An Irresistible Temptation (3 page)

She went to Webster’s store and met Jeremiah
and his granddaughter, Anna, who talked a mile a minute when she
found out who Sophie was; naturally, she was full of questions
about Charlotte, the town’s renowned literary daughter. Sophie
smiled. Only her brother Reed could go halfway across the continent
to a dried up little town on the most solemn of legal tasks and
find the brightest gem of a woman to take for his wife.

Sophie bought new gloves and headed for
Fuller’s, which Charlotte swore served the best turkey pie. Sophie
sat in the window and ate, not concerned by the curious stares of
the townsfolk. Some had greeted her, already knowing she was
Charlotte Sanborn Malloy’s sister-in-law, thanks to Sarah
Cuthins.

“Thank you,” Sophie said as the waitress came
back with more coffee. “Charlotte was right about the pie.”

Jessie Hollander smiled broadly. “Shoot. That
ain’t nothin’. Wait till you try my lemon cake.”

“That’s what I’m here for, too,” said a voice
behind her, and Sophie turned to see Riley, not any cleaner than
the last time she’d seen him. But she was damned if, even dirty, he
wasn’t the most attractive man she’d ever laid eyes on.
Why
hadn’t Charlotte mentioned him?

“Sophie,” he said, tipping his black hat. His
eyes were fixed on hers, with a small frown between his eyebrows.
He looked like a man bothered.

“Riley,” Sophie returned, by way of
greeting.

Jessie stood, hands on hips. “Riley, what do
you think you’re doing, coming in here covered in trail dust,
unsettlin’ my customers?”

Sophie watched him shrug. “You know what
she’s
like when she wants something,” he said by way of
explanation. Sophie’s ears perked up. Another reference to the
mysterious woman who might be “hopping mad” perhaps?

Jessie nodded. “Oh, I know, all right. I’ll
be back in a jiffy. Two pieces?”

Riley raised his eyebrows. “Might as well. I
would’ve eaten hers before I got back, I suppose.”

Jessie turned back to Sophie.

“And you, miss? A slice?”

Sophie shook her head. “No, thank you.
Another time, perhaps.” She stood up and started to sort through
her purse for the right change. She noticed that Riley remained
standing, a couple feet away. She could feel his eyes on her, but
then, that had been the case with all the townsfolk all day.

“You’re missing out,” he said, making her
jump. “The lemon cake is just the right blend of tart and
sweet.”

Philip would have philosophized about how the
cake held all the elements of life if it truly blended those two
opposing elements so perfectly. She sighed.
Why did he have to
pop into her brain without bidding?

She tried to smile at Riley, but felt the
ache in her heart grow again. Was it simply because she was near a
man? Or was it being near a man who had absolutely no feeling for
her? She belonged to no one now and idly wondered what Riley’s
woman was like, the one who apparently could be a handful when she
wanted something and didn’t get it, a little like Sophie’s younger
sister, she guessed.

“Good day,” she said, as she passed him.

“G’day, ma’am,” he called after her.

She walked slowly up Main Street, passing the
feed store, the general store, Webster’s, Ada’s Saloon. People were
all going about their business. Tomorrow, she would set about
working a little more quickly and perhaps finish the packing. The
sooner she sent the trunks back to Boston, the sooner she would be
free to decide what to do next.

“Hey, Sophie.”

She slowed her pace as Riley fell into step
beside her; she was unsure whether it was allowed for her to walk
with this man she barely knew. But things were different in Spring
City, Charlotte had assured her, not as rigid as in Boston’s
society, which was ruled by propriety and a bewildering array of
social mores. One false step and you could be ruined there. Here,
Sophie supposed she could walk without recrimination along the
town’s main thoroughfare, next to this tall easygoing man.

“Where’re you headed?” Riley asked, swinging
a small white cake box by its string with such vigor that it could
only mean disaster for its contents.

“Home,” Sophie said, distracted by his
motions. “Um, you might want to be careful with that,” she
indicated the box that was now being twirled nearly upside down,
“if you want to have any semblance of cake left to give to your . .
. wife?”

Riley’s faced grew serious. “Fiancée,” he
corrected.

“Congratulations,” Sophie offered, not sure
what else to say despite the lack of joy in his expression.

