The Letter (29 page)

“
You might mislead me to thinking you have feelings for me,” she said impulsively, and then daringly added. “Perhaps you even love me.”

She heard his sharp intake of breath.

“
Look at me,” he commanded behind her.

“
No,” she replied knowing he would deny it and already bleeding inside.

“
All right, have it your way, don’t look at me, but listen….as much as I enjoy your company, it is not appropriate for you to show up at social events.”

“
Unlike Faith…she is so much more to you than I will ever be.”

“
Faith is my fiancé, you are my mistress. I wish I could be more, but I cannot. I give you nice things because you please me a great deal and yes, because I do care for you, it would be a lie to say otherwise. But I do not want you to be misled by my actions or think that it is love that motivates me, because it is not. I am sorry….do you understand?” he asked. His eyes glinted regret.

“
I understand perfectly.” Her throat closed around the words and she trembled with the force of her emotions.

She had thought she knew him. She had believed that during the time they had spent together perhaps he could grow to love her. She had lived in a fool’s paradise.

Now, she had to face the truth. He would never love her. She was nothing more than a body. He cared for her as he would any fondly regarded pet, and that is where emotions ended.

“
If you feel this way, then let me go…you have had me now…surely you can let me go.” She whispered her plea.

“
I cannot.”

“
If you do not love me and never will, then there is nothing to stop you.”

“
I still want you,” he responded fiercely. “I desire you to the point of madness. Therefore, we are not finished.”

“
What if I am finished?” Her bitter words came from dry lips. “What if I am finished with this? What if I want to go home? I have given you what you want, why don’t you let me go?”

“
Don’t do this Victoria. Don’t do this to us.”

“
It is not me who did the deed, it is you. You will have me until you no longer want me, shall I wait for that?”

“
I will always want you. I am a Worthington and I never let go of anything that is mine.” He took her arm and pulled her to him.

“
Unhand me.”

Letting her go abruptly, he said, “Alright Victoria, I will leave you for now. I apologize to have behaved in such a careless and uncivilized fashion, I will make it up to you I promise.”

As he closed the rickety door behind him, his words echoed hollow in the silent room.

Without any doubt her childish dreams blooming in the face of his affection were all just a beautiful illusion. It was obvious he intended for her to live years here with him as his mistress which was something she simply would not do.

She had to be done with this before it destroyed her and that meant that very soon she would leave him. Worthington or not, he would not stop her.

CHAPTER 24

Victoria could hear the bell impatiently ringing from where she worked in the little garden in the back of her house. She had started the small flowerbed and enjoyed puttering there every morning.

She made no move to see who was ringing the bell, assuming it was someone delivering milk or food to Kim Su. Victoria marveled over the convenience of having such things delivered.

“
Miss Victoria, there is lady here to see you. She say her name Faith Anderson.” Kim Su said. Kim Sue’s face was drawn in disapproval.

“
I know who she is Kim Su, but what has brought her here?” Victoria wiped perspiration from her brow with the back of her gloved hand and leaving a streak of garden soil behind. “How does she even know where I live – who would tell her?”

“
That not hard to learn in this city, easy to find you…William’s carriage comes here, she make it her business…everybody make it their business.” Kim Su’s words were delivered in her usual practical fashion.

“
Well, I certainly brought attention to myself at the ball didn’t I? Anyway, it doesn’t matter. She is here for a reason so I better go see her.”

“
She in front parlor,” Kim Su said. “You have dirt on your face.”

Victoria gave a humorless laugh, stood, took off her garden gloves and ran her fingers through hair that was falling from its pins and said, “Well she is getting what she is getting maybe I will scare her off.”

Striding into the house while wiping her face, Victoria went to the front parlor, stiffening her spine and resolve.

When Victoria reached the open parlor door she stopped. Inside, Faith Anderson stood, stunning in her elegant, cream silk gown. Her blonde hair glistened in the morning sunshine that streamed in through the window.

A pang of jealousy struck Victoria.

No wonder William wanted to marry this beautiful creature. She was perfection and they made a stunning couple.

Victoria savagely pushed aside the upsetting thought.

She didn’t want to be any man’s wife, even William’s…. especially William’s.

Aware of her presence, Faith turned to face Victoria with cold assessing eyes, and delicately raised her nose in clear indication that she found Victoria lacking.

Conscious of her wild, unruly hair and her simple calico dress, Victoria tilted up her chin as she moved into the room with grace that would rival a queen and didn’t go unnoticed by the society girl.

“
Can I offer you some refreshment, Miss . . . ? Victoria began in a polite tone.

“
You know who I am, so you can drop the missy manners.” Faith cut her off with a chilling voice. “I saw you at the ball.”

Victoria stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes clashed with Faith’s while anger spread through her body in a warm rush.

“
Then tell me why you are here and kindly leave. I didn’t ask you to come here and disturb me,” Victoria moved in front of Faith without offering her a seat.

“
I saw you at the ball, and everyone in this city knows you are William’s whore.” Faith walked around her, looking her over as if she was a horse being considered for purchase. Victoria followed her progress with one eyebrow raised in bland indifference.

“
Right now you are nothing more than a pampered pet, a toy for William to play with as he sees fit, a bit of recreation, a way of finding his man’s release.”

When Faith stopped directly in front of her, Victoria stood her ground, leveling the young woman with a cold stare.

