The Lady Who Saw Too Much (6 page)

Tilting his head, he eyed her skeptically. “Your acting skills are remarkable,” he said. “If I didn’t know better, I might almost believe you.” His tone sharpened. “But unlike my aunt, I don’t trust a word that comes from your scheming lips.”

“I never intended for this to happen.”

His jaw tensed at her pathetic defense. His narrowed eyes were devoid of emotion, empty and dark as a bottomless pit. She stared into her future and the endless eternity that would be their marriage until he spoke again. “Be that as it may, you’ve proved yourself to be a convincing liar, and now we will both pay the price for your deceit.”

“I wished only to stay for the summer.”

“Why?” he demanded.

For a moment, she was tempted to tell him the truth and be done with him. Life on the streets seemed a better alternative to life with this man. But the desperation in his plea and the trace of vulnerability behind the anger on his handsome face fortified her determination to protect him and finish what she’d started.

Gia had vowed when she came here to do what she must—to go where her visions led her—she’d not retreat now. She’d survived thirty paralyzing minutes in the freezing water beneath the ice; she could survive an unhappy marriage to Landen Elmsworth and whatever retribution he’d inflict upon her for what she’d done. She didn’t have to like him to save him, but she couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t try.

He frowned at her silence, glancing toward the untouched supper tray on the small table by the window. “Have something to eat. Starving yourself will gain you no sympathy.”

“I’m not seeking sympathy.” She lifted her chin against the slight tremble in her voice.

“Perhaps not, but you’re after something.” He stepped toward her.

Her pulse skittered at his nearness and the carnal heat in his eyes.

“You’ve reaped more than you bargained for, Gia,” he said, moving closer. “Because you’ve made your bed, and now you will sleep in it.” She recoiled, turning away, as he leaned close to her ear. “With me.”

Gia kept to herself as much as possible over the next few days. Alice was barely speaking to her, and Landen was avoiding her completely. The only one who seemed able to tolerate her presence was Clara, whose sole focus was on getting her nephew properly married as soon as possible.

Dressing quickly, she donned the new dress that had been delivered this morning. She and Alice had been fitted for their dresses for the garden party days ago, and they’d arrived in the nick of time. Though the sapphire gown felt a tad loose, the color suited her nicely. She fluffed at the skirts, hoping no one would notice her slight weight loss.

Her appetite was returning slowly, and she was doing her best to stay well nourished. Shards of memory pierced her mind, jagged pieces of her shattered life back home. After Gia had refused the powders and tonics prescribed to alleviate her “hallucinations,” her parents had stooped to concealing medication in her food.

Her favorite breakfast of scrambled eggs and hot chocolate became her daily dose of opiates. By the time she’d realized their treachery, she was spiraling down a tunnel of nothingness. Each day she’d fallen deeper and cared less. But somewhere during her drug-induced descent, she’d salvaged a thread of volition. She’d clung to that thread, all but starving herself as she’d wormed from the foggy depths of her shame and her parents’ betrayal until she was lucid enough to formulate a plan of escape.

To this day she seldom ate more than a biscuit for breakfast, and the thought of consuming scrambled eggs or hot chocolate fairly caused her to gag. She gulped back the bitter pain of her past. She couldn’t afford such distractions. Today was too important. She took a long breath, primping stiffly at her hair.

Clara would announce the engagement this afternoon at the garden party. Gia intended to use the opportunity to learn all she could about each and every guest in attendance. The affair would give her the chance to finally observe Landen in public. Being cooped up in the house with only the family was getting Gia nowhere in her effort to save his life. With any luck, today she’d glean some shred of insight during Landen’s interactions with the people of Misty Lake that might aid her in discerning who might want to hurt him.

The small gathering that they’d originally planned to ease Alice into society had turned into something else, and Gia’s sorrow for her part in pushing Alice to the wayside was palpable. She had to smooth things over with Alice. The girl would be a bramble of nerves at having to attend the party and in need of reassurance.

After finding Alice’s room empty, Gia sought her out in the next likely place. Small tables had been arranged on the garden patio, each covered in crisp white linen and adorned with a sprouting vase of lily of the valley. Clay pots of all sizes displayed lush ferns and other greenery. Alice sat on a bench in the corner, claiming the spot she, no doubt, intended to occupy for the duration of the afternoon.

