To Seduce an Earl (40 page)

“You’re talking nonsense.” Avoiding her gaze, he brushed by her and entered the foyer. Her words made him nervous, anxious and he knew why… perhaps she was right. But how could he move forward when his past haunted him so? When he constantly feared the future and what lurked behind the shadowed corners of time?
 

“Am I talking nonsense?” Frustrated, Grace followed. “When will you stop giving her power over you—”

“We aren’t all like you, Grace.” Alex paused in the foyer, his back to her, for he wouldn’t dare look her in the eyes for fear she’d read the truth. He was afraid. Afraid of life and what it could do to a person. “We don’t all believe in fairytales and magic and…”

Something shifted in the darkness of the parlor, a shadow that didn’t belong. Alex held his breath, not daring to look directly. He didn’t need to turn to know who stood, unwelcome in his cottage. The very air was tainted with the scent of lavender. Instinctively he searched for Grace, knowing she stood behind him, having seen the shadow as well. Neither of them made a sound, neither moved. Alex felt that chain tightening around his neck once more. He’d been right all along, he would never escape the woman.

“Do let her go on, Alex,” Ophelia said, her voice like a snake hissing from the darkness. “I truly do wish to hear what she has to say. Quite intriguing.”

Grace flattened her hands to his back, her fingers curling into the material of his shirt, her grip tight. He could practically feel her fear. The fact that Grace was afraid, angered him more than anything. This was there cottage.
Their
home. How dare Ophelia enter.
 

Alex trembled deep within, resisting the urge to shout, to hit something. His anger would only amuse Ophelia and Grace was right, he’d given her enough power. He wasn’t surprised when the two hulking forms of Wavers and Jensen appeared beside their master, always there to protect.
 

“What are you doing here?” he demanded.

Lady Lavender tsked. “Not exactly the greeting I had expected.” Slowly, she moved from the empty hearth, smoothing down the skirts of her light lavender gown. “And she is not exactly what I was expecting.” She moved closer, pausing in the splash of afternoon light coming from the windows. “Who knew Alex liked them so pure and virginal? I remember quite well you saying you were tired of virgins.”

Anger simmered inside his blood so that he thought he might explode. Damn it all, he should have known she would come after him. He’d hoped, prayed that she had too many other things to occupy her time. But Gideon had been right all along, Ophelia wanted them for an entirely different reason. She must, to have traveled all this way. Why was he so important to her?
 

“Why are you here?”

“To collect what I own, of course.”

Grace’s fingers bit into his shirt, tightening in the material. He could practically feel the anger vibrating from her body. But she wouldn’t react, she was too smart for that. Grace was waiting for his cue. Alex gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain calm. Inside, he seethed. How he wanted to kill the woman. How he wished he had tightened his fingers around her throat when he’d had the chance. But killing her would have made him no better than she.

“You do not own me. You do not own anyone.”

Lady Lavender sighed and sashayed forward, that satiny velvet skirt swooshing over her polished slippers. The woman’s cloying French perfume permeated the building, leaving him nauseated.
 

“Alex,” she said in the same tone a mother would use to speak to a wayward child. “Dear, dear Alex. Grace, here, is correct. Perhaps I don’t own you on paper, but I own your soul, don’t I? The truth is you can’t go to sleep at night without thinking about me. You don’t spend your day without wondering when I will appear. I will forever be in your thoughts, your soul.”

Bitterness tasted sour upon his tongue. Alex saw red as his fingers curled into claws, the monster within released. With a growl, he surged forward. Jensen moved fast, stepping directly in front of Lady Lavender, at the same time Grace called out, “No, Alex! She’s baiting you.”

Alex stopped short, coming to his senses. Grace’s warm hands flattened to his body, her very life and essence seeping into his skin, his soul. Calming him.

“Why,” he seethed through gritted teeth. “Are you here?”

