An Irresistible Temptation (17 page)

Sophie stepped to the side. “Freddie, this is
Philip Wainright . . . from back home. He’s . . . an old
friend.”

Freddie looked uncertain, but Sophie ushered
him in and Philip stood up. “Philip, this is Freddie Vern, a new
friend,” she said, giving Freddie an encouraging look. “And he
secured this lovely room for me.” She didn’t want to mention that
he was also her employer and hoped that Freddie wouldn’t bring it
up either. Somehow, playing piano in a bar wasn’t the great success
she wanted Philip to hear about.

The two men shook hands, posturing a bit but
saying how pleased each was to meet the other.

“Well, I guess you can’t come downstairs for
a drink with me tonight?” Freddie said, looking from Sophie to
Philip. “Can you?”

“Uh, hm. Philip, are you staying here at The
Grand?” Sophie was stalling, still unsure what Philip was doing in
San Francisco.

“No, I’m next door at The Palace. Though if
I’d known you were here, it would have been my first choice. Still,
we have a lot to discuss,” he said, eyeing Freddie.

Did they?
Sophie wondered. She
couldn’t think of anything to talk to him about, now he was
standing here in front of her.

Another sharp rap at her door. Sophie puffed
out her cheeks in disbelief but smiled to each of the men before
she squeezed between them to open the door. Tentatively she peered
out.

“Riley!”

“Sophie, I know what you’re thinking,” he
began but she stepped to the side so he could see the other
occupants of her room and he stopped mid-sentence.

“No,” she said, “I don’t think you do.” Then
she added, “Come in, Mr. Dalcourt. Meet my friends, Freddie Vern
and Philip Wainright.”

“Philip!” Riley repeated, his gaze locking on
him as he stepped forward. Sophie remembered then that she’d
mentioned him by name to Riley, perhaps once.

“This is Riley Dalcourt . . . from Spring
City,” she said lamely to Philip, hoping Riley would take Philips’s
hand that was left hanging out like a limp flag.

Riley did take it finally, giving it a quick
grasp and dropping it even faster, his eyes never leaving Philip’s
face. Then he shook hands with Freddie.

“Riley,” Freddie repeated, thoughtfully, then
obviously he remembered. “Sophie’s Riley,” he added.

Sophie jumped as Freddie repeated what
Carling had said, and she saw both Riley’s and Philip’s eyes widen
at his remark.

“Sophie’s Riley,” Philip said loudly, staring
from her to him and back again.

“He’s my doctor,” Sophie jumped in. “I mean a
doctor. Well, not quite, but almost. ”

Riley opened his mouth either to contradict
or confirm, but before he could say anything, they all heard a
voice, “Sophieeee,” and then a rap, rap, rap.

“Honestly,” Sophie muttered, yanking the door
open again to see both Carling and Egbert. Sophie stepped sideways
so they could see. Carling burst out laughing. Sophie turned to her
guests.

“Since the occupancy potential of my room has
been quite surpassed, I suggest we take our little party
downstairs.”

“Oh, a party!” Carling exclaimed and clapped
her hands. But Egbert cleared his throat.

“Actually, I was going to take Miss Rilkers
to supper and we wondered if you might like to join us,” he said,
directing his invitation to Sophie alone. But the unwelcoming slope
of his brow made it clear that he’d been forced by Carling and he’d
prefer to be alone with her.

“No, no, you two go on,” she told them,
knowing she’d hear all about it the following day. “Have a
wonderful meal.” She closed the door on Carling’s wicked grin and
her wide, mischievous eyes.

She turned back to the gentleman.
Who was
next to go?

“Freddie, it was lovely of you to ask me for
a drink. Perhaps another time?” He had been a good friend and she
hated to put him out, but she couldn’t possibly go out with him
when Philip had just arrived. She noticed that Riley and Philip had
similar scowls on their faces regarding Freddie, but neither had
the right to their jealousy, if that’s what they were feeling.

Freddie looked dour but nodded curtly. “I’ll
be downstairs. Let me know if you need anything,” he said
pointedly.

“Thank you. I will.” She gave him an extra
warm smile and he left. Now, it might get a little harder.