“May I join you, Alice?”

The girl shrugged in reply.

“The garden looks lovely,” Gia said.

Alice sat in stiff silence, as Gia took a seat next to her.

Gia sat for several moments, contemplating what to say. “I can only imagine what you must think of me.”

Alice turned to face her. “No. You cannot.”

Gia sighed. “No, perhaps not.” Alice was not making this easy, but Gia couldn’t blame her. “I never meant for this to happen. Truly, I didn’t.” Gia shook her head. “I honestly don’t know what else to say.”

“You owe me no explanation,” Alice said. “You owe me nothing.” She lowered her gaze. “I didn’t want a companion, anyway.”

“I know you didn’t. But I am hopeful that, in time, we might be friends instead.”

Alice eyed her warily. She obviously didn’t trust Gia any more than Landen did.

“Be a good wife to him.”

Gia blinked at Alice’s candor.

“He’s my brother, and I love him. Promise me you will not hurt him.” Alice’s voice dipped so low Gia barely heard her. “I could not bear to see him hurt again.”

“Again?”

Alice fidgeted with her hands. “He was jilted on the eve of his wedding day.”

Gia stared, speechless. “He…when?”

“It happened several years ago,” Alice said. “Her name was Isobel Harrison, and Denny met her while away at school. On the night before the wedding, Denny received a message from her parents informing him that she’d married another man. Denny never speaks of it and would hate that I’m speaking of it with you, but I felt you should know.”

The depth of Alice’s sorrow and love for her brother ached through the hollow void in Gia’s soul. She missed her own brothers so much. Their smiles and laughter, their lively eyes filled with all their hopes for the future. She stiffened against her rising grief. “Thank you for telling me, Alice.”

“We’ll be sisters soon,” Alice said. “And although I’ve no choice in the matter, I am willing to give you a chance, so long as you’re a good wife to Denny. My brother is not perfect. Even under the best of circumstances, he’s loathe to show it, but he does have a heart. A good heart.” Alice straightened her spine and met Gia’s eyes. “If you do anything to hurt him, Gia, I shall never forgive you.”

The fire in her eyes proved she meant it. Alice had a bit of her aunt Clara in her, and her warning to Gia hit home.

“Alice! Gianna!” Clara’s voice grew louder. “Where are—Oh, there you are,” she said as she poked her head between the open glass doors. “Come inside now, ladies. Our guests are arriving.”

Alice blanched, clasping her hands as though about to unravel.

“You’ll do fine, Alice,” Gia said with a smile of reassurance. “I’ll be right at your side.” Gia stood and held out her hand.

Alice remained firmly planted.

Gia’s heart sank. Even now, in the throes of her crippling shyness, Alice spurned Gia’s aid. “Alice?”

With a huff, Alice finally took Gia’s hand.

But the girl’s desperate act did little to close the awkward distance between them as they walked inside to receive their guests.

* * * *

Landen watched Gia from across the patio. On the outside, she seemed perfect. Gracious and lovely and chaste. He frowned. Unlike the fools she was charming, he knew better.

She sat with Alice on a bench in the corner, engaged in conversation with one of the young men loitering around them. Alice remained as stagnantly silent as the potted plant on the table beside her, but the look of stark terror she’d worn earlier had diminished to an expression of acute discomfort. A definite improvement for Alice.

At least Gia’s presence would be good for one of them.

The male attention Gia was drawing might be a benefit to Alice, and yet Landen found he didn’t like it. For all he knew, Gia was a cheat as well as a liar. The fear of being humiliated again by a cheating woman clenched in his gut.

Recollection of his last meeting with Gia fueled his unease. That she had appeared so distressed about marrying him confused him. Vexed him. Made him want to marry her just to spite her.

“She’s lovely, Denny.”

Landen turned, surprised by Charlotte’s presence. He’d broken the news of his engagement to Charlotte the other night, and she’d taken it as well as expected. He’d ended their affair prior to being caught in his room with Gia, but reiterating this detail to Charlotte had done little to soften the blow.

