Amanda Stevens - The Tempted

It wasn’t until Tess had finally gotten Melanie to calm down that she noticed the marks on her friend’s arms, the telltale discoloration where someone had grabbed her roughly.

Tess stared at the bruises in shock. “Melanie, who did this to you?”

Melanie didn’t want to tell her at first, but then finally she whispered, “Royce.”

Tess gasped. “Royce Spencer? But you don’t even know him!”

Melanie glanced away, unable to meet her friend’s gaze. “We’ve been seeing each other.”

“Melanie! He’s married!” Tess blurted in horror. In fact, he was practically a newlywed. His sudden marriage had created quite a clamor within the family, Joelle said, coming as it had after his announcement that he would not pursue an MBA at Harvard, as his brother had done before him, but would instead go directly to work for the Spencer Hotels Corporation.

“I didn’t know he was married,” Melanie defended. “Not at first. And then when I found out, I was already in love with him. I tried to break it off. I swear I did. I know now what a mistake it was. Tess—” She clutched Tess’s arm. “You should have seen the look in his eyes tonight when he grabbed me. I thought he was going to kill me. He was completely out of control.”

Tess could hardly comprehend what her friend was telling her. Melanie, involved with a married man? Royce Spencer, capable not only of infidelity, but violence?

In truth, Tess had never cared much for Royce Spencer. He’d always been on the wild side, and just a little too sure that he could get whatever, and whomever, he wanted. He and Tess had had an altercation once at the lake house when he’d made a pass at her. Tess hadn’t told her mother about it because she’d handled things herself. She’d slapped Royce’s face, he’d laughed and apologized, and for a while, he’d pursued her even harder. But then he’d finally given up, and that had been the end of it.

But this!

“What happened?” she asked.

“I gave him an ultimatum,” Melanie said almost defiantly. “I told him if he didn’t leave his wife, I’d tell her about us.”

“Oh, Mel.”

“You hate me,” Melanie whispered. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“I don’t hate you.” What Tess felt at the moment was shock. Disbelief. And, yes, more than a little disappointed. Dating a married man—that just wasn’t done in her book.

“But you’ve lost respect for me,” Melanie said. “I don’t blame you. I don’t respect myself much at the moment.”

“We’ll sort all that out later,” Tess murmured, her mind still reeling. “What we have to do now is make sure you’re okay. Do you need to see a doctor?”

“He just grabbed me. He didn’t…hit me.”

“But he threatened you,” Tess said. “Maybe we should go to the police.”

“No!” Melanie’s eyes widened in terror. “Don’t you see? No one can know about this. Royce said if I told anyone, he’d kill me. And I believe him. You don’t know how dangerous he is—”

“She’s right,” Tess’s mother said from her bedroom doorway.

Both girls spun to face her. Wrapping a white chenille robe tightly around her, Joelle crossed the room to examine the bruises on Melanie’s arms. When she finally looked up, her eyes were grave, almost frightened. “No one can find out about this, Tess.”

“But he threatened her! We can’t let him get away with that!”

Joelle’s expression was resolved, worried. “You think the police would believe you? It would be Melanie’s word against Royce’s, and even if she did manage to convince the authorities she was telling the truth, the family would buy Royce’s way out of it. I’ve watched them get him out of one scrape after another for years, always making excuses for his behavior, always covering up for him. I’ve been afraid for a long time what that boy might be capable of.”

Tess stared at her, stunned. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“I didn’t think I had to,” Joelle said wearily. “I hardly ever let you go over to the lake house. I thought all I had to do was keep you away from him. From all of them. And it wasn’t hard, because you never seemed to like any of the Spencers anyway.”

“But Jared’s different,” Tess protested. “He would never hurt anyone.”

Joelle gave her an uneasy glance. “He may not be like Royce, but he is still a Spencer. It’s time you realize what that means, Tess. The Spencers will protect their own, no matter who they have to step on in the process. I want you to stay away from him. Do you hear me?”

“She’s right,” Melanie whispered. “You have to stay away from the Spencers before something like this happens to you.”

But what none of them had known at that moment, not even Tess, was that she was already irrevocably tied to the Spencers….

Shoving the memories aside, Tess finished the last of the dishes. She dried her hands on a dish towel, then went to kneel beside Melanie. “I need to talk to you.”

Melanie looked surprised by the urgency in Tess’s voice. “Of course. What is it?”

“I know where I can get the money I need.”

Melanie frowned. “Where?”

Tess bit her lip. “Jared’s back in Mississippi. I read in the paper that he’s been named president of the Spencer Hotels Corporation.” The article had featured a picture of Jared at a big charity event held at the New Orleans Spencer. He’d been accompanied by a beautiful redhead with a spectacular figure. His fiancé, the caption had said. Tess hadn’t wanted to look at that picture too closely, but somehow she hadn’t been able to tear her gaze from it. Jared was getting married. “I’m going to drive to Jackson tomorrow and see him,” she told Melanie.

Melanie gripped the arms of her wheelchair. “No!”

“It’s the only way, Mel. I have to do this for Emily.”

“Emily is precisely the reason why you can’t do this!” Melanie’s face had gone deathly white. “Have you forgotten why you left town that summer? Why you felt you had to marry Alan Campbell, a man you weren’t in love with? Have you forgotten what happened to me?”

“I haven’t forgotten anything.” Tess’s gaze dropped to Melanie’s wheelchair. “How could I?”

“You can’t tell him about Emily. You can’t!”

“I know all the reasons why I shouldn’t,” Tess said quietly. “I know what the dangers are. But what if we’re wrong about the kidnapping, Melanie? What if Royce had something to do with Emily’s disappearance, and I didn’t tell the police about him? What if he has her, and I’ve kept silent all this time?”

“Tess, listen to me,” Melanie said desperately. “You know that’s not possible. The police think that whoever kidnapped Sadie Cross ten years ago came back and abducted Emily. Royce had nothing to do with it. But if he finds out about her now, do you think he’d stand by and let that trust slip through his fingers? Even with Emily missing, if he thought you were still a threat to him, he’d come after you in a heartbeat and you know it. He might even come after me, too.”

Melanie’s pale, thin face hardened with hatred. “Look at me, Tess. Take a good long look. I’m in this wheelchair because I threatened Royce Spencer. He’s the one who forced us off the road that night and left us both for dead.”

“I know you’ve always thought that, but the police—”

“Wouldn’t even investigate. They never even went out to check Royce’s car. It was all swept under the rug, just like it would be now, if you threatened the Spencers. But you thought it was Royce, too, that night, Tess, or else you never would have left town. You would have stayed and fought the Spencers if you hadn’t been afraid for your life. And for your baby’s life.” Melanie cast a glance toward the kitchen door, then lowered her voice so that Joelle wouldn’t overhear them. “You burned your bridges by keeping silent, and that took extraordinary courage. Don’t get cold feet now. Think of everything you’ve done to protect your daughter.”