Ophelia moved around Jensen, trailing her fingers down the slope of the man’s broad shoulders, her glittering gaze locked to Alex. She knew exactly what she was doing, torturing Alex with information she didn’t mean to share. “An eye for an eye.”

He didn’t understand her words, but he knew it was a clue as to why she hated him so. His heart pumped madly, his hands curling as he resisted the urge to beg for more. She was playing with him, yet she was practically admitting there was more to their chance meeting those years back.

“An eye for an eye.”
 
 

Ophelia tilted her head to the side in a thoughtful manner, studying Grace. “I’ve been thinking of expanding my empire to include women. I know your family is in desperate need of money. If you’d like the work…”

Alex’s entire body stiffened as he resisted the urge to surge forward once more.

“Go back to hell where you belong,” Grace whispered.

“A fiery temper.” Lady Ophelia laughed. “There are plenty of men who love a woman with a temper. Makes it more…” She lifted her shoulders high as if delighted. “Exciting. I certainly can’t sell you as a virgin any longer though, can I? Shame, they do go for so much more.”

Alex clenched his jaw, squeezing his teeth so tightly together, surely they would crack. Her vile words and accusations would not taint what he had with Grace. How could she, a monster with no soul, possibly understand their feelings toward one another? “I will ask you one last time, what do you want? Why will you not leave me in peace?”

She was silent for a moment, a silence laced with condemnation. A silence so heavy that he knew her next words would change their lives forever. “Do you truly wish to know, Alex? If she hears the truth,” She slid Grace a glance, “she may never wish to see you again.”

Even though he didn’t understand her in the least, Ophelia’s words sent a cold chill down his body. Surely he’d done nothing so ill toward her. He was a mere child when she’d recruited him. So why then, did he fear losing Grace above all else?

“Tell me,” he demanded.

“Rape, my dear.” The harsh word hung suspended in the air. Lady Lavender stepped closer. Although she still smiled, her gaze had grown hard, void of feelings, void of soul. “At least that’s what most would call it. Of course coming from a man who is titled, it isn’t called rape. It’s the woman’s fault, you know and swept under the carpet.” She paced slowly in front of them. “Fifteen years ago in France it happened quite often. And with his best of friend helping him cover his crime, a friend related to Russian royalty, who would believe the poor woman’s accusations? The victim was left to rot, and with her innocence a vague memory, her value was gone as well.”

She paused in front of him, so close the scent of her lavender perfume made him nauseous, but her gaze was on Grace. He felt off balance, his emotions at war, unsure which should win.

“If a man was dishonored so, he would kill the person responsible and not one soul would blame him.” Her gaze went to Alex. She was smirking once more. “But women, we’re much, much more clever, aren’t we? I destroyed the men involved in another way, by destroying their pride and joy.”

Bile rose to Alex’s throat. The pieces fell together in soft whispers of denial. His stomach churned with the revolting image she spread before them. A memory too horrible for anyone, even her.

And with his best of friend helping him cover his crime, a friend related to Russian royalty…

Russian Royalty. Related to
royalty.
Alex felt dizzy. He knew his father was a bastard, but surely he couldn’t have been that horrible. So why did his heart feel as if it had been crushed? Why did he feel as if he could not possibly have a soul because he was his father’s offspring?

It made sense… the reason why Ophelia acted as she did. The reason why she was intent on destroying Alex. It all made sense now. Desperately, Alex found Grace. But she merely stood to the side, refusing to meet his gaze, focused on Lady Lavender. Had he lost her? Alex wanted to reach for her, wanted to swear he was not his father and beg her to believe him.

Instead, he swallowed hard and focused on Ophelia. “Your problem,” Alex stated, attempting to keep his tone even. “Was in thinking I was my father’s pride and joy.”
 

Lady Ophelia laughed a joyous sound. “I’m a patient woman, Alex. Very patient. Perhaps your father wasn’t destroyed by your sudden disappearance, but your family has reestablished themselves, haven’t they? What would happen to them if they found out what you are? If the world found out what you’ve been doing for the past ten years?”