While he’d taken a risk by trusting Charlotte with the truth of the matter, he felt he owed her that much. She’d never struck him as a vindictive woman, and despite her obvious disappointment about his upcoming marriage, he knew her well enough to know she’d maintain a dignified silence for her own sake, as well as his.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” he said.

Charlotte shrugged. “My curiosity got the best of me,” she said. “Besides, my mother will want to know all about her, and I’ll have to tell her something.”

Landen stiffened at the reminder. Charlotte was understandably upset, but her mother would be furious. Maude Devenshire wanted Landen to marry Charlotte and had made no secret of this desire to anyone who would listen. Maude’s aspirations for her widowed daughter were a force to be reckoned with. The only thing Landen had dreaded more than the bane of marriage was the bane of a mother-in-law like Maude Devenshire.

He glanced to Gia, stung by the irony he’d dodged one bullet only to be struck by another.

But Gia had no mother—no family—and Landen couldn’t help pitying her for that. A woman alone in the world was a vulnerable target. He feared to imagine his sister’s plight in the absence of his protection. Yet even in the most desperate of circumstances, he couldn’t image Alice would trap a man into marriage as Gia had.

“Cheer up, Denny,” Charlotte said. She placed a hand on his arm. “If I can manage a smile today, so can you.” She tilted her head. “I’m looking forward to meeting her.”

Landen frowned. Introducing his former mistress to his fiancée was not a task that he relished. While he had faith in Charlotte’s diplomacy, their affair had been no secret, and people talked. He wondered how much Gia had heard. Not that he gave a damn. She’d schemed to marry a total stranger and would have to live with the consequences. He took a breath to manage his spiteful emotions. He wasn’t a cruel man by nature, which, at present, seemed more than Gia deserved.

With any luck, she’d atone for what she’d done to him by maintaining propriety. The illusion of it, at minimum. If nothing else, he hoped to be spared the endless melodrama his father had endured. His mother’s erratic behavior, the tirades and rants that had punctuated her public appearances and caused terrific sensations, had nearly destroyed his father. And still the man had loved her more than he’d ever loved his second wife.

Landen thought about his own past. After all these years, the memory of Isobel’s face had become as vague and intangible as his love for her had. All that remained of that infatuation was self-loathing and the brutal reminder that he’d been a fool.

He inhaled a sharp breath, arming himself to the teeth with the truth. Marriage was not the ruination of men. Love was.

* * * *

Hours later Gia was still reeling with what Alice had confided to her about Landen’s past. He’d been jilted. No wonder he hated Gia for trapping him into marriage. Gaining his trust would be a daunting feat, but she’d not dwell in hopelessness now.

She scanned the assembly of people around her. The suspects. Some were summer guests in town, others year-round residents of Misty Lake, but all were the upper echelon of society. Clara had introduced her as a dear friend of the family, preferring to wait until all the guests had arrived before making the engagement announcement.

As Gia sat planted with Alice in the corner, she watched Landen closely and kept her attention well honed. She quickly discovered she wasn’t the only one who was drawn to Landen. There wasn’t a moment since the party began that he didn’t have someone at his ear. Presently, that someone was a pretty woman with an affinity for touching his arm.

“Who’s that woman with your brother?” Gia asked.

Alice followed her gaze. “That’s the Widow Filkins.” Alice turned from the pair, but Gia saw past the girl’s coyness.

Was it Landen’s intention to flaunt his mistress beneath Gia’s nose? Did he actually think she might care? She straightened her spine, bristling at the sight of the couple in the secluded spot near the rose trellis on the outskirts of the assembly. Landen turned from the woman, then headed in Gia’s direction. Despite her best effort to remain unaffected, her heart hammered as he approached. He looked especially appealing today dressed in his fine clothes with his dark hair brushed back from his handsome face.

“It’s time,” he said, extending a stiff arm to her.

Gia glanced to Alice. “I won’t be long.”

Alice gave a nervous nod.

Gia took Landen’s arm. The firm muscle beneath her fingers tensed as though repelling her touch.

“I hate leaving her alone,” Gia uttered.

“It can’t be helped.” Ushering her briskly through the crowd, he led her toward Clara, who was waving furiously for them to hurry along.