do you think he came into your room that first night? What was he warning you of then?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he wanted to warn me that someone was in the house placing the pike where it would fall on you with the least bit of jarring. I don’t have all the answers, Andrew, but I know strange things are going on in this house that can’t be explained.”

“I agree with you. Strange things are going on inside this house and outside, too, and it’s past time I got to the bottom of them. Too many things have happened for them to all be coincidence.”

A shiver of fear raced through Olivia. “Are you thinking about a couple of days ago when you were crossing the street and a carriage almost ran you down? When you hurt your ankle?”

“Yes. The driver didn’t stop to see if I was all right. At the time there was no reason to think it was anything other than a careless youth on a runaway carriage, but now I’m sure it wasn’t.”

She reached out and took hold of his arm as she said,

“Why didn’t you—”

Andrew winced and jerked his arm away from her.

Olivia gasped. “You’re hurt.” Even in the grayish moonlight she saw a large red welt on the inside of his forearm. “You’ve been burned. Come to the kitchen and let me see to it.”

“I’ll be all right,” he said.

She placed her open palm on the upper part of his arm, refusing to let him brush this injury off as not important.

“Andrew, please, you can’t take a chance on the burn turning putrid. Let me take care of you.”

“All right.”

He relented and followed her into the kitchen, where he sat down at the table and lit the lamp. Whibbs had told Olivia which cabinet held the assortment of salves and medicines her first day in the house. She found the basket of ointments and placed it on the table in front of Andrew.

She then poured water from a pitcher into a basin and collected some clean cloths from the cupboard and sat down to wash the wound.

Olivia pushed her hair to her back before dipping the cloth into the pan. She squeezed the cloth, letting the water dribble over the burned area on his arm. The expression on Andrew’s face told her the cool water was soothing.

They were silent for a few moments until Olivia said, “I was looking for the ghost for my aunt.” He looked up and his gaze met hers. “What?”

“That night you found me in your bedchamber I was there because of Agatha. The ghost is the reason we came to London.”

“So you really are a ghost hunter?” he asked.

Olivia smiled at him as she continued to let the cool water wash over his wound. “It sounds so disturbing when you put it that way.”

“No, Olivia, coming to London in search of a ghost is what sounds troubling.”

“I suppose it is. It was disturbing for me, too, at first. I felt the same way you do when Aunt Agatha told me that Lord Pinkwater’s ghost was calling to her from the grave.”

“Your aunt?”

“Yes. Perhaps you don’t know that she was once betrothed to Lord Pinkwater.”

“I don’t think I did hear that.”

“Probably not. It was so long ago. My aunt was only eighteen at the time. Anyway, Lord Pinkwater broke the engagement, but Agatha never stopped loving him or hoping that he would return to her one day. Even after his death. A few weeks ago, she insisted his ghost called to her and told her to come to London and find him because he had something important to say to her.”

“And you agreed to come to London and help her because you believe in ghosts.”

“No.” Olivia put down the wet cloth and picked up a dry one and lightly patted the burn. She liked taking care of Andrew. “At the time I was quite sure I didn’t believe in ghosts, but I knew I had to help my aunt. She wanted to search private homes until she found the one where Lord Pinkwater’s ghost resides.”

“You think his ghost is in my house?” he asked incredulously.

“I didn’t at the time, but now I’m beginning to wonder.

Do you remember the first night we met? An urn fell from the stairwell landing.”

“Even though I tried to drink myself into oblivion that night after you left, I remember every moment of it very well.”

“When the urn fell Aunt Agatha considered it a sign to her from Lord Pinkwater letting her know that he was in this house.”

“And that’s why you were upstairs looking for him.”

“Yes. She wanted to search your house, but I couldn’t let her for fear someone would catch her. I was afraid she would tell them what she was doing and they would think she was a crazy old woman who should be kept locked away from Society. Her position in the
ton
has always been the most important thing in her life. I couldn’t bear the thought of anyone finding out that she was looking for Lord Pinkwater’s ghost.”

“So you were protecting your aunt’s reputation.” Olivia nodded as she lightly rubbed the salve on his arm. The burn was red and angry looking but Olivia considered it a good sign that no blister had formed.

“Even now she asks me if I have seen him or felt his presence in the house.”

“And what do you tell her?”

Olivia wrapped his arm in strips of the white cloth.

“That I haven’t seen him. I can’t explain who or what I’ve seen in my room twice now, but I don’t believe I was dreaming. What I saw was too real. I’m beginning to think a ghost is the only reasonable explanation.”

