Amanda Stevens - The Tempted

But she could tell Jared none of that.

She shouldn’t have come here, Tess thought in despair. She should have found another way to get the money instead of opening up all these old wounds. She’d long ago resigned herself to the fact that she and Jared were never meant to be, but she’d taken comfort in the knowledge that she’d done the right thing back then. She had Emily, and they were both safe.

But her daughter was no longer safe. Emily was missing, and in order to save her, Tess had willingly walked back into a den of lions.

A shudder ripped through her as she thought back to that night. As she remembered the fear and desperation that had driven her from Jared’s arms….

“Tess, I swear. I’ve never seen you like this. You’re as nervous as a cat,” her mother scolded. “What’s wrong with you?”

They were standing in the spacious kitchen in the Spencers’ lake house, preparing for the anniversary celebration. Though it was to be a small, intimate affair, a caterer had been brought in from the city to prepare the meal, but it was Joelle’s job to keep everything running smoothly. And since the caterer had arrived shorthanded, Tess had been pressed into serving.

She’d grown more nervous as the evening wore on. What if she spilled something—the three-thousand-dollar bottle of wine Davis Spencer had purchased at an auction to much fanfare and publicity—all down the front of Cressida Spencer’s white gown?

“Sorry, Mama,” Tess muttered as she righted a crystal champagne flute she’d almost toppled. “I’ll try to be more careful.”

Joelle frowned at her. “Is something wrong, honey? You look a little pale, and you haven’t been yourself for days. Are you coming down with the summer flu?”

“I’m fine, Mama. Just a little tired.”

But it was more than that. Tess’s period was almost a week late, and she was never late. She tried to tell herself it was just stress, but what if she really was pregnant?

I can’t be, she thought desperately. She and Jared had been so careful. They’d always used protection. And they hadn’t been together that many times anyway.

It only takes once, a little voice taunted Tess.

“What are you going to do?” Melanie had asked Tess earlier when she’d driven Tess out to the lake house.

“I’ll have to tell Jared,” she said.

“What if he wants you to get rid of the baby?”

Tess had recoiled in horror. “He wouldn’t!”

“What do you think he’s going to do, Tess? Marry you? Spencers don’t marry ordinary people like us. They find ways to get rid of us.”

Trying to block out her friend’s warning, Tess whirled back to the counter, away from her mother’s suspicious scrutiny. But the sudden movement brought on a wave of dizziness. As Tess grabbed for the counter to steady herself, her hand hit one of the goblets, knocking it to the floor. French crystal shattered against African slate.

Horrified, Tess dropped to her knees and began picking up the shards.

“I hope you realize that glass was Lalique,” said a cool voice above her.

Tess looked up, dreading to see who stood over her. The white silk dress came into focus first, then the diamonds around her wrist, then Cressida Spencer’s smooth, lovely features. Tess’s heart began to pound. In truth, she’d always been a little frightened of Jared’s tall, blond mother.

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