After the briefest of pauses, Riley
laughed.

“What is it?” Sophie couldn’t help
asking.

“No one else in this town has congratulated
me on my engagement. Rather the opposite.”

Sophie was intrigued, and despite her better
manners, was going to ask about the situation when Riley
stopped.

As she had done earlier in the week, she
asked, “Why have we stopped?”

He gestured to a two-story, yellow house
behind him with painted shutters, a well-kept yard, and a
wraparound porch that begged to be sat on.

“Yours?” Sophie guessed.

“My fiancée’s family home.”

“Then you’d best be taking her the cake, post
haste,” Sophie advised, tilting her head to the side and finding
herself more than a little curious as to this man’s story and his
fiancée’s, for that matter.

“I hope I’ll see you again,” he said to her,
touching the brim of his hat.

She smiled at him and took a step back. Riley
took a step toward the porch.

“It was a pleasure,” he added, seeming to
mean it, with a half-smile on his face and small crinkles at the
corners of his eyes. She had to own up to feeling a frisson of
pleasure herself, just looking at the man.

“Thank you” she told him and took another
step, still facing Riley who was framed from behind by the pretty
house. But she had to ask him.

“Riley, what do you do to get so dirty each
day?”

As soon as the words were out, she clapped a
hand to her mouth.
Oh my God, what had possessed her?

But he didn’t take offense. Instead, his
smile turned into a genuine grin that made Sophie’s insides do a
little dance.

“I ride,” he said.

“Ride?” she repeated.

He nodded and looked past her toward the open
landscape beyond the town.

“I ride, just for the hell of it. Pardon my
language. I’ve got a great mount right now and he loves to run, and
so do I.”

She must have frowned because he laughed.
“You look puzzled.”

“Well, I . . . I guess I thought.” She closed
her mouth.
What had she thought?
That he’d tell her he was a
stable hand or a horse trader or even a rancher. How odd. Clearly,
he wasn’t a farmer. Hm, he had time to gallop on his horse for
sheer pleasure. Perhaps no gainful employment, yet how did he keep
a fiancée? Whom no one congratulated him on getting?

“Never mind,” she said, giving a little shrug
and taking another step away from him. She wanted to ask him a
whole host more questions, but he wasn’t her business.

“Well, you should deliver that cake.”

“I should,” he agreed, but his eyes were
locked on hers and he wasn’t moving.

“Yes,” she heard herself say and then,
finally, she turned toward Charlotte’s house. After a few steps,
she felt the urge to look back, certain for some reason that Riley
was standing still, watching her walk away.

She didn’t turn, but as she passed Drake’s
barn, she considered how quickly Charlotte and Reed’s romance had
heated up in there, according to Charlotte’s telling, and she
hummed to herself.

If Riley were looking at her, she would think
it a small binding on the tatters of her heart that such a
devilishly handsome man might have some small interest in her. She
decided to hold on to that thought rather than turn her head and
look.

*****

Riley watched her until she was out of his
sight. He had been unable to resist going into Fuller’s after he
saw her through the window. Shit! Why had he wasted his time
talking about lemon cake that he would end up eating himself, since
Eliza hated citrus? He should have asked Sophie the million
questions going through his mind, like what hocus-pocus she was
using that made his mouth go dry each time he saw her.

And how in the heck was he going to stay away
from her when all he wanted was to get closer?

The knock on her front door could only mean
one thing, Sarah had brought more food. Reluctantly, Sophie lifted
her fingers from the piano keys. At this rate, she would be as big
as Charlotte in her last month before she’d given birth to
Emory.

“Come in,” she called out, rising from the
stool. But even before she exited the parlor, she had a feeling it
wasn’t Sarah—a feeling and the wafting scent of some floral
perfume.

Sure enough, standing in her front hall was a
petite woman with hair in the fairest shade of blond that Sophie
had ever seen, all in ringlets. After getting over the shock of
what seemed to be an angel’s visitation, Sophie settled her gaze on
the crystalline blue eyes, so light compared to her own, that were
carefully taking in their surroundings.

Sophie had the absurd notion that this
delicate creature was lost, perhaps fallen off a cloud and ending
up on her doorstep.

“Can I help you?”