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” Andrew said softly, “but I do believe in you. If you say you saw a man in your room, then I believe you.”

“Thank you.”

“But what I have to do now is find the man who started the fire, and I have a feeling I know who he is. I’m going to look for him as soon as I get you out of this house.” Olivia’s hands went still. She felt as if her breath stalled in her chest. Her gaze flew to his. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going to make arrangements today to have you escorted to my house in Derbyshire until I get this settled.

There are plenty of servants there to protect you.” Olivia’s mind went blurry with thoughts and her head felt heavy. All she could think was that Andrew was sending her away to his country estate and he would be staying in London.

“No,” she said in a hoarse whisper as she rose from the table and looked down at him. “I don’t want to go.” Andrew rose, too. “You’ll be safe there.” No, she would be abandoned. He would never come back for her. She would be forced to live a life of loneliness just like her mother.

Her stomach quaked. She felt as if her heart were breaking in two. “Don’t send me away, Andrew,” she whispered.

“Don’t.”

“Olivia, someone is trying to kill me. I don’t want you to be harmed. Go upstairs and start packing. I want you out of this house and on your way to Derbyshire before the sun is high in the sky,” he said and turned toward the kitchen door.

For a moment she felt as if the world were spinning around her, leaving her dizzy. She grabbed hold of the table to steady herself. Her mind was a jumble of words but they all said the same thing. Andrew wanted her to leave.

After their passionate love making, after he had her believing he might grow to love her and want to share his life with her, he was sending her to his country estate.

If she left, she would be giving in to her husband’s command as her mother had given in to Olivia’s father’s demands. But Olivia was not her mother. This house was Olivia’s home and she belonged by Andrew’s side no matter the circumstances. If the possibility of a ghost hadn’t frightened her away, she wasn’t going to let anyone else scare her off. Andrew needed her.

She couldn’t force him to love her, but danger or not, she wasn’t leaving.

As he walked through the doorway she calmly said,

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Andrew stopped and turned around to look at her. His eyes searched her face. “Olivia, you can’t stay here.”

“Watch me, my husband.”

His expression turned serious. “Don’t you understand that your life is in danger if you remain here?”

“What about your life? If I am in danger in this house, so are you.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“And I can take care of myself. I have a ghost watching over me, remember.”

Andrew leaned his shoulder against the door frame and crossed one bare foot over the other. “That does not amuse me, Olivia.”

She took a deep breath and tried to calm the trembling she felt inside herself. “It wasn’t meant to, but perhaps the truth will. My mother was sent to the country to live out her days while my father remained the carefree man in London. She waited day after day, week after week, month after month for him to come back to her, and he would for a day or two each year. Just long enough to keep her loving him and wanting him.”

Olivia took a few steps toward Andrew and continued.

She felt tears sting the back of her eyes, but she willed them not to spill onto her cheeks. She wouldn’t allow herself to cry.

“I’ve watched my aunt live her life continuing to love a man who jilted her almost fifty years ago. She’s never loved another because to this day she waits for his ghost to come back to her. I won’t live my life waiting for you to return for me.”

Andrew straightened. Concern etched its way across his face and his eyes softened. “Olivia, I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“You are doing it. I am your wife. I love you and I will stay here with you. We’ll face together whatever befalls us, be it danger or safety. I will not be frightened away by some coward who tried to burn down our house.” He walked over to her and gently took hold of her upper arms. “Do you mean that?”

She didn’t take her eyes off his face. She was fighting for the man she loved, and she didn’t intend to lose.

“Yes. I’m staying.”

“No, that part I understood clearly. Did you mean it when you said you loved me?”

Olivia’s heart quickened. Had she actually said those words out loud? She hadn’t meant to tell him that she loved him right now. It didn’t seem the right time, but now that she had said the words she couldn’t deny them, even at the risk of his scorn.

“I mean it, Andrew,” she whispered. “I love you with all that is inside me, and I can’t bear the thought of being separated from you. Do not send me away.” Andrew’s heart swelled with love as he looked at his beautiful wife professing her love for him. From the moment he’d met her he had known she was strong, capable, and not easily deterred. But until now he hadn’t realized just how formidable she was, or just how lucky he was that she belonged to him.

He pulled her close and hugged her tightly. Olivia was in danger—not from a ghost, but from a real man named Willard Hawkins. Andrew had to make sure she was safe.

Sending her to his country estate with Runners to protect her until Hawkins could be found was the right thing to do, but after her plea, there was no way he could do it.