Temptation Read online

  “They’ve always known that their newfound prosperity was linked to you but that you were going to leave soon.”

  Temperance toyed with the spool of thread. “I see. And James too, I guess,” she said softly. “You know, I think I’ve been acting like a selfish two-year-old. It can’t be pleasant to think that you must marry someone you haven’t seen in many years just so you can save a village.”

  Temperance looked at Grace. “Is it just me, or is it odd that the villagers all assume that James will do this? Not one person has uttered a word of doubt that he’ll actually say the words that will link him forever with this woman. But what if she’s changed? According to everyone she was a lovely child and a selfless young woman, but people change. She’s lived in London, she’s been married, she’s lived on her own for years. Maybe she doesn’t want to return to this dilapidated old house.” The house I cleaned, Temperance thought. The house I have put life back into. The house—

  “Maybe James would appreciate someone talking to him about these things. Maybe you two could put aside your personal differences long enough to actually talk. If I remember correctly, you two once liked talking to each other.”

  Temperance didn’t want Grace to see how her heart leaped at the idea of spending time with James. They had hardly spoken to each other for weeks now, and, well, truthfully, she missed him. Just plain ol’-fashioned, missed him.

  But she hesitated. “Maybe you should talk to him. He hates me.” Temperance kept her eyes on the thread and didn’t look up at Grace.

  “Everyone in McCairn knows what I was to him, but only a few know about the night you spent with him.”

  Temperance knew that her face turned brilliant red, and her extreme embarrassment made her throat close.

  “Temperance,” Grace said with a voice filled with weariness, “you don’t have to be perfect. You are allowed to make mistakes in this world. You seem to forgive everyone everything, so once in a while, you should allow others to forgive you.”

  Temperance could only give a weak smile; then she looked away. Grace’s words were wise and those of a true friend, but Temperance didn’t like to be the recipient of forgiveness. Worse, she didn’t like having done something that needed forgiving.

  Without meeting Grace’s eyes, she stood. “I think I will go talk to him. It’s time that we cleared the air between us. After all, it’s almost over.”

  “Yes,” Grace said softly. “Soon we’ll have a proper Lady McCairn, one who will oversee everything.”

  “Right,” Temperance said and wondered why that thought made her feel so awful.

  James was, as always, on top of the mountain, surrounded by sheep. When Temperance walked into the clearing, she ignored the startled looks the other men gave her. She didn’t want to think that everyone in the village knew that she and James had been on the outs, but worse, she didn’t want to think that they had any idea why.

  “It’s almost over,” she whispered to herself, then straightened her spine and walked toward him.

  He was bending over a big, curly-horned ram, looking inside its mouth. Temperance made herself look away from his heavy thighs, which were exposed by the kilt.

  “I think we should talk,” she said.

  He didn’t acknowledge that he knew she was there, and she knew he was ignoring her on purpose. “Talk!” she shouted so loudly that the sheep jerked and James had to throw an arm around its neck to keep it from running away.

  “Oh?” James said calmly as he wrestled the big ram. “Would ye be speakin’ to me?” he asked in an exaggerated Highland drawl.

  Temperance put her hands on her hips, and turning full circle, she scowled at the men around them. They were all openly listening and watching.

  With smiles, they turned and left her and James alone.

  “Are you going to continue trying to murder that animal, or are you going to stop and talk to me?”

  Still holding the sheep, he looked at her, and when he did, she remembered their night together. They hadn’t been alone since that night weeks ago—and now knowing the men were nearby made her feel safe. “It depends on what you want to talk about.” He glanced down at her belly, and his voice lowered. “Have somethin’ ye want to tell me?”

  “You overrate your fertility,” she shot back at him.

  “Or maybe I overrated yours,” he answered quickly.

  Temperance had to work to keep from laughing. She really had missed his vain sense of humor.

  “There’s nothing wrong with my fertility,” she said, then realized that she was starting to defend herself—which meant that he was controlling the direction this conversation was beginning to take. “I hope he eats your hand,” she said, nodding toward the ram; then she turned on her heel and started down the mountainside.

  Just as she figured he would, he stepped in front of her. “Come on, let’s go in here away from the others.”

  Temperance started to follow him until she saw that he was leading her into the cabin. She dug in her heels and wouldn’t move an inch.

  “Ah, yes, I see what you mean,” James said. “The cave?”

  Temperance shook her head. She did not want to be that alone with him.

  At her refusal, he motioned to a flat rock, and she sat down while he stretched out on the grass beside her.

  “Now what has made you come all the way up here to talk to me, especially considering that you haven’t spoken to me in weeks—except to shout at me, that is? And are you sure a dunderhead like me will understand?”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to say that she’d missed him, but she didn’t. “We need to plan your wedding,” she said.

  “Ah, that,” James said as he picked up a piece of grass and put it in his mouth as he stared up at the sky. “Do whatever you want. Weddings are women’s business.”

  “I think—I mean . . . Oh, damnation! Do you want to marry this woman?”

  Slowly, James turned his head to look up at her. “Do you see another way I can protect this insignificant place? This place that people laugh at?”

  Temperance took a deep breath and counted to ten. “I think that you and I should forget what was said . . . and done . . . between us. What we’ve heard since then overrides our own personal problems.”

  James looked down at her ankle, and Temperance could remember his kissing the little bone there and saying— No! she told herself, it was better to forget that night. How many times had she told women to forget what they’d felt when a certain worthless man had held them?

  “Perhaps I’ve overestimated you and you aren’t capable of forgetting anything,” she said as she put her nose in the air.

  When James didn’t respond, she looked down at him and his eyes were cold. “As long as you’re not in the family way, I can forget anything,” he said quietly. “From this moment on, that night didn’t happen.”

  “Good!” Temperance said firmly. “We are agreed then?” She held out her hand to shake his.

  The instant they touched, she knew it was a mistake. He held her small hand in his for a moment, and she knew that if he so much as tugged a hairbreadth, she’d be in his arms. She didn’t dare look into his eyes.

  But he didn’t pull her. Instead, he released her hand, and Temperance let out her pent-up breath. “All right,” she said, still not looking at him. “I think we should get started.” She withdrew a pencil and a little notebook from her pocket. “I need to know all that you can tell me about her, about . . . Kenna,” she said, “so I can plan the wedding. What kind of flowers does she like? What’s her favorite color? Do you think she’ll want something formal or not so formal? Who were her favorite friends in McCairn?”

  Temperance paused for breath, then waited, pencil ready; but when James said nothing, she looked at him. He was lying back on the grass, the weed in his teeth, and staring up at the sky.

  “I have no idea,” he said.

  “About which question?”

  “Any and all. I don’t seem to remem