Faith continued, her voice turning to a hiss. “I do not care if he embarrasses himself by going around like some love-struck school boy, but I am not going to let some two bit, light-skirt ruin my plans for marriage into the Worthington family.”

The astounding litany of ugly words that fell from the woman’s heart shaped mouth the spread a hot blush of anger and embarrassment over Victoria’s face. “Wait just a minute…how dare you….”

“
Don’t interrupt me…. I warn you, you will never be more to William than just that, a pampered pet. He will marry me, and it is I who will bear his children, and I who will live in his house and enjoy his fortune. As for your part, I am glad he takes his needs elsewhere. I find the whole notion of intimacy quite tedious and disgusting. But he will tire of you eventually, and will then throw you aside as he does all the others.” Faith’s face was twisted in a most unbecoming fashion.

The truth of Faith’s words became knives driven into Victoria’s heart. It wasn’t just Faith that separated them. It was also an insurmountable social barrier.

“
Do you really think that your words matter to me?” Victoria asked, raising her eyebrows to a perfect arrogant arch.

After a pause she continued her assault in a sugary-sweet tone, “I may be a pampered pet, just as you say, but I would rather be such a woman than be a woman who is forced to live the rest of her days as a possession. You see, when you are busy having babies and taking care of your husband, I will be free. I will come and go as I please. I will not be tied to anyone or anything. You, on the other hand, will always be trapped in his beautiful world!”

Faith stood speechless for a moment, her doll-like blue eyes wide with disbelief and her mouth was open in a perfect “O”.

Faith’s expression caused Victoria to burst into laughter.

Angry, red stains speckled Faith’s alabaster complexion.

“
I will not be insulted by a country bumpkin playing at being a prostitute. Further, if I see fit, I will tell William to get rid of you, then you will not be so high and mighty.” Her eyes were as cold as ice on a frozen pond. “You need to remember your place,” Faith’s voice quivered.

Victoria continued to laugh. “I cannot believe you came all the way over here to tell me this.”

Faith spun away from her and stomped to the door like a spoiled child. Victoria stopped laughing but left a smile plastered on her face as she watched Faith open the front door and slam it shut behind her, causing a clatter in the china cabinet.

With Faith gone, the situation immediately lost its humor for Victoria. Hurt, anger and humiliation coursed through her. How dare Faith come to her home and insult her! The woman had called her a whore and a prostitute to her face and in her own home.

Why didn’t Faith take this up with William?

Kim Su came into the parlor looking grave. Victoria guessed that she must have heard some of the conversation.

“
Not worry, Miss Victoria, she not nice lady. William come back to you even after he married.” Kim Su patted her shoulder reassuringly. “She not nice to her servants either.”

Victoria was touched by Kim Su’s concern, but her words were not very reassuring. She didn’t remind Kim Su she planned to be long gone when William was married. She had a life and it was not here. Instead of explaining all of this to Kim Su, Victoria smiled a reassuring smile at her friend.

“
You’re right, Kim Su, we won’t waste any more time worrying about her.”

The only good thing was that at least she had the satisfaction of knowing William was going to get someone he truly deserved. Now that was something to be happy about.

Wasn’t it?

CHAPTER 25

“
I am leaving you,” she rehearsed the words in a whispered voice to give them life as she hurried up the bank steps, through the lobby and up the last winding staircase to William’s office. “It is time for you to let me go….your fiancé is jealous.”

Faith’s visit was confirmation that it was not just time for Victoria to go, it was necessary for her to go. Once she explained everything about Faith’s visit, she was going to ask him to let her go home because she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she could not stand by and watch him marry Faith; even if she could forgive the dreadful and painful words spoken on the night of the ball, that lay between them.

When she reached the door of his office it was slightly ajar. Raising her hand to knock she stopped when she realized William was talking to someone inside.

“
I knew you would want to know that the shares have safely transferred back into the Worthington name,” said a man.

“
Very good. Now we have that bit of Riley nonsense out of the way once and for all it will be of no more concern that she will cause chaos within the company. What could my father have been thinking to leave all those shares to Patricia Riley?” Victoria heard William’s words just as she started to turn and walk away.

Stopping in her tracks and heart pounding, Victoria slowly turned back and took a step toward the door of William’s office.

“
It was really quite a bit of luck for you that the daughter didn’t claim them during those two years she had to claim them, t’would have been a small fortune she had,” the stranger said.

“
Indeed,” William agreed. “And a lot of trouble I didn’t need.”

Victoria’s heart fell to her feet and her world tilted.

Shares? What shares? What did William’s father have to do with her family? Pushing the door open Victoria quietly stepped inside.

A thin man with spectacles was sitting in a chair facing William who sat at his desk. When Victoria entered the room, her face bloodless, the man turned in surprise, and William stood up.

“
What shares?”

“
Roger, you may go.” William’s eyes locked with hers, his expression unreadable.

As soon as the door closed behind the fast exiting “Roger”, Victoria asked the question again.

“
What were you talking about? What shares, what has this to do with me and my father and mother?” The quiver of her voice could not be stilled.

“
I am sorry you had to find out this way,” he said quietly.

“
Find out what?” Victoria asked in a harsh whisper, as her understanding of the world came crashing down around her

“
My father left your mother ten percent of the Worthington Empire in the form of shares. When she died, they went to you . . . unless you didn’t claim them within two years after her death.”

Understanding washed over her.

“
And the two years are over,” she whispered, unable to get air into her deflated lungs. The full knowledge of what happened cascaded through her mind like rushing rapids.