Page 50 of Dangerous Temptation

Questions started flying through Elena’s head at dizzying speed. There’d been so many harsh rumours. So many suppositions and lies. Most of them had been refuted.

Most …

Except for the one Caroline Woodward had thrown at her that had hurt the most.

Her arms tightened around her waist. ‘What are you saying?’ she whispered.

A rough sound left his throat. Time passed, stretching out until the chill went through the jacket all the way to her bones. When he pressed his mouth against her ear, she felt like she was about to shatter.

‘He’s not enjoying any riches. He’s dead.’

Her mind just stopped. ‘You?’

‘No. Not me.’

Her blood started moving again. The weight lifted off her chest, but her legs felt even more wobbly. She leaned back against him. Secure once again, her brain began clicking.

‘Suicide?’

‘No.’

‘Then who?’

His hand left the marble railing and his arm wrapped around her waist.

It was then that she knew. There had been three people purportedly involved in the Ponzi scheme: Bartholomew Wolfe, Alex and … her father.

The truth was like a punch in the gut, and she folded in half. Alex kept her on her feet, his body warm around hers and his face pressed into her hair.

‘It wasn’t intentional,’ he said, loud enough for her ears only.

‘It was an accident. My grandfather and your dad argued. It was when their scheme was starting to fall apart. You have to understand. My grandfather was an odious man. Rotten to his core. He’d already begun covering his trail so all evidence pointed at your father. Randolph felt trapped.’

‘What did he do?’ She could barely get the question out, but she had to know. ‘Where did this happen?’

‘Here, out front of the house. They fought and Randolph pushed the old man. My grandfather fell and hit his head on a rock. He didn’t get back up.’

Off in the distance, a howl cut through the air. The sound was eerie and prophetic.

Alex held her tighter. ‘It’s a coyote.’

Others joined in, and the calls were long and mournful.

Elena couldn’t bear to hear them. ‘You were there? You saw it happen?’

‘No.’

‘Then how do you know? Who told you this?’

‘Leonard.’

Her air choked off in her throat. She remembered her tense discussion with the butler in Bartholomew’s room.

‘He was there. He saw the whole thing.’

‘But why didn’t they call an ambulance or the authorities?’

‘I wish they had,’ Alex sighed. ‘But apparently Leonard’s loyalty to your father outweighed that to my grandfather. Randolph convinced him he couldn’t stand up to murder charges, that my grandfather had already framed him.’

Elena rubbed her hand over her face. It was all so terrible. ‘Where’s the body?’ she whispered.

He nodded off in the distance. ‘The family plot is at the northern end of the property. They buried him there.’

She shook her head, aghast. She’d known her father was selfish, but she hadn’t known how deep it went. ‘And my father just walked away?’

‘No, baby.’

Again, it took a moment for it all to sink in.

‘He went home and hanged himself,’ she breathed.

Alex wrapped himself around her. ‘In one day, everything turned sideways and the only person who was left to tell the story was Leonard. I couldn’t say anything. That sweet old man is the reason I’m here. He’s always protected me.’

Elena swallowed hard and a tear fell from her eyes. ‘I know what your grandfather did to you,’ she choked out. ‘I … I saw the closet doors.’

Alex went stiff behind her.

‘You had to protect Leonard,’ she whispered.

‘Technically, it made me complicit,’ Alex admitted. ‘That’s why I didn’t put up a bigger fight against the insider-trading charges. But I’ve done my time.’

Off in the distance, the coyote howled again, making her tremble.

She folded her hand on top of his on her stomach. ‘But the cost?’

‘I prefer to look at the reward.’

She turned around and buried her face against his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his cheek against her hair. ‘You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Elena. We might have started out in disgrace, but we’re going to make this Bardot–Wolfe partnership work.’

‘It makes me hurt to think of what you went through.’

‘With the way it all turned out, I wouldn’t change a thing.’ He took a shuddering breath, and his voice went rough. ‘I didn’t want you to know. I tried to spare you this.’

Her hands bit into his back. ‘Nobody can ever find out. We mustn’t tell a soul, but the questions are going to continue.’

‘I figure, in time, I’ll have Bartholomew declared legally dead. The courts will have to sort it all out.’

She brushed the tears from her cheeks. ‘How many skeletons can two families have?’

‘Shhh, that’s a question better left unasked.’

Another lonely howl cut through the night air. The sound made a shiver go down Elena’s spine. It wasn’t a wolf – she knew this wasn’t their territory – but the timing was sinister.

‘What if it’s in our genes?’ she whispered. ‘What if it’s just the way things are?’

‘Then we’ll have to start scandals of a different kind.’

She was shocked when he pressed a hard erection against her belly, and she looked quickly towards the ballroom.

He took the opportunity to nuzzle against her neck. ‘In fact, with you in that dress, I’ve got ideas already.’

‘Alex!’

His lips covered hers in a hot kiss. ‘Forget the rest. Just remember I love you.’

She gave in and kissed him back. ‘I love you, too.’

That was all that mattered, scandalous or not.