Alex didn’t even flinch, although he felt her words like a knife to the gut. Grace’s face had gone pale and he knew she understood what his father had done.
 

“You will return with me,” Lady Lavender proclaimed, “Or I will see your family humiliated. But worse, I will see that your dear Grace is destroyed as well.”

Chapter 22

To the untrained eye, Alex would seem at ease. But Grace knew him well enough by now. She noticed the slight flaring of his pupils, the way that pulse in the side of his neck jumped to life. The way his hands curled ever so slightly.

“And so,” he said, “what will you do? Force me to leave? Shoot me if I don’t?”

Lady Lavender released a rich chuckle. “No, of course not.” Her gaze slid to Grace. “I’ll shoot her.”

Grace hadn’t time to think upon the woman’s dire words before a steel arm wrapped around her waist and she was jerked back into a chest that smelled of pipe tobacco. Wavers moved faster than she’d thought possible.

The cool point of a pistol pressed into her temple.

She didn’t move, didn’t even flinch. Flinching would show her fear and she would be damned if she would allow Lady Lavender to witness her vulnerability.

But Alex, sweet, noble and self-sacrificing Alex, was falling for the woman’s threats. She could see it in the emotion in his eyes. “Alex,” Grace whispered. “Don’t believe her.”

“No one will miss her, Alex.” Lady Lavender stood before them, a petite specimen of a woman. In reality she could so easily be destroyed. But here, in this world where nothing was normal, she reigned supreme.

“You think I didn’t know you were sneaking visits with her?” She turned and smiled at Alex. “When you left to see her, I knew. When she came to see you, I was completely aware. I allowed your visits. I allowed you to fall in love, knowing in the end that your love would destroy you. No one will miss her but you. It would be so easy to hide her death. Or perhaps… the world would blame you. After all, you’ve been seen together, haven’t you?”

“You wouldn’t kill an innocent,” Grace tried, hoping that deep down the woman must have some sense of right and wrong. “I’ve had nothing to do with your world. Alex had nothing to do with what happened to you. You’ve used him, destroyed his childhood, let him go.”

When the woman turned her cold eyes toward her, Grace understood the truth. Lady Lavender no longer had a soul. “You’d be surprised by what I can do, my dear.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Grace said, refusing to give in. “You can forget the pain. You can have a life as well.”

Ophelia sighed. “I do have a life, now that I’ve taken control. I know the secrets of so many powerful men and women. I own half this country.”

No words or begging would influence Ophelia. The woman was too far gone into madness. Vendetta had kept her going all these years, and she would see all destroyed, even if it meant destroying herself in the process. Grace almost felt sorry for the woman.

“Gracie.” The tone of Alex’s voice tore through her body. A yearning. A sadness. An acceptance. Grace could barely stand to meet his gaze. “You’ll always be my Grace. You’ll do well enough on your own. You’ll find your way home to your mother and sister. Perhaps one day you’ll find a man who will give you the life you deserve.”

His words were so final, so heart-wrenching. He’d made up his mind, he’d given up on hope. “No, Alex,” Grace said, surging toward him. Wavers jerked her back, his arms so tightly around her, Grace could barely breathe.
 

Alex looked away, refusing to meet her gaze. “I’ll go with you.”

Misery and horror wrapped around Grace’s heart and squeezed. “No!” She sank into Wavers, her knees too weak to hold her. “No!”

Alex’s fingers curled into his thighs, his entire body trembling. So lost, so far removed from her already. He’d given up. “Gracie, I must. You’ll find your way back…”

Her lower lip quivered, but Grace swallowed her sob. She would not beg him to stay, she would not beg Ophelia to leave them in peace. Neither would listen to her. The world around her grew blurry as tears swam in her eyes. Alex, always out to save another lost soul, even if that soul didn’t need saving.