She turned back to the two men who were left,
both staring directly at her. They were striking in their
differences and their similarities. One blond and blue-eyed, the
other brown-haired and dusky-eyed. Both similarly tall, perhaps
Philip a shade shorter, and Riley a tad broader of shoulder. Their
mouths were entirely different.

Why Sophie should notice that, she didn’t
know. But Philip had a bow-shaped mouth, with a full lower lip, and
Riley . . . Her eyes darted to his lips. Riley’s mouth was maybe a
bit wider, his lips quick to curve into a generous grin. It was
imminently kissable. She caught her breath.

“Riley, what are you doing here?”

She watched Philip’s gaze swing over to
Riley. She could tell that Riley wanted to ask the same of Philip,
but it wasn’t his place to do so.

“I came by to give you these.” He pulled a
small white packet out of his pocket. He handed it to her. “Pain
tablets. Doctor Finley wanted to make sure you had them in case you
start to use your hand too soon. Your fingers will be sore and
stiff when you begin moving them again.”

She looked down at the envelope and shook it.
It made a small rattling sound. “That’s very kind of you to come
all the way across the city.”

“No trouble.”

“So,” Philip broke in, “you’re a doctor?”

“No,” Riley said. Sophie waited for him to
say more, but he looked unwilling to speak to Philip.

“Riley is a medical student, nearly a
doctor.” She thought it best to enlighten Philip before he got
other ideas. “He works at the hospital where my hand was
treated.”

“I see.” Philip rocked lightly from foot to
foot.

Riley crossed his arms. Silence.

“I say,” Philip offered, “we’re heading out,
old chap. Do you mind?”

Riley barely glanced at him. His eyes bore
into hers. “I’ll leave you to your evening,” he said, moving toward
the door. Stopping beside her, standing very close, he looked down
into her eyes. “That is, if that’s what you want.”

She heard Philip let out an exasperated sigh.
How could she possibly respond to such a remark?

“Yes, thank you.”

Riley pursed his lips in disapproval,
apparently not thinking much of her spending time with the man
who’d broken her heart. But all he could do was nod and leave.

“Something’s up with that fellow,” Philip
said as she closed the door. She lifted her shoulders,
noncommittally, noticing his frown. “I got the feeling that he had
something more than pain tablets occupying his mind,” Philip
persisted.

“He’s a friend. I met him in Colorado but he
goes to medical school here.” What else could she say?

“Hm, you seem to have an abundance of friends
here.” Then he shrugged. “But what did I think? That you would be
sitting alone, pining for me. You wouldn’t be my Sophie Malloy if
you were.”

His Sophie
. She looked down at her
hands. She had not thought of herself that way in a long time. Did
she even want to spend time with Philip? Well, she wanted to hear
what he had to say, even if it was only news from abroad. She
looked up at him.

“I’m hungry. Would you like to get something
to eat?”

Philip smiled. It was a very familiar sight
and she relaxed. She’d asked him that question a hundred times,
hadn’t she?

“I’d love to. The restaurant at my
hotel—”

“You know, I’ve had enough of The Grand and
The Palace. I’d love to go somewhere else in this city.”

“Somewhere else it is, then,” he said
agreeably.

Sophie nodded. “Let me change my shoes.”

*****

“I was a numbskull, a jackass,” Philip
professed for the third time.

“Yes,” Sophie said because she was tired of
telling him that he wasn’t. “You were.”

He looked surprised, his fork halfway to his
mouth. “But you said before that I was correct to follow my
heart.”

“I did, but if you’re going to keep stating
your faults, I’m eventually going to agree. Look, Philip, if you
want to be free and go to the university unencumbered, that’s fine.
It wasn’t fine last year because I had expectations.”

“I know you did, and I let you down.”

Sophie thought it was rather more
heart-wrenching than just being “let down.” One minute they were
about to be engaged and the next she’d been on a vessel bound for
Boston and the comfort of her mother. Still, her sentiments had
entirely changed. With her hand still bandaged and Riley Dalcourt
refusing to leave her alone, she had other issues to contend
with.

“Philip, we’ve talked about Oxford and my
family and your family and San Francisco. Why don’t you tell me
precisely why you’re here?”