“Well, it’s I who should be offering you
help. I hear you’ve been in Spring City for three days and I’d yet
to meet you or welcome you.”

“Oh, well, how kind.” Sophie had heard of a
welcome wagon that came round when someone moved to a new territory
or city. “But I’m not staying long. I don’t need any help.”

The woman laughed, a sweet tinkling sound and
her curls shook as she did so. Sophie failed to see what was
amusing.

“I’m Eliza. Eliza Prentice” She said it as if
Sophie should know the name. “Perhaps you’ve heard of me. Or my
father?”

“I’m afraid you have the advantage, Miss
Prentice. I don’t really know anyone in town except the Cuthins.
Would you like to have a cup of tea?” Sarah had made sure Sophie
had a caddy full of tea, enough for a month, and plenty of milk and
honey to go with it.

“That’s very kind of you, Sophie. Is it all
right if I call you Sophie?”

It’s a bit late to ask
, she thought,
but she said, “Certainly,” and led the way to the kitchen,
gesturing for Eliza to sit at the table. After filling the kettle
and lighting the stove, Sophie turned to see that Eliza had grabbed
a kitchen rag and was wiping the bench with it.

Sophie smiled. She had done the same thing a
couple days earlier, but had gotten used to the fact that this town
was dusty; without the paved streets of Boston, the dirt seemed to
track in at every turn.

Eliza saw her watching and returned a sweet
smile. “My dress is new,” she explained.

Sophie nodded; it was a lovely dress indeed,
all pinks and creams, and seemed the height of foolishness in this
environment, but that was not her concern.

When the tea was poured and Sophie had taken
a seat, a few moments of uncomfortable silence passed, but Eliza
merely looked around and sipped her tea.

“It was nice of you to call on me,” Sophie
offered, though she would rather be playing the piano . . . and
brooding, as she found herself doing more and more.

“It has been many years since I was in
Charlotte’s house,” Eliza offered.

Oh. Suddenly it was clear to Sophie. Eliza
had to be one of Charlotte’s old friends and had come for news of
her. She relaxed; it didn’t seem so odd at all.

“She is doing very well,” Sophie said. “It
was an uneventful pregnancy and Emory came out healthy and
hearty.”

“So she had a baby?” Eliza looked smug.
“That’s what happens when—”

“Yes, Reed is over the moon happy.” She
smiled at the memory of her brother’s extreme delight.

Eliza’s mouth pursed slightly for a moment.
“Still together, then?”

“But of course,” Sophie said, her smile
faltering. “I thought you would know that. They were married last
year.”

“Before the baby?”

Sophie’s mouth opened in shock. Sophie
started to get the first inkling that Eliza might not have been a
friend after all.

“Mr. Malloy and Charlotte,” Eliza continued.
“What a surprise that was. Right under all our noses.”

“I guess it must have been a surprise,”
Sophie agreed. “And perhaps not entirely welcome, to have Spring
City’s famous author whisked away to Boston.”

Eliza leveled her gaze. “Oh, I’m not sure she
is all that famous. I, for one, have never read any of Charlotte’s
writing. But her carrying on like that, in this very house.” She
shook her head slowly, her blond curls swinging right and left.
“With those two children nearby. Well, she nearly became
infamous
, if you ask me.”

“They fell in love,” Sophie said.

“They fell into bed,” Eliza snapped.

Sophie set down her tea cup. “You are
speaking of my brother and my sister-in-law. They are good,
upstanding people. They deserved—”

Eliza put up her hand and smiled a most
beatific smile. “They deserved each other. I’m very happy for
them.” Her happiness didn’t reach her pale blue eyes. “And what of
Charlotte’s brother? Is he faring well?”

Sophie shrugged lightly. “I have no idea
about Thaddeus.” It was clear that the woman was looking for more
gossip about the Sanborn family.

“Miss Prentice,” Sophie began.

“Eliza, please.”

Sophie started again, “I don’t wish to be
blunt, but did you come calling for a particular reason?”

The golden-haired angel seemed to take no
offense. “When the first Malloy came to town, he made such an
impression on everyone, I was eager to meet you. I’m quite curious
as to why you’d follow in his footsteps. Also, I wanted to ask
after Charlotte and her brother, too, of course.”