He steepled his fingers on the table in front
of him and stared at them a moment.

“I think I have made a mistake.”

“About?”

“Us.”

“Indeed.”

“I thought you’d be more . . . excited.”

“I don’t know as yet to what mistake you
refer, so how do I know how I’m supposed to react?” Sophie took a
sip of her wine and waited for him to explain. She could think of
more than one mistake he’d made.

“Frankly, I think we should go back to being
a couple. Your expectations were entirely correct, and Oxford would
have been infinitely better with you beside me. There’s not a day
that I don’t miss you, your face, all of you. I want to hear you
play for me and I want you to discuss life with me again, like you
used to.”

Sophie couldn’t deny that she felt an
immediate sense of satisfaction, even relief. She’d been dismissed
rather summarily by this man whom she had loved, as if she’d had no
value in his life. It had been a blow to her ego and her
self-worth. Now, at least, she felt that she hadn’t been
inconsequential to him.

“Well?” he prompted, with a small upturn to
his lips. “Have you nothing to say?”

She stared at his face, so accustomed was she
to his moods and emotions. If she smiled sweetly back at him with
agreement, he would respond in kind and take her hand. His lids
would droop ever so slightly and he’d look at her from under them
in a come-hither way designed to stir her passions. It would end in
a kiss.

However, if instead she stayed impassive, as
she felt at the moment she would, his tentative smile would
disappear immediately, to be replaced by pursed lips and a slight
frown of disapproval. Instead of a kiss, she’d receive a cold
shoulder. She used to do nearly anything to avoid that look.

“Philip, I
am
surprised. You seemed so
very certain not that long ago that our paths had to separate. What
has changed?”

“I told you, Sophie. I missed you at Oxford.
I was lonely for you. I went out with other girls, but they weren’t
you.”

She wondered at her own lack of jealousy. She
felt no spike of emotion, nothing compared to how she felt when she
saw Eliza and Riley kissing in the backyard—jealousy combined with
a physical reaction, like a strong stomach cramp.

“Of course they weren’t me, Philip. But you
had
me. You didn’t
want
me. Perhaps you haven’t found
the right girl in Oxford, but that doesn’t mean you want me any
more than you did last year when you left.”

He looked down at his plate and away from her
dark eyes. “I remember how stunned and sad you were when I said
that I was going to Oxford alone. I expected you to be happy to see
me.” He was pouting.

“I
am
happy to see you, but I cannot
give you my heart as though it were only yesterday that we were
last together. Surely, you can understand that. A lot has happened
since then. We’d have to fall in love again.”

Could she fall for Philip now that she’d felt
such stirrings for Riley? Sophie didn’t know. He looked the same,
but she was far different. Philip smiled at her once more.

“Then I shall make you fall in love with me
again.”

She considered. She’d been content with what
they had before, and she almost hoped he could do it.

“How long are you staying?”

“Until I have your promise to come back with
me.”

“Be serious, Philip. You didn’t leave Oxford
for an open-ended period of time. How long are you booked up at The
Palace?”

“A week at the hotel, but that can be
extended.”

If he thought she’d melt into his arms in a
week, he’d better think again.

“But I’m not going back to Oxford at all,” he
added. “It wasn’t for me, as it turns out.”

She sensed he was holding something back, but
she didn’t press him; he fiddled with his napkin and said, “I’m
considering Harvard, of course, but also Williams and Amherst.”

“Is that so?” Sophie tried to keep her face
neutral though inside, she was cringing. Good God, Williams College
was the last place she’d want to be, in the center of nothing. She
needed a big city or at least a port town to feel as though she
were somewhere alive. She could no more live in Williamstown than
she could in Spring City. But then, Riley wasn’t asking her to go
back to Colorado with him anyway, to live as a small town doctor’s
wife. Yet if he did . . .

“Sophie, let’s go somewhere we can be alone
to talk. Back to my room, or yours.”

They had spent many hours alone before, but
she hesitated. They were so used to each other. When they sat
close, they always used to kiss or hold hands. If he stayed late,
they sometimes did a little more.

Now, however, she thought it would be
inappropriate. One thing could lead to another, and they currently
had no understanding or arrangement between them. And in truth, her
mind was too full of Riley.